Ice cream wars in the making: Amul to take on HLL
Mumbai: The co-operative sector based, dairy products giant, Amul, is all set to storm the market with a new ice-cream sub-brand "Fundoo". This launch is likely to be a prelude to a full-scale assault on the Rs 450-crore organised ice-cream market, currently dominated by arch rival Hindustan Lever Limited’s (HLL) umbrella brand Kwality Walls. Amul incidentally, already claims a 35-per cent share of the organised ice-cream market, against HLL’s roughly 50 per cent.

The brand, to be launched in two candy flavours at one rupee each, is pitched directly against Kwality Wall’s sub-brand ‘Max Uno’. HLL launched the Max brand last year, priced at one rupee. Additionally, under Fundoo, Amul will also launch ice-creams at higher price-points, and these are likely to be available in four variants of vanilla (Rs 10) strawberry (Rs 12), Sundae (Rs 15) and mango (Rs 14).

Senior company officials at Amul state that their purpose is not to compete or fight HLL, but grow the market and garner a larger market share.
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Two giants’ get together to unleash new power in e-biz market
Calcutta: It is a formidable corporate alliance. Two giants in the infotech world, Microsoft Corporation and Compaq Computer, have got together to target the local e-business spectrum. The underlying paradigm behind this partnership is to blend Microsoft's "business internet" vision with Compaq's "non-stop e-business mantra" of 24/7 support. This strategic initiative is only for the Indian market.

The alliance is slated to target dotcoms, core business infrastructure builders, government agencies and tier-one portals, to develop and sell high-performance and scalable solutions for e-business.

Microsoft is aiming to use its Windows 2000 product as the front end to enable Indian enterprises, developers and end-consumers leverage the combined powers of leading internet technologies with the rest of the world. This, according to both the partners, will help deliver a true non-stop e-business capability for the Indian market where 24-hour service availability is taken for granted by customers.

Worldwide, Microsoft Corp and Compaq have a 12-year exclusive business association under the FrontLine banner. Under this pact, both IT giants have shared technology and engineering resources in developing and advancing the Windows 95/98, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 operating systems.

The partners plan to kick off a pan-India marketing blitz over the next few weeks, that will include the "re-seller training event" coupled with snazzy roadshows to enhance client awareness.
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Sumitomo Corporation reduces stake in IndusInd Telecom
Mumbai: Japanese trading giant, Sumitomo Corporation, which holds a 45 per cent stake in IndusInd Telecom, the Hinduja family controlled company that has a stake in the Gujarat cellular licensee – Fascel, is to reduce its holding in the company to 30 per cent. As the Japanese giant is said to be concentrating on the IT sector back in Japan, its stake in IndusInd is likely to go down further. As a result of this dilution, the Hinduja’s have consolidated their holding in the company.

This dilution has come about by Sumitomo not subscribing to a recent equity expansion of Rs 150 crore.

Fascel is close to bringing Hutchison Telecom, the Hong-Kong based telecom giant and owner of the Orange brand in Asia, on board the venture, through the acquisition of the stake of the Thai shareholder, Shinawatra.
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Enron to trade in inter-state power sale through new trading arm
Mumbai: US energy giant, Enron Corporation, which has large interests in power generation in the country, has decided to set up a power trading company which will deal in inter-state sale of power in the country.

According to a report appearing in the Business Standard, the US major is floating a new company for power trading, for which it will shortly submit a proposal to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for necessary approvals to set up the new company. The new company will be modelled on its own operations in the US where Enron is amongst the largest traders in power.

Essentially, a power-trading corporation is like an exchange where buyers and sellers can settle their requirements on a real-time basis. Under this arrangement, states with surplus power even for a short period can ask to sell the power to any state willing to purchase the power. It is in some ways like a stock market clearing corporation, which guarantees that trades will be put through and also that payments will be made on time, without the risk of default. Presently there is no framework that will allow physical transportation of power and the financial transaction associated with it.

The company has initiated negotiations with several state governments like, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh and their respective electricity boards for developing a broader picture on the concept.
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News TV to invest $300 million in India
New Delhi: Global media baron, Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star TV, has stated that its Indian subsidiary, News Television India Ltd, has sought government permission to bring in between $ 200-300 million for investments in various sectors, including information technology and entertainment.

