Photo: Ratan Tata

Ratan Tata, 71, told the newspaper in an interview that the possibility of a non-Indian taking over the entire Tata group cannot be ruled out.

According to the WSJ interview, Ratan Tata said 65% of the group’s revenues come from overseas sources.

Considering that fact, an expat taking over the Tata Group is not unthinkable, said Tata. Tata also said that things would have been easier if his successor was an Indian, as Tata is an Indian brand.

Ratan Tata, the man who currently leads the conglomerate, is due to retire in 2012. Tata wants to name a worthy successor to his throne before he retires.

Tata confirmed in the WSJ interview that they have already started searching for a suitable successor, and are looking for candidates from both inside and outside the company.

Ratan Tata had repeatedly said in the past that he would want to see a much younger face lead the group, and that he or she should be ideally in his or hers 40s.

Ratan Tata has also said in the past that he/she should get at least 18 months to two years as the designated successor before taking over the reins of the group. Earlier, possible contenders for the throne of Tata Group were considered to be Keki Dadiseth, Noel Tata, and Cyrus Mistry.

However, with Ratan Tata’s new interview with WSJ, it seems that the race is still very much on and other names apart from those mentioned could yet surface.

The Tata Group, which was set up in 1868, has annual revenues of USD 71billion and employees 37,000 workers. Though the Tata Group has always been a

Tata-company, it has once been led by someone outside the Tata family. Sir Nowroji Saklatvala started with the group as a clerk in 1899 and ended up heading the Tata Group.

The single larget stakeholder in Tata Sons, which is Tata Group’s holding company, is Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry. Mistry has an 18% stake in the company and is now settled in Ireland. His son, Cyrus Mistry, is on the board of directors of Tata Sons.

The companies had allegedly lent money to the company founder Ramalinga Raju, who is currently in jail.

The receipt of the notices is supposed to be a major setback for Mahindra Satyam and its efforts to salvage the lose pride of the company.

As per the notices received from the 37 companies, the money was given to Satyam Computer as temporary advance. The notices have claimed the return of money to “repay creditors,” some of whom include Maytas Properties Ltd and Maytas Infra Ltd.

Satyam Computer has replied to the legal notices and according to its reply on November 14, 2009, the claims were not legally tenable. Apparently, Ramalinga Raju’s confession letter had also contained information related to the money received from the 37 companies.

The money Raju received from the 37 companies remained an understated liability and was never on the books of Satyam. Recently, companies such as IL&FS, have asked Mahindra Satyam to show them the money they owed to the company as debts on the company’s account sheets.

It will be tough for the lenders to get their money back, since  the transaction was not carried out in the public domain and, therefore, the circumstances under which lent money was lent to Raju is unclear.

IL&FS, the new owner of Maytas Infra, had recently written to Mahindra Satyam showing the company proof of a transfer of Rs 20 crore through two front companies — Angeerasa Greenfields and Saptaswara AgroFarm — on July 31, 2008, into Satyam accounts through the Hyderabad branch of Axis Bank.

The new product provides flexibility to change the premium amount as per the guidelines of the insurance regulator, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the company said in a statement.

Rahul Agarwal, chief distribution officer of ING Vysya Life Insurance, said in the statement that ING Flexi Life Plus gives the police-holder a lot of flexibility and convenience to suit his financial needs.

Also, ING Flexi Life Plus passes the benefits to the customer, thus giving better value for money, he added.

Customers can, Agarwal explained, change their premium amount from the second year onwards, and this facility is available throughout the term of the product.

Accordingly, the customers can either raise their premium to 125% of their first policy year annualised premium or lower it to 75% of the first policy year annualised premium.

There are 4 investment options in the ING Flexi Life Plus – debt, secure, growth, and balanced.

The customers have the option to switch the funds as they wish and also can  have the flexibility to choose their protection cover – ranging from 6.5 times to 25 times of the annualised first year premium.

Moreover, the customers get the benefit of what the company calls an “in-built” accident protection benefit.

