Rlys posts Rs 25, 000-cr cash surplus: Lalu

The Railways Ministry posts Rs 25,000-cr cash surplus, said Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, while presenting his fifth Rail budget.

The government is likely to reduce some passenger fares and freight rates when it unveils annual plans for its huge rail network on Tuesday, moves which could ease rising inflation and help it at elections.

For long plagued by losses and delays but now seeing a resurgence, Indian Railways runs more than 14,000 trains a day, and cutting fares would help tackle price pressures and woo voters ahead of national polls due by May 2009.

"The railway budget should focus on efficiency, and rationalise fare and freight structures, which will help in its modernisation and expansion drive," said T.K. Bhaumik, chief economist with top conglomerate Reliance Industries.

"Freight charges contribute to transport costs for industry and so they are linked to inflation. I hope the budget will help stabilise the transport costs and prices."

Annual wholesale price inflation in Asia's third-largest economy ticked up to a six-month high of 4.35 percent in early February, pushed up by higher food and commodity prices.

With an increase in retail prices of fuels yet to feed into the data, analysts see the reading creeping close to the central bank's fiscal year target of 5 percent in the weeks ahead.

With millions of poor consumers -- and voters -- to consider, analysts expect this year's rail budget and Friday's federal one from the communist-backed ruling coalition to be populist.

Last year, maverick Rail Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav cut freight rates for a string of fuels and minerals by between 5-6 percent, and outlined plans to modernise the century-and-a-half-old network, one of the world's largest.

He also announced marginal cuts in some passenger fares.

"He might do something similar this year to please the poor and the middle class," N.R. Bhanumurthy, economist at the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG).

The government wants to build up the railways to meet the demands of the fast growing economy, which is expected to see growth moderate to a still pacy 8.7 percent this fiscal year.


Passengers, Freight up

In the April-November period of this financial year, the railways carried an average of 18.5 million passengers a day, a rise of 5.6 percent from the year before, railways' data showed, and more than the populations of Sweden and Norway combined.

Freight tonnage in the nine months to end-December rose 8.2 per cent from same period of 2006/07. India's financial year begins on April 1.

The state-run network's earlier reputation for red-tape and inefficiency saw it losing freight traffic to trucks and passengers to a fleet of new, cut-price air carriers.

But analysts say the rail network now has a cash surplus of nearly $2.5 billion, having turned itself around in recent times.

Despite that success, roads still carry 85 per cent of India's passenger traffic and 75 per cent of its freight.

In the past two years, the railways has been innovative in its bid to turn a profit, from introducing competitive bidding for catering to leasing out advertising space on railway buildings, stations and some trains.

The rail ministry is trying to increase its share of freight by cutting costs and turnaround times, appealing to businesses frustrated by the slow movement of goods.

Analysts said the budget would also focus on speeding up work on two dedicated freight corridors that will connect the country's north with its western and eastern industrial hubs.

"Railways need to be more competitive vis-a-vis other modes of transport," the IEG's Bhanumurthy said. "The main objective of building the freight corridors is to boost economic growth."

JP Chowdhary, chairman of Titagarh Wagons Ltd, said his firm, which makes freight wagons, was expecting innovative schemes, especially on private-public partnerships, to speed up work on the projects, which will cost $7 billion.

Ishant Sharma fined 15% of his match fee

India's upcoming fast bowler Ishant Sharma has been fined 15% of his match fee in a disciplinary action after a face-off with Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds on Sunday.

Ishant Sharma was summoned by match referee Jeff Crowe for a disciplinary hearing after a face-off with Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds in Sydney.

Ishant had exchanged heated words with Symonds and had pointed fingers towards the pavilion after he dismissed the Australian all-rounder in their cricket tri-series match.

Ishant was charged under Clause 1.6 of the ICC Code of Conduct. The hearing was held at the team hotel.

Stop 'gambling game' of cricket auction: Thackeray to Pawar

Dubbing the auctioning of cricketers by the BCCI-promoted Indian Premier League as "a gambling game of industrialists" Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray on Friday asked the Cricket Board President Sharad Pawar to stop it.

In an open letter to Pawar published on the front page of Friday's edition of Sena mouthpiece 'Samana', Thackrey said such open display of wealth does not augur well for the Indian cricket where players are being auctioned for money.

He said the whole thing has started only to checkmate Indian Cricket League (ICL), the rebel league promoted by Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group.

The auction of over 60 players, including those from other Test playing countries, was held in Mumbai on Wednesday.

