It has already taken a step into the retailing world, by launching branded leisurewear apparel, under the Wills brand name. ITC plans to open 100 exclusive Wills Sports outlets throughout the country in three to five years. According to Mr. Y. Deveshwar, chairman of the company, "The long-term vision of ITC is to be in retailing, including super stores. And in the short-term we will be retailing casual-wear apparel." Over a five-year period, the company hopes to achieve a turnover of Rs 250-500 crore from the apparel business.

The company also plans to merge all its software related business – its current in-house software division and the company’s existing UK subsidiary -- into a newly created 100 per cent owned subsidiary, ITC Infotech. The new entity will, thus, have a total sales turnover of about $7 million.

The restructuring, which is in line with the recommendations made by consulting firm McKinsey, is being done to retain the best talent through employee stock option schemes.
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Will Maruti go into the get Bajaj fold? Or Mahindra? Or Tata?
New Delhi: Several well-known Indian business houses are said to be interested to pick up the 49 per cent stake in India’s most successful state-owned automobile company, Maruti Udyog Limited. The government, which has decided to off-load this equity as part of its divestment program, would do well to rid itself of the stake now, rather than later, given the fact that Maruti is losing market share rapidly in today’s competitive environment.

The Indian companies reportedly interested in the stake are Bajaj Auto Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited and Tata Engineering. All three companies could not comment on the reports, according to the Economic Times.

The Maruti stake was to be divested last month, but was held up thanks to a deadlock between the department of disinvestment and the administrative ministry. The department was of the view that was that since Maruti is losing market share every month, the sooner the government offloads its stake in the company, the better the price it will fetch. The administrative ministry, however, opposed divestment in the company quoting the interests of the domestic ancillary industry.

However, Suzuki Motors has the first right of refusal in case the government puts its equity on the block. If 100 per cent stake for the Japanese company proves to be politically difficult, it could opt for an Indian private party as a partner instead of the government.
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Thomas Cook and Travel Corporation in talks for tie-up
Mumbai: Travel industry powerhouse, Thomas Cook India, said that it was in talks with Travel Corporation of India, another industry veteran, for a possible tie-up or acquisition. Travel industry sources estimate the deal, if it comes through, to be in the region of Rs. 100 crore. Also, the deal would make the combined entity the largest travel and tour operator in India.

The acquisition would have a good fit, considering that the two companies have different focus areas with few overlaps. Thomas Cook India is the market leader in the money changing business and has a foothold in all three segments of the travel business - outbound, inbound and corporate travel. TCI’s primary strength is inbound tourism, where it has specialised incentive and special interest tours

The UK-based Thomas Cook Holdings Limited holds 40 per cent of the equity, State Bank of India 15 per cent while the remaining 45 per cent is held by the public.

TCI is a family owned firm, closely held by three families - the Katgara group, the Parikh group and the Kotak group.

It is understood that the management control, which is currently with the Katgara family, will continue to remain with them, even after the Thomas Cook acquisition.
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Shell to begin construction for Hazira port by March 2001
Ahmedabad: Multinational oil company Shell, which has already appointed ICICI as the exclusive arranger and financial advisor, is expected to begin construction at its Rs 5,435-crore Hazira port project by March 2001. The design work for the project is being done at Shell’s subsidiary Shell Global Solutions in The Hague.

ICICI is also expected to look after the rupee component while the dollar component will be handled directly by Shell International through a scheduled bank in India.

The company has also appointed NEERI to conduct a study on the environmental impact while Fugri of Europe has been appointed for the geo-technical study. Consulting firm, KPMG, has completed assessment for non-LNG traffic at the port site and has suggested changes in the product mix other than LNG.
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K K Birla to hive off 50 per cent in Birla Home Finance
Calcutta: The Rs 4,500-crore K K Birla group, which recently acquired ITC Classic Home Finance after the multinational company exit the financial services businesses, has decided to hive off 50 per cent in the company, now renamed as Birla Home Finance, to an international housing finance company. According to reports from the company, it is in advanced stage of negotiations with the international company.

According to Birla Home Finance managing director, Mr. S Dutta Gupta, the plan for an equity alliance is in line with the company’s ambitious plan to become a global powerhouse in retail home finance.

The company has also chalked out a business plan to focus housing finance as its core area of operations to stake its claim in the rapidly growing Indian market, currently estimated at Rs. 10,000 crore. As part of its business plan, it is also expected to provide other "peripheral services" like selling insurance products, entering into construction activities and offering personal finance consultancy.
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HFCL acquires Motorola paging unit
New Delhi: Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd., which has been on a roll lately, recently acquired Page Point -- a Motorola paging venture – which provides paging services in the cities of Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune.

The company, which already operates paging services under the Pagelink brand name, in seven cities in the country, will soon see its subscriber base double. Besides, it will also help consolidating the company’s position in the paging business, giving it the ability to offer new services like e-mail through wireless access protocol in pagers.
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Modi Telstra is now Spice Telecom
Calcutta: Modi Telstra, the city’s leading cellular service provider, has been renamed Spice Cell Ltd., after ModiCorp and its associates, AIG and Hong Kong-based Distacom, bought out Telstra's entire 49 per cent stake in the erstwhile Modi Telstra, in a deal reportedly valued at Rs. 760 crore.

The group also operates in two other circles, Punjab and Karnataka, under another company. In time, both the companies will be merged into a single entity.

The Calcutta service will now see a new brand message from "making life easier" to "excitement ahead", which is the essence of Spice brand.

Also on the anvil are expansions in switch capacity and PCM links, which, according to company sources, will take the brand beyond Calcutta.

The company also proposes to set up a tri-lingual call centre, which would enable customers to get responses to all their queries in three languages of their choice. Spice offers services in Bengali, Hindi and English.

A major project of Spice in the pipeline is the implementation of computer telephony integration (CTI) software at its Calcutta operations. CTI involves full background information on all its customers, which pops up whenever a customer calls the customer care hot line.
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Tata International to export Tisco's CR products
Mumbai: Tata Steel, the flagship of the Tata group, has entered into an understanding with group company, Tata International, to export 30 per cent of the production at the steel major's new 1.2 million ton cold rolling (CR) in Jamshedpur.

Tata Steel is targeting to export over one-fourth of the flat products from the new CR mill in view of the slack demand from domestic markets. The US has proved to be favourable for the company's hot rolled (HR) products and therefore would be explored and developed further for cold rolled products as well, senior company sources said.

The Rs 1,600-crore CRM complex commenced trial production in April and production in the first year is pegged at 4.1 lakh tonne. Out of this, exports would account for 40,000 tonne. The plant is projected to achieve full capacity.
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