In a significant move for the domestic film industry, Reliance BIG Entertainment, the films production arm of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, today said that it will produce, distribute and co-produce 69 films in Hindi, English and regional Indian languages over next two years.
This is important because no film production company has so far announced so many film projects at one go. Recently, UTV Motion Pictures announced launching 18 films within next 10 months at an budget of Rs 1,000 crore and Percept Motion Pictures announced launching 27-films to be released over the next two years at an estimated budget of Rs 600 crore.
Reliance BIG Entertainment film foray is the largest so far. The company also inked a film production deal with Vinod Chopra Films and Excel Entertainment with which eight films will be co-produced and distributed over the next two years. These announcements was made by the company at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival in France.
According to industry estimates, the production value of the 69 films will be in excess of Rs 1,200 crore and some of the films will be made in languages like Punjabi, Gujrati, Marathi, Tamil, Telegu and Bengali among others.
Leading Bollywood actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Govinda, and Rishi Kapoor among others will be the principal actors in some of these films.
Commenting on the association of Vinod Chopra Films and Reliance BIG Entertainment, Vinod Chopra said, "Vinod Chopra Films is proud to be known for raising the bar in Indian cinema, discovering and nurturing new talent, giving established filmmakers and actors the opportunities to excel in their works and striving for excellence without compromise.
We are excited and proud to be associated with Reliance BIG Entertainment and know that this alliance will ensure that our films reach every corner of the world, allowing us to take our cinema to the next level."
Amit Khanna, Chairman of Reliance BIG Entertainment remarked, "Bringing Vinod Chopra Films to Reliance BIG Entertainment is a major coup for us. To be able to collaborate with someone as passionate about the industry as Vinod is both an exciting opportunity and a privilege. We look forward to celebrating future success together."
Reliance BIG Entertainment also announced its partnership with Excel Entertainment to present 6 feature films over the next two years. Excel will produce the films and Reliance BIG Entertainment will executive produce and handle global distribution in all media.
Ritesh Sidhwani, Director - Excel Entertainment commented, "The Reliance BIG Entertainment and Excel Entertainment pact is being looked upon as one of the most noteworthy collaborations in the Indian entertainment industry. We are seen as a cutting edge unit in terms of our material and initiative and it's an honour to be here in Cannes with our new collaborators Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and Amit Khanna."
Friday, May 16, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Virgin Mobile to spice up Tatas service
Virgin Group today entered into the Indian telecom market by inking a 'brand franchise' agreement with Tata Teleservices (TTSL) under which Sir Richard Bransons group will provide value-added services to the Tata Group arm aiming at the youth.
Announcing the launch here Branson said in three years the company would target to rope in five million subscribers in the youth segment and to reach break even. He, however, did not mention the investment company is putting in.
"India is an exciting market. There are more than 215 million Indians aged between 14-25 years. Over the next three years, we expect this segment to be adding over 50 million new youth subscribers and to have revenues of over Rs 350 billion. We will target 10 per cent of the urban youth market," Branson said.
The UK-based company, he said, would bring in '10 telecom industry firsts' to the Indian telecom market which includes getting payment for receiving calls, one-touch VAS access from every Virgin Mobile-branded market and 'call more for less' among others.
Virgin's entry into the telecom sector faced rough weather as the GSM players lobby Cellular Operators Association of India had shot a letter recently to the Department of Telecom seeking its view on whether Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) was allowed in the country. Virgin acts as an MVNO in all its existing six markets in the world.
Announcing the launch here Branson said in three years the company would target to rope in five million subscribers in the youth segment and to reach break even. He, however, did not mention the investment company is putting in.
"India is an exciting market. There are more than 215 million Indians aged between 14-25 years. Over the next three years, we expect this segment to be adding over 50 million new youth subscribers and to have revenues of over Rs 350 billion. We will target 10 per cent of the urban youth market," Branson said.
The UK-based company, he said, would bring in '10 telecom industry firsts' to the Indian telecom market which includes getting payment for receiving calls, one-touch VAS access from every Virgin Mobile-branded market and 'call more for less' among others.