"Oh Pawar, what is happening in the realm of cricket?", said the Sena chief, who is the newspaper's editor. "These industrialists are throwing money in your cricket field as a result of which cricket is getting corrupt. "Cricketers are being purchased as a result this their concentration will not be in the game and the sport will decline in this country," he warned.

"If this is how industrialists wield their money then a day will come when there will be no need of government because it will be the industrialists who will call the shots and run the country," Thackeray said.

"Stop this gambling of industrialists and save cricket. You (Pawar) have the guts to do it, don't you?", the letter added.

IPL may rake in Rs 600 crore ad revenue

The Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Twenty20 tournament, is estimated to generate an advertising revenue of over Rs 600 crore in its first season.

In the first year, each of the eight team owners will spend around Rs 25 crore on marketing and promotion, which include below-the-line activities, city-based club activations and so on, say sources.

"We will spend in the range of Rs 20 crore on team promotions," said P K Iyer, managing director, Deccan Chronicle, which owns the Hyderabad team.

Delhi team owner GMR Holdings and Jaipur team executives too confirmed that they would spend around Rs 20 crore each in the first year.

"We will spend over Rs 16 crore on promotions as we will concentrate on brand building," said Fraser Castellino, the CEO of Emerging Media, who along with Lachlan Murdoch owns the Jaipur team.

Industry estimates put the total advertising pie for the country, including below-the-line activities, at around Rs 22,000 crore a year.

Advertising for IPL will be generated through four major avenues, namely, air time sold by Sony Entertainment Television, BCCI's own marketing plan, promotional activities of the eight teams and from brands associated with the league.

An industry source said BCCI had allocated roughly Rs 100 crore as its advertising budget, while Sony is estimated to earn nearly Rs 300 crore from ad slots. In addition, close to Rs 200 crore will be spent on the teams for promotion and marketing.

"While the brands associated with the league may not necessarily increase their marketing and promotional budget, they will cut their spends on a particular medium. So their overall contribution may not be very high. However, for the first round, Rs 300 crore will be added to the total advertising pie. IPL will be a new contributor to the ad industry," said R Gowthaman, managing director, south-west India, Mindshare. However, experts believe the same may not hold true later.

"IPL will have a salient launch and the advertising spends will be substantial. But as the league gains popularity, the ad spends will come down," said Vikram Sakhuja, COO, South Asia, Group M.

Team selections
Meanwhile, cricketing action in IPL is about to get under way as team owners make a wish-list of the players they will aggressively bid for at the players' auction to be held on Wednesday.

While Reliance Industries, which was the highest bidder in the team auction and won the Mumbai team for $111.9 million, already has Sachin Tendulkar on board, it is believed to be in talks with ICC representative Jamie Stewart for the position of advisor.

"The upcoming player auction will help decide the final composition of the team. We will obviously aim for a winning combination and cannot divulge competitive strategy at this stage," an RIL spokesperson said.

Vijay Mallya's Bangalore team, which was won for $111.6 million, will be RIL's closest competitor, according to sources.

"We will be aggressive in our bids. Our team motto is 'playing to win' and this will be reflected in everything we do," said Vijay Rekhi, president and managing director, UB Group.

The Bangalore team would have Rahul Dravid as captain.

Rekhi added that they would also work towards building a loyal fan base for the Bangalore team.

"Since the first match will be played between Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata team and our team, we will dedicate a space in the stadium for fans to cheer," he said.

With BCCI deciding that each team owner will have to bid between $3.3 million and $5 million a year to rope in players from the 80 the board has listed, which does not include catchment area players, it will be a close call.

For instance, the Delhi franchisee owner, GMR Holdings, will spend around $4 million, say sources. GMR has roped in T A Sekar (chief coach of the MRF Pace Foundation) as the team advisory and has partnered event management and entertainment agency, Wizcraft International.

Virender Sehwag was today announced as the tentative team captain with Greg Shepherd as the coach. GMR has decided to name the team Delhi Daredevils.

For the Jaipur team, the former managing director of IMG South Asia, Ravi Krishnan, has been appointed vice-chairman. He will advise the team on commercial, operational and on-field activities. Ogilvy is on board as the creative agency.

Emerging Media is keen on M S Dhoni as captain for the Jaipur team and will bid for cricketers from South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Sources added that Greg Chappell would be the team's coach.

North Indian-Marathi couples reject politics of hate

MUMBAI: The city was in two moods on Wednesday—love and hatred were thick in the wintry air. There was the annual, mushy, buying and selling that precedes Valentine's Day and there was the day-long wait-and-watch ordeal as news of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray's arrest spread.

