Coca Cola forced to write off $400m on account of India
New Delhi: While it was common knowledge that the Coca Cola Company would have lost a lot of money setting up its business in India, just how much was lost was never known….until today. Gary Fayard, chief financial officer of the company, announced to analysts that the Coca Cola Company had written off $400m of its assets in India in the first quarter of 2000.

The setback notwithstanding, the company has reassured the Indian market that it still remains as committed. This massive write-off clearly shows that the new management under global CEO, Douglas Daft and the Indian subsidiary’s CEO, Alex von Behr, will start the Indian innings afresh.

It is understood that the factors contributing to the huge loss are: the high amounts paid to the bottlers for acquiring their operations -- an amount that did not yield commensurate gains – lavish marketing discounts and pay-offs in acquiring key accounts and the unbridled expenditure in advertising (it is understood that latest Bollywood heart-throb Hiritik Roshan has been signed on by the soft drink giant for a mind-boggling Rs. 5 crore). The runaway expenses of the Indian operations have always been a matter of concern to Atlanta. The head office had initiated some changes in the top management, but to no avail.
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Reliance planning buyback of shares
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Limited announced that it was convening a board meeting on April 12 to consider, among other issues, the buyback of shares. Under existing regulations the company can use upto 25 per cent of its paid up capital and free reserves to buy back shares.

Based on its current net worth, the company can buy back approximately Rs. 3,000 crore worth of shares. The company has enough surplus cash flows being generated for this to happen.

The share buyback programme will boost the company’s stock price on the local exchanges and will also help it get a better overseas listing price, analysts say. The guidelines also say that RIL will have to compulsorily cancel the shares it has bought back. A number of Old Economy companies, including Bajaj Auto, Mico and MRF, have announced share buybacks. After its annual general meeting in July ’98, Bajaj Auto announced that it would buy back at least 15 per cent of its equity shares. Other companies that have announced buybacks have indicated that they will buy back 5-7 per cent of their stock. However, analysts say that RIL’s share buyback programme is unlikely to be as large as that of Bajaj Auto’s.
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Tatas join hands with Group 4 for security solutions
Mumbai: Tata group company, Tata Honeywell, has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with global security giant, Group4 Securitas, to offer total security solutions in the country. The venture will address the emerging needs for state-of-the-art security solutions backed by a central monitoring and response service. The two companies will have an equal stake in the proposed joint venture.

The joint venture will leverage on the Tata company’s strengths for products, technology, distribution channels and support infrastructure, and Group4’s security service expertise and network of field operations. The joint venture is seeking to offer not only security but also peace of mind.

Group4 Securitas offers comprehensive security the world over and is India's largest security company with a network of over 35,000 guards and 88 field officers all over the country.
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M&M to upgrade the Armadas to meet Euro II norms
Mumbai: Automobile major, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has decided to replace its entire Armada range of multi-utility vehicles with the Euro II compliant advanced Bolero range of vehicles by the month end. The company said it would make the necessary changes in the existing Armada vehicles by fitting new engines and making other upgradations, including interiors and body design.

The company, which has stopped supplying the Armada in the National Capital Region, intends making the new range of vehicles its new brand in the market.
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Voltas to hike production of air-conditioners and coolers
Mumbai: Voltas Limited, which is planning a massive 22 per cent growth in its turnover during the year, is to double production of air-conditioners and water coolers in the current fiscal. The production of air-conditioners is being planned to be hiked from the existing 50,000 per year to 100,000, while the production of the water coolers is being hiked from 8,000 units to 16,000 units.

The hike in production will be supported by introduction of new brands of air conditioners and water coolers as well as an increase in the number of company's dealers and retailers from the existing 300 to over 500.

The company is in talks with a few multinational companies for contract manufacture of air conditioners. Voltas Ltd has decided to increase its focus in the AC business keeping in view 40 per cent growth being witnessed in the retail home-segment for ACs.
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Daewoo to introduce new high powered Matiz and Nexia Delux
New Delhi: South Korean car company, Daewoo Motor India, is planning to introduce a brand new high-performance model Matiz shortly. The new model will have additional features like better pick-up and acceleration, improved fuel efficiency and new poly-silver colour.

