HEADLINER
Sabeer Bhatia

EVER SINCE HE SOLD Hotmail to Microsoft for $400 million (Rs 1,680 crore at the then exchange rate), in January 1998, Sabeer Bhatia has become an icon of sorts in India. Now, eight years later, Bhatia, who hasn't had much success with his follow-up ventures to Hotmail, has teamed up with former Cisco employee Shiraz Kanga to launch a net 2.0 venture blogeverywhere.com. Essentially, this is a toolbar that will help users comment about websites they are visiting (the comment will appear along with the original website, and can be read by anyone who also has the toolbar; conveniently, the toolbar has simple read and write buttons), and which will help increase the efficiency of their Hotmail accounts (if they have them) by downloading unread mail on to the cache while the user is doing something else on the net. Revenues, says Bhatia, will come from advertising although the initial effort is to "increase penetration (of the toolbar)". "We expect to sell ad space over the next three to four years," he says.

-Shaleen Agrawal

Indian Oil Sells Stake in GAIL

IOC's Sarthak Behuria: Beefing up

Embattled oil marketer Indian Oil sold about half of its 4.83 per cent in GAIL for Rs 561 crore in a bid to shore up its balance sheet. The oil giant has been bleeding because it has not been allowed to pass on the hike in crude prices to consumers. For the third quarter ended December 31, 2005, the company reported a net loss of Rs 5.83 crore against a net profit of Rs 1,286.76 crore for the same quarter of the previous year.

Dr Reddy's Scouts For More Deals

One would think a company that has pulled off the biggest overseas acquisition from India would want to take some time to digest it before making another purchase. Not Dr Reddy's Labs. The Hyderabad-based pharma major, which recently acquired Germany's generics firm betapharm for m480 million (Rs 2,544 crore), says that it is looking at the us, Italy, Spain, France and India for more deals. "To expand our presence geographically, we will look at acquisitions," coo Satish Reddy told reporters recently. But he also added that generally valuations were too high and, hence, could be a problem.

TCS's S. Ramadorai: Just branding IT

TCS Puts A Shrine On Brand Name

It services giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) plans to begin a major brand-building exercise. A global brand consulting agency has been roped in for the purpose, and TCS' new brand positioning will be unveiled in the new fiscal year. HCL Technologies is another it company that has launched a brand-building campaign. IT companies are trying to differentiate themselves to woo both customers and workers.

NEWSMAKERS
K.M. Birla-Ratan Tata

Birla (L) and Tata: Partners-turned-foes

Just when uncertainty over ownership seemed to be getting over at Idea Cellular, the question has been forced to the fore by a spat between Kumar Mangalam Birla's AV Birla Group and Ratan Tata's Tata Group. Only a few months ago, the two had agreed to equally buy AT&T's Wireless' (AWS) 33 per cent stake in Idea, which has seven million subscribers across seven circles. As things stand, the Birlas hold just over 50 per cent in Idea, while the Tatas have 48 per cent. Ironically, one of the areas of dispute is the buyout of AT&T shares itself. The Birlas, in a letter to the DoT (Department of Telecommunications), have stated that the Tatas did not disclose the purchase of shares from AWS to the Idea board. The larger issue is really about the Tatas' own CDMA-based telecom business, Tata Teleservices, which is independent of Idea (it is GSM-based). According to current regulations, an operator providing service in one circle cannot hold more than 10 per cent equity in another operator in the same circle. Before the government announced the Unified Access Service Licence towards the end of 2003, Tata Tele and Idea competed only in four states (Maharashtra, AP, Gujarat and MP). But the Birlas are now miffed at Tata Tele's decision to acquire licences in seven more circles, simply because it will put Idea in greater conflict with Tata Tele. When BT went to press, the Tatas had served "a termination notice" to the Birlas and offered to buy them out of Idea. "The Tatas will proceed with the acquisition," Tata Industries' Managing Director, Kishor Chaukar, told BT. That may not be so simple. But the timing of the spat couldn't have been worse. The stock market is eagerly awaiting IPOs from Hutchison Essar and Reliance Infocomm, and in a booming market, Idea could have simply followed suit with its own IPO.

