It took a stunning shoot-out at Dayanidhi Maran's residence, where a CRPF guard gunned down a senior colleague, to turn the media attention away from the long-simmering spat between telecom minister Maran and telecom regulator, Pradip Baijal. Reportedly, the flashpoints range from access deficit charges (ADC) to spectrum recommendations to plain turf battles. TRAI Chairman Baijal, though, shrugs aside reports of differences. "Half of my work is to advise the government on issues related to telecom, broadcasting and TV, while on tariff and interconnectivity, I have the powers to take a decision, but here also the government can give us policy directive," he says as a matter of fact. Maran couldn't be reached for comment, but it's obvious that at least on the issue of ADC (meant to compensate BSNL for its investment in rural telephony), he wants to ensure that the PSU gets a fair treatment. On other issues, like 3g spectrum allocations, he is open to consensus. After all, the two did agree on making spectrum allocation technology neutral.

Bailing Out

The long-drawn sale of Mphasis by private equity investor, Baring, is taking its toll on key executives at the software company. The latest to bail out is MphasiS' hi-profile CFO, Ravi Ramu, who is set to join the Times Internet Group this October in a similar capacity, ending a four-year stint at MphasiS. "My goal was to help a fledgling business grow," says the 46-year-old, adding that he prefers the thrill of a small business. He is going to get that opportunity all over again at Times Internet in Delhi.

Coming Home

Sant Singh Chatwal may be better known for hobnobbing with the Clintons, but he does have a sizeable hospitality empire, Hampshire Hotels and Resorts, to his name. Now Chatwal, 65, is setting up a subsidiary in India, Dream Hotels, to tap the local market. "My children and, more importantly, my grandchildren should have a reason to come back to India, and having assets is a very good reason," says Chatwal, who, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, is a trustee of the William J. Clinton Foundation.

OK, Tata

To anybody even vaguely familiar with corner-room dynamics, it was a foregone conclusion. That Venkatramani Sumantran, 47, former head of Tata Motors' passenger car division, wouldn't take kindly to Ravi Kant's elevation as the company's Managing Director from head of commercial vehicles. Nobody, least of all Sumantran, is saying that's the case, but it's evident that the former General Motors honcho, hired in 2001, was quick to get the message. Sumantran's exit statement was as short as Tata Motors' announcement about Kant's appointment, but motown wags are having a field day speculating over possible reasons for Sumantran's departure. One would have you believe that it is due to the mg Rover debacle, but another attributes it to the slow progress on Chairman Ratan Tata's pet Rs 1-lakh car project. Whatever be the reason, many expect Sumantran back in the Indian auto industry soon.

Khan Vs Khan

It's the third time that actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan will be going head-on endorsing products from competing companies. SRK endorses Pepsi, while Aamir is a Coke man; the former signed up for Tag Heuer watches, while the latter endorses Titan's. And now, Aamir's appointment as the brand ambassador for Toyota's MUV, the Innova, pits him against SRK, who endorses Hyundai's small car, the Santro. It's questionable if endorsements work, besides which, in this instance, the two stars don't go head-to-head. So why enlist the help of another Khan in the battle for consumer mindshare? Because when you want star power, nobody in Bollywood packs in more than the Khans.

Good Samaritan

Vinod Gupta says that over the last 25 years in the us, he's spent more than $20 million (Rs 88 crore) on lawyers. But that's not the reason why this Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist, whose generous endowment helped set up the Vinod Gupta School of Management at IIT Kharagpur, has committed another $1 million (Rs 4.4 crore) to his alma mater to set up the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Intellectual Law on the same campus. Says Gupta, 59, the multi-millionaire Chairman and CEO of infousa, a business and consumer information firm: "Law and engineering is a common mix in the us, but in India it hasn't caught on. But I think techies make better IP lawyers because each case involves understanding a process." The first batch is expected to be kicked off next July. After management and law, Gupta, a big Democrat supporter, has his eyes set on liberal arts, health services and mass communication. Keep up the good work.

-Contributed by Kumarkaushalam, Amanpreet Singh, Kushan Mitra, Shailesh Dobhal and Supriya Shrinate