Results of various surveys, according to the company, have shown the Matiz to be the most fuel efficient car on the Indian road.

Daewoo India is hopeful of riding high on the additional features. The overall improvements/changes relevant to all variants include new seat fabric designs, improved engine performance, improved suspension.

Additionally, the company has also launched the deluxe version of its mid-segment car, the Nexia. The Nexia Deluxe is being positioned in the upper-end of the mid-segment and will target customers who are upwardly mobile. The Deluxe version will be priced at Rs. 40,000 more than the standard version.
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Family scion approaches CLB for intervention
Chennai: S. Sundaram, a scion of the Rs. 2,500 crore Amalgamations group, has approached the Company Law Board to intervene and protect his interests as a minority shareholder against his uncle, Mr. A. Sivasailam.

The company has, however, pleaded that the petition be thrown out since Mr. Sundaram is a shareholder of a subsidiary of Amalgamation and not the main holding company.

Claiming that his uncle, Sivasailam, failed to recognise his competence as a trained manager from the US, Sundaram says his father was made president of Addison Paints and was paid higher remuneration but the group inducted two more directors (besides Sundaram) to run the company.
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IOC and Apollo Hospitals enter into pact for pharma chain
Chennai: Petroleum giant, Indian Oil Corporation, today signed a memorandum of understanding with healthcare services major, Apollo Hospitals, for setting up a pharma general store at the convenience stores -- convenios -- being planned at all Indian Oil petrol pumps. Initially, these facilities will be made available in cities where Apollo Hospitals has branches and over a period of time it will be extended to other cities depending upon the requirement.

The convenios will also have emergency ambulance facilities apart from other general convenience goods like toiletries, packed food, according to IOC executive director (sales), BK Das. This is part of the retail marketing strategy of the corporation to ensure that its petrol stations offer one-stop service to its customers, he said.

The medical services and drug store facilities to be extended by Apollo Hospitals will be available round-the-clock at convenios in select retail outlets. At the 57-odd jubilee retail outlets (JROs) operating in highways, apart from these pharmaceutical general stores and ambulance facilities IOCL is offering facilities such as children park, parking lots, dormitories for tourists and passengers on pilgrimage, cafeteria and dhabas for motorists and truckers.

Presently, about 10 JROs are operating full-fledged with all facilities in the country and by the end of the year 2000 all the other JROs with such similar facilities will be in place, he added.
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Xerox raises stake in Indian venture
New Delhi: In a quiet move, copier giant, Xerox Corporation, has increased its stake in the Indian ventue, Xerox ModiCorp, its joint venture with the Modi group. The US company has now acquired 68 per cent of the Indian venture and is looking to acquire an additional two per cent from the markets.

The company will finally also buy out the remaining 30 per cent holding, currently with the erstwhile chairman, Mr. B.K. Modi.
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MRTPC stops Hyundai from running disparaging campaign
New Delhi: Stepping in to intervene in, what seemed like, a bloody battle, the MRTP Commission has passed an ex-parte order restraining Hyundai Motor India from running its ad campaign that disparages the Matiz being manufactured by Daewoo Motors.

The Commission held ,on a plea made by Daewoo, that the ads run by Hyundai would prima facie amount to unfair trade practices within the meaning of MRTPC act. The commission further said that the advertisements were likely to deflect the choice of the general public who were desirous of purchasing a car from the applicant company.

The next hearing on the case was set for May 12.
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BPL to splurge on the ad spend
Mumbai: BPL Innovision, part of the Bangalore based BPL group, which will launch its own Internet service provider (ISP) and portal bplnet.com next week, is planning an advertising blitzkrieg. This year alone it will spend Rs 40 to 50 crore on promotions.

BPL Innovision will invest funds in the region of Rs 270 crore up to year 2002 to fuel its expansion. The money will principally be generated in-house, and partially through a private placement and later a listing on either the Indian or foreign stock markets. The company will place equity with funds and not foreign institutional investors.

The company has been set up to achieve a convergence of interests and strengths that BPL has in telecom consumer and entertainment electronics.