Even as shops closed across the city and Valentine-eve shopping came to a standstill, the message from many Mumbai couples who have reached across the north Indian-Maharashtrian divide was clear: we do not subscribe to such politics.

"I'm very saddened by what is happening in the city. As a Maharashtrian brought up in Mumbai, all I can say is it is a complete non-issue," said actress Renuka Shahane, whose husband Ashutosh Rana is from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. "I don't know which planet these politicians live on. They sit in their air-conditioned cabins and play games."

Like the Thackerays, tabla player Aneesh Pradhan's father belongs to the Chandraseni Kayastha Prabhu community, but he is married to renowned singer Shubha Mudgal, a native of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. The couple have no doubt that the ongoing row over North Indian migrants is purely a tool for political gain. Pradhan said he and his family see through the hollowness of the argument that Mumbai is only for Maharashtrians.

"Are we pointing fingers at the breakdown in urban infrastructure or are we against the influx of people from a particular region? And if we argue that the migrants from UP and Bihar are causing this breakdown, do we have the demographic proof to back this claim?" asked Pradhan.

Mudgal is as effusive in her praise of Mumbai's music culture as her husband is of Allahabad's traditions. "It is a musician's paradise, given the wonderful studios, performers and audiences that come together on our soil. Why do we want to divide our society in such a dangerous manner? Do we want to hark back to the times of the small principalities or 'riyasats' that were in conflict with one another?" she asked.

And guess who is having the last laugh. Congressman Sanjay Nirupam, who has invited the ire of Raj Thackeray for trying to be the face of UP-ites and Biharis in Mumbai. He is married to a Marathi girl. Geeta Nirupam nee Vaidya doesn't mind participating in Chhat Puja, which her ex-MP husband organises every year.

Nirupam, a Bihari, said that when they met, the strong chemistry between them reached across any regional barrier. Now, his in-laws live with him and join him in the condemnation of partisan politics. His daughter speaks fluent Marathi, Hindi and English.

In fact, last year, while hounding Biharis, Raj Thackeray's men had damaged Geeta's car, not realising that her "Marathi asmita " was hurt.

MNS violence aftermath: Woman gives birth in train toilet

fear-stricken woman of Bihar gave birth to a child in the toilet of running train after being forced to flee Nashik

Nagma Bano, who fled in the wake of increasing attacks against North Indians, gave birth to a child in the toilet of the running train on Wednesday.

Her pain and misery is not an isolated case. She is one of hundreds of North Indians who were forced to flee Nashik, where they have been earning their livelihood.

Bano fled with her husband Mohammed Nazir, like other North Indians, on the Bhagalpur-Lokmanya Tilak Express.

"When we fled Nashik and boarded the Bihar-bound train, she was well and healthy but during the difficult journey she suddenly develop labour pain. I took her to the toilet where she gave birth to a child," Nazir, who used to work as daily labourer in Nashik, told rediff.com in the crowded bogie of the train on Patna railway station.

Intitially reluctant, Bano, holding her newly born child in her lap, said that she never imagined that she would be compelled to deliver her child in the toilet of a running train.

"It is all luck. We are poor and lower class people. I have not eaten since yesterday. We do not have the money to buy anything," she said.

Nazir said& they were going to Bhagalpur where his native village was located. "First poverty forced us to leave the village to migrate outside to earn our livelihood. But now the fear of violence has forced us to return to village. It is our story, what else," he said.

Nazir said North Indians in Nashik and elsewhere in Maharashtra were fleeing due to fear of violence and threat to life .

"All the North India-bound trains are full of migrant people," he said.

Trains such as the Bhagalpur Express, Patna Express, Superfast Janta, Gorakhpur via Lucknow Mahanagar and other North India-bound trains were overcrowded with the migrants.

Santosh Singh, another man who fled with his family, said over 10,000 people have left Nashik since Monday due to increasing attack on North Indians.

"When we entered Nashik railway station on Monday, it was flooded with migrants and there was hardly any place to even stand on the platforms," he said.

Singh, who hails from Banka district in Bihar, used to work as a skilled worker in a factory in Nashik.

"No doubt we were forced to flee, but it would badly hit economic activities in Nashik. Some of the small- and medium-sized industries in the Ambad industrial area would face shortage of manpower," Singh said.

DLF win IPL title sponsorship rights

India's leading real estate developer DLF Ltd has bagged the title sponsorship rights for the Indian Premier League extravaganza that is set to kick-off on April 18.