Virgin's entry into the telecom sector faced rough weather as the GSM players lobby Cellular Operators Association of India had shot a letter recently to the Department of Telecom seeking its view on whether Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) was allowed in the country. Virgin acts as an MVNO in all its existing six markets in the world.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Chidambaram hopeful of 9 p.c. growth
With the country’s economic fundamentals strong and investment climate full of optimism, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday exuded confidence on achieving an average GDP growth of nine per cent during the Eleventh Plan period (2007-08 to 2011-12) while reining in inflation alongside.
As for the outlook for 2008-09, Mr. Chidambaram said: “Optimism, but with caution, is the watchword” while commenting on the policy prescriptions of the Economic Survey 2007-08 which projected a lower GDP growth of 8.7 per cent for the current fiscal and, in that light, viewed sustenance of a high growth as a daunting task.
Speaking to newspersons immediately after tabling the Survey in Parliament, Mr. Chidambaram pointed out that the country was required to respond to the evolving global economic situation so as to ensure that its growth was not affected and this, he said, could be achieved by capitalising on the opportunity arising from the “favourable” conditions.
“I am optimistic about growth and containment of inflation in the coming year [2008-09],” he said, while noting that his priority was to provide a conducive investment climate and manage the macro economy to facilitate non-inflationary growth.
Eco Survey:Infra needs $500 bn by 2012
Over $500 billion is required to plug the infrastructure requirements in power, railways, roads, ports and airports during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, says the Economic Survey 2007-08, and this deficit presents the “most critical challenge” to the growth of the economy. While some sectors like telecom are doing well, progress in other critical infrastructure sectors has been rather subdued.
POWER: Power capacity addition during the year, projected at 10,821 mw, is less than the original target of over 16,000 mw. The rate of return of the state power sector, which was a negative 24 per cent in 2006-07 (provisional) is projected to improve to a negative 18 per cent in 2007-08. It is projected to improve to a negative 14.3 per cent in 2008-09. Commercial losses of the state power sector are estimated to be up 27 per cent to Rs 28,825 crore in 2006-07, against Rs 22,734 crore in 2005-06. The losses are projected to decline to Rs 25,701 crore in 2007-08 and then go up again to Rs 26,462 crore in 2008-09.
ROADS: About 96 per cent of the 5,846 km Golden Quadrilateral road network (linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata) had been completed by November 2007, says the survey. The 7,300-km long north-south and east-west corridors are expected to be completed by December 2009. These projects are mainly financed by the Rs 2-cess on diesel and petrol.
CIVIL AVIATION: The survey says that a decision has been taken to set up an Airport Economic Regulatory Authority and an appellate tribunal. It also says that that the Kolkata and Chennai airports would be upgraded by June 2010 at a cost of Rs 1,943 crore and Rs 1,808 crore respectively. On the project to modernise 35 non-metro airports, work on 24 airports would be completed by March 2009 while the rest would be done by March 2010.
PORTS: The average turnaround time at the major ports increased marginally from 3.5 days to 3.6 days in 2006-07 and was at 3.79 days in the first half of 2008-09. This compares poorly with a turnaround time of 10 hours in Hong Kong, says the survey.
URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE: With urban population set to increase from 30 per cent of total population to 40 per cent in a little over a decade, provision of infrastructure “befitting an urban habitation of a middle-income level country” is critical, says the survey. Lauding the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), it says that 279 projects (as on Jan 2008) involving an investment of 25,287 crore have been approved so far, of which 90 are expected to be completed by December 2008. Proposals for bus rapid transit systems have been approved for Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur, Rajkot, Vijaywada and Vishakapatnam under JNNURM, it adds.
POWER: Power capacity addition during the year, projected at 10,821 mw, is less than the original target of over 16,000 mw. The rate of return of the state power sector, which was a negative 24 per cent in 2006-07 (provisional) is projected to improve to a negative 18 per cent in 2007-08. It is projected to improve to a negative 14.3 per cent in 2008-09. Commercial losses of the state power sector are estimated to be up 27 per cent to Rs 28,825 crore in 2006-07, against Rs 22,734 crore in 2005-06. The losses are projected to decline to Rs 25,701 crore in 2007-08 and then go up again to Rs 26,462 crore in 2008-09.