According to Mr. Rana Kapoor, manging director of Rabo India Finance, which is to act as the strategic advisor to the company, they are seeking investors who can bring to the table the depth of understanding of the market and the business. He is also confident that the backing of the BPL group would give the company tremendous advantage and would make it possible to attract the initial eyeballs.

Innovision plans to focus on Internet access, information technology and technology design services, portals, content and web solutions. The company's youth website oyeindia.com is already on the Internet and has been getting some 20,000 hits a day.
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High court rejects Videocon’s plea against ORG-GFK
Mumbai: The ongoing tussle between research major, ORG-GFK, and the domestic television giant, Videocon, took a new turn with the Mumbai High Court dismissing the plea of the latter praying for an injunction against the research company publishing the colour television sales figures.

Videocon chairman, Mr. Venugopal Dhoot, however, promised to pursue the matter to the Supreme Court and claim the Rs. 100 crore that the company says ORG-GFK needs to pay for defamation.

The Videocon group continues to maintain that its market share is more than 20 per cent. Incidentally, the ORG-GFK market shares figures for January ’00 have placed Videocon’s market share even lower at number three with 10 per cent. Onida has pipped the company to the number two position with a 13 per cent market share. Till some time back, Videocon was at number two position with a market share of around 13-14 per cent. ORG-GFK had earlier served a legal notice on Videocon International, threatening criminal proceedings against Venugopal Dhoot, chairman, Videocon International, for intimidating the company by issuing threats of police search and seizure. ORG-GFK has accused Videocon of manipulating data to suit the latter's purposes through motivated statements to the media. The notice also urged Videocon to tender an unconditional retraction of imputations made against ORG with an apology.
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Monsanto gets breakthrough in rice research
Mumbai: US multinational, Monsanto, has announced a major scientific breakthrough in deciphering the genetic make-up of rice.

A ‘working draft’ of the rice genome has now been completed, and it is the first time that the genome sequence of any crop has been described in such technical detail. The working draft provides the most extensive understanding of all 12 chromosomes of rice to date.

The life sciences major will share the data freely with researchers around the world, including the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project, a 10-member consortium of national rice genome sequencing projects. The initiative is the first in which a private enterprise will share a large volume of proprietary genome information.

Rice genome is made up of roughly half a billion chemical ``letters'', the exact order of which the researchers work out. This knowledge is the key to understanding how rice production can be increased or more nutritious rice produced. The genome contains at least 40,000 genes which comprise the instruction book of the rice plant. With the sharing of data, researchers will be able to more quickly complete the entire mapping of the rice genome.

Apart from being an important food crop, rice serves as a research model. Availability of detailed information on rice genome was likely to lead to advances in global efforts to improve other major food crops and help enhance global food security.
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TCS introduces novel social education plan
Pune: Tata software major, Tata Consultancy Services, has just launched a unique experimental social project that promises to reduce widespread illiteracy in the country by using information technology and reverse form of education.

Instead of teaching the rural illiterate the alphabets first, the new concept uses the reverse approach -- teaching them to read the most widely-used vocabulary first.

Brainchild of FC Kohli, deputy chairman of Tata Consultancy Services, the pilot education project is being implemented in Andhra Pradesh and holds good promise for a country which is facing a widening gap between the literate and the illiterate.

This reverse process of education hopes that once the illiterate segment of the population gets to know to read the most important and the most used vocabulary, the need to study the alphabet will follow naturally.

The TCS team in Andhra Pradesh is working on newer tools to enable it to reach more people like the setting up of servers and wireless loops to connect to distant villages.
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BHEL strikes deal to sell turbines to Iraq
New Delhi: Public sector engineering giant, BHEL, has recently secured a contract to supply two gas turbines of 159 MW for a power plant coming up in south Iraq. This order is worth Rs. 500 crore. This is the first major contract secured from Iraq, which was once a very thriving market.

The BHEL deal is covered by the oil-for-food program under the United Nations and will require the UN’s approval for its execution. BHEL will supply the turbines and auxiliaries for the Beiji power station within 18 months of UN clearance.
The Beiji power station will be expanded later with the addition of two more gas turbines of the same capacity. Bhel hopes to supply the equipment for the expansion scheme also.
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