India Inc to add new names

Coke-Pepsi. British Airways-Virgin Atlantic. Bill Gates-Larry Ellison. Legendary rivals, these names are almost joined at the hip in public memory. Come 2007, India Inc will add a few new names to that roster.

Muscle-flexing in the market, who-blinks-first derring-do in the boardroom, strategy slugfest, product pyrotechnics... It's being a war out there all of this year. And some of the biggest blue-chip rivalries that rocked 2006 will intensify in 2007 across retail, telecom, automobiles, real estate and aviation.

Industry watchers say it's about competition. Says Boston Consulting Group India chairman Arun Maira: "Competition will intensify in telecom, auto and retail, where we are seeing top players gearing up for big moves. The reasons behind this intensification are growing demand opportunities and the relatively open nature of these sectors.

The Indian consumer, of course, will benefit from the increased competition."

Retail Roulette: The grand daddy of all fights will be Reliance Retail taking on Bharti-Wal-Mart. Though Reliance has a headstart of almost a year, the Bharti-Wal-Mart combine, with its equally if not deeper pockets, could quickly make up for lost time with a spate of acquisitions. Given how gung-ho Wal-Mart is about India, it would not mind buying expensive real estate for its cash-and-carry business.

While Reliance already has a top team in place, Wal-Mart is likely to bring its own men to manage the show for some time.

Diesel Dare: For years, diesel in small cars meant Tata Motors. But with Maruti set to roll out its diesel Swift early next year, the battle between the two will begin in real earnest. Suzuki has indicated the Swift platform may see products in hatch and notch variants, which means a diesel sedan version of Swift may be on its way.

As for Tata Motors, it will likely hit back with CRDi versions of Indica and Indigo in 2007. There may be some price aggression too.