The battle for spectrum between the GSM and CDMA lobbies has once again reared its head. Tata Group Chairman, Ratan Tata, has openly lambasted the government's decision to allocate spectrum on the basis of subscriber numbers. This hasn't gone down too well with the GSM lobby, which has maintained-rather cheekily-that the CDMA players don't need extra spectrum, since they themselves have insisted that their technology is a far more efficient user of spectrum. However, Tata's dissent on subscriber numbers is understandable, and not just because his Tata Teleservices is a late starter in the wireless game. Interestingly enough, the other CDMA player, Anil Ambani's Reliance Infocomm, has been mum on the whole issue. Here's part of the reason: While Reliance has a subscriber base in excess of 18.5 million, Tata Teleservices has about 8.8 million subscribers. For Tata, 68, the battle for spectrum could well turn out to be long and, worryingly, lonely.

An Equal Battle

Has Mittal steel's L.N. Mittal finally met his match in rival steel maker, Arcelor? The Luxembourg-based steel giant hasn't just rebuffed the offer from the world's #1 player but used every trick in the book to keep the 55-year-old richest Indian at bay. But Mittal seems to have won a crucial supporter. The us Department of Justice has said it will allow the Mittal-Arcelor merger to go ahead if the London-based predator divests some of his other steel companies. The European Union, whose support is most important, had planned on announcing its decision in the middle of May, but that has been pushed back to the first week of June, apparently, due to Mittal's willingness to divest some assets in his group's fold. The battle is far from over, but it does seem like Mittal is getting on a stronger footing.

Back To BPO, After A Fashion

Akshay Bhargava decides to leave the BPO industry, the industry decides not to leave him. Ergo, in his new avatar as a private equity investor at British firm 3i, the 49-year-old (Citi) banker-turned-CEO of Infosys BPO arm, Progeon, has been entrusted with the task of scouting for opportunities in BPO land. His deals, said a 3i release, could be as big as a billion dollar for buyouts and $150 million for growth capital. "BPO sector can have a huge impact across several industries...and 3i is well placed to take advantage of this trend based on (its) BPO management expertise and global footprint," Bhargava said in a release. It will be interesting to see if he makes a bid for his old employer. If not, there'll always be other Indian BPOs to check out.

Still The Master

They should have known. Two years ago, four Titus & Co employees walked out of the Delhi-based law firm with something they shouldn't have: allegedly, confidential data from the firm's computer network. The firm, Titus & Co, replied by suing the four for criminal breach of trust and data theft, and now the Delhi High Court has ruled in its favour. Diljeet Titus, the firm's founder, feels vindicated but says he would rather look ahead than back. "In the last two years, we have grown by 200 per cent," says the 40-year-old vintage car collector (he even has a vintage car museum in Delhi that's open to the public free of cost). "Things are only looking up for us." This is the first time that a lawyer has been prosecuted for hacking and stealing information under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Obviously, Titus learnt his law lessons well. They should have known.

Now, It's Commodities

"I could trade in commodities, but we don't understand commodities." That's what the disgraced and ostracised stock market operator Ketan Parekh, 45, told Business Today five months ago. Famous last words. As it turns out, the Forward Markets Commission, which oversees commodity trading in India, has directed the two main exchanges NCDEX and MCX to find out KP's dealings in the commodities market. "We have no clue of KP and his entities dealing in the market...but we have told our members not to conduct any business with them," says Bhashyam Seshan, Chief Compliance Officer at NCDEX. In fact, FMC itself doesn't have any hard evidence, but there's market buzz about KP being involved in some mentha oil transactions. Although KP, who couldn't be reached for comment, is barred from trading in stocks, he is free to dabble in commodities. So what if he doesn't understand them.

An Unlikely VC

You know the real estate fever is real when Mukesh Ambani confidant and childhood chum, Anand Jain, catches it too. Jain, 51, has floated a venture capital fund with the objective of investing in real estate and retail ventures. Backed by Ambani's Reliance Industries, this fund will be called Urban Infrastructure Opportunities Fund (UIOF). In other words, the fund will invest in malls, multiplexes and housing projects, among others. Reliance, as the main investor, will put in about Rs 200 crore into the fund, which will be managed by Urban Infrastructure Venture Capital, where Jain is the chairman. Does the fund mean there'll be less of Jain at Reliance? Fat chance. On May 11, when Ambani rang the opening bell at BSE to start trade in Reliance Petroleum, Jain was among those present.

-Contributed by Krishna Gopalan, Venkatesha Babu, Aman Malik, Mahesh Nayak and Shaleen Agrawal