PERSPECTIVES 2004

A snapshot of corporate, market and political leaders' plans for the New Year...

I don't have a target for the year. It's not one-day cricket. I am bullish, but 2003's pace cannot be sustained. But equity returns will outperform all other assets like bank deposits and gold

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Director, Alchemy Stocks

This year, Bharti's cellular footprint will cover the entire nation except for the north east. We hope to be the leading force in telecom with a target of over 12 mn users and a 25 per cent market share

Sunil Mittal, CMD, Bharti Enterprise

With a larger proportion of younger people in the population, and rising income levels, the retail finance market will grow at between 30 and 40 per cent this year

KV Kamath, CEO and Managing Director, ICICI Bank

The launch of Amlodipine Maleate will kickstart our speciality business in the United States, and will be an important step in our becoming a discovery-led pharmaceutical company

Dr Anji Reddy, Chairman, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories

We're very bullish about 2004 and we'll penetrate new markets. The market can generate $ 2.5 bn of investment by 2008 if the government puts the right fiscal and non-fiscal incentives in place

Raman Roy, CMD, Wipro Spectramind

By June, we'll set up 6,000 rural kiosks for e-Seva APOnline, for citizens to file applications, register complaints and pay utility bills "" this itself will generate 10mn e-transactions per month.

Chandrababu Naidu, CM, Andhra Pradesh

Not too much is expected to change in the year, though exports should pick up by around 10 per cent "" the real big leap in exports, though, has been made and 2004 will consolidate our position

Jagdish Khattar, Managing Director, Maruti Udyog

With the economy booming and a lot more money likely in the hands of consumers, we expect Shoppers' Stop to grow at around 35-40 per cent in 2004, to cross over Rs 400 crore of sales

B S Nagesh, CEO, Shoppers' Stop

This year will be a turning point for exports. We are integrating vertically in all garment segments and expanding capacity of our new denim garment unit in Mauritius from 1 million pieces to 2.1 million

Sanjay Lalbhai, Managing Director, Arvind Mills

Forecasting is foolishness. Nonetheless, I expect the rupee to go up to 44.50 by December-end 2004. That's about 2.75 per cent gain. I expect far more volatility in the forex market than in the past

Jamal Mecklai, CEO, Mecklai Fin

We increased the number of invention disclosures to 120 in 2003. By 2005, we'll increase the number of professionals in our India Development Centre to 3,000 from the current 1,200

Ketan Sampat, President, Intel India

With both GDP and infrastructure spending looking good, demand will grow 8-10 per cent, and there will be a shift in manufacturing from the West to India. Commodity prices will also go up sharply

Anil Agarwal, CEO, Vedanta Resources