Challenging The Challenger

Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to clarify his position on key economic issues like fiscal deficit, current account deficit, monetary policy and challenged his knowledge of foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi brand retail. Chidambaram had a bitter exchange of words with BJP leaders on various economic policy issues in the past few days. Is PC trying to put words in the mouth of NaMo?

Regulations Change, Regulator Continues

Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman UK Sinha, who has been instrumental in taking steps for the revival of the mutual fund industry, is likely to continue being the head of the institution till 2016. Sinha is all set to get a two-year extension, after his three-year term as the market regulator comes to an end.

Realistic Expectations

CII expects the Indian economy to grow in the range of 4.5 to 5 per cent during the second half of the current financial year. The industry body does not see possibility of any significant improvement in GDP growth for the October-March period against the first half of the current financial year, and has asked the government to take necessary steps to improve the investment climate in the country and boost domestic demand. Hope the statisticians aren’t left red faced with these estimates. After all aren’t they all projecting a much better second half for quite some time now?

Halla Bol!!!

After talks between the Indian Banks' Association team and representatives of bank employee unions failed to reach an agreement on wage hike, the United Forum of Bank Unions has called for a sector-wide strike on February 10-11. On December 18, 2013, about a million bank employees had struck work, demanding early wage revision and opposing banking reforms. No matter how much we progress economically, technologically and socially, unionism will always be there.

Changes On Top

Former Bharti Airtel CEO (India and South Asia) Sanjay Kapoor has joined the board of PVR Cinemas as a director. He has held key leadership positions in the Bharti Group till May 15, 2013 and prior to joining the Bharti Group, he worked with Xerox India. 

Meanwhile in some more high profile reshuffle at Airtel, Manoj Kohli, the current MD and CEO (International) of the company will step down from the post and become the chairman of Bharti Airtel Netherlands BV, the holding company of Bharti's African operations. This makes way for  Gopal Vittal’s elevation to the post, who is currently the joint MD and CEO (India) of Bharti Airtel. How far will this reshuffle lead to a good and profitable business future of the group will be keenly watched by all including us.

Apex Court At Work

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of private telecom operators who argued that a recent Delhi HC order, permitting CAG to audit their revenue receipts, may have wider implications as it can be applied across the board. But, the bench, headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan refused to any pass interim order on the plea to restrain the Centre from seeking relevant documents from companies.

In another development the Supreme Court has ordered the Sahara Group to reveal the source of Rs 19k-crore of cash inflow which it used to repay the deposits taken by it from investors. The Supreme Court has threatened Sahara of taking strict action if it failed to provide the information sought and has ordered it to explain all the details of where it got the money from. The bench also refused to permit Sahara Chief Subrata Roy, who has been barred from travelling for the last two months, from going abroad until the company gives satisfactory answers to questions raised by markets regulator SEBI about the payments. Good to see the judiciary act strictly.

For The Discerning Consumer

Mercedes to assemble new S-Class in Chakan

German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India rolled out its 50000th car in the form of a C-Class Grand Edition from its Chakan plant. The auto major assembles C-Class, ML-Class, GL-Class and E-Class and is ready to assemble new S-Class in April this year from the plant. Foreign companies are finally recognizing the coming of age of the Indian consumer. 

Meanwhile here is the line up for the Indian passenger ready for a change or an upgrade or simply put join the car owners club. 

Hyundai has launched Santa FE which comes at an ex-showroom price of Rs 26.3 Lakh. It has a new storm edge design and replaces the older models and is set to compete with SUVs like Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Ssangyong Rexton and Chevrolet Captiva.  

With Koreans trying to capture the market on the higher end how could our own homegrown giant remain behind? Bookings for the Celerio have opened with a bang. The vehicle has what Maruti terms an 'EZ Drive' (an Automated Manual Transmission), variants of which return 23.1 kmpl in the ARAI mileage test. 

If Maruti can do it, so can Tatat. India`s largest carmaker Tata Motors unveiled its first new models in the past four years. Banking on two small cars to reverse the company`s sliding passenger car sales in the face of growing foreign competition it is pinning its hopes on the Bolt hatchback and the Zest which is an entry-level sedan to tap into the small car market that accounts for the bulk of passenger vehicle sales in India. Go drive your liking!