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| December 28, 2007 | | India's IT outsourcers face increasing costs
Multinationals continue to view the country as one of the most viable outsourcing destinations, but competitive pressures are making other countries look attractive.
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| December 24, 2007 | | On Asia: Indian funds question value of AIM listing
Despite coming to market last year amid a barrage of publicity, many of the Aim funds are still trading at a discount to their net asset values and some are still trading below their initial public offering prices even as their peers that listed in India are enjoying the good times.
Cisco to network whole cities
Cisco Systems, the world's biggest maker of data networking equipment, plans to launch a business group, based in Bangalore, India, that will wire new buildings and even entirely new cities with state-of-the-art networking technology.
Mall monument to India's consumer class
What in a few years will be India's largest shopping mall today is a kilometre-long, three-storey deep hole in the earth marked with a billboard the size of a tennis court.
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| December 21, 2007 | | Tata takes umbrage at Orient's rejection
Tata Group on Wednesday accused the management of a US-listed luxury hotel group of a "fossilised frame of mind" for suggesting the Indian group's hotel chain would be an unsuitable strategic partner, and has demanded a public apology.
Mittal takes stake in UK soccer club
Queen's Park Rangers, the Championship football club co-owned by two of the billionaires behind F1, on Thursday welcomed one of the world's richest men into its fold when Lakshmi Mittal bought a 20 per cent stake, writes .
China and India deliver on M&A promise
If 2006 was the year when companies in China and India hinted at their potential to redraw the global landscape for mergers and acquisitions, this has been the year when they started to deliver on their promise.
Jasdaq and BSE in talks over tie-up
Japan's main market for emerging technology companies is in talks with the Bombay Stock Exchange for an alliance that could lead to Indian companies listing on its board in Tokyo.
Arsenal announces Indian football scheme
England's soccer league teams are following the lead of multinationals and beginning to look to emerging markets for growth, with Premier League leader Arsenal FC on Tuesday announcing an initiative aimed at giving it a foothold in India.
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| December 20, 2007 | | Young executives do not mean life ends at 50
Anyone who is 50, or approaching that age (for those wishing to send me a card, May 31 2009 is the date), must feel a pang at the idea that we are over the hill. Mr Mason's logic, picked up by the FT on a tour of Tesco's Fresh & Easy US stores, is that Mr Leahy will be there for some years yet and the board will seek a successor who can stick around for a bit.
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| December 19, 2007 | | From riches to rags
China and India are poorer than we thought; rich countries produce even more than we realised. Those are the obvious conclusions from an unprecedented exercise, carried out by a World Bank-led coalition.
Chinese, Indian economies 'smaller than thought'
The economies of China and India are 40 per cent smaller than previously thought, according to new estimates published by the World Bank this week.
Indian IT gears up for US backlash
"It will be a potent combination of a weak economy and an election year," warned Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies.
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| December 17, 2007 | | World food price rises set to hit consumers
Global food prices will come under further pressure on Monday as benchmark prices for cereals at much higher levels come into operation, making it almost inevitable that a second wave of food price inflation will hit the world's leading economies.
Google aims at Wikipedia with Knol service
Google has taken direct aim at the widely-used Wikipedia with a project designed to supplant the collectively produced encyclopedia as the primary source for basic information on the Web.
Close Brothers in takeover talks
Close Brothers, the UK investment bank that on Friday said it had been approached by suitors, is understood to be in talks with Orix, the Japanese financial group, and Tata, the Indian conglomerate.
Expedia to expand through fresh destinations
Just as Thomas Cook and Tui Travel emerge with upbeat trading statements after months of complex merger deliberations, in flies Expedia, their US nemesis, to announce that it plans an assault on their home turf.
Speak up Asia, or the West will drown you out
As globalisation changes the world, having a worldview of Asia that is essentially shaped by western outlooks and prejudices is not just narrow-minded, it is also potentially highly dangerous.
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| December 15, 2007 | | Man in the News: Vikram Pandit
This week, Citigroup named as chief executive Vikram Pandit, a cerebral strategist with a degree in electrical engineering and one of the best minds in the business.
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| December 14, 2007 | | Engaging India: Crackdown on 'noisy' driving
The Mumbai traffic police, in a move that runs against the very culture of driving in this city of 18m, have begun cracking down on noisy motorists.
IBM in $1.6bn emerging markets drive
The attempt to tap a wider range of developing countries comes as IBM's earlier investment in the four biggest - Brazil, Russia, India and China - has started to pay off.