A statement from the IPL on Wednesday said the rights for title sponsorship were won by DLF "through a fair and transparent open bid process with a highest bid of Rs 40 crore per annum. The deal gives DLF Ltd. exclusive title sponsorship rights for five years, valuing in excess of Rs 200 crores".

The title sponsorship race was between DLF Limited, World Sports Group (WSG), which had bid on behalf of Hero Honda Motors (India) Ltd, Percept D'Mark and 21st Century Media.

"The title sponsorship race was tightly-contested between three participants, with DLF emerging the final winner through a fair and transparent process," said Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner, Indian Premier League.

"I am truly happy to have India's leading real estate developer DLF as our title sponsors, as they happen to share a common vision with the BCCI to make the Indian Premier League one of the finest cricketing leagues in the world. It is exciting to have an eclectic mix of elite Indian businessmen, Bollywood personalities and corporates as our allies, working collectively as one to ensure the success of the IPL.

"On behalf of the IPL Governing Council, I would like to thank everyone who participated and supported us throughout the bidding process," he added.

Rajeev Talwar, Group Executive Director, DLF Limited, said, "It gives us immense pleasure winning the title sponsorship rights of IPL, which will now be known as the DLF Indian Premier League. At DLF, we always emphasise on nurturing and recognizing talent and this is one more achievement towards nurturing professional talent for the game of cricket in this country. This is game which has mass appeal all over India and both cricket as well as DLF will grow hand-in-hand."

With the media broadcast rights, the eight team franchises and title sponsorship rights declared, all eyes are on the players' auction scheduled to take place on February 20 through the open bid process in association with IMG, the world's leading sports media and entertainment agency. As many as 85 international and Team India players will be up for auction between the eight franchises on that day.

Earlier, leading sports broadcaster Sony Max and World Sport Group bagged the IPL's global media and production rights for US $1.026 billion. The exclusive franchise rights for the eight-city league were won by Shah Rukh Khan (Kolkata), Preity Zinta (Mohali), RIL Pvt Ltd (Mumbai), GMR Holdings (Delhi), UB Group (Bangalore), Indian Cements Ltd (Chennai) , Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad) and Emerging Media (Jaipur).

The League kicks-off on April 18, with high voltage action expected between Sharukh Khan's Kolkata franchise and business baron Vijay Mallya's Bangalore tam at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

The eight-franchise tournament will run for 44 days. Each franchise will play all others on a home and away basis with seven matches at home. The top four franchises in the league will contest the semi-finals and the victorious semi-finalists will meet in the grand final, all over one weekend, in Mumbai.

The inaugural season of the IPL will showcase 59 matches and provided broadcasters and in-stadia spectators 177 hours of live family entertainment, which will also be viewed by a significant international audience.

All matches will be during late afternoon and evening to coincide with prime time for television and providing a convenient time for the stadium audience.

Raj arrested, granted bail; one dead in Nashik violence

Ten days after a handful of streetfighters aligned with a struggling young political scion slapped two men on a local train and trashed three taxis, a political reality show fuelled by a 24/7 media ended in the arrest — and mass recognition — of Raj Shrikant Thackeray.

Its cosmopolitan image dented, India’s global city remained at peace as the emerging cities of Pune and Nashik absorbed the fallout of Raj’s bash-the-northerners campaign. Ambadas Dharao, a mechanic with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, and ironically a Maharashtrian, died in a barrage of stones hurled at a company bus in Nashik.

cartoonist-turned-politician, Raj (39), his face grim, was arrested at 4.20 pm from his terrace flat in the upper-middle class central Mumbai area of Shivaji Park, from where his estranged and aging uncle Bal Thackeray (81) has delivered diatribes against south Indians, Muslims and north Indians since 1966.

President of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Raj was squeezed into a police van and driven in a heavily guarded convoy to Vikhroli in Mumbai’s north-east and released on conditional bail.

Police and paramilitary units kept Mumbai secure, but his arrest created a fog of fear over the city. Taxis, largely driven by north Indians, went off the roads and the evening rush hour was a shadow of its usual self.

Wednesday’s arrest indicated how Raj adroitly used a 24/7 mass media in a state where television now reaches over 50 per cent of all households to gain maximum impact with minimal violence — a technique that is now being perfected in the new India by the new Indian politician. “It is rather unfortunate that some channels kept on repeating old clippings that created panic. Panic then led to rumour mongering and sporadic incidents of violence. We made more than 2,000 arrests across the state,” said state police chief PS Pasricha.

