Reliance Industries owned RIL-Infotel, which is the pan-India winner of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, has started trials of WiMax service as per industry sources.

Mukesh Ambani’s RIL-Infotel has installed, as per the source, five WiMax base station in which three are from Alvarion and two are from Samsung. The company is checking interoperability among various BTSs and devices along with factors that hold key to a business.

Infotel won BWA spectrum in all 22 telecom circles across the country for a whopping Rs 12,847.77 crore. On the same day RIL had announced to acquire 95 per cent stake in the company.

The entry of Mukesh Ambani into telecom will create death knell for several players. The mobile industry is yet to recover from shocks following the implementation of the per second billing concept. Mukesh Ambani, when launched Reliance Infocomm, was the first to take on Vodafone and Bharti Airtel with cost effective schemes. Mahendra Nahata created history when HFCL won several mobile circles when the telecom industry was opened up for private players in mid 1990s. But Nahatas could not complete their mission. Mukesh Ambani, who settled his issues with brother Anil Ambani, can now enter telecom space and is looking for buying out operators.

The success of WiMax trials being run by Reliance-Infotel will be a big blow to Qualcomm, the evangelist of TD LTE technology, which is expected to make foray into global market by late 2012 or early 2013.

According to WiMax Forum, there are more than 300 WiMax devices of all types like datacards, Indoor CPE, WiMax Hand Sets etc, already certified by it for use in more than 540 mobile WiMax networks in 140 countries. There are more addition expected by WiMax Forum to this existing range of devices.

Source:http://news-views.in/mukesh-ambani-back-with-a-bang/

Reliance Industries remain on top of the list when it comes to being socially responsible or active. This time again they have hit it right with the United Nations naming Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani to a key advocacy group on Millennium Development Goals. As per the reports, this is an achievement for the corporate as it will increase its stature on the global front. According to the sources, Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian to be part of the MDG advocacy group along with other eminent personalities on board including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and philanthropist Ted Turner. The mandate of this Millennium Development Goals advocacy group includes finding various ways to fight socio-economic evils such as poverty which is a blazing issue these days. As per the sources, Mukesh Ambani will be in charge of global partnership for development which will include formulation of an open, rule bases, non discriminatory and predictable financial and trading system.

According to the United Nations representative, Mukesh Ambani, the top Indian industrialist will also look at the special needs of the least developed countries of the world as well as other landlocked developing countries along with other small islands and developing states. As per the sources, the Millennium Development Goals are eight international goals which at least 23 global organizations and 192 United Nations member states have agreed to achieve by the tear 2015. All these goals are developmental goals and will work for the benefit of the underprivileged sections of the society worldwide.

This golden opportunity will also strengthen the presence of Reliance Industries globally. Reliance Chief Mukesh Ambani feels proud to be associated with this noble cause which includes reducing poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics like AIDS and developing a global partnership for development. According to the world body, this MDG advocacy group will support the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in mobilizing global action and building political will. To set this initiative rolling, the first task of the advocacy group is the preparation for the MDG Summit which will be held in September this year and this Summit can be seen as a turning point in the collective effort to achieve the set goals by 2015.

The elder of the two Ambani siblings, Mukesh is also the member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry and the Board of Governors of the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Not just on the national front, Mukesh Ambani is also active in the international scene. He also holds the position of the Vice Chairman of The World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Source:http://news-views.in/un-names-mukesh-ambani-in-mdg-advocacy-group/

Top Industrialist Mukesh Ambani would release ‘Wildscapes’, a coffee table book on environment and wildlife protection, here on July 29.

The book is a collection of wildlife photographs by Aurangabad-based lensman Baiju Patil and is presented by Rajya Sabha member Vijay Darda, who is also Chairman of the Lokmat group of newspapers.

The images in the book are from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. “The idea is to generate awareness about this subject among children and youth and motivate them towards wildlife conservation,” Darda’s son and Lokmat Executive Director Devendra Darda told PTI.

Governor K Sankaranarayanan would preside over the book release function, to be held at Raj Bhavan.

Vijay Darda has taken several initiatives to promote conservation of nature and wildlife. One such project, Lokmat Green Initiative, involved planting one lakh saplings in a day.

“The idea behind the book is to make readers aware about what can be lost forever if we do not act immediately to protect wildlife and environment,” Devendra said.

