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Key economic milestones for India in 2008

Following are some key economic, business and financial milestones in India

during 2009:

Jan 10: Tata Motors unveil Nano, the jelly-bean shaped small car touted as the world's cheapest,

costing all of $2,500 at factory gates.

Jan 10: Sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchanges touches all-time, intra-day high of21,206.77 points.

Jan 16: Supreme Court paves way for Reliance Power's initial public offering.

Jan 21: Investors lose $170 billion as Sensex crashes over 2,000 points to register steepest everintra-day fall.

Feb 20: Report says Indian companies have invested $10 billion in US, creating 30,000 jobs.

Feb 20: Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications acquires Ugandan telecom firm.

Feb 23: PepsiCo's Indian-born chief executive Indra Nooyi among Forbes' list of 10 best women CEOs.

Feb 26: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announces across-the-board cut in fares and projects recordprofits in his first fifth rail budget.

Feb 29: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presents national budget with most ambitious loan-waiverscheme amounting to Rs.600 billion (Rs.60,000 crore) to benefit 40 million farmers.

March 2: Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile enters Indian telecom market.

March 11: A fresh graduate of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad offered record paypacket of Rs.14.4 million.

March 31: India's external debt rises to $201 billion.

April 1: International Monetary Fund warns of spiraling inflation and cooling of Indian economy.

April 11: Official data says India has second largest telecom subscriber base of over 300 million,ahead of the US and behind China.

April 29: India imposes export tax, bans overseas sales of some commodities like steel and cement tocalm prices.

May 6: Bharti Airtel and South Africa's mobile phone giant enter consolidation talks.

May 11: Ratan Tata named by Time magazine among 73 biggest brains in business for conceivingsmall car Nano.

May 24: Bharti Airtel and MTN call off consolidation talks.

May 26: Reliance Communications and MTN say they have started talks for possible consolidation.

May 30: India's economic growth rate for 2007-08 revised upward to nine percent against provisionalestimate of 8.9 percent.

June 2: Tata Motors formally takes over two iconic British automobile brands Jaguar and Land Roverfrom Ford Motors.

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June 4: As crude prices spiral, India allows Rs.5 a litre increase in prices of petrol and Rs.3 on diesel.

June 11: Japan's Daiichi Sankyo says it is buying majority stake in India's largest pharmaceuticalscompany Ranbaxy for $4.6 billion.

June 20: India's annual rate of inflation scales the double digit level and touches 11.05 percent.

June: Heightened protests by farmers against Tatas' Nano project at Singur in West Bengal who claim

their land was forcibly acquired.

July 11: International crude prices touch all-time high of $147.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile

Exchange.

July 12: Vodafone and Airtel say they will launch Apple's 3G iPhone in India.

July 13: Anil Ambani's wife Tina Ambani and L.N. Mittal's spouse Usha Mittal named by Forbes amongtop 10 billionaires' wives.

July 16: Hindustan Computers Ltd acquires British outsourcing firm for undisclosed amount.

July 17: Survey says revenues of top 20 Indian IT firms fell 24 percent in 2007-08 due to globalslowdown.

July 18: Air India announces 15 percent cut in airfares to Gulf.

July 19: Reliance Communications stops consolidation talks with MTN.

July 29: India's central bank tightens monetary policy to tame inflation by hiking key lending rate andcash reserve ratio.

Aug 12: India's industrial growth halves to 5.2 percent in first quarter of current fiscal.

Aug 18: India's telecom regulator permits computer-to-computer voice calls.

Aug 21: India's annual rate of inflation spirals to 16-year high of 12.63 percent.

Aug 26: Overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp says it is acquiring British firm for $1.4 billion.

Aug 29: Government approves new Companies Bill, 2008, to fine-tune legislation to reflectdevelopments in and requirements of present-day corporate world.

Sep 1: Finance Secretary Duvvuri Subbarao named next governor of the Reserve Bank.

Sep 7: Department of Telecommunications starts auction of frequencies for 3G telephony.

Sep 11: Government eases norms for FM broadcast to push growth.

Sep 17: US Food and Drug Administration blocks import of 30 generic drugs made by Ranbaxy.

Sep 18: India's cabinet clears proposal for foreign news magazines to start Indian editions.

Sep 20: Anil Ambani group and Steven Spielberg to set up $1.5 billion Hollywood studio.

Sep 23: Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat says it will acquire 45 percent stake in India's Swan Telecom for$900 million.

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Oct 1: UN report says India is sixth largest investor in Britain.

Oct 3: Tatas say they are pulling the "Nano" project out of West Bengal despite investing Rs.15 billion.

Oct 7: Gujarat is chosen as new home for launch of Nano.

Oct 8: Indian rupee crashes to six-year low of Rs.48 to a dollar.

Oct 9: International Monetary Fund predicts seven percent growth for India in 2009.

Oct 9: Report says India Inc. finalised overseas mergers and acquisition deals worth $26 billion in firsthalf of current fiscal.

Oct 10: Reserve Bank eases monetary policy, cuts cash reserve ratio by 150 basis points.

Oct 10: India's industrial production logs just 1.3 percent growth in August, says report.

Oct 15: Government says Indian civil aviation industry is $300 billion investment opportunity.

Oct 15: Central bank takes steps to inject Rs.650 billion into system to increase liquidity.

Oct 15: Jet Airways, Kingfisher announce pact to reduce costs, synergise operations and improveservices.

Oct 15: Jet Airways says it is sacking 1,900 employees (but withdraws steps a day later).

Oct 15: US president-elect Barack Obama tells IANS India will be top priority during his tenure.

Oct 27: Sensex crashes to 7,697.39 points, lowest level since November 2005.

Oct 29: Norway-based Telenor, the world's seventh largest telecom operator, says it is buying 60percent stake in Indian telecom start-up Unitech Wireless for $1.29 billion.

Nov 10: Satyam acquires Motorola's software unit in Malaysia.

Nov 10: International Monetary Fund lowers India growth projection for 2009 to 6.3 percent.

Nov 12: Japan's DoCoMo says it will acquire 26 percent stake in Tata Teleservices.

Nov 13: Forbes rich list says Mukesh Ambani has ousted L.N. Mittal as richest Indian.

Nov 19: Rupee falls to its lowest-ever level, below 50 to a dollar.

Dec 1: Data on foreign trade says India's merchandise exports fell 12.1 percent in October.

Dec 8: Government unveils Rs.30,000-crore (Rs.300-billion/$6-billion) package to pump prime

economy.

Dec 12: Fresh data on industrial production says index fell 0.3 percent in October.

Dec 16: Satyam Computer Services says it is acquiring two infrastructure firms run by founder's sons

for $1.6 billion, but withdraws move a day later following investor outrage.

Dec 19: Chanda Kochhar named ICICI Bank chief executive with effect from next May 1.

Dec 23: Wipro says it is acquiring Citigroup's Indian outsourcing arm for $127 million.