In search of champions

Marquee businesses are diminishing with alarming frequency

In India’s recent business history, the late nineties can be considered the age of the automobile industry and infrastructure, and the first two decades of the 21st century saw multiple booms in information technology, aviation, telecom, real estate, retail and health care. Approaching the start of the third decade, however, any bank looking to lend to corporations in high-growth, and relatively low-risk, businesses would be hard put to find them. IT is slowly reaching its zenith, and without a great leap forward in business models is likely to decline. Telecom is struggling under high debt and acute competition; real estate