Ola Wants More Money, Airtel To Stick With Zero: Your Top India Headlines

Ola Cabs is looking for half a billion dollars. After raising close to $800 million over the past year, India’s fastest growing radio taxi company is in the market for more. Last month, it raised $400 million from DST Global, which valued it at $2.5 billion, making it India’s third-most valued startup after Flipkart and Snapdeal. With rising demand for taxis, especially after its rapid expansion into 100 cities over the past year, Ola is looking to cement its No. 1 position. Ola is right to worry, especially with Uber nipping at its heels, testing cash payments and offering attractive discounts. Taking a leaf from Uber’s book, Ola has also begun food delivery and aims to branch out into other logistics businesses. The additional money can only help.

Airtel will stick with its Zero platform plan, irrespective of the hullabaloo over net neutrality that greeted its announcement. It seems CEO Gopal Vittal explained in a memo to employees some time ago that the objective is to beef up its ability to charge for data. That makes sense for the company as its voice business is plateauing and being cannibalized by data-based apps such as Whatsapp, Skype and Viber. However, it was this plan that galvanized an entire army of internet activists, and led to a million protest mails to the telecom regulator.

For those of us worrying about the state of India’s outsourcing business, the news is not all bad. According to a report by the International Data Corp, India BPOs grabbed 23 percent of the total value of the top 100 contracts in 2014, up from 8 percent in 2013. The top five vendors for 2014 were IBM, CGI, Capgemini, Cognizant and Wipro. With the India services companies getting aggressive about innovation and client management, this year’s numbers will be worth scrutiny.

United Spirits wants to sell some high-valued real estate to raise money. Amid a boardroom spat with former owner Vijay Mallya, the companyhopes to raise at least $47 million from residential properties spread across three cities and also includes a castle in UK. Yes, you read that right. For those who came in late, Diageo, which bought USL from Mallya discovered $200 million of loans, leading to a spat in which the Indian industrialist was asked to resign as chairman. The saga continues.

Reliance Jio will launch 4G services in India in July, according to Credit Suisse. The company may begin selling compatible handsets even earlier and has shortlisted distributors in key circles, according to the investment bank. This is very similar to Reliance’s strategy when it launched its CDMA service, offering devices are rock-bottom prices and attractive plans which pretty much turned the cell phone in India into the commodity it now is. It’s also very different from the telco strategy in India, where manufacturers sell the device and telcos provide only the service, quite unlike other markets like the US.

 “Please dial 0 before the desired number” If, like me, you were among the million of customers who were irked by this requirement of dialing a or the country code 0 before the mobile number of other circles, then worry no more, this may soon be a thing of the past. This has been removed in some circles and may spread through the country in a few weeks. The move is to comply with the telecom ministry’s directive to ensure mobile number portability by July 3, allowing users to retain their numbers when they change cities or providers. Try it out, your circle may have this already!

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