BPL introduces several brands in CTV and launches new washing machines
Bangalore: In a bid to counter the increasing fragmentation in the colour television market, BPL which had so far operated in the colour television (CTV) market with just one brand, has decided to introduce two more. One model is aimed at the bottom end of the market, and the other at the very top. The mother brand `BPL' will operate in the middle and upper-middle segments of the CTV market.

Mr. Ajit Nambiar, chairman and managing director of BPL, explained that with the company planning to sell two million units in the current year, the existing brand, which has reached a threshold level, needs to be strengthened. The company believes that with increased competition, a single brand will make it difficult to increase volumes and market share beyond the existing level.

In line with international practice, where Philips at the top end has its exclusive `Marantz' brand and Panasonic its `Technics' brand, BPL will have a premium sub-brand `Digital BPL’. High-end convergence products will come under the Digital-BPL branding. The company has already gone in for a soft launch of this brand with the introduction of its digital range. BPL will expand and rationalise this product portfolio over time. This brand will mainly compete with the Japanese brands at the premium end of the market.

At the low end of the CTV market, BPL is launching its fighter or flanking brand primarily to take on competition from the Chinese and local brands. To be sold under the `Evelux' brand name, BPL will seed it into selective markets and launch it regionally.

The objective of the multi-brand strategy is to "plug the gaps" in BPL's CTV portfolio and use these new brands "to get incremental volumes", while BPL remains the mother brand.

BPL is also set to launch its front-loading, fully computerised washing machine range by July. The front-loading washing machine will be sourced from the company's manufacturing plant in Slovenia, which it had acquired last year.

According to the company, these washing machines will have the latest technology and will be the only one in India with all stainless steel drums, both the inner and outer ones. The pricing of the product is being worked out.

The company is also considering to introduce a new appliances range in the coming months, including Net-enabled appliances. The first in the new range, a Net-enabled microwave oven, will be in the market by the year-end.

One of the products it is contemplating to introduce, is the Net-enabled refrigerator, which will have a microprocessor and a scanner which can read bar-coded labels. As items are stored in the refrigerator and taken out for use, the scanner automatically maintains an inventory of the stock available. One can access the refrigerator through his mobile phone, find out the inventory available and pick up the missing items from the departmental stores while on way back home.
Back to News Review index page 

Hyundai unveils new versions of Santro
Mumbai: After taking into account feedback from customers, Korean giant, Hyundai Motor India, on Monday launched two new versions of its popular Tall Boy small car, Santro.

The two new improved versions are Santro zipDrive LS with power steering and Santro zipDrive GS with power steering and a sporty look. The new version will have a smiling Radiator Grille, as opposed to the earlier version, which had a vertical grille.

The two new versions have been launched 19 months after the Santro was introduced to India and the company has tried to maintain the costs and there is only a marginal rise in the new versions.

The company has also introduced new colour combinations for the two new versions.
Apart from the two models, Santro Standard model renamed as Santro LE will continue to be sold. The company claims that the new versions are now available at all the dealer outlets across the country and will replace the existing models.
Back to News Review index page 

Air India to finally embrace globally accepted customer-friendly norms
Bangalore: In a bid to revive its flagging operations, the Indian international carrier, Air India (AI), may soon embrace customer-friendly global practices for its marketing and distribution channels.

Taking cue from its more successful rivals, the airline is considering replacement of general sales agents (GSA) in UK, Canada, Indonesia and north-India with consolidators. The new system may also be on the cards for the US, where AI does business of about $100m through its own sales offices. If implemented on a worldwide scale, the exercise could lead to an estimated savings of nearly Rs 20 crore, apart from ensuring greater productivity, transparency and accountability in the airline's marketing and distribution efforts.

GSAs become the sales and marketing arm of the airline in places where the latter does not want to have its own establishment. While the airline compensates them through higher commissions or incentives, it avoids the larger establishment costs. Consolidators, on the other hand, are also big agents. They are, however, are being increasingly perceived as more cost-effective distribution channels by airlines and have greater flexibility in dealing with them, which includes easier termination clauses.

According to airline representatives, the replacement of GSAs by more than one consolidator in each region will introduce competition and better deals for customers. AI has more than two dozen GSAs worldwide including about 10 in the Gulf and Middle east, one of its largest revenue generating circuits. The airline plans to replace GSAs in regions except the Middle east, where the law of the land makes it mandatory for all carriers to engage a local business partner.
Back to News Review index page 

Heinz gets active at last -- to launch biscuits, spices, tetra drinks
Mumbai: After being very low key for many years, foods major Heinz India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the $10bn H J Heinz Co, US, is eyeing new business categories like biscuits, tetra drinks, spices and condiments. This comes close on the heels of its latest launch -- the Heinz ketchup. Further, India is being targeted as the sourcing point for ketchup, Complan and Glucon-D for the needs of other Heinz affiliates.

