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| Analjit Singh: Another controversy |
He is a minority shareholder in
the company but thanks to the controversy surrounding his stake,
Analjit Singh, 62, is easily hogging more limelight than the company's
new owner. Singh owns a 7.58 per cent stake in Hutchison Essar
through a special purpose vehicle, Telecom Investments India (Hutchison
Essar, MD, Asim Ghosh, is the other shareholder in the company).
The allegation is that Singh and Ghosh are fronting for Hutchison
Telecom International, which recently sold out to Vodafone.
Singh, in fact, is the original promoter, having set up the
company, then called Hutchison Max, when the mobile telephony
sector was first thrown open to the private sector. He sold his
41 per cent stake to this partner in 1998 for a then eye-popping
sum of Rs 561 crore and re-entered the scene in 2005 when he and
Ghosh jointly bought out Kotak Mahindra's stake in the company.
The genesis of the current controversy lies in the structure of
that deal. Singh took a loan from Rabobank India to finance his
acquisition, with Hutchison as guarantor. This guarantee will
now be transferred to Vodafone. Does that make first Hutchison
and now Vodafone the beneficial owners of these shares? The FIPB
has asked for a copy of the sale agreement and other documents
to verify the financing of these purchases.
But Singh is not new to controversies and is quite adept at
sorting them out as well. When the controversy over his father,
the late Bhai Mohan Singh's will erupted, he quickly settled the
issue with his nephews Malvinder and Shivinder Singh and their
mother, his sister-in-law. He will obviously be hoping for a similar
quick end to this controversy
-Pallavi Srivastava
NUMBERS
OF NOTE
163 million: Total teen population of India.
Nearly half of India's 1-billion-plus population is under the
age of 20. By 2015, the under-20 crowd will make up 55 per cent
of all Indians.
2.3 million: The expected strength of Indian IT/BPO workforce
by 2010
1 million: The number of tourists expected to visit India
during the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi
15,000: Number of jobs banking major Citigroup is planning
to cut in the US. This will represent a 5 per cent reduction in
Citigroup's worldwide workforce of 327,000
Rs 3,700 crore: BSE's daily turnover in 2006-07. The
corresponding figure for NSE is Rs 8,000 crore
39 kg: India's annual per capita steel consumption. Compared
to this, the global average annual per capita steel consumption
is 150 kg
500,000: The total number of jobs expected to be created
in aviation, hotels and tour operating services because of the
Commonwealth Games in 2010, according to Associated Chambers of
Commerce and Industry
250 million: Total number of users for Yahoo! mail worldwide,
the highest among all e-mail service providers. Microsoft's Windows
Live Mail has 228 million users, while Gmail has 51 million users
 Rs
14.03 crore: Anil Singhvi's earnings for the 18 months ended
December 31, 2006, as whole-time Director and MD of Gujarat Ambuja
Cements. He is thought to be the highest-paid professional MD
in the country
16 lakh: The number of people living in penury in Delhi;
the figure is a tenth of the city's population
$43,000 (Rs 18.92 lakh): The price of Warren Buffett's
Lincoln Town Car. It's not exactly a typical billionaire's car
and is as common as a taxi in Queens and the Bronx
NOTED
 PLANNED:
By the Securities and Exchange Board of India, regulations
for investment advisors. Sebi chief M. Damodaran said: "We
are working on regulations for investment advisors." Sebi
will undertake a detailed consultative process to arrive at laws
for the purpose.
ANNOUNCED: By German technology major
Infineon and Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation,
a company founded by NRIs from Silicon Valley, plans for a $4-billion
(Rs 17,600 crore) Fab City in India. Chip-maker AMD and Semindia,
a consortium of NRIs, is also setting up a Fab City in Hyderabad.
RANKED: On Forbes' elite list of 2000
corporate giants around the world, 34 Indian companies. ONGC leads
the pack of Indian companies (at #239), followed by Reliance Industries
(#258), State Bank of India (#326) and Indian Oil (#399). Tata
Consultancy figures at #1,047 on the list. Bharti Airtel is the
only Indian telecommunications company to find a place among the
2,000 giants with a rank of #1,149
 HIKED:
By 19 per cent, Japan's official development aid for 2006-07
to India to Rs 7,000 crore. The assistance will be used to fund
11 projects in the infrastructure and environment sectors, including
Phase II of the Delhi Metro Rail Transport System.
TIED-UP: The Hinduja Group and Dubai World,
owned by Dubai government, for a foray into healthcare. The JV,
in which the Hindujas will hold a 51 per cent stake, will invest
$1 billion (Rs 4,400 crore) over the next three years to build
hospitals, diagnostic training and clinical research facilities
in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and other cities.
INKED: Between Satyam Computer Services
and Applied Materials Inc, a $200-million (Rs 880 crore), five-year
deal under which the former will manage the nanotechnology supplier's
computer network in a "managed services delivery model".
INDIA
SLIDES DOWN
Here's another warning that bad
infrastructure can trip up the growth of India's fast-growing
it industry. According to the WEF Global Information Technology
Report 2006-07, India has slipped four places on the Networked
Readiness Index to #44. Denmark and Sweden are in first and second
places, respectively. If it's any consolation to India, China
has fared even worse on the index, sliding nine places to #59.
"Notwithstanding some specific clusters of ICT excellence in both
countries (India and China), their performance, overall, in leveraging
ICT for increased development appears to be particularly hindered
by weak infrastructure, with a very low level of individual ICT
usage for India and of individual and business readiness and usage
for China," the report states.
-Rahul Sachitanand
INDIA
TODAY TO LAUNCH PAPER
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| A new deal: Beatty (L) and Purie |
The INDIA TODAY group will shortly
launch a mainstream English daily in partnership with Associated
Newspapers, a subsidiary of Daily Mail and General Trust Plc (DMGT),
which publishes the Daily Mail. This partnership will include
equity participation by Associated Newspapers within the country's
current laws on foreign ownership in media and "will involve
an exchange of experience, ideas, talent and where appropriate,
content". This was announced on the sidelines of the India
Today Conclave held in Delhi recently.
An Associated Newspapers press release quoted Kevin Beatty,
Managing Director of that company, as saying that the India Today
Group "really understands the dynamism of the media landscape
in India and will make an excellent partner".
Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group,
said: "We have for some time now felt that there was a huge
opportunity for a new English language daily newspaper. Even though
the market is very competitive, we are confident that, with our
new partner, we will be able to publish a newspaper well differentiated
from those that are already available."
DMGT is one of the largest and most successful media companies
in the UK and publishes, besides the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday,
The Evening Standard, Metro, London Lite and Loot.
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