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As we sifted through Q4 results, we could actually hear companies groaning. The fourth quarter is proving to be a perfect spoil to an otherwise heady year for corporate India. Sales of the 100 companies BT analysed showed just 17 per cent growth over the same quarter in 2000. Although expenditure rose by nearly as much, interest costs actually went down for these companies, translating into a robust 45 per cent jump in net profits. A couple of caveats are in order, though. One, this is the first flush of results. Two, the intriguing swell in profits that you see is actually a result of manic cost cuttings. So, we don't expect such payoffs to show up indefinitely. The challenge that corporates like HLL (topline stagnated at Rs 2,642 crore) will eventually need to address is of growing their topline. Worryingly, even soft consumer durables companies like Bata and Gillette India felt their sales soften, although Bata took a disproportionate bottomline hit. But you know what really scares us? Thinking of the next quarter. -Vinod Mahanta M&A The rumoured merger of IFCI with IDBI will be fiercely fought for and against (respectively) by the two financial institutions. » Why GoI may favour a merger The ailing Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) has put in a Rs 400-crore bail out request to the government of India (GoI). Since the GoI doesn't have the money to help IFCI shore up its capital adequacy ratio, it may want the healthier Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) to take in the sick institution. The other alternative could be to get a foreign partner.
» What BT suggests Step up recovery of IFCI's bad loans, and explore possibility of roping in a foreign partner. Otherwise let IFCI die a natural death. If the government is keen to strengthen the FIs and create a larger institution, then merge IDBI into ICICI, a proposal that was under consideration in early 1998. -Roshni Jayakar Besides a pair of socks, what you will find in Indya.com CEO Sunil Lulla's briefcase...
LAPTOP: IBM X20. It is my first companion during any travel. So, if I am working, wherever I am, I obviously use it. If I watch a movie, the laptop comes in handy. I also use it to listen to music. The Internet? Well, surfing is the least I do on the laptop. PDA: Palm Vx. My schedules, reminders and calculating problems are taken care of on the PDA. I don't miss out on playing games, though. SATELLITE RADIO: To stay aurally connected with the world, what better can you ask for? Compiled by: Ashutosh Sinha OFF-BEAT Guess who's giving the master physicist Stephen Hawking his new voice? A low-profile dotcom in Mumbai. Going by his skimpy ponytail, ragged beard and pre-occupied looks, Vickram Crishna seems like the kind of failed artist who gets bumped around politely at power parties. But, then, looks can be terribly deceptive. Far from being a pushover, Crishna-co-promoter of radiophony.com and an audio whiz-is today the toast of tech circles in India. Reason? At his modest studio in Mumbai, Crishna and his partner, Arun Mehta, are busy working on a ''Hawking Communicator''. No, it's not a run-of-the-mill audio product for a wireless company. Rather, it is the software which will soon give a new voice to the University of Cambridge professor and renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking, who suffers from the nerve-crippling, muscle-wasting Lou Gehring's disease. Says Crishna: ''We heard that Professor Hawking was looking for a speech synthesiser software that was faster and more responsive. And that just got us thinking.'' Currently, the illustrious professor uses a dos-based solution developed in 1987, keeping his unique requirements in mind. But it has several limitations. For one, functions like click, pointing, and typing. Besides, it does not have a cut-and-paste function. The result: the speed of his synthesised speech is limited to just 12 words per minute. Says Mehta, who has a doctorate in electronics from Ruhr University, Germany: ''You must realise that for someone with Lou Gehring's disease each keystroke is a major feat.'' Working with radiophony on the Hawking Communicator will be a group of 20 expert volunteers from around the world. A rough cut is expected to be ready by June. ''Apart from being faster and easier to use, the new software will allow Prof. Hawking ''intelligent'' choice of words and phrases, ''and pre-selection and customisation'','' says Crishna, a textiles graduate from IIT-Delhi and an MBA from IIM-C. What makes the project even more interesting is that the software will use open source code, allowing upgradations. Moreover, the software is to be given free to Prof. Hawking and all other victims of Lou Gehring's disease. A perfect match of head and heart? -Abir Pal
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The idea behind IFCI asking for a Rs 400-crore bail out was to
maintain its identity as a separate institution. 
One-fifth
of IFCI's loans have turned bad, and merging its sick
balancesheet with IDBI's will be disastrous. And as acting CMD
S.K. Chakrabarti says, it will weaken IDBI's position at a
time when it itself is struggling to stay afloat. The merger,
he adds, will lead to IDBI suffering on three fronts: NPAs,
capital adequacy and credit rating.
MOBILE: Nokia 8210. Voice is not the
only way to communicate for me. If I cannot make a call, the SMS comes in
very handy. Of course, when needed, I also use it for e-mail.