Bizination - Dhando, Takko, Rokdo

Scams are back. Three guys from the 1983 batch of Wharton Business School have been accused of orchestrating one of the biggest hedge fund scams in a long time. This is a text book case of Insider trading. But not all news is sad news on the Wall Street. Most companies have posted Quarterly profits. In India, Lakshmi Mittal, the CEO of Arcelor Mittal threatened to quit all his projects from Orissa and Jharkhand. Ritika has strong views on the whole issue of land allocation for such projects which causes a lot of friction between the locals and the state government. In some sad news, Ranjan Das, SAP India head died of a massive heart attack.

This episode of BiziNation is dedicated to the Internet. Lately, social networking sites are showing signs of finally making some money USocial, an Australian site is selling friends to companies who can send targeted messages to its audience. On the Operating Systems front, Microsoft launched its new OS with an a very questionable but an effective ad campaign. Yahoo! is spilling $100 million on advertising in the traditional media, a sign of growing desperation. Google on the other hand has launched an ad exchange program on the web much like the stock market in the physical world. Also, back home, an IIT entrepreneur launched Phokat Copy, a service which subsidizes photocopies for students in India.

This episode is about how businesses are adapting themselves to the changes in their environment. Levis has launched an EMI scheme to make your favourite pair of Levis jeans affordable to you. Launch of worlds first digi novel is a testiment to how the publishing industry and authors are using novel ways to face the challenges thrown by the new media of internet. We talk about google being at its innovative best. Indias biggest and favourite insurer LIC is no longer shying away from the equity market. PG comes to the rescue of the Olympics committee as sporting events feel the heat of recession.

There are no free lunches and so removing money from an ATM other than your bank will now cost you but the first five in a month are free. Listen about how banks in Australia charge ATM interchange fees to customers. Sad news for all Reader digest fans as the company declares bankruptcy in US. Biking fans in India welcome the entry of Harley Davidson. Maverick CEO Michael Leary of Ryan Air teaches a few things about running a profitable airlines in time of slump. Spicejet does better than its full service rival.

The IT sector first quarter results are out and the Sensex finally has something to cheer about. TCS is leading from the front reports better than expected profits. Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment is taking the Hollywood path by signing a deal with Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks. The Ambani brothers are at it again!! Straight out of a scene from Bollywood hit, Deewar,they are fighting for the gas in krishna Goadavri basin. The 2 brothers fight it out in the legal battlefield.

The Union Budget 2009-10, like any other was branded as an Aam Aadmi budget which promised inclusive growth. But the sceptics brushed it aside. Contratry to what the experts think, we reckon that this budget has something in it for both the rich as well as poor. In this podcast, we dwell not only on the Yojanas and schemes that the goverment has announced for the poor but also spend some time talking about the plans laid out for the urban poor, infrastructure, defense personnel and children. And we also introduce a section where in you can leave your comments and we'll add those in our next podcast. Listen to know how to go about it.

The thought of the Indian aviation industry making quarterly profits is far fetched, but to find out that one company bears almost half of the entire industry's burden would send some stomachs churning especially if you are working with Air India, Indias national carrier. Story aint that different in other parts of the world. British Airways has declared its biggest loss of the century. Back home, the Bandra Worli Sea link has been unveiled and promises to take some load off the roads. This episode is a light weight one where we celebrate, in Ritika's words, our Pearl Anniversary.

Ritika gives us a run down of some ground realitiy in Australia on the attacks on Indians. This podcast is a mix of national and international news. Australia has just been handed out a stimulus package a good percentage of which went to the dead! Back home in India, Bharati has renewed talks with MTN for what would be the biggest Indian acquisition. The Bharti tie up with Walmart spwaned a 50000 sq feet cash and carry store in Amritsar. And in another news, Grameen America, the microfinance bank led by Mohd Yunus has an envious track record despite the recession.

The initial euphoria of the UPA win in the recently held Indian elections refuses to die down and in this podcast we bring to you what's in store for the Indian business class following the UPA win. What can our new Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee do to accelerate the Indian GDP growth in times like these We discuss policy issues ranging from FDI to disinvestment to deregulation of oil. The IPL has come and gone and its time to start raking the moolah. We discuss the actual winners of the IPL. Tata has done it once again!! From people's car to low cost housing, Tatas seem to be taking CK Prahlad's Botton of the Pyramid model very seriously. Listen to our 28th epsiode to know more.

Satyam made headlines not too long ago. Now Tech Mahindra has brought it back in the news. Satyam will soon be bought out by Tech Mahindra. Most of this rather short podcast focuses on the deal and what is there in it for Tech Mahindra which had to pay more than a 1000 crore for this deal. Quarter 4 results are out and surprisingly a few of Indias IT companies have posted profits.