Mine is this kingdom

Telecom tycoon Anil Ambani is heading out to Saudi Arabia, however it is not the kingdom’s oil reserves (that is his brother’s turf!) but its lack of global connectivity that has the mogul’s interest. Reliance Communications plans to invest $60 million in oil-rich Saudi Arabia in a bid to connect Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations directly with the rest of the world through a fibre-optic network, providing various value-added services to its customers. This is a first for several states of the Gulf, who previously had no direct global connectivity, since Saudi Arabia and the UAE were the only countries in the region with submarine cable connections for global networking. The tycoon’s move is going to change all of that, as Reliance prepares to set up submarine fibre-optic cable stations in Jeddah and Alkhobar. The landmark deal was finalised when the Saudi King Abdullah made his visit to India earlier this year. Anil scored critical brownie points by discussing partnership options and also by seeking to reinforce relations with the Integrated Telecom Company (ITC), headquartered in Jeddah, and in doing so, managed to open the door to investments on both sides. The magnate is taking no chances on this deal. He has been present in the Kingdom to ensure the smooth sailing of the project and also to reassure the ITC of Reliance’s commitment to this project, which was initiated under his Flag Telecom.

Golden Hopes

Rajesh Mehta, chairman of his eponymous export company, is enthusiastic as his expansion plans for the company come close to fruition. The jewellery-export czar hopes to bring a gold wave in southern India. The retail plans of the export magnate involve acquiring local shops in southern India. Stepping around the complexity of building his own stores, the tycoon plans to acquire existing local stores in order to speed up the process. When the deal is finalised and acquisitions complete, expectedly in six to seven months, the company plans to host a grand launch of the retail stores, with an unprecedented 100 stores supposed to be opening on the same day. According to people in the know, the tycoon is perhaps close to sealing a deal with Wal-Mart to supply gold jewellery for retailing abroad. But this won’t add much to his bottomline since margins will be wafer thin. In another step towards establishing a retail empire, the czar recently acquired the retail assets of OyzterBay and is intending to change its brand image, as the existing image is too limited. Focus will be on turning OyzterBay into a mainstream jewellery chain, moving away from its tag of fashionable jewellery aimed only at younger customers. But he has to deal with the fact that this is a business that has resisted scaling up in the past. And of all markets, the southern one is perhaps the toughest to crack.