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THE ECONOMIC TIMESWWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
BATTLE FOR DELHI HOTS UP AS BIG GUNS BOOMLet’s accept that I am lucky, but you have saved money. If Modi’s luck is benefitting the people, what can be more fortunate?NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister
While one party has a pracharak, who only does prachar, the other just has a dharnebaaz, who is busy holding dharnasSONIA GANDHI, Congress President
AAP supporters abroad are making a big contribution in mobilising support and much-needed funds for the party
DelhiDecides
MUMBAI | 22 PAGES | .̀ 3.00 OR .̀ 6.00 ALONG WITH THE TIMES OF INDIA MONDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2015
PURE POLITICS��2,3,4
BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD.
New Delhi: And now, fromthe banner that deliveredsuch political blockbustersas Ghar Wapsi and Love Ji-had comes a special releasefor February 14, observed bysome as Valentine’s Day.From all accounts, it will bea day to remember. And ifyou think you’ve seen thismovie before, remember,there are no new stories, justthe same old ones with bet-ter special effects.
Protests by the Hindutvabrigade have been virtuallyinstitutionalised as part ofValentine’s Day, but this willbe the first since the advent
of the BJP-led government atthe Centre. The Hindu Maha-sabha, however, says it willmark the occasion differ-ently this time — by welcom-ing inter-religious coupleswith open arms, even offer toget them married in their of-fices. Just one catch — thenon-Hindu partner wouldneed to “return home”, alsoknown as Ghar Wapsi.
Prem Vivah Diwas (LoveMarriage Day), as February
14 has been dubbed, is alsopart of Ghar Wapsi, accord-ing to Akhil Bharatiya Hin-du Mahasabha presidentChandra Prakash Kaushik.
“The Ghar Wapsi of theMuslim/Christian partnerwill be done an hour beforethe wedding. For that we areasking couples to inform us aday before so we can make ar-rangements,” said Kaushik.
Test of Love for Couples��20
Hindu Mahasabha’s Valentine for Feb 14Outfit to organise inter-religious weddings, but after reconversion of non-Hindu partner
Pankaj Mishra & Jayadevan PK
Bengaluru: Infosys, striving to regain its sta-tus as the bellwether for India’s over $118-bil-lion IT sector, is preparing to rebrand itselfunder its first non-founder CEO, Vishal Sikka,and mark a break from strategies perceived tohave cramped the company’s growth.
The country’s second-largest IT firm is inadvanced talks with two US brand consulting
firms — Wolff Olins and RothPartners — to explore a freshbrand identity and position-ing, according to three peoplefamiliar with the discussions.
“The idea is to do away with‘Infosys 3.0-Building Tomor-row’s Enterprise’ and come upwith something more in linewith the new management’s
thinking. Infosys 3.0 is already being removedfrom the website and other literature theyhave,” one of them said, seeking anonymity.
Since it was founded over three decades ago,Infosys’ iconic founders led by NR NarayanaMurthy have built a global brand that stoodfor corporate ethics and quality software.
Customers Paid Premium Due to Branding��10
Vishal Sikka Now MakingInfosys in His Own ImageRopes in Wolff Olins & Roth Partners to rebrand software giant
Shibulal hadlaunched theInfosys 3.0strategy in2011 to tapemergingtechnologies
Mumbai: Aditya Birla Group Chair-man Kumar Mangalam Birla has stout-ly defended his group against allega-tions of wrongdoing in the allocation ofcoal blocks, explaining out that he andhis group had pursued legitimate busi-ness interests. In a letter to about120,000 Aditya Birla Group employees,Birla also said the group had nothing todo with the cash that was found by probeagencies in the premises of one of its of-fices in Delhi in October 2013. The letterwas sent on Saturday.
Elaborating on his efforts to obtaincoal blocks for Hindalco, Birla said hisactions were in the interests of the com-pany and its shareholders. “In 2005,Hindalco’s projects were seeking coalallocation and the same was denied de-spite its valid claim. I, as the non-execu-tive chairman of the company, did whatI thought was right and what was in thebest interest of the company and itsshareholders, i.e., to represent to thethen coal minister (who was also theprime minister at the time) and the coal
secretary highlighting the merits ofour claim,” he wrote.