Age-wise, the ING Flexi Life Plus has the following features: Minimum age of entry – 0 years; maximum age of entry – 60 years; minimum age of maturity – 18 years; and maximum age of maturity – 70 years.

The policy term is 10 years or 20 years; the premium-paying term is 10 years or 20 years; and the premium-paying mode is annual, half-yearly, quarterly, or monthly – by cash or cheque.

As for partial withdrawal benefit, one partial withdrawal per policy year is allowed after completing 3 years.

ING Vysya Life Insurance says that the maturity benefit of ING Flexi Life Plus also has also been made attractive in that the customers have the option to take the maturity benefit amount either in a lump-sum or in equal installments of units over a period of 3 years or 5 years after the date of maturity.

In the life insurance venture ING Life India, which is a part of the ING Group, ING Insurance International holds 26% stake, Exide Industries 50%, Enam Group 12.5%, and Ambuja Cements 11.5% stake.

According to the company, the foreign partner is planning to give up its stake in the life insurance venture by 2013, as a part of its ongoing ‘Back to Basics’ programme, which aims at total separation of its banking and life insurance businesses.

In this regard, Nokia has started talks with 6 banks in India.

The banks will be responsible for handling issues related to banking regulations as well as cash management.

According to Teppo Paavola, global chief of Nokia Money service, the company’s plan is to make use of its vast network of 1.9 lakh mobile-phone retailers and dealers, who will act as the “consumer point and banking correspondents.”

On its part, Nokia will offer a universal platform where the mobile phone can be a medium for banking, for payment of utility bills, paying merchants for goods and services, buying tickets, and for international remittance, Paavola told reporters.

India, he added, figures amongst the top 20 countries where Nokia plans to launch Nokia Money, start with.

The mobile-banking platform that India-based banks now have is limited to a single bank and a telecom operator. In contrast, Nokia aims at offering a full-fledged service, which will bring together all banks, operators and also mobile-phone handsets of other brands, Teppo Paavola explained.

On the “regulatory challenges” in India, Paavola said the crucial task would be to turn the retailers of Nokia into agent of Nokia Money.

The regulations in India, according to Paavola, are very tough, especially compared to those in Kenya and the Philippines.

The Reserve Bank of India’s customer policy for banks, he added, could act as a limitation for the Nokia agents, and hence Nokia is tying to make the banks tackle the regulations-related issues, such as licences and cash management.

All the same, Teppo Paavola said Nokia expects its Nokia Money service to be a big success in India because of the country’s extensive dealer network, through which the consumers can deposit money and withdraw cash.

As of now, setting up bank branches or ATMs in India is expensive and hence Nokia Money can act as an extension of a bank’s branch, according to Paavola.

The success of the Nokia Money service, he said, lies in the fact that the service should work in all mobile-phone handsets and also it should be “as simple and convenient as making a voice call or sending an SMS” and must have a very low transaction fee.

Nokia said it is expecting to launch its first Nokia Money service globally in early 2010.

Market surveys have shown that the global mobile financial services market is to touch 18 billion euros by 2014. Out of this, emerging markets alone are expected to contribute 12 billion euros.

According to a statement from the company, the Termsurance Protection Plan is a simple term-insurance plan offering 3 covers: ‘level cover,’ ‘increasing cover,’ and ‘level cover with return of premium.’

The Termsurance Protection Plan lets a person choose a cover based on his requirement.

While the ‘level cover’ comes with a large cover at a low cost, the ‘increasing cover’ offers an increasing cover of 10% every year, and the ‘level cover with return of premium’ returns the premium paid after the cover matures, says the company.

The minimum entry age for the plan is 18 years, and the maximum entry age is 65 years. The maximum age at maturity is 75 years.

The term of policy ranges between 10 years and 30 years.

According to G V Nageswara Rao, managing director and chief executive officer of IDBI Fortis Life Insurance, the Termsurance Protection Plan provides an “invaluable protective cover” to families in India in the event of the untimely death of the main bread-earner.

The increasing risk cover option of the plan, Nageswara Rao said, increases the benefit amount each year by a specific amount – thereby enabling the customers to plan for the increasing responsibilities in future, by taking the effect of inflation into consideration.