On the day of his arrest, Raj turned into a household name across India, with more than a dozen new channels playing the story through the day.

Experts said this would help him do what he could not in the two years that he has formed the MNS: to project himself as a young militant leader. The party has so far managed to bag just 31 seats in civic bodies of five cities including Mumbai.

To create that same image, Bal Thackeray and his original Sainiks had nearly shut down Mumbai in the past. "With the drama and the media hype, he (Raj) has created a household image and an identity for himself," said Mumbai University political commentator B Ventakesh Kumar. "Though it remains to be seen how long he can maintain the image, with elections around the corner he will try to create a constituency for himself on the basis of that."

In a state that is 42 per cent urban and has a population of which nearly half is below the age of 30, Raj Thackeray needs an image and agenda that will attract restless young voters unsettled by the breathless pace of economic change and globalisation.

It was that image that the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government wanted to deny Raj, so it took five days to decide on his arrest.

It was essentially a political enmity between two Thackeray cousins-Uddhav and Raj-that took another turn as Raj targeted north Indians. However, the political games have damaged Mumbai's reputation as an aspiring global city. As billions of rupees being pumped into city's booming service sector and infrastructure, can Mumbai afford to have a reputation of a city that can be brought to a halt over parochial politics?

Raj Thackeray likely to be arrested today

A team of Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrived at the residence of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray , who has been facing a possible arrest on the charges of "promoting" enmity between groups.

Paramilitary forces have been deployed outside the residence of the MNS chief.

Thackeray and SP leader Abu Asim Azmi were booked under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153 A (promoting enmity between groups on the basis of place of birth, residence, etc) and 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration).

The case against Raj was registered at Vikhroli police station and against Azmi at Shivaji Park police station.

A day after an FIR was lodged against MNS chief Raj Thackeray, arson spread to Pune, Nashik and Marathwada region with angry MNS mobs attacking buses and public property in several places.

More than 400 MNS workers were rounded up in Mumbai and Aurangabad triggering panic forcing the Centre to rush paramilitary forces to Maharashtra to prevent the situation getting uglier.

On Tuesday, in Pune and Pimpri Chinwad, MNS workers went on a rampage following reports of the possible arrest of Raj, during which windows and windscreens of 11 buses were smashed.

Shops along Nashik Road were closed down following the incident. Incidents of stone-pelting on state-run buses were reported from Nashik Road, Ambad, Ravivar Peth and Gangapur areas. Bus services were severely curtailed and diverted via Nipani.

In Amrawati, rumours of Raj's arrest led to MNS workers blocked roads and pelted stones at buses damaging several vehicles in the process. Preventive arrests were made here as well.

Ishant is a dangerous bowler, admits Ponting

Australian captain Ricky Ponting conceded on Sunday that his tormentor Ishant Sharma is a "dangerous bowler" but stopped short of rating the Indian attack as the best he has seen in home conditions in the recent past.

"Ishant has done well in the latter half of this tour so far. He is a dangerous bowler," conceded a sombre Ponting.

"(S) Sreesanth has also looked good but it's too early to say this is the best attack seen in Australian conditions for sometime now as England was here last year," he said.

The young Indian attack, led by Sharma, booked Australia out for 159 in 43.1 overs after Ponting had chosen to bat first at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. The Aussie skipper was suitably impressed.

"He is different in the sense that he hits the deck hard and gets some inconsistent bounce. I don't know whether it's because he changes his action."

"He looks dangerous and would be even more to the left-handers. Even to the right-handers, the kind of in-swing he manages is a bit unusual," Ponting said.

Ponting said that in his first two overs, Matthew Hayden seemed to have got on top of the young bowler.

"Matty (Hayden) was on top of him. He began with wides and no balls and we sensed he was not at his best. But he recovered and his overall figures were good."

A shy-looking Ishant said that his plan to Ponting has been to bowl on the fourth stump.

"I tried to follow my plan against the Australian batsmen. For Ponting, it was to bowl to him on the fourth stump."

He said that when he went for 18 runs in his second over, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni gave him some valuable advice.

"When I went for 18 runs, Dhoni came to me and asked me to stick to my plans and not try something which was alien to me. It calmed me down and I began bowling to my strength," the Delhi speedster said.

Sharma, who has taken a heavy workload on this tour, including bowling full throttle at the nets, admitted he was feeling a bit tired at the end of the game.

"I am feeling a bit tired now, my stomach is paining. But having bowled long spells at Adelaide, I think my stamina is improving."

"I will continue to bowl properly at nets as it's the practice which makes you a better bowler," Ishant added.

