Happy New Year !

Happy new year everyone ! Hope the new year ushers joy and peace to everyone.

$1 billion deal: Maxis bags 74% of Aircel

The Foreign telcos are coming - calling. Maxis has ventured into India with a majority stake in an Indian Telco , thanks to the recent Govt initiative of raising the FDI in Telecom to 74%.

Express reports "Malaysia's biggest cellphone firm, Maxis Communications Bhd, expanded into the fast-growing Indian market on Friday, taking the lead in a $1.08 billion joint-venture takeover of Aircel Ltd. "

Newsweek - India Inc

Newsweek has an article on the rise of India Inc .Its "No longer just an outsourcing hub for low-level jobs, India is luring top American talent and unprecedented new investments by tech giants like Microsoft and Intel.

"Erik Simonsen got his M.B.A. at New York University, but the 28-year-old decided to go half a world away for his internship. He chose Copal Partners, a small technology company near New Delhi over similar companies on the East Coast and in Silicon Valley. "I was drawn to India because while U.S. markets are stagnating, so much is happening here," he explains. "It's a chance to re-experience the dotcom environment of the 1990s. Companies are growing so quickly here that opportunities to take on responsibility are greater."

Universities are responding to the demand for international experience, particularly in emerging Asian markets. Last summer, Yale president Richard Levin took a 12-member team to set up joint ventures with several Indian universities. The Ivy League school will send 30 interns over this year and expects to send 50 next year. It also has 30 faculty collaboration projects underway in a number of subjects ranging from public health, to management and forestry. And this year, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's India program, funded by the National Science Foundation, flew over 28 Ph.D.s to pursue their research in science and economics. "MIT sends students because it's aware of our globalized world," says coordinator Deepti Nijhawan. "But it's a leap of faith."

M.B.A.s aren't the only ones seeking professional experience in India. Emily Hueske, who is researching mutating proteins in mice for her Ph.D., spent two months at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore. "Our lab at MIT wanted to do the work that this excellent neuroscience lab is doing; I wanted to go because India's religion, food, culture are so different." She valued meeting Indian families, and the "real" people that casual visitors don't see. "It was the most solid work time I had with a specific goal. The lab is supremely set up—different from MIT because it's more conservationist, there's more recycling.

30% India Inc owned by foreigners. So?

In an opinion piece in the Business Standard, T.N.Ninan analyses the issue and fear of foreign ownership of Indian firms.

He writes, " Should it worry us if 30 per cent of publicly quoted Indian companies are now owned by foreigners—as this newspaper reported earlier this week? My answer would be: No, but watch further developments. There is no cause for worry because the foreign capital is being used for Indian development, and for furthering the prosperity of Indians, so it should be welcomed. After all, the jobs are being created here, taxes are being paid here, and value is being added here in a variety of ways (development of institutionalised capabilities, strong organisations and the like). n macro-economic terms, too, the numbers are not significant. For instance, the total foreign shareholding in Indian companies is about $150 billion. That is large when compared to India’s foreign debt (which is slightly smaller), but not large if seen in the perspective of a total balance sheet of India’s assets and liabilities. Unfortunately, no one in India works out such a balance sheet (some other countries do, like Britain), but it is worth bearing in mind that the value of India’s 300-million strong cattle population is probably equal to that part of the foreign investment (about $40 billion) that is linked to corporate control. Which is why the issue is not the absolute quantum of money or ownership, but political control and regulatory autonomy.

Nevertheless, as long as markets are competitive, there is nothing to fret about. Anyone would wish for powerful Indian brands and successful Indian companies, but this is best left to competitive forces. Official policies designed to develop “national champions” haven’t always worked. Besides, Hindustan Lever’s dominance of the consumer softs market for decades has meant nothing in terms of loss of national autonomy; besides which, home-grown challengers keep popping up and taking chunks of the market.f we are talking of control, about half of the foreign holding in listed Indian companies (about $80 billion) is by portfolio investors who have no interest in control. About half of the rest is again accounted for by other categories, including non-resident Indians and ADRs/GDRs, which are de-linked from control. The foreign ownership that is linked to control is just 8 per cent out of the 30 per cent. This is only counting the listed companies; many large foreign companies are not listed (Coke and Pepsi, GE and Intel). But then, Indian companies have begun to buy companies in other countries, so this is not a one-way street.

In conclusion, even if there is nothing to worry about today, one should watch further developments because India gets less than 10 per cent of the total capital flows to the emerging markets, and these in turn are less than 10 per cent of global capital flows. If the international flows should keep growing rapidly, the issue would be whether we have a corporate sector that is large enough to handle those flows."

Roche signs Tamiflu deal with Indian company

The healthcare industry has been facing rough weather in the last few years over neglect of poor nations and over-priced drugs in underdeveloped/developing nations. With several govt's forcing these companies to lower prices or allow low cost drug firms to proliferate with little regard for IPO laws -- the industry has had a very tumultous period.