The company said in the statement that it is offering “a suite of innovative products.”

The products include Homesurance (giving a protective cover for home loan); Wealthsurance (meant to create an insured wealth plan); Retiresurance (for post-retirement, life-long pension); Bondsurance (for guaranteed returns with life insurance cover); Termsurance Grameen Suraksha (a low-cost life insurance plan meant for rural markets.); and Microsurance (the affordable life insurance cover for groups).

IDBI Fortis Life Insurance claims that, with the Termsurance Protection Plan, the company aims to cater to customers seeking a flexible protection plan as well as a large insurance cover at affordable costs.

IDBI Fortis Life Insurance, launched in 2008, is one of the fastest-growing life insurance companies in India, the statement says.

It is a joint venture of IDBI Bank, the development and commercial bank, Federal Bank, a leading private-sector bank, and Fortis Insurance International, a multinational insurance company based in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

In IDBI Fortis Life Insurance, IDBI Bank owns 48% equity, and Federal Bank and Fortis own 26% equity each.

The Capital to City Airport Terminals (CATs) will enable fast transit to the airport – complete with baggage check-in, issue of boarding pass, and a high-speed train to the airport.

Pic: Delhi metro

The Delhi Metro Airport Express Line – modelled on London’s Heathrow Express and Hong Kong’s Metro Airport Link – will have only 6 halts on way to the airport and will cover the distance in 20 minutes. As the 2010 Commonwealth Games approach, the Airport Express will be critical in the transportation of athletes and equipment from the Airport to their accommodation and stadiums. Also, the metro line will ensure that the Airport’s pre-paid taxi cab mafia cannot exploit the visitors.

For air travellers, airline and baggage check-in counters will be available at the NDLS, Dhaula Kuan Metro, Shivaji Terminus stations. According to officials, these railway stations will function like mini-versions of airport terminals.

In all, 8 trains having 6 coaches each will be pressed into service.

The trains that run on the Airport Express Line will be different from those on the other metro lines in that the Airport Express Line trains will have a cruising speed of 135 kmph. That will make the Delhi Metro’s Airport Express the fastest way to get to the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

In addition, the Airport Express Line trains offer state-of-the-art facilities, for which the passengers have to pay much less than taxi fares, since Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to keep the train fare at a maximum of Rs 150 till Indira Gandhi International Airport, and an extra Rs 30 to Dwarka.

These trains have cushioned seats with arm-rests for all passengers. For the airport-bound passengers, the Airport Express Line trains offer specially designed overhead compartment to keep hand-baggage as also additional space under seats. Unlike the normal Delhi Metro train coaches, these would have front or rear facing seats . The normal coaches have very few seats to ensure there is enough space for people to stand during rush hours.

All passengers on board the trains will have access to real-time, updated flight information on display boards.

Each coach carries 2 concealed cameras aimed at extra security.

The baggage will be secured in containers and loaded onto the trains at the CATs.

After being offloaded at the Indira Gandhi International Airport Metro station, the baggage will be routed through dedicated tunnel using conveyor belts to the airport terminal’s common baggage-hold area.

Each station on the Capital to City Airport Terminals (CATs) line will have fully-automated access for passengers from the ground to the trains, with bigger lifts and wider escalators.

The CATs will provide for the commuters to park their cars in parking lots and then take a train to the airport.

The Delhi Metro Airport Express trains, which will initially run at a frequency of 10 minutes, are to take longer halts at stations to allow passengers to load their baggage.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has projected that about 42,000 people will use the Airport Express Line service daily.

The metro station at Indira Gandhi International Airport will be built close to the airport’s Terminal 3 and Terminal 4, which are intended to handle domestic as well as international air traffic in 2010.

Direct transit to the terminal’s lobby will be through a tunnel link.

The Airport Express Line is the first such rail line being built on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

According to the agreement between Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and the concessionaire, which is a joint venture between Reliance Energy and CAS, a Spanish company, the concessionaire will be responsible for the design and construction of all stations, electrification, telecom, signaling, as well as procurement of rolling stock.

