A hat trick for Indian business

Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP In what will be India’s biggest incoming foreign investment to date, Britain’s Vodafone has just paid $11.1 billion dollars to own a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, India’s fourth largest mobile phone network. India is already the fastest growing mobile market in the world, with around 6.5 million new subscribers in the last quarter, ...

Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP

Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP

In what will be India’s biggest incoming foreign investment to date, Britain’s Vodafone has just paid $11.1 billion dollars to own a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, India’s fourth largest mobile phone network. India is already the fastest growing mobile market in the world, with around 6.5 million new subscribers in the last quarter, and “market penetration” expected to reach a staggering forty percent in the next five years.

Also today, India’s largest aluminium producer, Hindalco Industries, has agreed to buy out its rival Novelis, a U.S.-Canadian firm, for $5.9 billion. Novelis is the largest producer of rolled aluminium in the world, with big-name clients including Coca-Cola and Rexam.

The two deals come two weeks after Tata’s acquisition of Corus, and once again signal India’s rising economic preeminence. But before getting too carried away about India’s dramatic leap onto the world stage, it’s worth considering the other side of the picture.

Prerna Mankad is a researcher at Foreign Policy.

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