R. Radikaa: That's Ekta K in Tamil

Shareholders, especially Tamil-speaking ones, should be wary of IPOs from entertainment companies. The experience of Telephoto Entertainment-it had revenues of some Rs 2 crore in 2001-02 and losses in excess of Rs 4 crore-that merged with Singapore-based content provider In House should have turned them off stocks of the genre. Instead, they turned out in numbers recently to snap up shares of another entertainment company, Radaan Mediaworks-its Rs 10.84 crore issue was completely subscribed. Unlike Telephoto, Radaan-the brain behind it is Creative Director R. Radikaa, an actress who has had more than 15 minutes of fame-is profitable: it returned profits of Rs 1.07 crore on a turnover of Rs 20.5 crore.

For the record, Mumbai-based Balaji Telefilms which produces a clutch of best-selling K-soaps for Star Plus hopes to return profits of Rs 65 crore on sales of over Rs 200 crore this year. Unlike Balaji which, more often than not, makes serials and sells them outright (rights and all) to channels, Radaan retains the rights and markets its own programmes, paying the channel a fixed amount to air them. Radaan is aware that it will have to cross the language barrier to grow. It had better do that language fast. Balaji has already entered the South Indian market with a serial in Kannada on Udaya TV. The company sees room for itself in a Rs 3000 crore market where even Balaji boasts just a 6 per cent market share. Judging from the response to its IPO, investors believe that too.

-Nitya Varadarajan

COLD S
The Foreign Hand
Investors won't rush to invest overseas.

It has been over a month since the Indian government allowed resident Indians, Indian companies, and domestic mutual funds to invest in shares of companies listed on London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, and NASDAQ (provided these companies held more than 10 per cent stake in any company listed on an Indian stock exchange) and the response could have been better. One reason is that 47 MNCs, including Reckitt Benckiser, Cadbury and Philips have delisted their Indian subsidiaries. Another is the state of the market in developed economies-far worse than that in India. Still, mutual fund companies are keeping their fingers crossed. The puny volume of transactions means they are loath to set up separate desks to track foreign stocks, but they are hoping that when the 10 per cent restriction goes (go it will, they chorus), things will change. NASDAQ will have to wait.

-Ashish Gupta

V-GOLD
They Struck It Rich
The past six months have witnessed five major gas strikes in India.

Reliance Industries Limited:
7 trillion cubic feet of gas in Krishna-Godavari basin

Reliance Industries Limited:
Major find in the shallow waters off the Gulf of Cambay. No assessment of reserves

Cairns Energy:
1 trillion cubic feet of gas in Krishna-Godavari basin

Nico Resources:
1 trillion cubic feet of gas onshore block in Surat

Gujarat State Petroleum Limited:
44 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin

-Ashish Gupta

BPL's Chandrasekhar: Parlez-Vous Francais?

WHAT IF
BPL's Plan B
The BPL-Idea merger won't happen, so should BPL be looking towards partner France Telecom for a helping hand?

As chances of a BPL-idea cellular merger get bleaker by the day, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Chairman, BPL Communications, must be actively exploring his options. One of them is to consolidate his operations with another cellular player. But there's another opportunity Chandrasekhar could consider. What if the BPL Chairman can convince his 26 per cent partner in BPL Mobile (it runs the Mumbai operation), France Telecom, to buy out his 49 per cent partner in BPL Cellular (which runs the Maharashtra, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu operations), AT&T Wireless. AT&T Wireless may have little hesitation in doing a deal, given that AT&T Corp in the US has divested its wireless business. BPL officials deny this is an option under consideration.

Such a deal, though, would have its benefits: It would arm BPL with the cash it needs to take on India's cellular elite and acquire other operations. More significantly, though, France Telecom controls the Orange brand, once owned by Hutchison, and which Hutch still uses in its Mumbai circle. Now if France Telecom does become a 49 per cent partner in BPL Cellular, Chandrasekhar could begin using the Orange brand in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and any other circle it acquires. That might just make Hutch do a rethink on using the Orange tag in Mumbai-one of India's most profitable circles-because of the resulting dissonance.

