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Dhirubhai Ambani who came to Mumbai fifty years ago as an unlettered villager looking for a job and is now the city's uncrowned king as also the country's wealthiest businessman, suffered a stroke early last week and has been in coma ever since. Doctors say that this is his third stroke but he will pull through this time too, though he will be literally fighting for his life.

The recent spate of bankruptcies of big multinational companies in the U.S. and elsewhere is going to have a big impact on business in India.

The Reliance group, India's biggest, has a new boss - Mukesh Ambani, who took over his late father's post of company chairman this week.

It's a big jump from steel, trucks and cement to Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit, but some business groups in India have decided to take the plunge. There is apparently much more money in making films than in making steel, and Indian corporates, led by Tatas, will be investing Rs3-4 billion in Bollywood this year.

Things are hotting up on the energy front. Indian companies, both government and private, are getting ready to market the huge natural gas find on the east coast and other smaller finds elsewhere, along with imported LNG (liquefied natural gas).

Walk into any store in one of those far-flung colonies of Delhi and ask for a tube of toothpaste or a packet of Vitamin B-complex tablets, and there is a 50:50 chance that you will come away with a fake product that has nothing to do with the brand you think it is, except for the packaging.

Indian companies, government as well as private, detest being bought and sold like cattle. They put up a stiff fight at every stage, and move heaven and earth to force predators to leave them in peace.

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The Ambanis have hit the jackpot. Their company, Reliance Industries, has struck huge reserves of natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin off Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh that is said to be the biggest gas find of the year in this part of the world.

Indians will soon be able to purchase shares of Microsoft and General Motors, going by the pace at which the central bank is busy relaxing foreign exchange regulations.

He came, he saw and he drummed up business worth a billion dollars for his company in four days.

Corporate tigers prowling the stock market jungle in search of prey are finding that the lambs have become bolder. They are fighting back and the authorities are backing them.