“We pursued our legitimate businessinterest in the most appropriate way wecould. I am confident that our investigat-ing agencies and judicial systems willsee through the divide between the legit-imate and illegitimate,” Birla added.
Birla’s letter touched upon the discoveryof cash in the offices of one of the groupcompanies last year and said it had noth-ing to do with any group entity.
Letter Exhorts Staff to Stay Focused ��20
The letter comes a few days after CBI beganprobe against Hindalco over the allotment of Talabira I coal block
Writing In DefenceBIRLA WRITES TO HIS120,000 employees, says neither he nor any other group offi cial has done any wrong to obtain coal blocks
FORMER PM MANMOHAN Singh, his principal secretary TKA Nair and Birla have already been questioned in connection with Talabira II
Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group
The good part of this experience has been that it has tested our resilience, it has
reaffirmed the faith of our shareholders in us
IN BLACK AND WHITE Kumar Mangalam Birla defends group against charges of wrongdoingin allocation of coal blocks, says group companies have nothing to do with cash recovered
FAITH IN SYSTEM
Iam confident that our in-vestigating agencies and judi-cial systems will see throughthe divide between thelegitimate and illegitimateKUMAR MANGALAM BIRLA Chairman, Aditya Birla Group
Birla Chief Writes to Staff, SaysNo Illegality in Coal Allocation
Gaining CurrencyIN-PRINCIPLE nod from regulators after a meeting on Dec 24
UNION BUDGET expected to set the tone for IFC
FEMA AMENDMENTwill be taken up subsequently for a full-blown IFC
FINANCE MINISTRYin favour of operationalising IFC by April ’15
TO BEGIN WITH,activities possible within existing law will be explored
Keeping FiscalGoalposts Intact
Govt keen on keeping fi scaltargets unchanged
Could help get Indiaa ratingupgrade
Would help RBI’s monetary easing
Pick-up in growth to helprevenues
Aggressive & timely selloff could boostrevenues
Low crude prices tohelp containsubsidies
Directtransfers to helprationalise spending
Fiscal Consolidation Plan
There Is Room To Step Up Public Spending
FY15
4.1%of GDP
FY16
3.6%of GDP
FY17
3.0%of GDP
Spending DetoursWon’t Alter Govt’sFiscal Road MapModi Sarkar feels
indiscipline may hit
credit rating & RBI’s
monetary easing
New Delhi: The Modi govern-ment is veering around to theview that it needs to stick close-ly to the road map on fiscal con-solidation, resisting the grow-ing clamour to raise publicspending to boost growth, be-cause indiscipline on this frontcould cost it in terms of creditratings and possibly interruptthe process of monetary policyeasing that was kicked off bythe central bank mid-January.
Ahead of theFebruary 28budget, sectionsof the govern-ment thereforefavour creatingspending space
to boost growth within the cur-rent framework that seeks tonarrow the fiscal deficit to 3%of GDP by FY17.
Under the current timeline,the government has to shrinkthe fiscal deficit to 4.1% of GDPthis year, 3.6% in the next and3% in the one after that. Anychange would mean pushingthe 3% milestone beyond FY17.
The mid-year economic re-view had suggested that publicspending was required to boostinvestment as the private sec-tor wasn’t in a position to pumpin the funds needed.
Better to Stay the Course��20
PUBLIC INVESTMENT VIA OTHER MEANS
Acore team of
top officials is
sequestered
deep in North Block,
working feverishly to pre-
pare the budget to be pre-
sented on Feb 28. ET pro-
files the men and women
behind the Budget.��17
Meet theBudget Team
Sugata Ghosh & Reena Zachariah
Mumbai: All financial market regula-tors have agreed to lay down the rules toenable India’s first international financecentre to take off in Gujarat by April.
