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Maran gives clean chit to vodaphone deal
NEW DELHI: Even as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board is slated tomorrow to consider the Vodafone‘s deal to buy controlling stake in Hutch-Essar. Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran has said his Ministry is clear there has been no breach in licensing conditions by either of the parties. Giving a clean chit to the deal in a television interview, the Minister said however that the FIPB was the right authority to go into details of the shareholding pattern. |
Both Mr Maran and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath had met Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday, reportedly to discuss the deal. Finance Ministry sources confirmed to indiantelevision.com that the two minority shareholders of Hutch-Essar — Hutch-Essar Managing Director Asim Ghosh and Max Group chief Analjit Singh — besides officials of Hutchison and Vodafone will meet Finance Secretary Ashok Jha today to clarify queries that the Finance Ministry may have. |
The FIPB had earlier this week put off to Friday a decision on the deal for the third time in a row, this time because of lack of clarity over the foreign shareholding in the company. After the meeting, Mr Ajay Dua who is Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion had said the Law Ministry‘s views had been received on April 23 and had been circulated among the members. Refusing to comment on whether his Department had given its views on the issue of foreign shareholding pattern in Hutch-Essar which is the country‘s fourth largest mobile company, Dua added that there had to be collective decision by all the participants of FIPB. Earlier, doubts had been raised over the minority stake of 12.6 per cent held jointly by Ghosh and Singh, and the Reserve Bank of India was examining the issue. It is however learnt that the Law Ministry has cleared Hutchison, which has sold a direct 52 per cent stake to UK‘s Vodafone for over 11 billion dollars. |
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
