Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: UAE firm buys stake in Swan

UAE firm buys stake in Swan
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ASIANAGE on 23 September, 2008 05:20:11
 
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi
Sept. 23: The UAE-based Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) on
Tuesday picked 45 per cent stake in Indian telecom company Swan, which is yet to
roll out its services for $900 million.
Swan has telecom licences for 13 out of the total 22 telecom circles in India,
including Delhi. It has already received spectrum for 10 circles and is expected
to launch mobile services in the first half of 2009. Swan said that it is in the
process of acquiring additional licences in two more circles. This deal values
Swan at $2 billion.
The remaining 55 per cent of the shares in Swan Telecom are held by several
entities, including the promoter Dynamix Balwas (DB) group, a Mumbai-based real
estate and hospitality business group.
Ernst & Young, partner, Mr Vishal Malhotra, said that Etisalat entry in India
shows that for the foreign investors Indian telecom sector’s growth story
still remains intact and even the global economic slowdown will not deter them
from entering into the Indian market.
He said that the two other operators where the foreign telecom players could
pick up a stake in coming days are Unitech and Datacom.
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India won’t be hit: GS
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi
Sept. 23: Goldman Sachs has said that US credit crisis will have less impact on
India’s economy as compared to the damage done by high international commodity
prices.
"Of the two shocks to hit the global system this year — high commodity prices
and the credit crisis, the former had large negative consequences," said Goldman
Sachs. It said that the credit crisis will reverse the tidal wave of cheap
foreign capital over the past few years but will have less of an impact on the
economy’s fundamentals.
The financial sector remains essentially sound, mortgages are a fraction of
total credit, and exposure to inflated real estate is small, it said. "Concerns
about the external sector’s vulnerability to a credit crunch are overdone,"
said Goldman Sachs.
First, the interest rates have peaked, and in the current global environment,
the RBI will remain in liquidity injection mode. Second, lower oil prices takes
away a significant risk. The monsoons, another critical concern for agriculture
and overall growth, have been near normal and spread widely.