Life can be very different when one is trying to extract natural resources out of the sea that are buried more than 2-km below the surface. And yet somehow, they manage to serve samosas and farsan to their guests! On board RIL’s oil & gas exploration ship in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, Suman Layak returns impressed by the infrastructure and the production plans.

The swiftness and the savagery of the global downturn have caught business by surprise—the bigger the corporation, the bigger is the surprise. But few analysts expected Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group to be hit. After seven years of a heady upcycle, Reliance Industries finds itself hemmed in a downturn that’s perhaps the worst ever since it went public 31 years ago. Suman Layak reports.

The sharp drop in crude prices comes as a boon to some sectors, and a curse to others. The big question, though, is: How long will this softness last?

ITC, Godrej and the Essar Group are among a host of new corporate hedgers, and many of them have actually taken up memberships on domestic bourses like the MCX and NCDEX. Why are they getting into this slippery terrain? A report by Anand Adhikari.

Below the radar of the national media, Bhopal is industrialising rapidly and emerging as an increasingly important manufacturing hub.

By 2017, India’s energy requirement is expected to be 100 GW more than previously estimated. That’s why it is imperative for India to have nuclear power as a critical component of its energy basket. Shalini S. Dagar does a threadbare analysis. More new jobs with nuke-deal spin-off

Crude at $200 a barrel? Perhaps it’s that prospect that has convinced a clutch of Indian businessmen that exploring and producing this commodity that’s getting scarcer by the minute is a lucrative venture. But how many of them will hit pay dirt? Anand Adhikari finds out. Oil: A ticking time bomb

The token increase in fuel prices isn’t enough to stem the flood of red on the balance sheets of state-owned oil marketers.

Can information technology be transformational? Without doubt, yes. And here are 20 examples to prove it. Our annual listing of the most IT-savvy outfits in the country.

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power has the most aggressive plans of all power players and investors are willing to repose faith in the premium for the Ambani surname. K.R. Balasubramanyam finds out whether Reliance Power has bitten off more than it can chew. Reliance Energy to consider buyback of shares Who will get Reliance Power bonus?Reliance Power wants allotment dues before bonus offer

There are still quite a few undervalued stocks that could see big upsides in the new year. We shortlist 10 such gems.