Golden payoff?

From being the biggest consumer of gold to now also becoming one of the biggest holders of the yellow metal, India has charted an interesting course

Golden payoff?

From being the biggest consumer of gold to now also becoming one of the biggest holders of the yellow metal, India has charted an interesting course. In 1991 India flew out a planeload of gold to borrow foreign exchange to ward off a payment crisis. Now, the Reserve Bank of India has bought 200 metric tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to shore up its gold holdings besides diversifying its so far dollaru2013centric reserves.

More than one for everyone

For reasons totally different from elsewhere, Dilli, along with Mumbai, and two other Indian metros, now have more mobile phone connections than residents. They surprisingly join the global league of cities with over 100 per cent mobile penetration such as London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. But in India multiple SIM cards per person is the real reason for this expression of excess.

Therefore, savvy local telecom players are already looking at rural markets for the next level of growth. They are working towards making rural people, youth and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) their key growth drivers, although all their revenues currently come from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. But their dreams of rural penetration may hinge on how the next set of spectrum issue pan out.

Widely regarded as India's 'Image Guru', Dilip Cherian is a lobbyist, celebrity creator and tycoon watcher. He currently parties on a 24/7 schedule that mixes cities, nixes bores, and analyses Dilli

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