ROADS: About 96 per cent of the 5,846 km Golden Quadrilateral road network (linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata) had been completed by November 2007, says the survey. The 7,300-km long north-south and east-west corridors are expected to be completed by December 2009. These projects are mainly financed by the Rs 2-cess on diesel and petrol.
CIVIL AVIATION: The survey says that a decision has been taken to set up an Airport Economic Regulatory Authority and an appellate tribunal. It also says that that the Kolkata and Chennai airports would be upgraded by June 2010 at a cost of Rs 1,943 crore and Rs 1,808 crore respectively. On the project to modernise 35 non-metro airports, work on 24 airports would be completed by March 2009 while the rest would be done by March 2010.
PORTS: The average turnaround time at the major ports increased marginally from 3.5 days to 3.6 days in 2006-07 and was at 3.79 days in the first half of 2008-09. This compares poorly with a turnaround time of 10 hours in Hong Kong, says the survey.
URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE: With urban population set to increase from 30 per cent of total population to 40 per cent in a little over a decade, provision of infrastructure “befitting an urban habitation of a middle-income level country” is critical, says the survey. Lauding the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), it says that 279 projects (as on Jan 2008) involving an investment of 25,287 crore have been approved so far, of which 90 are expected to be completed by December 2008. Proposals for bus rapid transit systems have been approved for Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur, Rajkot, Vijaywada and Vishakapatnam under JNNURM, it adds.
Eco Survey:2nd green revolution needed
Presenting a grim picture of agriculture, Economic Survey 2007-08 has projected growth to decline to 2.6% in 2007-08 from 3.8% last year. It attributes the poor performance to reduced capital investment and plateauing of yields of major crops besides weather-induced productivity fluctuations.
The survey also expresses concern over the slowdown in the creation of irrigation potential, degradation of natural resources and the collapse of the farm extension system all of which contributed to below-potential crop yields.
The survey has stressed the need for a second green revolution, particularly in rainfed areas, to improve the incomes of more than half of the country’s workforce employed in the sector. "Acceleration of growth of this sector will not only push the overall GDP growth upwards, it would also make the growth more inclusive and biased in favour of women," it said.
The survey points out that public investment in agriculture has declined, and the sector has not been able to attract private investment because of lower and unattractive returns. The share of agriculture in total gross capital formation (GCF) has dropped steadily from 10.2% in 2001-02 to 5.8% in 2005-06. However, the share of GCF in agriculture relative to the agriculture sector’s gross domestic product (GDP) has shown marginal improvement from 11.1% to 12.5% during this period. The overall share of agriculture in GDP, which used to be as high as 36.4% in 1982-83, has dropped to nearly half and is reckoned at 18.5% in 2006-07.
The survey also expresses concern over the slowdown in the creation of irrigation potential, degradation of natural resources and the collapse of the farm extension system all of which contributed to below-potential crop yields.
The survey has stressed the need for a second green revolution, particularly in rainfed areas, to improve the incomes of more than half of the country’s workforce employed in the sector. "Acceleration of growth of this sector will not only push the overall GDP growth upwards, it would also make the growth more inclusive and biased in favour of women," it said.
The survey points out that public investment in agriculture has declined, and the sector has not been able to attract private investment because of lower and unattractive returns. The share of agriculture in total gross capital formation (GCF) has dropped steadily from 10.2% in 2001-02 to 5.8% in 2005-06. However, the share of GCF in agriculture relative to the agriculture sector’s gross domestic product (GDP) has shown marginal improvement from 11.1% to 12.5% during this period. The overall share of agriculture in GDP, which used to be as high as 36.4% in 1982-83, has dropped to nearly half and is reckoned at 18.5% in 2006-07.
Eco Survey:2nd green revolution needed
Presenting a grim picture of agriculture, Economic Survey 2007-08 has projected growth to decline to 2.6% in 2007-08 from 3.8% last year. It attributes the poor performance to reduced capital investment and plateauing of yields of major crops besides weather-induced productivity fluctuations.
The survey also expresses concern over the slowdown in the creation of irrigation potential, degradation of natural resources and the collapse of the farm extension system all of which contributed to below-potential crop yields.