The Spanish firm also will construct a depot near the Dwarka station.

The total cost of the Airport Express Line, which comes to Rs 3,800 crore, will be shared, with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation undertaking the civil construction work.

Photo: Som Mittal, Nasscom chief

According to Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the country is already witnessing changes in trends that had been anticipated.

The economic activity in the country is apparently speeding up, the technology companies are hiring again, and acquisitions and mergers are on the cards.

On the many acquisitions that the business process outsourcing (BPO) firms are considering, Som Mittal said the BPO industry in India has been mainly eying countries like China and in Europe.

There are come factors, he added, based on which Indian companies look for acquisition, like seeking “to eave their footprints” on the English-speaking regions of the world. India has now attained the window to acquire capabilities in the English-speaking countries, since as much as 80% of the firms at present comes from those regions.

Though the first half of the fiscal has been rather flat, the vector has been right, and hence the anticipation of more growth this year as well as of a double-digit growth in the next fiscal, Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of the India Economic Forum of the World Economic Summit held in New Delhi.

The IT industry, however, is unlikely attain the huge growth rate it had recorded till 2007.

The growth rate of around 30% achieved for an entire decade is very hard to maintain, Som Mittal said. The IT sector, in the next 10-12 years, will get bigger at a compounded annual growth rate of 14% – that is, it is estimated to jump from the $50 billion in 2008 to around $225 billion.

The IT industry can achieve this goal only if it enhances its capabilities to meet the rising demand, Mittal warned, adding that, instead of functioning only in 6 major cities, the IT industry should move to 43 other cities that have been identified.

Even as Nasscom is upbeat about growth in the IT sector returning to good growth, Som Mittal said that it was too early to revise the guidance upwards.

The technology company Accenture has announced that it will raise its staff strength by 8,000 in 2010, mainly in the analytics department.

Infosys BPO, the back-office wing of Infosys Technologies, has said it will hire nearly 2,000 people by the end of this fiscal.

This is the company’s second oil major find after the offshore oilfield in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

The new oil find is expected to help increase domestic fuel supplies.

In a statement, Reliance Industries said that it struck oil in the 5th well it drilled on the 635-square-kilometre CB-ONN-2003/1 block in the Cambay Basin, located about 130 kilometres from Ahmedabad, in Gujarat.

Reliance Industries holds 100% participating interest (PI) in CB-ONN-2003/1 block.

The block, spread over an area of 635 square kilometers, has two parts – Part A situated in the west, with an area of 570 square kilometres, and Part B lying to the east, having an area of 65 square kilometres.

The company did not, however, disclose how much reserves the new oilfield might hold.

The CB-ONN-2003/1 block was awarded to Reliance Industries Limited in the 5th round of bidding under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).

Reliance Industries Limited, the most valuable company in India, holds 100% participating interest in the CB-ONN-2003/1 block.

The statement from Reliance Industries said that the 5th well on the Cambay onland block – CB10A-A1 – was drilled to a depth of 1451 metres. The well gave out around 500 barrels of oil a day at the time of conventional testing.

According to the company, the new oil find – named ‘Dhirubhai-43’ – is expected to open “future potential within the block” and that the commercial viability of this discovery is being established through gathering more data and though analysis.

RIL said that while the 3D Seismic data has been obtained over 80% of the area in the block, the 2D Seismic data from the entire area has been received.

It may be noted that Reliance Industries Limited, the largest operator of gasfield in India, had not taken part in an auction of 70 oil and gas blocks held in 2009, for which 36 bids had been received.

Earlier, the company had come across reserves of crude oil in the mainly gas-rich KG D-6 block, off India’s east coast. The Mukesh Ambani Field (MA Field), which started production in September 2008, at present yields about 11,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

Reliance Industries is the biggest conglomerate in India, with interests in oil refining, petrochemicals, exploration of oil and gas, and retailing.

India imports over 75% of crude oil it requires.

