GSM carriers agreed to reduce call termination charges, which are fees paid between networks to transfer calls. Previously, leading GSM companies opposed cuts to these charges that impact revenues. Two state banks, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of India, increased their base lending rates by 0.5% to 8.5% due to increased deposit rates and funding costs. Reliance Retail is closing in on a joint venture with global toy retailer Toys 'R' Us, which has annual revenues over $13 billion, to tap into India's $6 billion toy market.

1. By: Nitin Kochhar MBA 2C Weekly NEWS (4th Oct – 9th Oct)

2. GSM cos agree to cut call-moving charges Leading GSM operators have dropped their opposition against reducing call termination charges. Termination charges is the fee mobile phone companies pay each other for moving calls between networks. Last year, TRAI had slashed this fee by a third and the move was heavily criticised by leading GSM players such as BhartiAirtel , Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular as they feared that this would further impact their revenues and profitswith a further cut in call rates.

3. Contd… Currently, if an Airtel subscriber calls a Vodafone user, Airtel is liable to pay 20 paise per minute to Vodafone as termination charges. India is divided into 22 telecom circles, and calls within a circle are carried only by BSNL, which charges 15 paise per minute for it.

4. OBC, BoI raise base rate by 50 basis points to 8.5 pc State-owned Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of India today their hiked base rate, below which banks can't offer loans, by 50 basis points to 8.5 per cent. With the increase in base rate all kinds of loans, including housing, auto and education become dearer by at least 50 basis points (0.5 per cent). Since last week, 11 banks, including ICICI, HDFC, PNB, IDBI Bank and Allahabad Bank have hiked their base rates by up to 50 basis points. Deposit rates and consequently cost of funds have increased, necessitating an increase in the base rate

5. Reliance Retail works out JV with Toys ‘R’ Us After bringing an iconic two and half century old toy brand ‘Hamleys’ from UK, MukeshAmbani led Reliance Retail is now close to signing a joint venture agreement with world’s leading toy retailer ‘Toys ‘R’ Us’. The New Jersey headquartered ‘Toys ‘R’ Us’ has an annual revenues in excess of $ 13 billion and owns the world’s largest toy store at New York City’s Times Square. The company has more than 800 supermarkets in the US alone and another 700 spread over 34 conutries globally.

6. Contd… The market worth Rs 6000 crore is highly untapped but now global players like Simba Toys and Ty Inc among others are betting big on the Indian market. Reliance Retail already have a slew of joint ventures including UK’s apparel Marks & Spencer, Dutch optical major Pearle Europe, Italian men wear brand ErmenegildoZegna Group and US based Apple Inc, among others. Reliance Retail had revenues in excess of Rs 4500 crores, and it operates nearly 1150 stores, in 86 cities across 14 states for the financial year ending 31st March 2010.

7. Thank you