It is said that a part of the FDI being brought in by News TV India will be used to develop and maintain Star’s expansion plans which envisages broadband services and leveraging the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology for content delivery.

News TV India has set up a new Internet division recently, which is to be headed by Lalit Ahuja, formerly of LGSoft.

Part of the funds – amounting to approximately $60 million -- being brought in will be used to set up a programme production base in a big way. This will be used for not only producing programmes for the TV channels, but, at a later stage, can also be used for film production, an area which Star India had said it was interested in.

Besides getting Bollywood megastar, Amitabh Bachhan, to anchor a show on Star TV, it has also entered into a contract with the British Broadcasting Corporation for a Hindi version of BBC World’s ever-popular Yes Minister along with some other programmes. The Hindi version of Yes Minister is slated to be produced for BBC by Prannoy Roy’s NDTV which will be aired, again, on Star Plus.
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NIIT to set up fully-owned arm in China
Calcutta: IT solutions major NIIT Ltd is poised to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in China through a joint venture with TVE International, a Chinese firm which belongs to the Kuok group of companies. The joint venture envisages NIIT leveraging its technical strength, while TVE International will provide the marketing support for the new company.

The new entity, to be called NIIT China will be steered by NIIT chairman Rajendra S Pawar, while Rahul Patwardhan has been named as the managing director of the company. Prakash Menon will be heading the company's China operations.

The joint venture proposes to support China's rapidly growing economic and business environment, and NIIT China will work towards attaining a leading position in e-commerce and knowledge management in that country. According to company sources, the move is strategic as China is rapidly adapting to the new economy and looking at means to address its IT manpower shortage.

The joint venture company would provide solutions in e-commerce, Internet, knowledge management, systems integration and enterprise resource planning domain. It will also set up corporate virtual universities.
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ITC’s infotech subsidiary to control overseas units
Calcutta: Tobacco and hospitality major, ITC's, newly spun-off infotech subsidiary will hold the shares of its two companies in the UK and US -- ITC Infotech plc and ITC Infotech (USA) Inc -- under the ITC umbrella. This move to reorganize the shareholdings in the infotech companies has been done to allow ITC's Indian subsidiary to be the focal point in decision making.

ITC has made a foray into infotech as part of a logical step to use convergence as a tool to aid the traditional businesses as well as to make e-business part of its everyday business activity.

ITC Infotech Ltd, UK and Compaq India recently signed a memorandum of understanding to explore joint business opportunities for deploying e-enabled solutions in major manufacturing industries, covering the business and manufacturing ends of enterprises. This alliance will enable ITC get a foothold in the Asia-Pacific region.

Both companies will also offer a range of solutions in e-business, including supply chain and logistic management, customer relationship management, enterprise applications, B2B, B2C and exchanges.
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Piramals may pick Ambalal Sarabhai's stake in joint venture
Mumbai: Indian pharmaceutical giant, Nicholas Piramal, is said to have commenced negotiations its partner, Baroda-based Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises (ASE), to take full control of the duo's joint 50:50 joint venture, Sarabhai Piramal Pharmaceuticals Ltd (SPPL).

SPPL primarily markets ethical products manufactured by ASE's Suhrid Geigy unit and covers the therapeutic segment areas like pain, cancer, central nervous system and cardiovasculars.

The joint venture, which came into being in December 1997, had acquired seven ethical brands, with a total sales of roughly Rs. 48 crore, from Suhrid-Geigy Pharmaceuticals. 
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Orange may see a $46 billion offer from France Telecom
London: In an audacious move that is likely to form Europe’s largest cellular phone group, France Telecom is likely to announce a 50bn euro ($45.91 billion) cash and stock purchase of British mobile phone company Orange.

Orange is being sold, for the second time in seven months, by its new owners, Vodafone AirTouch, as part of its acquisition of Germany's Mannesmann AG. Earlier, Orange had won a so-called UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) license in Britain, which will allow mobile phones to offer services such as high-speed, always-on internet, quality video and fax.

The deal, if it goes through, is expected to leave Vodafone with around 10 per cent of non-voting shares in France Telecom, which has become increasingly keen to clinch Orange since abandoning a costly British auction for new generation mobile licenses in April. It is said that Mr. Hans Snook, the ambitious chief executive of Orange, will take control of the new combined cellular business, which will include France Telecom's domestic Itineris brand — the French market leader with over 10m subscribers — and operations in Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.
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