The month that was - November 2012
*A monthly column on Business & Rest
The month of November witnessed two leadership
changes of prime importance in the world – US chose Barack Obama for a second
term and Xi Jinping (President) and Li Keqiang (Premier) chose China for the
next decade.
Meanwhile,
we as a country went back in time, at least a couple of decades when two girls
were arrested for innocuous comments on the backdrop of Maharashtrian leader,
Bal Thackeray’s death. But thankfully, action was taken against the police
officers and amendments are being suggested on the InfoTech act.
A national daily aptly
reported Ajmal Amir Kasab’s hanging as “A puppet’s life ends on a string”!
In a rarity, the
Government seems to be resolute about ‘Cash transfer’ project which transfers
cash in lieu of subsidized food, fertilizer and fuel for BPL families. Also the
much delayed PSU disinvestment has been kicked off with Hindustan copper stake
sell off.
Although the King of
Good times, Vijay Mallya sold a controlling stake in United Spirits Ltd to the
Global Spirit major Diageo there appears no respite for the employees of his
stalling airline. At the same time, Middle East airline, Etihad has expressed
interest in Jet airways and Spice jet is being courted by Qatar airways.
The ugly face of corruption
in the higher echelons came to the fore when Bharti Walmart initiated an
enquiry in to the bribery involving their top notch executives.
The Impasse being
cleared over the FDI bill brought cheer in the secondary market. The fact that
Goldman Sachs projected an optimistic outlook (from ‘market-weight’ to
‘overweight’) helped too.
The diversified
conglomerate, Mahindra & Mahindra has made an ambitious bid for stake in the
iconic British car maker, Aston Martin.
The multiplex chain,
PVR has bought out a 69% stake in Cinemax for Rs. 395Crores.
In yet another
international acquisition by an Indian group, Sahara bought Newyork plaza and Dream
Newyork hotels for Rs.4400Cr amidst Indian hotel group’s failed bid for Orient
Express hotels Ltd.
Azim Premji headed
Wipro demerged itself in to IT and Non –IT entities as part of their strategic
management plan.
Magzter, an application
developed by Indians has featured as the top grosser of Apple ipads app across
Asia.
In
a market of gloom and uncertainty, IKEA’s investment proposals being cleared
and Unilever CEO , Paul Polman’s opening an R&D centre in B’lore are indeed
welcome respite.
Arun Babu.
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