Reliance mutual fund sells stake to Eton Park
Reliance Capital Asset Management, controlled by Anil Ambani, has sold a 5 per cent stake to Eton Park Capital Management in a deal that for the first time puts a value on India's largest mutual fund.
World View: Indian mutual funds
India's mutual fund industry is one of the brightest spots in an already fast-growing domestic financial sector.
Bebo developers deal blow to Google
Bebo, founded by Michael and Xochi Birch, said it had made its platform compatible with Facebook's. This will allow developers to make applications, such as movie ratings and photo-sharing tools, work on both sites with the minimum of alterations.
'Jackass' to shake up film distribution
Paramount is to become the first Hollywood studio to make one of its new releases available free on the internet before it has been released on DVD in a move set to shake up established distribution models for film content.
One country, two systems, and a headache for Mittal
So while awaiting Chinese government approval to take a controlling 73 per cent interest in China Oriental, ArcelorMittal is also proceeding with another deal that would give it an equally controlling 55 per cent of the company.
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| December 13, 2007 | | Goldman chief's pay set to hit $70m
Goldman Sachs on Wednesay began celebrating confirmation of bumper bonuses for this year, with the chairman and chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, expected to lead the pack with a 30 per cent increase in his pay to about $70m.
Networking forum for rich aims to better their investments
A psychologist by training and an entrepreneur by trade, Claessens retired from corporate life more than a decade ago, after he sold Raadgevend Bureau Claessens, the human resources consulting group he started, to a private equity group.
Express your anger - it's all the rage
Companies have got themselves into a muddle over anger. On one hand they tell us to feel passionate about our work. On the other they expect us to be professional at all times.
Mirae aims for fund foray into India
Mirae Asset Management, one of South Korea's biggest investment companies, hopes to launch its first mutual fund in India early in the new year after the country's regulators last week gave it a licence to operate.
ABN Amro loses India chief
Romesh Sobti, ABN country head for India, will move to IndusInd Bank, a domestic private-sector institution controlled by the Hinduja family.
Rivals for Jaguar await Ford verdict
People close to Indian carmakers Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, and the buy-out group One Equity Partners, said on Tuesday that they expected Ford to respond imminently to their revised offers made last week.
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| December 12, 2007 | | India wants building workers back
"We are looking at how we can bring back skill sets developed by Indians overseas," Rajiv Singh, vice-chairman of DLF, said in an interview with the Financial Times. "Our desire is to have a very highly motivated and trained labour force come back and work for us."
How to solve the problem of the dollar
Further large shifts out of the dollar could indeed push the floating currencies far above their equilibrium levels, generating new imbalances and a possibly severe slowdown in global growth.
Two worlds collide
Naandi is one example of the increasingly common intersection of philanthropy and social entrepreneurship in India and south Asia.
Chinese inflation hits 11-year high
Chinese inflation reached an 11-year high of 6.9 per cent in November, a level that will harden Beijing's resolve to tighten monetary policy and probably further delay energy price reform.
Boeing names the day for Dreamliner
Boeing on Tuesday sought to calm concerns over its 787 programme by insisting it would deliver the first jet by the end of next year, although it left the door open for further delays by warning that the timetable was "aggressive" and far from "risk-free".
World View: India and atoms
It is still almost imperceptible. But the jostling in India's private sector for a position in what promises to become one of the country's biggest industries has already begun.
Pandit vows to simplify Citigroup structure
Vikram Pandit pledged to simplify Citigroup's organisation and reshape its businesses according to "economic realities" after being named chief executive of the bank.
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| December 11, 2007 | | Volvo to take on Tata in India
At the core of the new joint venture is an attack on Tata Motors, which dominates the commercial vehicle sector in the world's fourth-largest market for heavy trucks.
Axa's rare insight into the Asian giants
When it comes to the economic battle of the Asian giants -- China vs India -- plenty of people have opinions about which contender has the upper hand. But relatively few have practical experience of doing business in both countries.
India: Hubs are nub of the issue
For a direct indication of the premium attached to efficiently-run ports in India, one need look no further than the recent stock market listing of Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone.
Funds fight for front row seat in India
Many view private equity-related funds as a better way of capturing the upside in the economy, given that stock market valuations have been swollen by three to four years of almost uninterrupted share price rises.
Present tension
Thanks to India's increasingly open economy, no one there seems to want much from the West any more.
