What is it: An internet-based communications system that promises to reduce telephone bills by two-thirds

How does it work: Users connect their regular phones (or fax or computer) to a broadband internet line using an adaptor provided by the company to make and receive calls. The adaptor converts voice into data and sends it through the internet like an e-mail through the New Jersey-based Vonage's network, and then converts the data back into voice at the receiver's end

Is it legal: Despite concerns expressed by Indian telecom operators, Vonage says it is on the right side of Indian law

How much does it cost: The unlimited package, called the Super Premium Package, costs $24.99 (Rs 1,124.55)

How can you get a Vonage phone: This is the hard part. Vonage says its services are available to people with a US postal address and a credit card valid in that country. Techies in Bangalore have found a way around this, by buying the equipment when on work in the US and bringing it back here for their parents. It is not clear if paying the charges over the internet with an internationally valid Indian credit card is legal or not

-Rahul Sachitanand

India's First Tidal Power Project

WBREDA's Chaudhury: Watch this space

What is it: It is the first tidal power project in the country and is being developed indigenously by the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) at Durgaduani Creek in the Sunderbans delta.

How does it work: High tide water is stored in a reservoir and released at low tide, thus, creating water flows which drives turbines that generate electricity, says S.P. Gon Chaudhury, Director, WBREDA.

What was the trigger: In 1976, the United Nations conducted a survey in India, which identified Gulf of Kutch and Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat and the Sunderban Delta as potential sites for generating tidal power.

How much does it cost: The total cost for the 4 MW project is Rs 40 crore. Hydroelectric or thermal power stations cost about Rs 4 crore per MW.

Then why are we excited: This is a pilot project and costs will fall once WBREDA masters the technology.

What's the date of commissioning: 2009.

-Ritwik Mukherjee

GMR Now A Billionaire

GMR Group's Rao: Mr Moneybags

Yet another Indian business family has joined the world's most expensive club-that of dollar billionaires. In the first week of June, Citigroup Venture Capital paid Rs 100 crore for a 1.12 per cent stake in GMR Infrastructure, thus, pegging its enterprise value at Rs 8,900 crore. This means promoter Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao's 80 per cent stake in the company is valued at Rs 7,110 crore or $1.58 billion. Not bad for someone who started his career in 1974 as a minor bureaucrat in Andhra Pradesh's Public Works Department and then quit to set up a business empire spanning the power, roads, ferro alloys, sugar, and now, airport sectors. "He's acutely aware of all his businesses despite not being involved in their day-to-day running. He often places tough demands on his senior managers. At the same time, he gives them freedom to run the business independently and is generous with praise," says Madhu Terdal, GMR Group's CFO (Corporate).

Rao hit the big league when he bid for and won the Basin Bridge Power Project in Tamil Nadu in the early 1990s. Since then, he's emerged as a big player in this sector. The day-to-day operations of the GMR Group, which earned Rs 162 crore on sales of Rs 1,500 crore in 2005-06, are managed by Rao's two sons, G.B.S. Raju and Kiran Kumar Grandhi, and son-in-law Srinivas Bommidala.

-Rahul Sachitanand

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

RBI STEPS IN TO TAME INFLATION, LENDING BOOM

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants to tone down the runaway bullishness in the retail and real estate lending market and the rising trend in the inflation rate. How? By sucking out liquidity of Rs 60,000-70,000 crore from the market. The stock market and the falling rupee-as a result of the pullout by foreign institutional investors-forced its hand. RBI Governor Y.V. Reddy hiked both the repo and the reverse repo rates by 25 basis points. B. Sambamurthy, Chairman and Managing Director, Corporation Bank, says the move will tame inflationary pressures in the economy. Finance minister P. Chidambaram may argue that there is no case for a rate hike as inflation is well under control, but Reddy may surprise him again when he meets CEOs of banks on July 25.

-Anand Adhikari

GOVERNMENT NOT TO CHANGE FERTILISER PRICES FOR NOW

The new fertiliser pricing policy, which will be announced shortly, is expected to incorporate only minor changes in the existing pricing structure. The government wants fertiliser units to switch over to gas-based production. It, thus, wants minimal disruptions in the interim. "There may be softer departures-such as those on efficiency parameters-from stage two of the New Pricing Scheme (NPS) rather than major departures," says a Ministry of Fertilisers official. NPS-3 will be applicable with retrospective effect from April 1, 2006. Separately, the ministry is also working out measures with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to enable fertiliser units to painlessly switch over to gas. "We will try to ensure that the industry gets sustained supplies when it moves to the new feedstock," says the official.

-Shalini S. Dagar

TRAI PAVES THE WAY FOR SMOOTH IPTV SERVICES

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) proposes to amend the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 to exclude video services offered by telecom operators from the ambit of the 'cable services' defined by existing provisions of the Act. Service providers under the Unified Access Service Licence Agreement are permitted to provide voice, video and data; hence, they can provide IPTV (internet protocol television) services. But under the existing law, IPTV services offered by these operators have to comply with the regulations of the said Act as well. This, TRAI found, was not technologically feasible. "The problem is primarily on account of the fact that when the Act was prepared, IPTV services were not even conceived," says TRAI Chairman Nripendra Misra. The proposed amendments will, however, make it mandatory for IPTV service providers to comply with all broadcasting codes.

-Shaleen Agrawal

Sharad Pawar: Taking note

GOVERNMENT TO EASE WHEAT IMPORT NORMS

Following sub-optimal procurement of wheat in its previous tenders, the government is considering a change in the import norms. "If all that the world has to offer us in two rounds of tenders is only 1.3 million tonne, then it is obvious the tender conditions need to be changed," a Food Ministry official says. The government is currently in the process of replenishing its buffer stock by 3.5 million tonne. A final decision on the new norms will be taken shortly.

-Shalini S. Dagar

RAILWAYS NOT TO HIKE FREIGHT RATES

The railway ministry is really taking its newly discovered market mantra seriously. Turning a setback into an opportunity, it has decided not to pass the diesel price increase on to customers. Further, it has decided to actually increase the discounts it provides for dead heading. These two measures, it feels, will help it win back market share from road transporters. The diesel price hike will cost the Indian Railways an additional Rs 450 crore, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said recently at a press conference.

-Shalini S. Dagar