This deal marks a big turning point in the Industry. FT reports that, " Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical group, has signed a pioneering deal authorising an Indian drugs company to manufacture and sell its antiviral flu medicine Tamiflu under licence in a number of developing countries.Hetero, based in Hyderabad, becomes the second drug company after Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group to receive a sub-licence that will allow it to sell large volumes of Tamiflu at a price that it chooses.

Roche is under growing pressure to meet escalating global demand at low cost for Tamiflu, the best currently available treatment and potential prophylactic against a future bird flu pandemic.The Indian deal is important because for the first time it authorises a partner company to produce and sell Tamiflu not only in its home market – as is the case with Shanghai – but also in other less developed and developing countries.He said Hetero would pay a royalty to Roche but would not elaborate on the amount. He said it was relatively modest, to reflect the fact that Roche must also pay a proportion of the revenues to Gilead, the US company that developed Tamiflu and has the original patents."

Airtel-NDTV -- Indian of the Year

Airtel in partnership with NDTV is Running a "Indian of the Year" contest. Participants can vote for their favourite candidate via SMS. The nominees are : Rahul Dravid, Sania Mirza, Amitabh Bachchan,Aishwarya Rai, Sonia Gandhi,Manmohan Singh,L K Advani,Nitish Kumar,Narayana Murthy,S. Manjunath,Aruna Roy,Laxmi Mittal,Sachin Tendulkar.

I am glad to see Manjunath's name among the nominees. Let integrity be rewarded at least posthumously.

To find out who is chosen as the "Indian of the Year", Watch NDTV 24X7 and NDTV Profit on December 31, 2005.

India's new export : Video Games

BusinessWeek gushes that Video games could be India's next export. Though the article is way too optimistic , Indiagames is definitely an exciting company. With China's TOM Online,Cisco & Macromedia (Adobe) as investors , the company has done some terrific work (An ex-colleague of mine works there).

Timbaktu Collective -- Couple of the Year

The Week has a wonderful cover story on the "Timbaktu Collective " -- An NGO that is doing phenomenal work in AP. Mary & Bablu responsible for this movement , feature on the cover and have been named the "couple of the year".

"Ideas nurtured in the Timbaktu Colle-ctive were taken to the villages in CK Palli, Roddam and Ramgiri mandals. From natural regeneration of wasteland, organic farming, propagation of traditional food crops and soil conservation to women's and Dalit empowerment and rural health, Timbaktu has a whole range of rural activity based on the three R's: regeneration, rejuvenation and revitalisation.

The Collective never made the decisions; rather, it allowed the villagers to take over decision-making. The villagers eagerly formed vanasamrakshana (forest protection) committees that restricted grazing to designated areas and prevented overgrazing. The committees formed groups to fight fires and to draw fire lines in summer. Soil conservation was achieved by building rock-filled and mud check dams in the valleys, and digging trenches and pits along the slopes. What they practised in Timbaktu was replicated in the surrounding villages. Today, Timbaktu Collective has helped transform 10,000 acres of denuded hills into verdant slopes."

NRN among world's most admired CEO's

According to a new global study conducted by Burson-Marsteller with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the Infosys chairman and chief mentor has been named world’s eighth most admired CEOs in 2005, in a list of 15.

Media Madness - India

Sensationalism is the name of the game. Triviality gets magnified and in the name of investigative journalism, the press runs amuck. V.Gangadhar (Who used to write earlier in THE HINDU) writes a wonderful opinion piece in HT titled " No Method to Media Madness" .

Some excerpt , " As India's number one showman Amitabh Bachchan lay ill at hospital, the Indian media, both print and TV, provided us with examples of 'new journalism' made up of exaggeration, sensationalism and plain silliness. About half-a-dozen OB vans belonging to various TV channels were parked near the hospital; reporters, mostly young and brash, were determined to tell the world what they thought of Bachchan's illness. In the process they proved a nuisance to other patients and genuine visitors to the hospital.

One man's illness was turned into a soap opera with tears, rage, and a bit of attempted deceit for that elusive scoop. One of the reporters from Aaj Tak tried to enter the hospital posing as a doctor though this was denied by the channel's editor who pointed out that his reporter did not wear a gown and was without any hidden camera or electronic equipment.Breaking news included such gems like 'Abhi Amitabh ko stretcher mein laya gaya', 'Amitabh aaj juice piya tha' (I don't know why they missed out whether he drank orange, apple or pineapple juice!).The coverage had the message that nothing else was happening in the country. But this was not so. Young viewers polled by Mid-Day agreed that the Volcker committee report was more important than the Amitabah soap opera. The media ignored the fact that one of the most famous music directors of Bollywood, OP Nayyar, was also admitted to the Lilavati hospital just before the Amitabh illness.A media watcher for over 30 years, I am distressed at the lack of news sense and the focus on trivia. Nothing is serious, we are told. Watching We the People show, I am often shocked that even while discussing serious issues like rape, child molestation and caste wars, the discussion often degenerates into a club-like atmosphere with laughter and giggles. What kind of conclusions can one draw from this mood of jollity?

