Cover Story
- The Budget is not going to be easy for the Finance Minister.Not because it is expected to be an election budget, fraught with all the attendant expectations - from recalcitrant allies to tax-payers to deprived India, which, justifiably, wants its share of the boom.
- Not surprisingly, rationalisation of different taxes scores high on people’s wish lists.
- The economy is slowing down, foreign investors have turned wary, and there is an election to be won next year. So, will Finance Minister P. Chidambaram script Budget 2008 for votes or growth? Shalini S. Dagar tells us what we can expect this year. Full coverage: Budget 2008-09
From the Editor
It's a tricky year to be Finance Minister and have a Budget to present. On the one hand, after a dream run, the Indian economy is showing telltale signs of what could be a slowdown. The BT 50 index
The BT 50 index India's favourable business environment has attracted the attention of foreign investors. I do not see any reason why we cannot sustain 9 per cent growth even in the face of a global slowdown. I know some are not happy about our emphasis on inflation control. India will spend between $25 billion (Rs 1 lakh crore) and $35 billion (Rs 1.4 lakh crore) by 2012 to buy several high tech and big ticket armaments for the defence forces. No wonder every arms merchant worth its trigger is pitching its wares at the Defence Expo being held in New Delhi from February 16. Here's a look at the shopping list. Chandrasekhar Bhaskar Bhave, 59, has just been appointed Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), replacing M. Damodaran, who completed three years in office on February 17, 2008. Profit earned by Exxon Mobil Corporation in 2007, the largest annual profit by the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company. The Department of Telecom is busy sortingoutthe spectrummuddle. To begin with, it has rejected the claim by CDMA operators that GSM players were hoarding spectrum. The pronounced stock market volatility has jolted SEBI into action. It plans to review the risk management framework for derivatives.Pogo blazing a trail in market
After spinning a frenzy with Beyblades (which sold a million units in 2005), the Rs 120-crore organised toy market has been scorched by Blazing YoYos that have already sold 1.2 million units. Telecom Minister A. Raja wants to bring down average call rates to around 25 paise a minute, but telecom operators are not waiting for a diktat from the ministry to offer discounts, though rates and schemes vary from circle to circle. Things aren’t as bad for the Indian IT industry as the sombre mood among delegates at the NASSCOM Leadership Forum held recently in Mumbai tended to convey. International market research company Synovate has recently conducted a world wide "Hot spots" survey to understand what consumers want and has shared the findings exclusively with Business Today. We bring you excerpts from the survey. With old economy sectors making an impressive comeback, the traditional strongholds for these sectors are again emerging as the top cities for jobs. Vadodara, Faridabad and Jaipur are the three Tier II cities that are generating the maximum number of jobs, according to Naukri.com. For those grappling with employee attrition and retention issues, here’s some insight into why people quit. In an online poll conducted by Yellojobs.com, a referral recruitment network, 42 per cent of the respondents said they changed jobs due to “bad” superiors. Virtualisation was among the most talked about technologies in 2007; in 2008, this technology will come into play in a big way, according to projections by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Group. Travel retail is still in its infancy in India. However, that is changing. A large number of MNCs and domestic majors are in queue to set up retail outlets at new new airports that are being built. The cracks in the Left Front are beginning to show. The Forward Bloc, a key constituent of the Front in West Bengal, is going it alone in Tripura and in the municipal polls in West Bengal. Days after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y.V. Reddy maintained status quo on key interest rates, several banks, led by the state-owned State Bank of India (SBI) slashed their prime lending rates (PLR) by 25 basis points. There are now unmistakable signals that the Indian economy is losing steam. All indicators seem to point towards a slowdown in the offing.India will be our APAC & global hub - Christoph Kollatz
Christoph Kollatz, Group President, Siemens IT Solutions (SIS), has been involved in the final integration of Siemens Business Services into the division he heads. Kollatz was in Mumbai recently and met Business Today’s Anusha Subramanian to talk about the company and its plans in India. The fortnight’s burning question: Has the Indian stock market finally run out of steam after a five-year bull run? Industrial growth is plunging. The bad news for India is that the government’s focus on inflation over growth and the impending slowdown in the US economy will hurt the entire economy and place a question mark over the India growth story. Has India decoupled from the US? A fair answer will have to be both yes and no. Gartner's (Ed)ICT