While biscuits and tetra drink brands will be developed for the Indian market, spices and condiments would be worldwide Heinz brands, which would cater to the local tastes but conform to the basic parent formula.

According to Mr. Pradeep Poddar, chief executive of the Indian operations, the country is on the threshold of a transformative growth and a vital hub in the Heinz gameplan.
Back to News Review index page 

Bharti to take stakes in two cellular companies, allies with BPL
Bangalore: Mr. Rajan Mittal, joint managing director of Bharti Enterprises, announced on Monday that the company was looking at acquiring sizeable stakes in two unnamed cellular circles in the country, which is likely to give its AirTel brand of cellular services significant reach in the country. The acquisitions are likely to happen by the year-end.

In keeping with the company’s avowed ambitions of being the cellular service provider with the largest footprint in the country, the company is also actively seeking alliances with other cellular service providers. In this regard, the company is said to be in advanced negotiations with BPL Telecom business group, which handles cellular business in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Pondicherry.

On the internet front, its group company, Bharti BT Internet, which is into providing internet services, plans to invest around Rs 100 crore to create a country-wide infrastructure and also put in place a few international gateways. The company plans to offer internet services in around 27 cities across the country by September of this year. The company is also stepping up its efforts to offer content, through strategic alliance or buyout of a few portals.
Back to News Review index page 

Credit Suisse "informally" values Tata Consultancy Services at $20.7 billion
Mumbai: There has been talk for sometime now that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a division of Tata Sons, would be listed as a means of unlocking significant hidden value in some of the largest Tata group companies. Just what size is this hidden value is can be gauged from the informal valuation of the software giant by Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB).

According to the informal valuation made by CSFB in a recent report on Tata Engineering, the investment bank, taking a "conservative" price-earnings multiple of 100, has valued TCS at $20.7 billion, or a whopping Rs 92,000 crore. The exercise was done in relation to the shareholding that Tata Engineering had in Tata Sons, of which TCS is a division.

TCS had posted profits of Rs 480 crore on a turnover of Rs 1,700 crore in the 1998-99 fiscal. For the 1999-00 fiscal, turnover is expected to increase by at least 50 per cent, on the back of large export orders, whereas its contribution to the Tata Sons net is expected to double.

This latest valuation, albeit unwarranted, compares favourably with the last known valuation of TCS done by an external agency. In 1998, it is understood that Goldman Sachs put the value of TCS at $4 billion, which is 20 per cent of the present "conservative" worth of TCS.
Back to News Review index page 

WPP builds world’s largest advertising group through takeover of rival Young & Rubicam
London: UK-based, advertising giant, WPP plc, has agreed to take over US rival, and one of the world’s last remaining independent agencies, Young & Rubicam for some $5.7 billion in stock in a deal that will create the world's biggest advertising group. Y&R's rival talks with French group Publicis had been terminated as a result of the WPP deal and Publicis said that it had declined to submit a formal offer.

The deal was approved by the Y&R board on Sunday after the two sides smoothed over differences and reached an agreement in principle that will see WPP take control of one of the last remaining independent agencies.

It is rumoured that, after the takeover, Y&R finance director Mike Dolan will head the Y&R Group, leaving the future of current chief executive Thomas Bell hanging in the balance.

The deal propels WPP beyond US advertising heavyweights Omnicom and Interpublic Group, and adds a third arm to the London-based group's existing US advertising businesses J Walter Thompson Co and Ogilvy & Mather. Aside from the advertising interests, the deal also brings together attractive public relations and direct marketing companies, among the fastest growing areas of the business. Y&R, which ranks as the world's seventh-largest advertising company in terms of income, has Burson-Marsteller and direct marketing company Impiric under its umbrella while WPP owns Hill & Knowlton.

The talks for the takeover, which had been going on for sometime, had run into problems over differences on Y&R's "golden parachutes" which would have given Y&R executives big pay-offs if control changed hands.

Y&R has also dropped its demand for full autonomy in the first year and an integration committee will be created with two representatives from each side to ensure a smooth transition.
Back to News Review index page 

Intel to unveil two network devices
San Francisco: The world’s largest chipmaker, Intel Corporation, plans to unveil two network devices that can make business-to-business transactions over the internet 150 times faster than previously possible.

The products, which will be targeted at data centres and other application service providers offering services over the Web, is the latest from its communications products business. The company believes, the devices will take some of the data processing load off network servers.

The Intel NetStructure 7280 XML Director and the 7210 XML Accelerator are in pilot tests with a handful of business-to-business companies. They are the latest addition to a family of e-commerce products that seek to speed up business, first launched in February at the Intel Developer Forum.
Back to News Review index page