According to analysts, the country’s production of crude output is likely to increase by 11% to 36.7 million metric tones in 2009, thanks to the starting of production at an oilfield in Rajasthan that is operated by Cairn India Limited.

According to the new plan, mobile services are available at a cost of 1 paise per second for local calls and STD calls within the BSNL network.

Calls to networks other than BSNL will cost 1.2 paise per second.

This move by the BSNL follows announcement of similar plans by private telecom operators such as Tata Docomo, Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Communications.

For those BSNL subscribers who wish to remain on the minute-based tariff scheme, the company has announced a 49-paise-per-minute plan for all local calls and STD calls. SMS costs 49 paise in this plan.

BSNL’s is the cheapest tariff offered by any telecom operator on a per-minute basis. (RCom and Airtel and recently had reduced their charges to 50 paise a minute.)

In addition, BSNL has announced that it will offer a 30-paise-per-minute plan to subscribers availing of a 3G connection.

At present, telecom operators are charging prices ranging from 90 paise a minute to Rs 1.20 a minute for voice calls on 3G pre-paid cards.

BSNL is the only telecom operator that offers 3G services across India.

According to Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director of BSNL, so far the company has failed to attract sufficient number of subscribers on its 3G platform.

BSNL has allowed changeover from 2G to 3G almost free of charge.

The company also has entered into a tie-up with Dell and Olive Telecommunication (the parent company of Haier Mobile) to introduce embedded 3G Netbooks with high-speed internet access.

These measures, Kuldeep Goyal added, are expected to boost BSNL’s 3G customer base further.

Meanwhile, BSNL said it is not planning to call new bids for a 93-million-line order for GSM.

However, Kuldeep Goyal confirmed that the company has ordered 8 million 2G GSM lines from Huawei, a Chinese firm, which will be installed up in the southern states of the country.

Ericsson has been short-listed to provide lines in the country’s northern and eastern states.

Goyal said that BSNL is likely to open direct negotiations for a stake in Zain, of Kuwait, in case its exclusive talks as a part of a consortium fail.

Both BSNL and MTNL are part of a group led by Vavasi, a little-known Indian firm, which aims to take a 46% holding in the Kuwaiti firm from shareholders, including the Kharafi Group.

According to Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, the company will set up similar housing projects in other centres in India such as Bangalore, Kolkata, and Assam.  Read more about the Tata Shubh Griha low cost housing project in this story.

The company’s affordable housing project launched in Boisar has attracted interest from all parts of the country, Ratan Tata said in Munnar in Kerala. He was in Munnar to attend the silver jubilee celebrations of the High Range School in Munnar, run by the Tata Group.

The Tata Housing Development Company Limited, which started the ‘Shubh Griha’ project in Boisar, near Mumbai, is offering what the company calls ‘Smart, Value Homes’ to people across India, to start with.

The Tata Group, the first corporate entity to have entered the low-cost housing sector, says it will spread its presence across India – in Tier I cities and Tier II cities.

The ‘Smart, Value Homes’ from ‘Shubh Griha’ in Boisar are priced between Rs 3.9 lakh and Rs 6.7 lakh.

Ratan Tata said that Maldives has expressed interest in the company’s housing project and has invited the Tata Group to introduce the concept in Maldives.

According to him, the consumption of steel in developed countries such as Europe and the United States is expected to reach the pre-recession levels in the next 2 years. The good news at present, he added, is that the market has stabilized, with no sudden drop or cancellation of orders.

Ratan Tata said that a team from Land Rover and Jaguar had visited India in search of components they can source from the country. So far, no decision has been taken on this.

Tata Motors, he disclosed, is planning to adapt the Nano car for the European market. However, it will take at least 2 years for the company to meet all regulatory requirements before the launch in Europe.

The new high-speed, high-horse-power truck that Tata Motors has launched will be marketed worldwide – among the countries would be Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, as well as the countries in the Middle East. At present, these trucks are exported to South Korea, according to Ratan Tata.

When asked whether the Tata Group will cut the salaries of its top executives, Ratan Tata said the Group has already taken steps to cut costs as well as avoid wastage.