Sounds far-fetched? Perhaps. Here's one good reason why this deal won't happen: France Telecom is saddled with its own financial problems, the biggest of them being a huge debt exposure of over $50 billion (Rs 2,38,590 crore) on its books as of 2001. Sigh...

-Brian Carvalho

PRECIOUS METAL
Ssssssteel's Ssssstrong
A global revival in demand and a very local handout have improved the prospects of India's beleaguered steel industry.

Cyclical upturns are a given in the business of steel-making. Only, the one the industry is going through right now is unique: it has been brought about, in no small measure, by the frenetic pace of construction China has embarked on following Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympics. In India, the recovery has been reinforced by increased domestic demand. "Growth in the infrastructure, automobile, and white goods industries between April and November 2002 caused an increase of around 6 per cent in domestic steel consumption," says Kshitiz C. Prasad, the metals analyst at SBI Capital Markets. Buoyed by this, the growing opportunity to export to China and South East Asia-"India is reaping the benefits of its location," points out Bhavin R. Chheda, an Analyst at brokerage Pioneer Intermediaries-and the debt recast of Essar Steel, Jindal Vijaynagar, and Ispat Industries, the industry is on a high. With analysts predicting that the global (and domestic) overcapacity will see companies producing more in the coming months, leading to a downward revision in prices by the second half of 2003, it had better relish that feeling while it lasts.

-Vandana Gombar

BIOTECH 101
Ooh That Buzz...
It's all about much-hyped biotech, the next big thing for India Inc

Biocon's Mazumdar-Show: Indian biotech's visible face

Biocon: The country's first biotech company, it manufactures bio-molecules and speciality industrial enzymes. Its subsidiaries Syngene and Clinigene are engaged in the potentially lucrative businesses of contract research and clinical testing, and it has a JV with a Cuban biotech company. An IPO is in the works.

Shantha Biotechnics: Best known for developing India's first genetically engineered Hepatitis B vaccine, Shanvac B. It is now working on similar vaccines for Hepatitis E, Typhoid, TB, and on a human Insulin molecule.

Strand Genomics: India's first bioinformatics company, Strand was founded by four professors at the IIS, Bangalore. Its backers include WestBridge Capital and UTI Ventures.

Bharat Biotech: The company behind Revac, the recombinant vaccine for Hepatitis B, Bharat is now working on vaccines for Hepatitis A, Rabies, Malaria, and Rotavirus. It has received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Reliance Life Sciences: Founded in January 2001, this is one of the 11 organisations worldwide that has stem cell lines in accordance with guidelines issued by the National Institute of Health, USA. Stem cell research is central to the discipline of regenerative medicine.

Avestha Gengraine: Positioned as the only company in India doing fundamental biotech research, Avesthagen operates in domains such as genomics, proteomics, nutraceuticals, and bioinformatics. The two-year-old start-up is backed by the likes of the Tata Group and ICICI Ventures and is working on creating drought resistant strains of crops and drugs targeting TB and diabetes.

-Vandana Gombar

TERMS OF TRADE

Biotechnology: Fine this is basic, but did you know biotech is all about the use of living organisms to make or modify products, plants and animals, or to develop micro-organisms for specific purposes. Any similarity to sweat shops is purely accidental.

Genomics: Human DNA is made up of 30,000 genes. Genomics is all about mapping the complex structure of genes. But it won't help you understand the spouse better.

Proteomics: All about deciphering the proteins that constitute genes, this is the cryptic version of the same crossword.

Bio-informatics: An area of infotech that focuses on analysing the huge amount of data generated in the gene deciphering process. The volume of data doubles every six months or so-all ye wannabe Moores, this is your best chance to have your own law.

Recombinant DNA (RDNA): No, this isn't a typo with a vestigial R. Recombinant DNA is the result of the combination of DNA from two different sources through selective breeding and genetic engineering. Think Gryphon. Think Chimera. Think Minotaur.

Genetically Modified (or GM) Crops: These are crops derived from a genetically modified base. They cover a fifth of the land under cultivation globally. The United States accounts for 68 per cent of transgenic crops produced, followed by Argentina (22 per cent), Canada (6 per cent), and China (3 per cent).