Different Strokes by Sucheta Dalal

March 13, 2000

Against what odds?

The timing couldn't be worse. At a time when the Maharashtra State Electricity Board has just announced a crushing hike in electricity tariffs, Enron has sent out a brochure gloating about the financing of Dabhol-II.

The people of Maharashtra get ready to pay the highest power rates in the country, at just under Rs five per unit; the smallest consumers (under 50 units) will face a 69 per cent hike all because of buying power from the controversial Dabhol project, but here is what Enron has to say.

It talks of 'creating history by achieving financial closure against a backdrop of communal strife, bomb blasts, policy changes and economic adversity', for its Phase I and repeating history by achieveing financial closure in the face of US economic sanctions, the East Asian currency crises and mid-term elections in India for phase II. It gloats about the ten awards that it received while consumers question the need for Dabhol II when Dabhol I alone has turned MESB sick and turned the State power surplus, and has forced it to backdown cheaper power alternatives.

The brochure also conveys the image of a backward, strife-torn, ungovernable India which the Americans find so easy to equate with Pakistan.

HDFC versus ICICI - Part II

The housing war rages on. Remember how ICICI stole HDFC's thunder and took away the crowds at a housing industry exhibition earlier this year. Its trick was to offer a waiver of a chunk of the processing charges for those who had their documents processed at the exhibition venue.

A fortnight ago, HDFC sponsored another realty fair in Delhi; this time the Chairman announced that HDFC too would waive processing charges for applications at the venue.

But it was checkmate again. ICICI went and set up its stall just outside the venue and peddled its housing finance schemes, leading to an alternation with furious HDFC officials.

Now HDFC has fired the next salvo by dropping interest rates and daring ICICI to dent its market share. ICICI's ruthless aggression had amused corporate watchers so far, it is like the cola wars - nasty but non-serious. Then comes the nasty business over the registration of Investsmart, and suddenly, ICICI's idea of aggressive competition simply begins to look plain dirty and not at all cricket. Read on.

Skirmish over dot.com registration

The first open skirmish over dot.com registrations will, ironically enough, be fought by two institutions ICICI and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL & FS). Investsmart India, a subsidiary of IL & Fs which has a website called Investsmartindia.com has sued ICICI for "dishonest" and "fraudulent" practice. It alleges that ICICI has gone and registered a domain by the name investmartindia.com (just a 's' missingg) to cash in on its "goodwill, popularity and reputation."

Funnily enough, ICICI's attempt to sabotage the Investsmart website has probably given it unsought credibility in the clutter of investment related sites going up into cyberspace everyday.

The flip side is that ICICI's image has been irrevocably dented. What is intriguing though, is the claim that ICICI did not respond to Investsmart's letter. ICICI's top officials - K.V. Kamath and Lalita Gupte probably meet IL & FS's chairman Deepak Parekh and vice chairman Ravi Parthasarthy almost everyday on the business cocktail/committee circuit.

The Indian system also has a whole bunch of good Samaritans ever willing to help resolve such stick differences. Yet, Investsmart went to court. Doesn't this suggest a total break down in communications between the two institutions? Incidentally, this is not the first time IL & FS has sued ICICI.

In the past it sued it over not fulfilling its role as a Debenture. Trustee in the Best & Crompton case and jeopardising its investment.

Updated weekly.

The author's e-mail address is: suchetadalal@yahoo.com

Other columnists:

M.V.Kamath

Shashi Tharoor

SuchetaDalal

Shobha De

Amrita Shah

Nina Pillai

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