-Krishna Gopalan

NUMBERS OF NOTE

23%: India's share of global consumer gold sales-jewellery, medals, bars and investment funds-by volume, followed by America at 12 per cent

26%: The projected increase in spending on IT solutions by the Indian small and medium business (SMB) enterprises during the current year (2006), according to a study by US-based AMI-Partners

10.5%: The annual rental return on commercial property in India's metropolitan areas, the highest in the world, according to a study by realty firm Knight Frank India

444,753: The number of foreign visitors to India in January 2006, compared with 386,260 in the same month last year, a growth of 15.1 per cent, as per government data. Foreign exchange earnings rose 17 per cent to $632.43 million (Rs 2,846 crore approx.). An estimated 3.4 million foreign travellers visited in 2004

16 hours: The average time spent on a computer at work per week by Americans in 2005, compared with 9.5 hours a decade ago, according to the Day-Timer research. Workers typically get 46 e-mails a day, nearly half of which are unsolicited

500: New aircraft needed by India over the next 20 years, with a total value of around $36 billion (Rs 1,62,000 crore), according to a Boeing forecast

$3.3 billion (Rs 14,850 crore): The annual revenues of India's cable television market, which is the third largest in the world Rs 1,00,000 crore: The expected investment in special economic zones (SEZs) over the next three years, according to government data

13: The percentage of women board members in the US in Fortune 500 companies

600,000: The number of vehicles that Hyundai Motor Co. plans to make in India by 2007, more than double its current annual output, upon completion of a second factory. The expansion plan was intended to raise its market share in the emerging market to more than 20 per cent, led by sales of small-sized cars. In 2005, Hyundai had an 18 per cent market share in India

RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS LISTS ON BSE

One of the most awaited moments for Reliance Industries' shareholders after its demerger came on March 6, when Reliance Communications Ventures Ltd (RCVL)-comprising Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Communications Infrastructure, Flag Telecom and Reliance Telecom-listed on the BSE at 9:55 AM. The stock opened at Rs 290, giving Anil Ambani's RCVL a market cap of Rs 35,438 crore. For the quarter ended December 31, 2005, RCVL reported a net profit of Rs 310 crore on revenues of Rs 3,327 crore.

-Krishna Gopalan

NOTED

ROPED IN: By Reliance's retail venture, Raghu Pillai, former CEO (Home Solutions), Pantaloon. Pillai will be President and Chief Executive (Retail Operations and Strategy). Prior to joining Pantaloon in May last year, Pillai was the President (Retail), RPG Enterprises.

CONTINUING: The spat between the Ambani brothers. In a revised information memorandum to the stock exchanges, Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd (RCVL), an Anil Ambani company, alleged that Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) had agreed to transfer Rs 3,100 crore in cash as part of the demerger of the telecommunications undertaking, but transferred only a fraction of it in cash. RIL, for its part, hotly denied the allegation.

ADMITTED: Wipro, to STAR, the IT standards body for the North American retail automotive industry. With that, the IT major becomes the first Indian services company to join an automotive standards body. STAR is a non-profit, auto industry-wide initiative to create voluntary IT standards for data elements and transmission format used by manufacturers, dealers, and retail system providers to communicate with each other.

ON THE PROWL: Capgemini, Europe's largest computer consultancy, in India. CEO Paul Hermelin said in Paris recently: "India is very exciting. IT developments are national pride. I think that we are doing extremely well (there), but a consolidation would help us." On his radar: IT services companies, non-voice BPO companies. With this, the pressure on Atos Origin, another French IT player, or the US-based Keane, will mount. Most of these players are looking to record at least a three-fold rise from their existing offshore employee base of 2,000-3,500 and acquisitions may be inevitable to quickly ramp up growth.

PURCHASED: By liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines, 35 aircraft. Mallya inked a $610-million (Rs 2,745 crore) deal to buy 35 turbo-prop aircraft from French firm ATR for his full-service carrier Kingfisher Airlines. This is the fourth big aircraft order to be placed by Mallya in the past one year.

ACQUIRED: By Aurobindo Pharma, UK generics drug firm Milpharm for an undisclosed sum. Milpharm had revenues of £7.7 million (Rs 61 crore) in the year to September 2005. A $60-million convertible bond issue raised in 2005 will fund the deal.

HOT PROPERTY

Celebrity endorsements don't work, say critics. 'Who cares?' say marketers. A look at some recent celebrity endorsement deals.

ABHISHEK BACHCHAN

DEALS: LG, Ford Fiesta and two more to be announced shortly

FEE: Rs 2-3.5 crore

SAIF ALI KHAN
DEALS: General Motors (Aveo), Asian Paints
FEE: Rs 1-2 crore

RANI MUKHERJEE

DEALS: General Motors (Aveo); also Nestle, Dabur, Fanta

FEE: Rs 1-2 crore

M.S. DHONI

DEALS: Reebok, Exide

FEE: Rs 50,000-60,000 (expect it to soar)

SANIA MIRZA

DEALS: Deutsche Bank, Sprite, Hyundai, Tata Tea

FEE: Rs 1 crore

Despite the new kids on the block, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar remain the most expensive endorserers, charging Rs 4-5 crore a year.

-Archna Shukla