BOMBAY, 30 December 2002 — Eid has come and gone. Diwali is also over. Christmas too has passed. And now it is time to bid adieu to the year 2002. And as usual, we all feel that the year just whizzed by and see everyone nodding their heads in consent, voices in unison, “time indeed flies”! We feel it is only now that we welcomed 2002 and now the time has come to say good bye. And as the well used clichés go — it is time to ring out the old and usher in the new.

The end of the year always, inevitably draws one into an introspective mood. We think of the things gone by, good and bad. At the same time, we look forward to the things which will come anew. The start of a new year, brings in a wave of new hopes, new anticipation’s. And all those who are experienced by now, would know that resolutions are meant to be broken and the more experienced ones would know that it is pointless making resolutions!

For the Indian corporate world, or India Inc. as it is popularly known, it was year of mixed bags. First, let us take a look at the things which went awry.

The one area of bad news was the privatization program. The speed and transparency that marked the disinvestment program under the leadership of Arun Shourie quite naturally made him a hero of the business media. Yet, as usual, the disinvestment target remained merely on paper with nothing much getting under way.

The “scam season” was ushered in by US with its infamous Enron scandal and after that came, Xerox and then WorldCom. In India, the first scam of the year was from the slew of cooperative banks, led by the scamster company, Home Trade. More than 20 co-ops were affected and the total loss was estimated to be to the tune of Rs.4.00 billion in their dealings with Home Trade.

There was also the infamous imbroglio between the reputed House of Tata’s and equally respected auditing firm, Ferguson. And talking about Tata’s, 2002 saw the sad demise of Nani Palkhiwalla, who headed ACC, India’s largest private sector cement company. 2002 for Tata’s also saw the retirement of Ratan Tata who will now remain as the non-executive chairman.

India also faced a drought-like situation which affected large parts of the country. The worst-hit states included Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, the main contributors of the total kharif crop. Though the monsoons which played truant this year, made a late appearance, it was more like a “guest appearance”.

On the economic front, though 2002 witnessed a revival in several economic parameters, it has failed badly on the investment scenario with fresh investments slowing down and the number of investments being abandoned touched a new high.

There was the usual presentation of the union budget in February 2002. It turned out to be a mixed bag.

2002 will be an unforgettable year for the Ambani’s of Reliance. The demise of the founder of the group, Dhirubhai Ambani, will be a grief over which the Ambani brothers and the Indian corporate world would never get over.

On the other hand, Reliance went on to make history in 2002. First was the acquisition of the 26 percent stake in state owned petrochemical giant, Indian Petrochemical Corporation Ltd. (IPCL), taking it to the top league with global petrochemical firms like Dow Chemicals and BP Amoco, commanding now a monopolistic 80 percent domestic market share.

Then the consortium of Reliance and Niko Resources of Canada discovered gas reserves totaling 7 trillion cubic feet (198 billion cubic meter) in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the east coast. And this discovery meant not only a fatter bottomline for RIL but more importantly, is expected to change the international perception about hydrocarbon potential of India.

And Reliance ended the year, with the launch of the much awaited limited mobile services (WLL). The main buzzword of the launch has been affordability and by pricing the service at the cheapest and throwing a lot of freebies, the other telecom companies are currently facing a lot of jitters.

This was also the year when the Indian rupee gained a lot of strength. Infact it is currently at a one-year high of 47.99/48 per dollar. And there is talk that in the year coming by, the rupee will only grow more stronger.

For the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), in the last week of the current calendar year following good buying support from operators as well as foreign funds, ended at a 32-week peak at 3,398.00. The Sensex was up by nearly 136 points from last year’s finish, the first time it has shown gains in the past two years of distinctly depressed sentiments thus bringing back the much needed investor confidence.

The BSE also had its share of scam with a new scamster making headlines — Ketan Parekh. And in the fag end of the year, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the Rs.50.00 billion stock market scam and the Unit Trust of India fiasco, finally tabled its report. It did not say anything beyond what was already known. The committee has been of the view that there was a nexus between Ketan Parekh, banks and corporate houses. Nothing new about that! And last but not the least, the Unit Trust of India (UTI) took everyone by shock by doing a drastic restructuring. Privatization of UTI-II will take place within the next six months and by January 2003, the UTI Act is expected to be repealed.

Well, there is indeed a lot which happened in 2002, a mixed bag with good and bad. As usual, we all now look forward to 2003, with the same hopes and aspirations for only good and no bad!