TTK Prestige moves to being a kitchen solutions company
TTK Prestige is expanding into categories beyond pressure cookers and cookware to become a kitchen solutions company. In the last few months, the company has launched chimneys and hobs, toasters, kettles and even microwave ovens. All its products are priced affordably in the Rs5,000 and Rs12,000 range. The company is also outsourcing the manufacture of all these products.

TTK Prestige also plans to launch a new marketing campaign that will reinforce its repositioning as an integrated kitchen solutions brand. To support its repositioning the company has hiked its ad-spend to around Rs50 crore, which is considerably higher than the previous years. Its long-pending foray into modular kitchens is likely to take off in April, with an outlet being opened in Bangalore or Kochi. The company had set up retail outlets branded Smart Kitchens in 2002 to be able to display the entire range of its products.

French beauty salon to open 50 outlets in India
Luxury salons are looking at grabbing a place in the sun in the Indian market, with French salon Jean Claude Biguine, a € 150-million hair and beauty chain, opening its salons in India this year. The chain will start with three outlets in Mumbai, followed by Delhi, with a target to set up 50 salons in the top cities by 2010, at an investment of Rs150 crore.

The company sees huge potential for its services in India. Over the last year, a number of foreign salon chains have entered India, and analysts point out that others, such as the US firm Regis, are mulling a foray into India this year.

Net4 launches 'One World' international calls at Re 1/m
Net4India Ltd has launched a "One World" plan under which callers can make international calls to over 40 countries at Re1 per minute. Through its calling card, Net4 would facilitate voice calls from a PC to a phone or a mobile, globally. With this offer Net4 is looking at adding 1,50,000 subscribers by the end of the year.

The company's prepaid calling cards like One World, Homeland, Gulf Gold and Unlimited are available in the denomination of Rs100, Rs250, Rs500 and Rs1,000. After logging to the Web site (www.phonewalah.com), consumers can download the dialer and enter their user ID and pin. Net4 has also launched customised corporate products with different calling plans for the US, the UK and Canada.

Hero Cycles launches electric bikes
New Delhi: Hero Cycles has launched a range of electric vehicles, aimed at short-haul commuters in metros and cities, and is targeting a sale of 100,000 units in the next 15 months.

Called 'Hero Electric', the seven variants of e-bikes and e-scooters will be available in the price bands Rs15,000-20,000 and Rs24,000-28,000. These would offer the cheapest mode of transport at 10 paise per km.

According to the company it has created a new segment in the auto sector. The bikes are easy to handle as these vehicles have mounted electric motors that could be charged like any mobile handset from an electric socket. Besides being eco-friendly, these vehicles are virtually maintenance free and will offer great economy to the Indian customer.

The vehicles run on battery that can be charged by electricity. If the battery is charged for 6 hours the vehicle runs for up to 70 km. It has a maximum speed of 25 km per hour.

KBC 3 gets Rs130 crore in advertising…so far
Kaun Banega Crorepati-3 to be anchored by Hindi film star Shah Rukh Khan has already brought in Rs100-130 crore in advertising, to Star TV Indian, with a fortnight still to go before the show goes on air this month.

Pantaloon Retail (Big Bazaar) and Godrej Sara Lee have joined the bandwagon as sponsors, with the earlier ones being Airtel, Hyundai and Cadbury. Motorola has replaced Nokia, which was on board with KBC 2. The other new sponsors this year are UTI Mutual Fund, Videocon, Godrej Sara Lee, Jyothi Labs, Pantaloon Retail (Big Bazaar) and the UB group.

Star has sold ad slots for the show which goes on air from January 22 at Rs10-13 crore per sponsor, said sources. The ten main sponsors will share the same mileage, and each sponsor will have 1 to 1.5 minutes visibility for each episode.

Star is yet to decide on the bank presenting the cheques, the contenders being HSBC, ICICI Bank, Barclays Bank and Kotak (which was on board last year).

Also, the show's 'computerji' has not yet been finalized. Lenovo, the computer brand on KBC 2, is said to have pulled out since Khan endorses the Compaq brand in India.

Emami re-christens Landmark Store
Emami Group, which runs the Emami Landmark Store as a joint venture with the Chennai-based Landmark chain of book stores since 1999, has assumed total ownership and control of the store, following the delinking of its operations from Landmark department stores. This has led to Emami changing the name of the Landmark store in Kolkata to Starmark, with effect from January 4.

Following the takeover of the Chennai Landmark stores business by the Tatas last year, the Emami Group bought out the Calcutta store from the Chennai Group. This break up has also signalled Emami's 100 per cent entry into retail, particularly the books, stationery, toys, music items and gifts segments, through its Starmark brand.

Slipping TRPs lead to falling ad rates for Star Plus
After five years of dominant TRPs, the channel share and ad rates of STAR Plus, Star India's entertainment channel, which accounts for over three-fourths of STAR India's total revenues, have dropped by as much as 20-30 per cent in the last one year.

Star Plus' share has fallen sharply on the prime-time slot. During the 9-10 pm band, Star Plus' share is down to 22 per cent in the November-December 2006 period against 28 per cent in November-December 2005. Zee TV has been gainer whose share has, shot up from 4 per cent to 14 per cent in the same period.

STAR Plus' two main shows have also seen falling TRPs. Ad rates on- Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, which ranged between Rs 2.2-2.4 lakh per 10 seconds one year ago, have fallen to between Rs 1.7-1.8 lakh for 10 seconds.

In the past one year the gap between STAR and rivals Zee and Sony has narrowed down. Needless to say Star's hopes are now riding on KBC-3 which is expected to bring in the mch needed TRPs.

Burger King to enter India through franchisee model
Burger King is planning to enter India with its own brand of hamburger restaurants. Industry sources feel that Burger King's entry is likely to start a war with leading hamburger restaurant McDonalds.

Since the majority of the clientele for the two hamburger chains is in Delhi and Mumbai the two would compete in offering innovative products and better location of outlets. McDonald's, though having the prime movers advantage in India, would lose some customers due to the sheer curiosity factor.

Burger King will be franchisee-driven and has said it will opt for smaller, less-expensive, space-optimised restaurants. It is attracting key franchisees with strong local and financial standing who can open several profitable restaurants quickly, to establish Burger King in previously under-penetrated areas. The company wants to open more than 400 restaurants worldwide in 2007.

Burger King sells flame-broiled hamburgers, chicken and other speciality sandwiches and french fries.