Thursday, September 18, 2003
Financial Times makes its Indian entry
For a long time, I used to wonder which newspaper would used by the Financial Times as a proxy to enter the Indian market. The rumours used to swirl around the Business Standard and today, it was confirmed that FT was picking up a 13.8% stake in the second largest Indian financial newspaper, joining Kotak Mahindra and Great Eastern Shipping as lead investors. Under current rules, FT can up its stake to 26%, which I am guessing it will in due course. From there on, it can hope that the Indian government reverses its rules on foreign ownership in media. In any case, for $3 million, I'd say its a steal as far as the Financial Times is concerned.
