BusinessLine Twenty Years Ago - Today

India gets vote of confidence at Davos

India has taken a 180-degree turn as far as rules governing foreign investment (FDI) are concerned. This was the assessment of the captains of global industry who assembled at the recently held World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting here which also lured a host of heads of state and government. The chief executives of several global giants felt that fundamental changes in the rules governing FDI had taken place over the last two and a half years. This is because foreign shareholders are no longer subjected to a ceiling of 40 per cent equity, the rule that caused Coca-Cola and IBM to quit.

Bharti to enter basic telecom services

Bharti Telecom is to bid for setting up basic telecom services for Punjab as soon as the Ministry of Communications clears the relevant policy issues. According to Sunil Mittal, Chief Executive Officer, the company has floated Bharti Telenet for the purpose. Mittal told

Business Line that the company had been awarded the provisional licence for cellular operations in Bombay, but could not go operational due to a Supreme Court stay … Bharti which is now a Rs 60 crore company hopes to become a Rs 200 crore company.

Delhi court summons Harshad

A special court of Delhi summoned the Bombay stockbroker Harshad Mehta and 12 others charge-sheeted by the CBI in a securities scam case … The CBI charge-sheeted the big bull, his two brothers Ashwin and Sudhir, and ten others on February 7 in a Rs 426-crore fraud involving the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and brokers and officials of several Indian and foreign banks.