As we look back at the year gone by, the India growth story has hit a wall. As the economy nibbles its way through global recessionary headwinds, the government is missing growth and budget deficit targets. Inflation remains the main enemy of the monetary policy that has squeezed out growth. The year saw things that were not so common. High profile political and business personalities were put in jail amidst growing protests to root out corruption from the country.
As we look back at the year gone by, the India growth story has hit a wall. As the economy nibbles its way through global recessionary headwinds, the government is missing growth and budget deficit targets.
Inflation remains the main enemy of the monetary policy that has squeezed out growth. The year saw things that were not so common.
High profile political and business personalities were put in jail amidst growing protests to root out corruption from the country.
Here are some events and challenges, which India saw and will become deciding factors in the country's destiny in the future.
A change of guard at Bombay House: Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, 43, will succeed Ratan Tata after he retires as chairman from Tata Sons in December 2012. Tata Sons is the holding company of over $80 billion conglomerate Tata Group.
Mistry, who is the managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, has been on the board of Tata Sons since August 2006.
The Mistry family holds 18% stake in Tata Sons.
FDI in multi-brand retail was supposed to be the most significant economic reform. The Cabinet gave nod to foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, opening India's $450 billion retail market to global supermarket giants like WalMart, Tesco and Carrefour among others.
For some reasons, the opposition parties protested and stopped the Parliament from functioning.
The decision is now suspended. The business is disappointed to say the least.
Reliance Industries signed a $7.2-billion deal with British Petroleum, which is the biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country.
British Petroleum picked up a 30 per cent stake in Reliance's 23 blocks, including India's largest gas field KG-D6.
The company is indulging in a duel with the government over the production sharing contract.
Meanwhile, it has lost its prominence in the stock market with Infosys going past Reliance to become the most valuable company in the BSE Sensex.
Inflation dominated headlines in the business press all through the year. It has remained above the 9 per cent mark for around a year.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised key rates 13 times since March 2010 to tame inflation. The central bank has done its bit and wants the central government control borrowing and expenditure.
Policy reforms like FDI in multi-brand retail was also endorsed by the central bank as it is known to bring down prices.
Another significant change of guard took place at Infosys. Founder N R Narayana Murthy stepped down as the chairman of the company in August 2011.
Murthy handed over reins to KV Kamath, who has been an independent director on the board of country's second largest software firm since May 2009.
While the growth in the IT services sector is no longer at a spectacular rate as it was in the past as getting new business is tough and companies like Infosys have grown bigger in size.
Kamath is expected to swing business deals in favour of the company using his banking experience.
Top corporate leaders pondered over the country's growth story at the India Economic Summit, calling for much-needed government reforms and highlighting the need for a dramatic shift in the governance model for better partnership between the government and the private sector.
The summit was attended by Reliance Industries' MD Mukesh Ambani, Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Mahindra group's Keshub Mahindra, HDFC's Deepak Parekh and MD of Bharti Airtel Sunil Bharti Mittal among others.
The event triggered a series of letters to the government on slowdown in decision-making and economic reforms.
In 2011, the BSE Sensex was the worst performing stock market. It did better than Egypt, Turkey and Greece. One can imagine political and economic troubles in those countries being the reason.
India has not seen anything like that. Yet, it remained volatile as a weak market sentiment was weighed down by a depreciating rupee, lingering European debt crisis and lack of reforms in India. Investors cut positions in local shares or stayed out.
The Indian currency dropped 6.7 per cent in November 2011, the worst monthly fall in 16 years. Since July 2011, the currency shed over 20 per cent in value thus becoming the worst performing currency in Asia.
During the month, the rupee depreciated to a life-time low of 53.50 against the US dollar. The Reserve Bank of India has not supported the currency yet.
It has raised interest rates but the government expenditure and borrowing continues to rise.
Besides this, the US dollar has gained strength against all major currencies due to sovereign debt-related problems in Europe.
Corporate India was shocked after top executives were jailed in April for their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam.
(Clockwise from the top) Swan telecom director Vinod Goenka and its promoter Shahid Usman Balwa were named in the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Chairman of Unitech Wireless Ltd Sanjay Chandra and Reliance ADA Group official Gautam Doshi were also arrested.
The Euro Zone crisis threatened the world with Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy found sitting on debt exceeding their gross domestic product (GDP).
17 countries that use the euro have been struggling to bail out banks, which have large exposure to big debt levels .
.jpg "Top 10 Business Stories of 2011")
