'No hike in capex'

Even as speculation mounted on Sunil Mittal's next step, the 48-year-old Bharti group honcho chose to keep his cards close to his chest. "There is no clear plan. The idea was to first secure the investment," he said.

Telecom sector analysts view the deal as another indication of Mittal being open to diluting his stake in the country's largest private telecom company in order to to expand the Bharti business empire.

Mittal, however, made it clear that the deal with Vodafone would not translate into higher capex for Bharti during 2005-06. "The capex will remain at $1.2-1.3 billion, and the agreement with Vodafone will not change it," Mittal told reporters.

The Bharti group entered the agriculture export business through FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd, a joint venture with the EL Rothschild group, with a focus on markets in Europe and the US. There are also reports of Bharti planning to retail products in the country.

In August, Bharti had signed an agreement with AXA, the world's largest insurance group, to set up a 74:26 life insurance joint venture. The French insurance major has committed investments of Rs 500 crore over the next three-four years. This needs to be matched by Bharti. Bharti and AXA also plan to enter the pension and mutual fund businesses in the coming months.

Will Mittal eventually sell his stake in Bharti Tele-Ventures? Mittal says "no". Bharti, it is worth noting, has strategically outsourced its network management, network maintenance, information technology, and infrastructure maintenance and services.

Besides, it has also outsourced its call centre and customer care operations. In effect, it now handles only marketing and brand management.