At a meeting on December 24, officialsfrom RBI, Sebi and insurance regulatorIRDA discussed the contours of the pro-posed regulations that will pave the wayfor dealings and settlement in foreigncurrency within the international fi-nance centre (IFC) that will be housed atthe special economic zone of the Gujarat
International Finance Tec-City — or GiftCity — that New Delhi and Gujarat wantto design as a global financial serviceshub to win back some of the financialbusinesses that have migrated to Dubaiand Singapore.
“To begin with, regulators will explorewhat all activities can be carried outwithin the existing laws and withoutamending Fema (Foreign Exchange Man-agement Act). The next step would be toroll out regulations for a full-blown IFC,”said a person, who attended the meeting.
IFC Originally Envisaged in Mumbai��10
Gujarat to Gift Finance Centre by AprFinancial market regulators set to lay down rules for international finance centre at SEZ
Mumbai: BJP’s seeming nervousness overthe outcome of the upcoming Delhi elec-tions is rubbing off on Dalal Street too.Though the state’s election result is seenhaving little impact on the political equa-tions nationally, brokers and analysts saidan Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) victory overBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may not go
down well with the market.AAP and BJP are being tout-ed as the close competitorsin the Delhi elections.
Stock market participantsexpect a selloff in the near-term if AAP beats BJP in theelections as the Arvind Kej-riwal-led party is perceivedby the market of being in fa-vour of populist policies.
But any correction is unlikely to be deep asinvestors are betting on a pro-market UnionBudget later this month. “Indian marketsare likely to react negatively if AAP winsthe Delhi elections as BJP has not lost anystate elections since its great victory in May2014,” said Saurabh Mukherjea, CEO-institutional equities, Ambit Capital.
Poll Shows AAP is Leading��21
Delhi KeepsDalal Street onTenterhooks
AAP win may lead to selloff
even though correction may
not be too deep, say players
Electionoutcomewould be anindicator ofwhether theModi wave isstill strongor receding
AAI to Bid for Proposed New Airport in GoaAirports Authority of India has decided to
bid for the new facility that’s planned for
Goa. This is the first time that AAI will be
pitting itself against competition in build-
ing new airports in India.
Companies��7
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Power, Infra Majors toBattle it Out at Coal Auction Adani Power is in race for all six coal
blocks reserved for the power sector in
the upcoming auction of 23 operational
mines while Jindal Steel & Power is
eyeing four, sources said.
Companies��8
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E-tailer FirstCry Raises $26mas Valiant Capital Chips inBaby care products e-tailer FirstCry has
raised $26 million in a fourth round
funding led by San Francisco-based fund
Valiant Capital Partners. Existing in-
vestors too participated in the round.
Companies��12
Inside story
The Centre managed to
outfox Dalal Street trad-
ers and arbitrageurs in
the CIL sale by keeping the precise
sequence and timing a secret.��16
GOVT MAY SELL 5% MORE��16
Govt Beats Tradersat Their Own Game
A New IdentityCorporate identity to align with new management’s thinking
Design thinking,automation, big data are some of the themes
New identity and strategy
to be launched in April this year
Infosys 3.0 is being removed from website and other literature
A brand is more than a logo...it’s the basis for a relationship between the company and its customers. So by rethinking its branding, Infosys is implicitly rethinking its relation-ship with its customers
ROHIT DESHPANDEProfessor, Harvard Business School
PSBs MAYTAP BONDSFOR TIER-IICAPITAL��PAGE 17
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said India’s di-
versity is to be celebrated and that no one should be
subjected to persecution because of their different
ways of worship or dissimilar traditions.��2
Celebrate Diversity: Bhagwat
ANIRBAN BORA
Waiting for Outcome
Shares of Reliance Infrastructure, which supplies power to Delhi, dropped over 3% while the Tata Power shares tumbled 7.7%
Later, these cos rallied after Arvind Kejriwal resigned as Delhi chief minister
The day AAP won the trust vote in early Jan 2014, Sensex declined 250 points
Shares of pvt discoms fell after Arvind Kejriwal announced audit of these cos last year
27887.9JAN 2, 2015
29182.95JAN 30, 2015