Effective management of business travel can lead to significant savings for Indian corporates, says a recent American Express Travel & Entertainment Expense Management survey.

“We’re not here to run a Mickey Mouse business. We’re looking at substantial revenues from India—in hundreds of millions rather than tens of millions of pounds”

Armed with deep pockets and distinguished brands, some of India’s biggest mega-corps are diversifying away from their flagship businesses. Synergies do exist in most cases, but do some of these promoters run the risk of spreading themselves too thin? BT's Anand Adhikari finds out.

From a long list of names, we finally picked 10 that stood out for the uniqueness of their businesses or rapid growth. Our second annual listing of the most happening young ventures.

The Tatas have spent $23 billion on 125 buyouts since 2002.

The statutory body, which is supposed to regulate higher education in the country, is a sclerotic, bureaucratic organisation that is, instead, vitiating the atmosphere of technical education in India. In the past, it has been often accused of approving institutions with questionable credentials even as some of India's premier institutes have found it difficult to gain recognition. Rishi Joshi reports.

Its one-year programme is attracting a larger number of older students. Blame it on its quick pay-back.

Retail and telecom perk up, while IT, ITES and manufacturing slacken, reveals the seventh quarterly BT-TeamLease Employment Outlook Survey.

Business Today’s league of extraordinary managers—25 young guns, aged 40 or under, who are blazing a trail up the corporate ladder.

“India, which always used last year’s fashion to dress itself up, is becoming the knowledge centre of the world”

Bee-keeping continues to be largely an unorganised activity in India and most farmers take it up on a small scale as a way of supplementing their incomes. However, the hardworking farmers in Punjab have found an equally diligent partner in honeybees and are making a buzzing business out of bee-keeping. Kapil Bajaj writes about the spirited bee-keepers in the state. 

Among the largest Europe based asset managers, AXA Investment Managers manages $830 billion or Rs 33.2 lakh crore (December 2007) in assets. AXA Investment Managers Global CEO Dominique Carrel-Billiard was in the country recently even as its domestic joint venture, Bharati AXA Asset Management, received SEBI’s nod to roll out mutual fund products for the Indian market. In a conversation with Mahesh Nayak, Carrel-Billiard spells out his plans for India, the effect of the subprime crisis, and lots more.

Choosing a retirement product to suit one’s requirements is important. Insurance companies have launched pension plans that work like ULIPs. How do these work?

NBFCs are aspiring to become one-stop shops for all financial services, and, in the process, coming into direct competition with scheduled commercial sector banks, especially in the private sector. Large NBFCs, such as Reliance Capital and Indiabulls, are giving banks a run for their money in many of their traditional segments. BT's Anand Adhikari reports.

The Chennai-based Sanmar Group will soon be among the top 10 foundries in the world (top three in the case of steel casting capacity) and ranked 20th in terms of global PVC capacity (second in India after Reliance Industries). By 2010-11, its revenues are expected to touch Rs 7,000 crore, with 45 per cent of it coming from outside India. BT's N. Madhavan says that the transformation has indeed been rapid.

A little-known cement maker from AP strikes a big deal.

The TOPSGRUP has its (safe) hands full.

The cover story on HUL showcases the comeback of the consumer goods giant after a period of sluggish growth. When Nitin Paranjpe takes over the mantle as the new CEO in April, he will have a tough job on his hand.

The most innovative companies don't do different things, they just do things differently. And that seems to make all the difference.

Few months ago, things were looking good in the markets. But in barely 10 weeks, the financial landscape has changed, and the bears have got an upper hand in the stock market.