Biz Buzz

After the rather unceremonious exit of controversial OSD N.K. Singh and the appointmentof Joint Secretary Pradipto Ghosh in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), there are strongindications from the PMO (read Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Principal SecretaryBrajesh Mishra) that a search has begun for one more person in the rank of either JointSecretary or Additional Secretary. Not many know who the person would be, but PMO insidersclaim duties -- once the person is hired -- will be charted out in two sections. Oneperson will handle key economic issues and also those pertaining to social developmentwhile the other will coordinate the chambers of commerce and other apex bodies. This,claim insiders, will help check growing criticism about a section of the PMO favouring afew industrial groups in the country. The appointment, it is reliably learnt, will takeplace after Vajpayee returns from his sojourn in Manali.

Never mind if Indian shipping is not ranked among the finest in the world. But this onemove from Essar Shipping has taken global giants -- especially those from the Scandinavianbelt -- completely by surprise. Mumbai-based Essar Shipping has formed the world's firstconsortium for suezmax tankers with more than 51 per cent stake in the venture. Shippingexperts see this as a significant move by the Ruia brothers, ostensibly because suezmaxtankers are in great demand across the globe for carrying crude oil to a host ofdestinations from both the Middle East and North Sea. And the recent move to form theconsortium (and operate from one of the Pacific Rim tax havens) will help the Indiancompany maintain a strategic hold on the business, considered an important bargaining baitin global crude movements.

What actually happened before the government decided to suspend Air-India ManagingDirector M Mascarenhas? While one section in the bureaucracy claims it was because of histensions with Commercial Director V.K. Verma, there's another story doing the rounds inthe corridors of the Ministries of Civil Aviation and Finance. And it is that Mascarenhastold two UK-based delegations that Air-India is worth nothing and that the only aircraftsworth-a-look were the four in the 747-400 series. The delegations, which came to do adue-diligence report on some prospective buyers, narrated the same to the Ministry ofFinance officials who, in turn, informed Yashwant Sinha who promptly called Sharad Yadavand explained his officials' embarassment during the meeting with the visitors fromLondon. The rest is already news.

Tourism Minister Ananth Kumar appears to be upbeat about the future of inbound tourismbut reality shows otherwise. Recently, Delta Airways informed the government that it wascontemplating suspending its India operations. The Delta move follows close on the heelsof the All-Nippon Airways (ANA) decision to suspend operations from India. And whilemandarins in the Ministry of Civil Aviation grappled with the dual issue of Delta and ANA, came the news that twoairlines from Canada -- Air Canada and Canada 3000 -- had put their India plans on thebackburner. Will someone explain what is the real crisis?

Is the government looking for a new Petroleum Secretary to replace S Shankar? Itappears so, especially because of Shankar's continuing tensions with the Minister Ram Naikover a host of issues (including the second round of New Exploration Licensing Policy-- NELP -- wherein Shankar raised a host of objections about the way NELP II was handled). Besides, there are rumours that Shankar has asked for a detailed report on how a number ofpolitical parties were routinely coercing state-owned oil and gas companies to cough upfunds (as donations). So who are the two in the race? Ministry sources say two names doingthe rounds are Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh and Power Secretary A.K. Basu. But whatremains to be seen is whether the Prime Minister agrees to a change or not.

Two channels feeling the heat from Star's KBC and soap magic (read Kyunki Saas BhiKabhi, Kahani Ghar Ghar, Kalash, etc.) are Sony Entertainment Television (SET) and Zee TV.While SET CEO Kunal Dasgupta is trying hard to woo HFCL-Channel9 programming head Raveena Raj Kohli, Zee TV was desperately trying hard to beef up itsSouth India viewership and had acquired the rights of a highly popular serial calledChitti. The channel is now contemplating launching the same sometime in July and iscurrently negotiating with Sri Devi, Tabu and Dimple Kapadia for an anchor's role. Zee TValso wants a high profile journalist to head its Delhi operations and is currently eyeinga few from NDTV. Remember former Information and Broadcating Minister C.M. Ibrahim and hisplanned Urdu channels, Al-Hind (news and current affairs) and Falaq? Well, the news isthat both the projects have been shelved for reasons unknown.