I worked in an era when everyone had to be referred to as 'Mr' particularly in big newspapers. There are rotten eggs in politics but that did not mean you can refer to them by their first names."

A small win in a Big Battle

Its the small wins like this that will spur us to bigger victories. Reuters reports that, " A former prostitute has taken over as head of a global HIV/AIDS project in eastern India, promising to completely wipe out new infections in one of Asia's biggest red light districts.Bharati Dey, 40, took over as director of the World Health Organisation-funded HIV/AIDS project for some 6,000 prostitutes of Sonagachi, a teeming red light district in northern Kolkata.

"My chief goal is to ensure that not a single sex worker offers her service without condoms. We want to bring down the infection rate to zero," Dey, who took over on Dec. 1, told Reuters.
Sonagachi's HIV/AIDS control programme has brought infection rates down to around five percent from around 90 percent a decade ago, partly by encouraging prostitutes to refuse sex without condoms.The Sonagachi programme's success saw the U.S.-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation use it as a model for a $200 million project in six other Indian cities."

India tops US for 2nd spot in FDI destination rankings

The Hindu Businessline reports that, " INDIA replaces the US as the second most attractive FDI location, up from last year's third place ranking, according to the latest Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index, an annual survey of executives from the world's largest companies conducted by AT Kearney. China continued on top of the index for the third year running.

According to AT Kearney, it is for the first time in the history of the index, which began tracking the FDI intentions of global executives in 1998, emerging market countries have been ranked first and second as the most attractive FDI locations.The bullishness among corporate leaders about India has been attributed to several factors, including FDI inflows to India surpassing the $5-billion mark in 2004, the Government reforming the FIPB and setting up the Investment Commission and FDI caps in telecom, aviation, banking, media sectors being raised".

Stress bug at the IIT's

The Indian Express takes a look at the mounting suicide attempts in the IIT campuses. Stopping short of suggesting an EQ test alongwith the JEE (Objective) test , the article veers close to a need for spiritual & emotional balance.

Intel plans $1 billion investment in India

BBC reports that, " Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, plans to invest $1bn (£576m) in India over the next five years.The firm will spend $800m on boosting its research and development operation, with the rest of the cash being used to finance investment in firms.Intel's division in Bangalore is the company's biggest non-manufacturing operation outside of the US.Intel said it was in talks with the government about manufacturing chips in India, although it added that it had yet to make a decision as to when, if at all, that would happen. "

Intel has apparently asked for a lot of sops from the Govt for its manufacturing site and the govt was reluctant to agree to some of the terms. Will Mr.Maran be successful in wooing Intel ?

CMC Vellore joins stem cell research

The Indian Express reports that , " With President Abdul Kalam flagging off a centre for stem cells research at the Christian Medical College yesterday, the renowned college and hospital in Vellore, 200 km from Chennai, will join intensive global research in stem cell applications.Five scientific faculty will devote their entire time to research with stem cells, supported by research fellows and technical staff.

‘‘Stem cell applications in regenerating damaged cardiac muscle and treatment of diabetes mellitus will be the important objectives of the stem cell research,’’ CMC Director Dr. George Chandy told The Indian Express. Delivering the Dr Ida Scudder Oration, named after the founder of CMC, after laying the foundation stone for the research centre at CMC, Kalam called for ‘‘intensive research’’ for developing and producing cost effective treatment regime for genetic disorders, disorders due to cellular function deficiency and disorders arising out of certain pathogens through gene therapy and gene chip research, stem cell research and combination vaccine and pathogen specific antibiotics.

Its a welcome news that CMC is setting up a stem cell research centre. But has the government tried to initiate a public debate on "Stem cell research" ? With the world polarised into two camps on this issue, its very important to debate whether the "embryo" constitutes "life". The ethical debate assumes greater significance in a diverse nation like India with multiple religions.
Interesting to see these words on the wikipedia website , " Others do not view a blastocyst as a human being, and may instead see opposition of stem cell research as unfounded due to the suffering that new medical technologies could prevent. Many Jews,Hindus, Muslims, Humanists, liberal members of the Church of Christ, as well as a significant number of mainstream Christians are supportive of embryonic stem cell research. "

India achieves 8% Q2 growth

WSJ reports that " India's economy expanded faster than expected in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, sparking some hope the country can achieve 8% growth for the year.The economy expanded 8% from the year-ago second period, powered by a robust performance in trade, hotels and transport. Private-sector economists said the latest quarterly figures, announced yesterday, made them optimistic India can keep expanding solidly, though some cautioned that economic growth could falter unless the government redoubles its often-halting efforts to open up India more widely to foreign investment."