India’s Billion-Dollar Shakedown

Something about India’s telecom sector attracts its grasping state like a bee to honey. The most egregious recent example is the government’s attempt to profit off a possible merger between two of the biggest remaining telecom companies -- Vodafone India Ltd. and Idea Cellular Ltd. The merger -- which was supposed to have been completed last month -- would create India’s largest mobile services company, and the world’s second-largest after China Mobile Ltd. Almost a year ago, India’s competition commission said the two firms could go ahead. Most analysts viewed the merger as a way for Vodafone to edge quietly out of India after years of disappointment.