The survey has stressed the need for a second green revolution, particularly in rainfed areas, to improve the incomes of more than half of the country’s workforce employed in the sector. "Acceleration of growth of this sector will not only push the overall GDP growth upwards, it would also make the growth more inclusive and biased in favour of women," it said.
The survey points out that public investment in agriculture has declined, and the sector has not been able to attract private investment because of lower and unattractive returns. The share of agriculture in total gross capital formation (GCF) has dropped steadily from 10.2% in 2001-02 to 5.8% in 2005-06. However, the share of GCF in agriculture relative to the agriculture sector’s gross domestic product (GDP) has shown marginal improvement from 11.1% to 12.5% during this period. The overall share of agriculture in GDP, which used to be as high as 36.4% in 1982-83, has dropped to nearly half and is reckoned at 18.5% in 2006-07.
The survey also expresses concern over the slowdown in the creation of irrigation potential, degradation of natural resources and the collapse of the farm extension system all of which contributed to below-potential crop yields.
The survey has stressed the need for a second green revolution, particularly in rainfed areas, to improve the incomes of more than half of the country’s workforce employed in the sector. "Acceleration of growth of this sector will not only push the overall GDP growth upwards, it would also make the growth more inclusive and biased in favour of women," it said.
The survey points out that public investment in agriculture has declined, and the sector has not been able to attract private investment because of lower and unattractive returns. The share of agriculture in total gross capital formation (GCF) has dropped steadily from 10.2% in 2001-02 to 5.8% in 2005-06. However, the share of GCF in agriculture relative to the agriculture sector’s gross domestic product (GDP) has shown marginal improvement from 11.1% to 12.5% during this period. The overall share of agriculture in GDP, which used to be as high as 36.4% in 1982-83, has dropped to nearly half and is reckoned at 18.5% in 2006-07.
Eco Survey: Moderation in indl growth
The first eight months (April-November 2007) witnessed a sharp slowdown in industrial sector growth at 9.2% with the slowdown mainly on account of the manufacturing sector, which grew at 9.8% when compared with 12.5% in 2006-07.
Overall industrial production growth, including manufacturing, mining, and electricity, was slower than in the comparable period last year. The manufacturing sector grew by 9.8% (over 12.5% in 2006-07), mining grew by 4.9% (over 5.4% in the corresponding period last year), and electricity grew by 7% (over 7.2% in the same period last year).
Economic Survey 2007-08 said the industrial sector growth during the first eight months of the current fiscal suggests that buoyancy in the sector has continued - albeit with a degree of moderation.
The real challenge during the Eleventh Plan lies in removing infrastructural impediments in road, both rural and urban, rail, air and sea transport and power for sustained industrial growth, the survey added. "There is also an imperative need to facilitate the growth of labour- intensive industries, especially by reviewing labour laws and labour market regulations," it said.
Growth in manufacturing did not take place across-the-board. Industrial groups like food products, jute textiles, wood products, leather products, chemicals and chemical products and "other manufacturing" have grown at an accelerated pace. Industries like non-metallic mineral products, cotton textiles and textile products, automobiles, paper products and metal products suffered from a significant slackening in growth.
Overall industrial production growth, including manufacturing, mining, and electricity, was slower than in the comparable period last year. The manufacturing sector grew by 9.8% (over 12.5% in 2006-07), mining grew by 4.9% (over 5.4% in the corresponding period last year), and electricity grew by 7% (over 7.2% in the same period last year).
Economic Survey 2007-08 said the industrial sector growth during the first eight months of the current fiscal suggests that buoyancy in the sector has continued - albeit with a degree of moderation.
The real challenge during the Eleventh Plan lies in removing infrastructural impediments in road, both rural and urban, rail, air and sea transport and power for sustained industrial growth, the survey added. "There is also an imperative need to facilitate the growth of labour- intensive industries, especially by reviewing labour laws and labour market regulations," it said.
Growth in manufacturing did not take place across-the-board. Industrial groups like food products, jute textiles, wood products, leather products, chemicals and chemical products and "other manufacturing" have grown at an accelerated pace. Industries like non-metallic mineral products, cotton textiles and textile products, automobiles, paper products and metal products suffered from a significant slackening in growth.
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