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| December 10, 2007 | | Goldman in $2bn property push
Goldman Sachs has amassed $2bn to use for property investments in Asia, a move likely to intensify competition for assets in fast-growing markets such as China and India.
IFC plans repeat of $1bn India investment
India has become a focus of private equity firms with deals worth more than $5.9bn this year, 50 per cent more than the total for all last year. Most of the leading firms have set up in India or are finalising plans to do so.
Vodafone forges Indian alliance
Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, and Idea, a smaller rival, have agreed to pool network infrastructure in a joint venture that may in the future seek a stock exchange listing.
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| December 08, 2007 | | Obesity throws wild card into US healthcare plans
Employers have begun to ramp up efforts to change employees' lifestyles, from smoking to obesity, with incentives including lower health insurance payments for health changes.
James Murdoch expands role at News Corp
As part of the reshuffle, James Murdoch will step down as chief executive of British Sky Broadcasting, and replace his father as non-executive chairman of the UK satellite broadcaster.
World View: No passage to India
For Orascom, the real jewel in HTIL's crown was Hutchison Essar, India's fourth largest mobile phone company and a natural complement to its existing operations in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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| December 07, 2007 | | Engaging India: Vital remittances
A World Bank report released last week projected that remittances to developing countries alone will reach $240bn this year compared to $221bn in 2006, with Asia receiving $114bn.
Treats for those on the move
Gadget Guru this week focuses on mobile personal technology.
Business schools adopt gaming technology
More than 30 universities and business schools have so far signed up with IBM to incorporate the computer giant's Innov8 "serious game" into their programme plans.
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| December 06, 2007 | | The utopian myth of India's double dividend
While the national population explosion places nearly intolerable strains on India's physical and social infrastructure, the country's democracy is so dysfunctional that it is reasonable to ask whether it can rise to the looming economic and demographic challenges.
Indian airline privatisation faces uphill battle
Praful Patel, India's reformist civil aviation minister, has helped drive the privatisation of Mumbai and 's moribund airports, overcoming initial protests by employees.
Holcim to raise ACL stake in Indian push
Holcim, the world's second-biggest cement producer, on Tuesday said it would spend almost $600m to expand in India, underlining the determination of leading manufacturers to tap into key growth markets.
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| December 05, 2007 | | Property rise tests Indian foundations
Since India eased rules governing foreign investment in property in 2005, western private equity funds and, now increasingly, the cash-rich states of the United Arab Emirates across the Arabian Sea from India, have flocked to the country.
Emirates target India real estate
India's biggest listed developer, DLF, and Dubai's Nakheel have announced a joint venture with plans to invest more than $10bn to build two townships on 40,000 acres.
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| December 04, 2007 | | Discrimination rife in Indian economy
Male graduates applying for private sector jobs in India are far more likely to progress to the next round if they have high-caste Hindu names than if they have surnames associated with dalit (formerly untouchable) or Muslim origins.
India's elite schools aim at autonomy
With India's top business schools eager to establish themselves as leading global brands, government control is hugely restrictive.
Sony flops in Bollywood
Hollywood's first big foray into Bollywood has received a bruising reception in India with websites that track box-office sales branding it a flop.
Tata Steel joins 'coal rush' in Mozambique
The Indian steelmaker, which bought the Mozambique project with Australia-listed Riversdale Mining, sees the mine as essential in ensuring it has a sustainable supply of coking coal.
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| December 03, 2007 | | Google to compete in wireless auction
The company hinted that it is likely to offer at least $4.6bn for the most valuable piece of spectrum on offer.
How to handle bonus season
What is the best course of action for executives trying to allocate a smaller bonus pot? And how should they manage expectations to prevent mass defections or legal action?
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| November 30, 2007 | | Brands target India's 'orange' men
The use of henna as hair dye may be waning as western tastes sweep through the malls and markets of urban India, but it is far from dead in towns and villages.
Enough mobiles for 'half the world'
The actual number of people using mobile phones is 2.5 billion, as about a quarter of users are thought to have 2 or 3 mobile-phone connections.
Rise seen in Internet's role in espionage
More than 100 countries are believed to be using the Internet for espionage, says McAfee, the information technology security company.
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| November 29, 2007 | | DLF buys into chain of luxury hotels
DLF is paying $200m for a controlling stake in Amanresorts. The deal comes at a time when Indian automotive companies Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra are bidding for Ford's luxury Jaguar and Land Rover marques.
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