Can the Ruias Save Essar?

A year ago, such a question would have invited (and in fact did elicit) plenty of incredulous guffaws. After all, here was a business group that wasn't only down, but a few thousand feet deep under the ground. Almost everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong with the Ruias' grand ambitions for Essar. Their steel plant couldn't have come on stream at a worse time-when steel prices had been hammered to an all-time low. Their grandiose refinery project got stuck because nobody was willing to lend. And what wasn't helping at all was the group's perception as a siphoner of funds that were raised from the public.

Rather than fade away, the Ruias have chosen to fight it out. Aiding them in that comeback bid are steel prices, which are finding new highs every month, and which promise to smartly change the fortunes of the once deep-in-the-red Essar Steel. What's more, after five years the refinery is finally looking a reality with institutions willing not just to lend, but to restructure the Ruias' debt. And their detractors too seem to be silenced. At least for the moment.

Can the Sensex Touch 4000? (March 30)

Another question, another one that had many (including at times the writer of that story himself) wondering how this gargantuan target for the stockmarket index could ever be achieved in this lifetime. Remember this was the time when the Sensex was having problems kissing the 3,000-mark and the Gulf War was threatening to dampen whatever little bullish sentiment existed at that time. The market experts BT spoke to did predict better times towards the year-end, but the most bullish prediction for the Sensex by year-end was 3700. Today, the Sensex is within striking distance of 6000. Moral of the story: Don't even attempt to predict markets. Just put your mouth where the money is!

CFO's Day Out (May 25)

Last year must go down as the year of the CFO. Why? Because he made it to the cover of BT, another business magazine coincidentally realised the CFO had suddenly come of age, and CFO awards, seminars, and television discussions were all over the place. On the cover of CFO's Day Out was Sumant Sinha, the 36-year-old former New York-based debt capital markets specialist from ING Barings, who's also the son of External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha. Now the A.V. Birla Group's pr machinery insists on telling journalists that Sinha isn't the CFO of the A.V. Birla Group, and that D.D. Rathi should enjoy that distinction. Perhaps, but Sinha is surely the brightest, and most exciting face in corporate finance today. Watch out for him. Other CFOs to keep track of include Ravi Ramu of Mphasis, Deepak Ghaisas of i-flex, and N.S. Kannan of ICICI Bank.

City In Sync (August 17)

The big story wasn't that Bangalore, a city of six million that's emerged the hub of knowledge businesses in India, is changing, but how it is changing. How government (Karnataka cm S.M. Krishna), business (Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys, and also Chairman of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force) and administration (Bangalore Development Authority-its chief, Jayakar Jerome shared the cover with Nilekani and Krishna-and other administrative agencies like the city corporation and the police department) are forging a partnership to create India's city of the future.

How Indian Business Learnt To Fly (August 31)

It was a Special Issue in more ways than one. It attempted to track the various freedoms India, its business world, and its consumers have got over the years. Whilst it may be a long time since 1947, few would disagree that the real freedom (from limited means, and of choice) came post-1991, when liberalisation was ushered in, and economic reforms dismantled many of the chains that had fettered Indian business for so long. Better late than never, we're sure you'd agree.

P.S: The I-Day Special also gave BT the opportunity to create a unique product of its own: The BT Freedom Index. Check it out if you haven't yet and still can.

What's In Store For 2004 (January 4)

Our previous issue was a blockbuster because it provided answers to questions that matter to most of us. What's more, we were ready with those answers first, perhaps when many of our esteemed rivals were busy shaping the questions. Would the Sensex touch 6000 (okay, that's an easy one; perhaps will is the wrong word, when would be more apt), will GDP grow by 7.5 per cent, will disinvestment reforms resume, will the BPO backlash worsen, will interest rates firm up, will salaries boom? Hmm...some of those questions aren't easy ones, but that's exactly why BT is around, right?