Who: Rahul Dravid; anointed India's cricket captain recently in the midst of major controversies (all unrelated to him)

What: He is suddenly considered hot property in the brand endorsement market. The Sahara Group signed him on recently. "They want to tap his brand essence," says Kartikeya Rao, Vice President, 21st Century Media, the agency that handles his account

Price tag: Around Rs 2 crore per annum per deal. That makes him the second highest paid cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar

Why: Because marketers think that like Tendulkar, his brand image remains unspoilt. Says Debashish Sarkar, Director (Marketing), Max New York Life: "Rahul stands for honour, dependability, and trust and, hence, is a great endorser for a brand like ours."

-Archna Shukla

Mint Causes Heartburn

What: An aromatic plant called mentha arvensis is causing massive heartburn for US mint farmers.

Why: The Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) has developed four varieties of high yielding, early maturity mint and, in partnership with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), equipped Indian farmers with distillation units to convert their crop into oil. Result: less wastage and better prices (of Rs 400 per litre). "It beats the economics of producing menthol anywhere in the world," says S.P.S. Khanuja, Director of CIMAP.

What is it used for: Menthol is used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, confectionary, perfumes and toothpastes. India exports close to 11,000 tonnes of mint every year.

So what: US farmers can't compete with Indian prices. "Some growers have gone broke; others like me are nearly broke," says Steve Street, a farmer in Rainbow Gardens in Montana, US.

-Amanpreet Singh with Ryan Wenzel

Consummate Dealmaker

Sivasankaran: From vital to viable

NRI businessman C. Sivasankaran (44) has a very clear business philosophy: "The reason I sell a business is not just to make money, but to get a better return on management." He's done both with the sale of Chennai mobile operator Aircel for Rs 4,860 crore; that's 16 times earnings, against the 10 times that he had wanted. "I turn the vital needs of society into viable business propositions," says the man who acquired Sterling Computers in 1983, and made a splash in the market with the computer's attractive price tag. Soon, others followed suit. Siva felt the business would not be viable in the long run and closed it down. He then acquired cellular licences for Delhi and three adjoining states and sold these in the mid-90s. In return, he got some cash and Tamilnad Mercantile Bank shares worth Rs 65 crore from the Essar Group, one of the buyers, which he now proposes to sell to members of the Nadar community for Rs 211 crore. There have been other high- and low-profile deals-in March 2004, he sold his Dishnet DSL internet business to VSNL for Rs 270 crore; and the Barista buyout in December 2004 for an estimated Rs 70 crore. Two decades of buying and selling companies have given him a personal net worth of Rs 4,500 crore. So, don't be surprised if you see his name in the next list of Forbes billionaires.

-Nitya Varadarajan

P-WATCH
A bird's eye view of what's hot and what's not on the government's policy radar.

SHRINKING THE SUBSIDY BILL

The government has taken its first politically sensitive step: it has decided to slash the monthly foodgrain quota under the public distribution system (PDS) and raise prices for households above the poverty line (or APLs). The monthly grain quota of families below the poverty line (or BPLs) will now be 30 kg per month and that of APLs 20 kg a month, against 35 kg for both categories earlier. This will result in a saving of Rs 4,524 crore. Official sources say more such steps to cut the total subsidy bill of Rs 1,10,000 crore, or 20 per cent of total revenues, are on the anvil (see On The Chopping Block).

-Ashish Gupta

PLAN TO PROVIDE FERTILISER SUBSIDIES DIRECTLY TO FARMERS

This one could go down as the policy that didn't work. The Y.K. Alagh Committee on Fertiliser Pricing has recommended that the fertiliser subsidy, which currently stands at Rs 16,253.90 crore per annum, be given directly to farmers. The New Urea Policy says this scheme should be tried out as an experiment in three to five districts on an experimental basis by the Ministry of Fertilisers. Currently, fertiliser companies are given the subsidy on the basis of their sales. However, the ministry is not convinced about the new scheme. "The problem is one of implementation," say officials. After all, it's going to be well nigh impossible to identify the millions of farmers who will be eligible for the subsidy and then distribute this huge corpus among them.

-Ashish Gupta

TWO-YEAR EXPENDITURE CYCLE

The government is likely to account for its expenditure over a two-year cycle. "The people of the country are concerned with outcomes," Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had said in his last Budget speech. That led to a novel initiative, the Outcome Budget, in the middle of last year. The same logic is now being taken forward, reportedly at the express behest of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The government realises that it will be difficult to spend the planned Rs 1.43 lakh crore during this fiscal. The solution: a two-year spending period; this will provide ample time for implementating the investment programme and remove the need for fresh, and time consuming, approvals at the end of each fiscal.

-Kumarkaushalam

Minister Yadav: Containable?

EASIER FDI NORMS

On January 4, a group of Ministers headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar prepared a new policy package to allow 100 per cent FDI in captive coal-mining and the exploration of minerals such as gemstones. It also recommended approval through the automatic route for FDI in power, cement and steel projects and in laying of gas pipelines. The proposal will be placed before the Cabinet in February.

-Ashish Gupta

PRIVATE FREIGHT TRAINS

Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has relinquished his ministry's monopoly over the container transportation business controlled by the Container Corporation of India (Concor). Over two dozen players (including Reliance Industries and Adani Ports) have expressed interest in entering the sector. All companies, including Concor, will be required to pay a one-time registration fee of Rs 50 crore (valid for 30 years) for all routes and Rs 10 crore for if they wish to operate only on a select route.

-Kumarkaushalam