Scooters India may see change in management control
New Delhi: Government owned, Scooters India Limited, is likely to see a change in management control. The government is understood to have entered into an agreement with the Italian two-wheeler giant, Piaggio, for acquiring a majority stake in the Indian company. The Italian company is said to have agreed to the government clause of retaining the labour force.

The government is working out the modalities for the transfer and, in an attempt to ensure transparency in the deal, is likely to advertise Piaggio's bid in the newspapers to give any other prospective bidder the choice of matching or exceeding the Italian giant's offer.

Kanpur based Scooters India manufactures the Vikram brand of three wheelers which has a market share of 50 per cent in the northern India market. Besides, the company also manufactures petrol engines for three-wheelers.
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Hyundai to withdraw comparative ads
New Delhi: Coming close on the heels of an order from the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) rapping the company on its knuckles, Hyundai Motors India has decided to withdraw all its advertising that compares its product, Santro, with rival models. The company is due to kick off a new campaign shortly.

The comparative advertisements, which drew flak from its competitors Ford India, Telco and Daewoo Motors, have seen Hyundai in the thick of controversy. While Daewoo filed a complaint with the MRTPC, Ford resorted to lodging a protest with the Advertising Standards Council of India. Telco, whose Indica was dragged into the campaign, chose to keep quiet and not react.
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ICICI concedes on domain names
Mumbai: The hatchet has finally been buried. The ongoing war between ICICI and IL&FS promoted, Investsmart India Limited, has come to an end with an out of court settlement that saw ICICI agreeing to with the domain name investmartindia.com, that was deceptively similar to the investsmartindia.com name the latter had, and assign it in favour of the IL&FS subsidiary. In return, Investsmart India will withdraw the case it had filed against ICICI in the Mumbai courts.

In a related development, ICICI has also agreed to assign the name, jeevanbeema.com, to the Life Insurance Corporation of India, which is identified with the name Jeevan Beema. This act will clearly keep ICICI out of any legal problems with LIC with the domain name being similar to the latter's products.
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Tisco to implement Booz Allen recommendations on freight plans
Calcutta: The Tata Iron & Steel Company Limited (Tisco), which is scheduled to commission its 1.2 million tonne Cold Rolled (CR) mill in Jamshedpur this month, is aiming to set in place a cost-effective marketing and service network that would bring in rationalisation in terms of outbound freight.

The company has begun implementing recommendations made in this behalf by Booz Allen Hamilton, noted management consultants who were retained to study the problem. It has introduced a pilot freight rationalisation project in the eastern region in line with the recommendations made. The pilot, which will form the basis for the future of the marketing network, will be increased to other regions in phases.
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Eastman Chemicals grants Shasun permission for polymer excipient
Chennai: US-based Eastman Chemicals Limited, has granted a license to Chennai based Shasun Chemicals and Drugs, to make hydroxypropyl-methyl cellulose phthalate (HPMCP), a pharmaceutical excipient.

HPMCP is an enteric polymer compound that is used as a coating on tablets to reduce irritation on the stomach lining.

The Chennai company is using this as a launching pad into the formulations business and full range of excipients. The company, which is currently engaged in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients and their intermediaries, is among the world's largest producer of Ibuprofen.

Eastman will discontinue the manufacture of HPMCP at its Tennessee plant since it is not viable and will transfer the entire technology to Shasun for the manufacture of this excipient at its Cuddalore or Pondicherry plant. Eastman would also buy-back some part of the production from Shasun.
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Tisco to hive off IT division to IBM
Calcutta: Steel major, Tisco, is planning to hive off its IT division, with some 300 professionals, to IT major, IBM. The company would, then, outsource its entire IT requirements from IBM. It would, however, retain a few key personnel on its rolls to ensure that the security of its strategic IT requirement. These strategic requirements are information on which and where inventories need to be shifted, customer profiles and the like, which are extremely sensitive information with respect to competition and profit. Other routine requirements like employee wage details, records as well as automation of processes could easily be outsourced.

The company believes it is following global practice among steel companies to outsource its IT requirement without any adverse effects.
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Hitkari plans restructure and new product portfolio
New Delhi: The country's most well know porcelain and china manufacturer, Hitkari Potteries Limited, is planning a major revamp of its organisation and expansion of its product lines.

The company is planning to enter into several joint ventures with well known international companies for technology upgradation and mechanisation of the manufacturing process.

Its expansion plans include brand extension into porcelain and earthenware too. It hopes to leverage the brand name Hitkari by extending it to porcelain and earthenware apart from the existing bonechina and stonewares. It also plans to introduce allied product lines such as glassware, linen, cutlery etc apart from its existing crockery range of dinnerware, mugs, cups and saucers, gift items and utility products. It plans to discontinue its cheaper range of products and concentrate on the premium segment in order to take on the competition posed by the small scale ceramic sector, which has grown in the recent years due to the taxation and excise benefits available to the sector.
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