The Indian tech market could touch $24.3 billion by 2011. Four seasons’ first hotel in India is almost ready. Hyderabad’s spanking new airport takes off. Entertainment, cricket… TV viewers never had it so good. India Inc. trains its sights on defence and aerospace. The tale of Ronnie Screwvala’s UTV is almost as fantastic as some of the blockbuster Bollywood productions that have come out of this media & entertainment house. The IPO party on Dalal Street was good till it lasted. Will fropper.com’s ad revenue-sharing gambit work? NIIT still hasn’t found what it’s looking for. Say hello to the ‘pashas’ of Pakistan’s IT sector. Titan launches watches in the Rs 6-12 lakh bracket. If Steria doesn’t ring a bell, Xansa should. VSNL becomes Tata Communications— and much more. Mumbai builders find a novel way to beat land supply crunch. A Bangalore-based I-banking firm gets angel funding. Spurious drug trade in the capital is booming. The biotech company walks its talk with a European buy. Russia and the US face stiff competition for Indian orders. TCS goes for a rejig to simplify things for its customers. Sops to developing countries could break the Doha deadlock. A welcome move
First, there was enthusiasm and excitement; then came disappointment and anger; and now, there’s a flash of elation—all in the space of a fortnight. Sovereign funds are the latest rage in global financial markets. Most recently, such governmentowned funds (hence, the ‘sovereign’ tag) from Singapore (Temasek), Kuwait (Kuwait Investment Authority), and South Korea (Korea Investment Corp.) were responsible for bailing out America’s ‘subprime-hit’ banking giants such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.Wanted: A 'new deal' for India's farms
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is under tremendous pressure—to deliver a Budget that keeps everyone happy. There is, after all, the small matter of 10 state elections later this year and the general elections in 2009. Feedback from the readers
Kudos for a great issue on best banks. I, however, have a point to make. While ranking the banks, you should have also considered the views of the customer and considered paramaters like the most user-friendly bank, how the bank fares on customer satisfaction, the time taken to deal with complaints to the customer’s satisfaction, the number of complaints recieved, etc. I hope your survey next year factors in these issues. Good but boring
The ‘new’ Scorpio has lots of new toys and handles well, but, on the flip side, looks as boxy as before. Russi, the irrepressible
An indulgent look at the life and times of one of India Inc’s most colourful characters. Remembering Britpop
The last great musical movement was also one of the most melodic. Welcome to the sounds of Britpop. Here’s taking a look at the hottest new entrants in the Indian footwear market who are making waves with their new range of shoes. Catch the eye at every social do you attend. Caring for leather shoes is not just about making your footwear look good. It’s also about preserving them and adding to the life of the shoes. Soon after man learnt how to clothe himself, he focussed his attention on his feet. The shoes you wear say a lot about you. Which is why choosing the right footwear for different occasions (and even for different times of the day) is an art that needs to be mastered. A state of the art camera, new fitness equipment, jewellery and even perfumes—there’s a lot of new stuff for you this fortnight. Trying on a new shoe? Did you say new? Almost none of the footwear styles in vogue today is less than half-amillennium old.Golf watchers are different, too
All golfers have a natural shape to their shots. You are either a slicer or a hooker (a harmless golfing term used for golfers who shape their shots from right to left on a regular basis). If you are headed to a board meeting or to sign a business deal, it's time to put on your best formal shoes. Let us help you out with the classiest styles that can adorn your feet.f Since the dawn of filmmaking, the documentary has held its own against its more glamorous sibling, the feature film. We take a look at three hard-hitting examples of the genre. Have you ever wondered about the different parts that make up your footwear? Here’s presenting the formal shoe—piece by piece. Daniel Day-Lewis is quite simply one of the most talented actors alive. What few know is that the reclusive actor took a year off from work in the late 1990s—working as an ‘intern’ to a Florentine master craftsman and learning how to make bespoke shoes. Three new places to head to for some soul-stirring music, amazing cocktails and mouth-watering food. What are you waiting for? Casual wear doesn’t mean looking shoddy. Try out these smart shoes. It is Japan’s best-known spirit. And like many things Japanese, it’s a great buy. Join us as we take a look at some of the best boots to add to your wardrobe. This fortnight, we feature three books that are very different from each other in approach and writing styles. Yet, they share one thing in common: stories of people and their lives, which are inspirational. Nothing beats a well-crafted Bespoke suit. Want a shoe that’s created only for your feet? Wake up to the world of bespoke shoes. Can a great pair of shoes really enhance your look? What shoes should you wear if you are short or thin or if you are going to a formal dinner or a casual do? Simone Battiwala, manager of Fendi India and a styling and fashion advisor, tells you just that. Indians, somehow, are still chary about ordering a good Napa wine when they are entertaining. Maybe, it’s because American wines tend to be in short supply and more expensive. The mountainous terrain of Alsace in France, bordering Germany and Switzerland, has a lot more than just a simple vacation to offer. The new C220 CDI from Mercedes-Benz is here and, boy, it does fill up your senses when you take it out for a drive! Before you go on your family vacation this year, you might want to invest in a new digital camera. So, we got three of the latest automatic digital cameras from Canon, Nikon and Sony and dispatched them to renowned fashion photographer and advertising maverick Rohit Chawla for his verdict. Swinging the swing
BT-Honda Pro-Am’s Western Regional round brought to the fore the golfing skills of some of the big boys of business. Help Tarun!