Meanwhile, Ponting rubbished his batsmen for the poor display they put out in the middle.

"We were not good enough and were very poor in batting. We didn't have enough runs. We tried to stick to our task and had half a chance of winning and that's the only positive we have from the game."

"Their seamers bowled so well that Harbhajan could bowl his first six overs for six runs or something like that," he said.

Ponting now foresees an interesting tournament ahead, more so that his fast bowlers, particularly Brett Lee, are in need of rotation.

"It's a pretty interesting tournament now. The next couple of games are going to be pretty important for all the three teams. We now have a tight tussle on our hand."

"Lee bowled probably his quickest spell tonight but he is holding up very well. Perth (where Australia plays next) is the kind of venue where you need your best attack," he added.

Amritraj leads India to 3-2 win over Uzbekistan in Davis Cup

Prakash Amritraj shrugged off a week of controversies to beat Farrukh Dustov in a tense decider and guide India to a 3-2 win over Uzbekistan in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I tie on Sunday.

The 23-year-old defeated Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final reverse singles match to lead India into the second round where they take on Japan at home in April.

Dubbed "unprofessional" by his skipper Leander Paes before the tie for attending a late-night party, the 23-year-old Amritraj went into the match under tremendous pressure after Rohan Bopanna lost to Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (1), 6-8 in the first reverse singles on Sunday morning.

However, Amritraj, playing his first match in the tie, shouldered the burden of expectations with elan and beat Dustov in more than a two-hour long contest to get a standing ovation from his team-mates and a sizeable crowd that had turned out to support the team.

Ranked 265 in the ATP charts, 16 places below Dustov, Amritraj was breathing fire from the word go as he raced to a 5-3 lead in the first set after breaking the big-serving Dustov in the eighth game.

After pocketing the first set easily, Amritraj lost his way in the second as Dustov staged a comeback.

Both the players exchanged a break of serve before Dustov went a break up in the eighth game to make it 1-1 and raise hopes of a comeback like Istomin.

However, Amritraj was quick to bounce back in the third set and took a 4-1 lead before eventually closing it out.

Dustov needed a medical break after losing his serve in the third set due to a close line call going against him and he could never really recover from that.

The Uzbek looked desolate and blew away the few chances that he got. Amritraj, on the other hand, was quick to pounce on his opponent's mistakes and broke him twice in the fourth set to seal the issue for India.

Paes leapt out of his seat to lift an emotional Amritraj as the entire Indian team got around him. The US-based player hugged his father, the legendary Vijay Amritraj, before bowing to the crowd for getting behind him in the do-or-die encounter.

The win marks a tremendous comeback for Amritraj, who, before the start of the tie, was unhappy at not being picked on the first two days and vented his anger in the media, contradicting his skipper's claim that he was unfit.

Paes later criticised him in strong words for going to the media. Mahesh Bhupathi jumped to Amritraj's defence the next day and the team, it seemed, was divided.

"There were some ups and downs that we went through this week but we stuck together as a team and believed in each other. I am proud of my team," a visibly choked Paes said in the post-match press conference.

"I always had the confidence in him (Amritraj)," he added.

The controversy indeed took a back seat and the team showed unity to romp home after Bopanna's loss.

Reliance Power lists at Rs 530 on NSE

Shares of Reliance Power on Monday listed at Rs 530 on the NSE, higher by Rs 80 compared with the issue price of Rs 450 per share. Retail investors, who got a discount of Rs 20 on the issue price, stand to gain Rs 100. The stock touched low of Rs 401.10.

On the BSE, the stock listed at Rs 547.80. The stock touched a high of Rs 599.90 and low of Rs 420.05. The listing of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's first IPO after the demerger has been through troubled waters, with analysts casting doubts over valuation given that the company was yet to being operations.

This saw the grey market premium for the stock fall to Rs 150-155 from Rs 450 before and on the opening day of the issue on Jan 15. The withdrawal of Wockhardt Hospitals and Emaar MGF IPOs last week also cast a shadow over the company’s listing, in an already volatile market.

People looking at just grey market premiums are taking a coloured view, chairman Anil Ambani said in an interview to The Economic Times . He also brushed aside questions over valuation, saying the IPO receiving commitments of nearly Rs 7,50,000 crore was the greatest testimony that the IPO was attractively priced.

Meanwhile, Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was at 17,464.89, down 1.44 per cent or 252.19 points from Friday's close. National Stock Exchange's Nifty was down 2.09 per cent or 106 points lower at 5013.45.