New York Stock Exchange recently acquired a 5% stake in National Stock Exchange, and has expressed a desire to raise its holding in India’s largest bourse to 20%.

Swiss cement major Holcim is looking to expand its presence in the country by 40% by adding another 10 million tonne manufacturing capacity to its existing 25 million tonnes.

Coca-Cola following in the footsteps of rival PepsiCo intends to launch fruit juices, and as per Kamal Nath, “wants to invest in rural areas besides setting up a university for retailers to help our kirana stores cope better with competition from retailers.”

Tupperware, Carrefour, Metro AG and electronics chain Best-Buy almost all biggies in retail business intend seriously to either set up shop or expand their presence.

Unilever is chalking out plans for expanding food-processing activities in India in a bid to occupy more shelf space in new stores.

Agility, a West Asian logistics company, plans to set up cold chains and private container terminals to cater to the needs of retailers.

Blackstone – world’s largest buyout private equity fund that manages $75 billion fund – has bought 26% stake for $275 million in the Hyderabad-based Ushodaya Enterprises, an unlisted investment arm of media baron Ramoji Rao.

And the Indian companies are on run to acquire the companies abroad.

Ranbaxy is interested in acquiring German pharma major Merck’s generics or offpatent medicines business, estimated at $5 billion, received a fillip with private equity funds and bankers queueing up to finance the bid.

The aditya Vikram Birla Group is seriously exploring the possibility of acquiring Novelis Inc, one of the leading aluminium companies of US.

With Indian stock markets booming, global players are eyeing a share of the pie. NYSE, private equity firm General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs and Japan’s Softbank Asian Infrastructure Fund recently bought 5% each in NSE. Others like Nasdaq and some European exchanges are keen on buying a stake in BSE.

Swiss bank UBS AG bought Standard Chartered PLC’s mutual funds management business in India for 147 million Swiss francs ($119 million) and will form an Asian fund distribution alliance with the U.K.-based bank.
British telecom major Vodafone would submit a formal offer to its takeover target in India, Hutch-Essar, in the second week of February.

Tata Steel is fighting a bidding war with Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) of Brazil to get Corus under its fold. The UK Takeover Panel has decided to put the Anglo-Dutch steel maker under the hammer on January 30. Tata Steel is expected to raise its current 500 pence a share offer for Corus above CSN’s 515p bid. Corus shares are running high.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has cancelled the tender for the country’s second national operator (SNO) licence awarded to Vtel Holdings, for failing to adhere to tender conditions. CCK has now invited Reliance Communications, which was the second highest bidder for the SNO licence.

Infosys aimed at having about 30 percent of the work on its typical contract done in the country where the client is, and the rest done remotely. All of that remote work used to be done in India, but now Infosys has added locations in China, Mauritius and the Czech Republic, and is looking for a location in Latin America.

Moser Baer India is exploring the option of having a research and development as well as manufacturing set-up outside India, to be closer to the US and Europe markets. The company would look at niche segments including highend archiving products, special discs for professional recording and blu ray hi-definition products for movie archiving, amongst others. Moser Baer currently has a small R&D lab in Japan, would explore both organic and inorganic routes to achieve this.

India presents a significant market as well as a significant pool of managerial and technical talent. Further, it is in a rapid growth phase. Various industry segments are growing up the value chain and maturing as businesses and MNCs see it as the perfect time to consolidate in the Indian market. And so India is getting noticed with awe and respect.

Why should one doubt that India and Indians couldn’t make its GDP grow at 10% or more?

Some news reports>Tata team told to go for THE KILL
Could the loser get another chance?