News Roundup: Morningstar Rises In India, Dish TV, Multi Screen Media, Love Aaj Kal

US-based mutual fund research firm Morningstar Inc. has launched operations in India and now offers free India-specific research on Morningstar.in, The Wall Street Journal reports. India’s mutual fund industry has Rs6.90 trillion ($145.8 billion) under management.

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DTH operator Dish TV plans to stop selling new connections in Uttar Pradesh, miffed at the state for levying an additional 30% entertainment tax in addition to the 29% tax such firms already pay, reports The Economic Times. UP has half a million DTH subscribers.

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Four private equity firms–Providence, Carlyle, Bain and StanChart–are in a race to acquire a 42% stake in Multi Screen Media, the broadcaster of Sony (NYSE: SNE) Entertainment Television, ET reports. In addition to the 32% up for sale by a cluth of Indian investors, parent company Sony is also looking to dilute a 10% stake, the story says.

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The stakes in Bollywood are getting bigger. Saif Ali Khan-starrer Love Aaj Kal, grossed Rs62 crore in box office collections within three days of its opening, producer Eros International said. Of this, Rs15 crore came from overseas box office collections. Amir Khan-starrer Ghajini, which released last year, is generally considered the biggest opening weekend grosser in recent times, raking in Rs90 crore in the first weekend. Recent media reports said that Fox Star Studios paid Rs100 crore to acquire the marketing and distribution rights of upcoming Shahrukh Khan-starrer My Name Is Khan.

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In an incident remnicent of the recent ‘Facebook-pic-in-single’s-ad’ fiasco, a woman in Chennai got a rude shock when she found a picture of hers on hoardings across the city promoting AIDS awareness. The Madras High Court has ordered the state’s health department to remove all hoardings with a week. The department’s defence: we found her picture on a website!

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