Minister Paswan: Controversy is a part of his persona

Chemicals & Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, 60, is a much "misunderstood" man these days. No one can quite understand his "social reasons" for wanting to police drug prices in the country. Earlier, it was the drug manufacturers who locked horns with him over the issue; now it's the Health Ministry. The latter feels Paswan's proposed Drugs (Price Regulation and Control) Bill, 2006 interferes with its mandate. It is particularly worked up about a provision in the Bill that overrides any provisions contrary to it in any other law. The Health Ministry is concerned that this will infringe upon the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, administered by it.

But then, controversy has always been part of Paswan's persona. He became a disciple of the late Jayaprakash Narayan in the late 1960s and piggy-backed his mentor to enter the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1974. Since then, he's been a member of almost every non-Congress government at the Centre (he was, in fact, a pivotal figure in the BJP-led NDA government) and is a leading player in the backward caste political game that North Indian politics has become.

His stated ambition is to become Chief Minister of Bihar, which he was denied, first by Lalu Prasad Yadav, his arch rival in Bihar's caste politics, and then, by incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The Bihar elections highlighted his chameleon-like character, when he fought the Congress-RJD combine even while remaining part of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. "State elections have no influence on the central government," was his glib explanation. It defies logic, but that's Paswan for you.

-Amit Mukherjee

NUMBERS OF NOTE

$3.46 trillion (Rs 1,55,70,000 crore): The total value of announced acquisitions worldwide in 2006. The previous record was $3.33 trillion (Rs 1,49,85,000 crore) of acquisitions in 2000

84,000: The number of new houses Mumbai requires a year; the government and private players combined can offer only 55,000

12 per cent: The proportion of Indian population in the age group 30-50 that has diabetes, according to medical journal The Lancet

Rs 3.5 lakh: The average salary of an Indian pilot (including allowances) per month compared to Rs 1 lakh in 2004

$170 billion (Rs 7,65,000 crore): The net worth of the India's 40 richest people, according to Forbes Asia. Last year, the figure was $106 billion

176.5 million: The total number of telephones in India in October 2006, up from 170 million in September 2006, a growth of 3.8 per cent

$4.38 billion (Rs 19,710 crore): Foreign direct inflows during the first-half of the financial year (April-Sept. 2006) compared to $2.2 billion (Rs 9,900 crore) in the corresponding period last year

38.5 per cent: The rate of growth of Indian ITES and BPO sector in 2006. The size of the sector is $7.2 billion (Rs 32,400 crore) and it employs 4.15 lakh people

$2 billion (Rs 9,000 crore): The size of Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) business in India. The compounded annual growth rate of FAO is 30 per cent

$320 billion (Rs 14,40,000 crore): India's estimated total expenditure on infrastructure over the next five years

304: The number of universities in India. The figure for professional colleges in the country is 2,751

200: Number of unique items created by Cartier every year; each can cost anywhere from $190,000 to more than $6 million

NOTED

ANNOUNCED: By the BSE, a revision in the composition of the BSE-100, BSE-200, BSE-500, and the BSE-tech and sectoral indices, from January 8, 2007. Some companies moving out of the BSE-100 index are Jet Airways, Tata Teleservices and Andhra Bank. The new entrants are Dabur India, Essar Oil and Reliance Petroleum.

PLANNED: By the goverment, a new set of parameters to determine whether a public sector unit (PSU) will qualify for the coveted Navratna status. The new measures include PBDIT (profit before depreciation, interest and tax), EPS (earnings per share), net profit, net worth, cost of manpower and cost of production.

DELAYED: 160 infrastructure projects in the country, resulting in cost overruns of over Rs 31,500 crore. Bihar has the largest number of such projects (15) that reported delays ranging between one and 14 months. In Delhi, cost overruns doubled the cost of three projects to Rs 10,970.46 crore, from the original level of Rs 5,367.39 crore.

SEWN UP: Between UTI Mutual Fund and Shinsei Bank, an alliance to tap Japanese investors looking to invest in the Indian stock markets. They will launch Shinsei UTI Indian Equity Fund, a pure equity scheme targeted at retail investors in Asia's biggest economy. The fund will be open from December 4-17.

LEASHED: By the new Competition Commission of India, MNCs wanting to flex their intellectual property muscle to price their drugs too high, the Company Affairs Ministry told a parliamentary panel. This is the second instrument that the government will use to keep prices of patented drugs under check. The first, of course, is price negotiations as a pre-condition for giving marketing approval to any patented drug in India.

PROPOSED: By the Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a plan to merge its Asian affiliate Newbridge Capital, with itself "to blend Asian and Western businesses", according to TPG Managing Director, Vivek Paul. While TPG has just raised its fifth fund of $17 billion, Newbridge manages over $3.2 billion.

REVENUES ARE BUOYANT

The figures say it all. Collections from service tax during the first seven months of 2006-07 have vaulted by as much as 65 per cent over the corresponding period last year. In real terms, the big chunk comes from the corporate tax front, where the exchequer has swelled by nearly Rs 17,000 crore. Going by these figures, the government is likely to overshoot the Rs 4,40,000-crore Budget Estimates for revenue collections during the current financial year. The fiscal deficit is expected to fall from 4.1 per cent to 3.8 per cent.

SELLING REELS

Till a couple of years ago, movie promotions were simple and straightforward-trailers in cinema halls, posters across towns, a few ads in leading papers before release and television spots on entertainment channels. But all that has changed. Today, movie promotion and marketing costs have gone up drastically. "Media proliferation is one of the reasons for the spike in movie marketing costs. Today, reaching out to the multiplex audience means having a strategy for print, outdoors, radio, mobile and video games. All that takes money," says Sanjay Bhutiani, Business Head, BR Chopra Films.

"A couple of years ago, movie promotion costs were less than 5 per cent of total budgets. Today, a small budget (Rs 4 crore) movie's promotion costs might run up to as much as 40-50 per cent of its production cost. A big movie's (Rs 10 crore-plus) marketing costs can be as much as 15-20 per cent of its budget," says Navin Shah, CEO of P9, which marketed Sahara One's movies like Corporate. "Producers, today, release 1,000 prints of movies and collect what were earlier more than 6 weeks' worth of collections within the first three days of release. They need to create a buzz around their movies; hence, the large ad budgets," he adds.

-T.V. Mahalingam