From Immunology to drug development to biostatistics & bioinformatics, there are lots of fields in which you can do your PhD. You should speak to eminent people in the field, professors, researchers etc. There’s a spurt in demand for merchandisers. FMCG, realty, financial services and IT companies are paying the highest CEO and managing director salaries, reveals the fourth quarterly survey by BT-Omam Consultants. 'The larger-than-life CEO belongs to the past'
A NASSCOM-Business Today panel focus on the burning subject of global leadership. Buoyed by a rapidly growing domestic market, MNC IT services players are ramping up headcount in a big way. Rajiv Singh is taking India’s leading real estate company DLF places, quite literally. After making successful forays into insurance, hospitality and retail, the company, it has bagged the Indian Premier League (IPL) title sponsorship rights.The future is print 2.0 - Vyomesh Joshi
A Silicon Valley veteran of 27 years, Vyomesh Joshi is also on the board of Yahoo. In India, on a rare trip ‘back home’ (to attend a family wedding), Joshi, or VJ to friends and colleagues, agreed to don his corporate duds for an hour and talk to BT’s Kushan Mitra about his successes and the future of printing. Shrinking the canvas
Art funds need SEBI’s nod to qualify as investment schemes. SEBI has abolished initial issue expenses for close-ended funds, too. LIC has launched a unique health plan that also offers ULIP’s advantages. Do you need it? The recent round of rate cuts is welcome, but will it rev up housing sales? Should you buy or invest in a house now?Cashing in on cashless healthcare
They are gaining popularity, but before you sign up, here’s what you should know about cashless insurance. Indian capital markets increasingly take their cues from global markets. But smart investors have started moving away from stocks that will be affected by the US slowdown. You should, too. Investing in commodities can be just as profitable as doing so in equity and debt. Amid worries of a growth slowdown, many companies are still making plenty of money. Mark of distinction
It’s an honour that seems to have come a little late in the day. Among the innumerable feathers in his cap, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Group Chairman and CEO, Bharti Enterprises, has added another— the GSM Association Chairman’s Award 2008. Compute on the move
Forget the Simputer, the mobile computer is here. In fact, it has been here for a while. Mega plans, giga risks
Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power has the most aggressive plans of all power players and investors are willing to repose faith in the premium for the Ambani surname. K.R. Balasubramanyam finds out whether Reliance Power has bitten off more than it can chew. Reliance Energy to consider buyback of shares Who will get Reliance Power bonus?Reliance Power wants allotment dues before bonus offer Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus was a marriage made in heaven. Now Ratan Tata, along with the top brass of both companies, is burning the midnight oil to make the union work.The clash of the telecom titans
The big boys of Indian telecom just can’t have enough of a booming market for wireless services. That’s why they plan to pump billions in putting up more infrastructure and expanding into new areas in the fiscal year ahead. Meantime, a clutch of pretenders has ambitions of gate-crashing the Great Telecom Party. The housing finance market is slowing down, but not if you asked HDFC, which is clocking growth rates of 25-30 per cent and even expanding its market share. The inside story of how it has kept running while others around it are stumbling. An ambitious project to wire up Indian judiciary promises to not just speed up delivery of justice, but also make it accessible to everyone from anywhere, anytime. Pick and choose
That’s what some top investment analysts and stockbrokers say about buying auto stocks. Motorcycle sales are down, and the focus is shifting to the higher end of the market. Despite ‘unfair’ competition from China, the Indian auto components industry is ready to take on all comers. The luxury segment is growing the fastest, and how. Massive capacities being set up by Hyundai, Tata, Maruti and others will enhance India's competitiveness in the global market and make it the hub of the world in the small car segment. World's thinnest laptop is here
The MacBook Air is the world’s thinnest laptop. It is 0.4 centimetres at its thinnest point, 1.9 centimetres at its thickest (or the width of your index finger), and weighs a mere 3 pounds.Now, a plane that runs on biofuel
It is a standard, run-of-the-mill Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 with unmodified General Electric CF6 engines that will run on a 20 per cent blend of biofuel. 
