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MARCH 25,2007

COVER STORY


	The Bubble In Real Estate As interest rates continue to climb, and prices soar to unsustainable levels in key pockets of the country's landscape, it's time for real estate developers, investors and end-users to be worried. The bubble won't burst-not yet-but there's a bubble all right. BT SPECIAL: INDIA'S BIGGEST NEWSMAKERS India's Biggest Newsmakers The Fourth BT-Cirrus image review of CEOs, Union economic ministers and companies that managed to get the best press in ../2006. Read More Stop Press: There's RIL in My Headline Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries tops the charts as the most written about company in India Inc. Read More The Biggest Newsmakers Who were the CEOs that the business press wrote, wrote and wrote some more about? Read More Front Page Heroes Companies of Anil and Mukesh Ambani hogged Page One. Read More The Top ../200 Newsmakers Read More

BUDGET 2007

BT SPECIAL: INDIA'S BIGGEST NEWSMAKERS
The Top Groups
ICICI Group stormed into the top league, right behind the Tatas and the Mukesh Ambani Group.
Read More

The Top Ministers
Surprise, it's not Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, but Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav who gets more of media.
Read More

Focus on Corporate Image Building
Column by Sourav De, Head, Cirrus.
Read More


	FEATURES


	The China Effect In a variety of industries, cheap imports from China are killing local manufacturers. How much of it is due to China's competitiveness and how much due to dumping? more...		Value Ahoy! By 2010, the total premium collected by insurers will touch $72 billion (from $21 billion today), and life insurers will be managing assets worth $55 billion (from just $6 billion today). Want to hazard a guess as to how much these companies will be worth in three-to-five years? more...



	Electric Dreams Last year, of the 7 million two-wheelers sold in India, just 50,000 were electric. With manufacturers revving up, the market is set to double this year. more...		The Wealth Underneath It's been 14 years since the government opened up mining to foreign investors, but there have been few takers. Will the new policy change things for the better? more...




	Kiranas Strike Back In possibly the first experiment of its kind in India, some 3,000 mom-n-pop stores in Rajkot have come together to take on modern retailers. more...		REPORTER'S DIARY Changing Colours At Bangalore's Aero India show, Rahul Sachitanand found commercial and fighter jet manufacturers falling over each other to snag a piece of India's defence and civilian markets. more...












Mobile Security Today, it is all about information and how the right information is sent to the right people at the right time and right place. Uncertainty about how to secure mobile phones in the face of increasing threats is slowing individual adoption of mobile applications. There are many facets of mobile security, including network intrusion, mobile viruses, spam and mobile phishing. Analysts expect big telecom companies to develop security solutions on various security platforms. More Net Specials

Rough Ride These are competitive times for the Indian aviation industry. As salaries zoom, players are scrambling to find profits. Even the state-owned Indian is now seeking young airhostesses to take on the competition. It is planning to introduce a voluntary retirement scheme for airhostesses above 40 years. On an average, they draw a salary of Rs 5 lakh a year. The salaries of pilots, too, are soaring. According to industry estimates, the country needs over 3,000 pilots over the next five years.

FDI And FII The centre is looking at removing the distinction between FDI and FII investments. This will impact sectors like asset reconstruction, real estate and aviation, where separate ceilings apply to FDI and FII investment. However, allowing FDI through the FII route in the realty sector could result in prices shooting through the roof. The Asian financial crisis of the '90s is still fresh in mind, and a method should be devised to moderate possible volatility in key sectors.

S&P And After For the first time in 14 years, international credit rating agency, Standard and Poor's (S&P), has raised India's credit rating to investment grade. S&P is the last of the three major international rating agencies to do so. Moody's Investors Service did it in January ../2004 and Fitch Ratings in August ../2006. The upgrade is likely to spur the flow of foreign investment into power, steel and other industries, which receive less than a tenth of the funds going China's way.





	MONEY		JOBS TODAY


	Sure Shot Winner Arbitrage funds take advantage of the price differences in the market for better returns. Should you invest? more...		Bouncing Back Everyone makes mistakes. We profile some of the biggest mistakes made by the top names of India Inc and how they recovered from them. more...

	BOOKEND		BACK OF THE BOOK


	Retailer As Competitor Don't ignore private labels, rather prepare to compete or ally with them, say two marketing profs. more...		Pitching For Baseball Major League Baseball is taking the initiative to popularise the game in India. And it has chosen Manipur as its first stop in this country. more...
	PEOPLE		COLUMNS


	People Young&Rubicam's Hamish McLennan; Ernesto Illy, Chairman, Illycaffe; Hindustan Motors' Chairman Chandra Kant Birla; Howard Schultz, Founder, Starbucks; Kokilaben Ambani; and Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales. more...		Leadership Spotlight R.A. Mashelkar Director, Reliance Industries


	TRENDS		CURRENT


	It's Easier Abroad Why Indian companies are heading to foreign shores in droves. more... Namaste Tokyo! The world, it appears, is finally becoming the oyster for Indian techies! Fresh from their conquest of Silicon Valley (the original one), this breed is now looking east-at the Land of the Rising Sun. At last count, there were about 8,000 Indian geeks living and working in Japan. more... Snipping At Sops? India Inc. finds it to be yet another example of 'micro-pain' points in the Budget. The Finance Ministry, perhaps, finds it to be another inventive way to stem the tide of exemptions which lead to massive revenue losses. more... Numbers of Note more...		Bear Hug Blame the 14 per cent correction in Indian shares on the appreciating yen. more... Primary Bloodbath Crackdown on a recently-listed stock makes IPO investors panic. more... Taxiing As One Is one state-owned airline better than two? more... Sultan Of Spin Nike gets it right with a larger-than-life cricket commercial. more... Low-Cost Anxiety Delays and cancellations are inevitable. more... Plenty At Stake Indian promoters are shoring up their holdings. more... Split of Convenience Kampani and Morgan Stanley have reason to smile-finally. more... When Three's Company Mahindra, Renault and Nissan will share one plant. more... Rock of (All) Ages They're laughing to the bank after they get old. more... M&A Buzz In Banking Is Canara Bank wooing Dena Bank? more... Ticket To Ride You could buy your ticket to the next gig in town online. more... Beyond the Nylon Curtain The launch of DuPont's India R&D centre is well timed. more... Surviving Planet Earth Discovery raises the stakes for niche channels. more... Play, Build, Outsource Now, the global console gaming industry beckons. more... Content is King (Kong) The games have only just begun for FXLabs. more... Hidden Treasure General insurance firms get a shot in the arm. more... Different Roads When there's Maharashtra and TN, why go to Singur? more... Pulp Traction Coke is set to roll out its orange juice drink, Minute Maid. more...


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