Mukesh Ambani is an Indian business magnate, philanthropist and the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, the largest private sector enterprise in India and a Fortune 500 company.
Mukesh Ambani directed and led the creation of the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, with a current capacity of 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port and related infrastructure. Today, he leads the largest private sector conglomerate in India.

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which has tasted success in a block in the Cauvery basin, could be close to striking hydrocarbon in an adjacent block (Palar deepwater PR-DWN-2001/1) in the region.
The first success was in the CY-DWN-2001/2 (CY-III-D5) block.

The company has temporarily shifted focus to Cauvery-Palar offshore from the Krishna-Godavari Basin where it had a huge success.

In the Palar block, RIL is understood to be testing a well. The hydrocarbon success would be known only after testing is completed, industry sources said.

After successful completion of its drilling activity in the Palar block, the company has now moved to CY-D5 and is drilling an appraisal well. Sources told Business Line that RIL started drilling the appraisal well a few days ago.

CY-D5 is where RIL had run out of luck after striking oil and gas in only one out of the five wells drilled.

On why the company returned to CY-D5, a source said: “Though the company ran out of luck in the subsequent wells drilled, the first discovery was significant. An appraisal well is drilled to quantify the find.”

The find in the first well showed two hydrocarbon bearing zones.

The first zone had 550 barrels a day of oil and one million cubic feet a day of gas, while in the second zone the company found 31 million cubic feet a day of gas and 1,200 barrels a day of condensate.
According to the initial appraisal programme for CY-D5 as submitted to the management committee of the block, RIL was estimated to invest about $22.75 million for undertaking additional work. “This number, however, is expected to go up now,” a source said while not indicating the definite figures.

These two blocks were awarded to RIL in NELP III. As on date, RIL has 29 oil and gas blocks, and has made 44 discoveries (both commercial and non-commercial) including overseas properties.
Blocks such as CY-D5 are called wild cat blocks, and the success ratio is one in 10 globally in such blocks. Wild cat blocks are new frontier areas.

Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/03/08/stories/2010030851470100.htm

Presenting a broadly acceptable Budget for a country of India’s size and complexities is always a formidable task. It is especially so in such difficult and uncertain times as we are passing through these days, when the entire economy and polity are so severely buffeted by clashing sectional and sectoral demands. The Finance Minister, therefore, deserves kudos for coming out with a handsome Budget in such times. He has handled the contrary demands he faced with a deftness that can come only from long experience in public life and government.

I am sure it will be widely acknowledged that he has manoeuvred his way out of the difficult times with great adroitness. He has contained fiscal deficit to the extent feasible and that too without curtailing growth. He has given concessions where required, raised allocations for the poor, especially the rural poor, besides offering much required relief to tax-payers that should sustain demand for consumer goods in the economy.

Some duties have, of course, been raised and these will, no doubt, add to some pressure on prices. These increases were, however, largely expected, and the manufacturers and consumers had taken them into account. I think that the roll-back of incentives, talked about for so long, has been kept within bearable limits.

Social stability
As in the last Budget, the Finance Minister has once again focussed his attention on reaching the poorest of the poor. That is where the benefits of all national efforts towards boosting growth must be directed. India must begin to rise from deep below — from where all growth will ultimately come.

Also, it is only by adopting an inclusive growth paradigm that orderly and sustainable economic progress and social and political stability can be attained. If growth and its benefits do not reach the bottom, everything we have attained so far will be jeopardised. The increase in allocations for these sections and the improvements envisaged in delivering the benefits to them are, therefore, especially welcome.

Farm focus
The renewed and increased emphasis on raising agricultural production and providing incentives for food storage and processing are other very important points. As we have seen, the last two years’ inflationary pressures have largely, almost solely, been the outcome of scarcity of agricultural commodities.

It is the most urgent need of the times not only to arrest negative growth in agriculture but reverse the falling trend and boost production of all commodities, including oil-seeds. The increase in allocations for this area is highly commendable. In addition, this calls for some very innovative measures all along the base and frontiers of agriculture.

Overall, I am sure Mr Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget will put India on a path that will lead to achieving the targets he has set for the country for 2010-2011 and beyond. It is a handsome and inclusive Budget which will propel the country’s ambition of fulfilling the dreams of a billion-plus population.

Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/02/27/stories/2010022754461700.htm