Big and bigger

Some of the biggest names in Indian business are shedding their reticence and letting in global firms into their parlours

Call it the season of big-bang partnerships. The country’s biggest firm by revenue, Reliance Industries (RIL) sold a fifth of its oil-to-chemical division to soon-to-be the world’s biggest firm Saudi Aramco for a whopping $15 billion. It also announced the hunt for strategic partners for its telecom and retail ventures. Well, given the stress in both the sectors and the scale of RIL’s ambitions, potential partners can only be deep-pocketed foreign firms.

Bharti Airtel recently sought permission to up the foreign investment limit for itself to 100 per cent, with reports that long-time partner Singtel is upping its stake in the