2003: The budget airline boom

India's first low-cost airline's first flight started with a bang, quite literally. Air Deccan's scheduled flight, from Hyderabad to Vijaywada, was grounded after an engine fire. Despite the setback and some lingering concerns about the safety procedures on its aircraft, Captain G.R. Gopinath's Air Deccan went ahead with its expansion plans and introduced flights on several routes. The Indian middleclass nodded in approval as the airline's fares were half of what was being charged by the leading full service airlines. Air Deccan's success saw other low-cost airlines such as IndiGo and GoAir entering the fray over the next few years. Air Deccan was the first airline to move to tier 2 and tier 3 cities such as Madurai, Nashik, Belgaum, Gwalior and Vishakhapatnam. But Gopinath's dream ran out of cash within five years. The airline of the masses was aquired and merged with Kingfisher Airlines.

India Inc's global footprint
It was the year when corporate India began looking beyond the country's shores. State-owned ONGC had showed the way the previous year by making India's then largest overseas acquisition when it bought a 25 per cent stake in the Sakhalin oil and gas field in Russia for $1.7 billion. Ranbaxy acquired RPG (Aventis) for $70 million, while Reliance made its first international acquisition, Flag Telecom, for $207 million.

Bulls return
After staying in the trenches following the Ketan Parekh scam, the bulls staged a comeback in 2003. The Indian growth story saw FIIs pumping in $7.43 billion. Indeed, 2003 marked the beginning of the biggest bull rally in the history of India, which peaked in January 2008, with the Sensex rising seven-fold, from about 3,000 in 2003 to its then lifetime high of 21,206.77 points in January 2008. The Sensex surged over 70 per cent in 2003 alone.

Did you know?
TCS became the fi rst Indian IT company to cross $1 billion in revenues in 2003.
 

Quote of the year A truly independent board adds tremendous value to corporate governance and performance. We have independent directors who are professionals and experts, not industrialist friends. Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group