India

Indian telecom tower M&A leaves room for more

25 April 2018

A union of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers creates a $15 bln company with more masts than heavyweight rival American Tower. This paves the way for indebted telecoms backers, including Vodafone, to take out a special dividend or sell part of the merged group to a buyout firm.

India is prize worth keeping for Uber

20 April 2018

The ride-hailing giant says it won’t exit the market with a minority stake as it did in Southeast Asia and China. Uber has a narrower gap with local rival Ola and the country can serve as a good test-bed for new ideas. Without India, Uber would also look less global in an IPO.

Hadas: Knowledge is better shared than patented

18 April 2018

China is moving towards stronger protection of intellectual property. Trump’s prodding may speed up the pace. But hoarding knowledge is getting harder and less worthwhile, especially in developing countries. A global “Republic of Technology” may eventually replace patent wars.

India’s cash shortage may be charged to Modi

18 April 2018

ATMs in several states have run out of money amid a spurt in demand. Officials say there is no need to panic. Indeed, cash in circulation is back to where it was before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bold experiment with large notes. That suggests bad planning is to blame.

Ailing Indian hospitals warrant healthy bid action

16 April 2018

Buyout firm TPG is backing one of three rival offers valuing scandal-hit Fortis at up to $1.3 bln. Private services are in demand with rising incomes and an increase in lifestyle diseases set against New Delhi's failure to provide decent healthcare. Medical tourism helps, too.

Time is right for Asia’s richest banker to pounce

12 April 2018

Uday Kotak has long had an eye on Axis Bank. Now a leadership void could make it easier to forge a union with his own Kotak Mahindra to create a $54 bln Indian banking giant. A deal would allow the tycoon to lead consolidation and meet ownership rules without selling shares.

CEO exit signals new era for star Indian banks

10 April 2018

The boss of Axis Bank is unexpectedly on the way out after almost ten years running the $20 bln private-sector lender. The boss of rival ICICI could follow. This heralds an era of tougher oversight from the central bank, which could put some of these institutions in play.

Indian cricket plays well for Disney and Murdoch

6 April 2018

Fox’s Star India is paying almost $1 bln to secure its monopoly over Indian cricket. It is unusual to see a company in play splashing the cash so freely. That suggests Disney, which is keen to buy parts of Rupert Murdoch's empire, shares his enthusiasm for this growth market.

IPO flop adds urgency to Indian bank’s turmoil

4 April 2018

ICICI Bank’s brokerage arm plunged on its market debut. A high price and volatile markets played a role, but the $27 bln parent isn’t doing enough to resolve a conflict-of-interest scandal. An independent probe would reassure investors more than soothing words from the board.

SoftBank fills its Indian online shopping basket

4 April 2018

Masayoshi Son's sprawling group invested in Snapdeal then Flipkart. Now it's taking a $400 mln stake in Alibaba-backed Paytm Mall. That exposes it to all the major e-commerce sites up against Amazon. As with SoftBank's similar ride-hailing logic, it could lead to consolidation.

Mukesh Ambani’s music deal could get a remix

27 March 2018

India's richest man is merging two music-streaming services into a $1 bln group. That will help attract users to the telecoms arm of his Reliance Industries. With the conglomerate poised to start throwing off cash again, Ambani could take his content ambitions to another level.

Tiny loans price big future for newbie India bank

23 March 2018

An IPO will give Bandhan a market cap of $7 bln, or almost five times book value. That sounds punchy for a microfinance lender that only became a bank three years ago. But those rich figures can be justified by low costs and pricey loans, which together produce fat returns.

Mile-high stake swap could feed Air India bid

20 March 2018

Jet Airways may be interested in the soon-to-be privatised national carrier. However, Naresh Goyal’s airline would need serious financial help to make an offer fly. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad may need to make room for a new large strategic investor.

India’s central bank chief rises to occasion

15 March 2018

Typically reserved Urjit Patel has robustly defended the RBI after New Delhi blamed it for the $1.8 bln Punjab bank fraud. To preside properly as a regulator, it needs the same power over governance at state banks as private ones. The sooner politicians realise it, the better.

ArcelorMittal’s India homecoming may be scrappy

14 March 2018

The world’s largest steelmaker is back on the acquisition trail with a $6 bln bid for bankrupt Essar. It paves the way for the family to go back to its roots. The Mittals would face an inhospitable environment, but it's probably manageable for a company spawned by a hostile deal.

M&A rebound is good sign for Indo-Japanese ties

9 March 2018

Nippon Steel is part of a bid for bankrupt rival Essar. That would mark a revival of Japanese deals in India after flops with Docomo and Daiichi Sankyo. Healthy financial relations are a prerequisite for creating the harmonious "Indo-Pacific” that Tokyo and Washington both want.

India’s bankruptcy regime requires pragmatic touch

6 March 2018

Essar Steel could fetch $6 bln, with bids from groups led by ArcelorMittal and Russia's VTB. Both suitors sit awkwardly with tough rules barring defaulters from buying stressed assets. However, it is better to get good proceeds for creditors than to be purist and fail.

Viewsroom: Fraud puts India’s lenders on edge

28 February 2018

A $1.8 bln scam at Punjab National Bank comes just months after the government injected $32 bln to bail out 20-odd state-run financial institutions. The scandal may increase calls for them to be privatized. Elsewhere: Will Sky be the limit for Comcast, Disney or Fox?

India lacks ingredients for next leg of growth

28 February 2018

The economy expanded 7.2 pct in the fourth quarter as it continued to recover from Premier Modi’s shock therapy. Even stronger growth would require healthy banks. A massive fraud makes this harder to believe in, and a fresh embrace of protectionism will be another drag.

Trump Jr. corrodes India’s anti-corruption efforts

23 February 2018

The U.S. president's son is promoting his family real-estate brand and was due to speak in New Delhi on Indo-Pacific ties. A backlash saw that revised to a fireside chat. Still, the mix of business and politics undercuts Premier Modi's own efforts to end crony capitalism.