Wipro plans to spend Rs 50cr in internet operations
New Delhi: India’s leading infotech company, Wipro Limited, announced that it was planning to invest upto Rs 50 crore in its internet services provider operations in the country. This money, to be invested by its subsidiary Wipro Net, will be spent on infrastructural expansion and rolling out management services. Wipro Net, a category A ISP currently has presence in major cities including Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Calcutta.

Of the above amount, the company would be investing upto Rs 20 crore in infrastructure including launching its ISP services in Jamshedpur, Baroda and Visakhapatnam by end of this year.

The company had earlier applied for gateway licence for nine gateways in Mumbai, Bangalore, Madras, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

The company has also earmarked Rs. 30 crore for introducing management services.
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Japanese bank to help BPL with $300-m loan
New Delhi: Japan’s multilateral funding agency, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, will assist the BPL led-consortium with a $300 million loan for its thermal power project in Andhra Pradesh. The lending agency is said to be negotiating with the project promoters -- BPL, Marubeni and Electric Power Development Company -- for the 500 mw Ramagundam thermal power project and it is believed that a final decision will be taken soon.

BPL, the project promoter, has a majority stake in the power project. While Marubeni will be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project EPDC will be the operation and maintenance contractor.

The repayment period for the loan, which will be guaranteed by Indian financial institutions like ICICI and IDBI, is to be spread over a period of 13 years. The financial institutions are evaluating the risk factors of the project and are also demanding an escrow cover from the Andhra Pradesh government for the joint venture project. The government has announced that it can only accommodate two projects of 500 mw each. At the moment, about three private power projects are demanding escrow cover from the state and a final decision has to be taken before October.

The total project cost is over $400 million and some of the private banks have also come forward to lend money to the power project, the sources said.
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Samsung set to follow competition – to plunge into e-commerce
New Delhi: Following the footsteps of its close competitors, LG Electronics and Sony India, South Korean giant Samsung Electronics announced that it is taking a plunge into e-commerce arena by this month by launching its own portal to sell its products.

The company’s website, tentatively called "Samsung.Ecomart", will tie up all the company's 3,600 dealers in the country besides displaying all its products. The e-commerce site is estimated to entail an investment of about Rs 2-5 crore. Samsung is targeting to sell 6 lakh televisions in 2000 and 7.5 lakh units in 2001 as against 4.1 lakh TVs sold during the last calendar year.

Samsung move is aimed at further extending its products to the Indian consumers. At present, the company is offering its products on another portal called jaldi.Com' and is also undertaking a survey to extend its reach to the rural areas.
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RPL planning storage facilities at Kakinada
Hyderabad: Reliance Petroleum, which operates a 27-MTPA refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat and has great plans to make its presence felt in the retail petro-products market, is said to be planning to set up storage facilities in the port of Kakinada. From this port the company hopes to establish a presence in the retail marketing of SKO (superior kerosene oil) and naphtha. It is hoping that Kakinada would serve as the hub for its marketing efforts on the east coast.

The company is said to have asked the authorities to allocate it 50 acres of land in the port premises, so it can build tankage facilities. The company had earlier indicated that, till such time its tankage farm is ready, it would use the kerosene pipeline built by Bharat Petroleum to pump the product from the berth to the tankers.

The company, which has concessions for oil drilling in several blocks in the Bay of Bengal, including off the Rajahmundry coast, had sought a dedicated jetty from the port authorities for its rigging division.
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Skoda India plans to launch diesel Octavia by Diwali
Mumbai: Skoda India, the Indian subsidiary of Czech automobile major Skoda Auto, announced that it will roll out its first 1.9-turbo diesel version of Octavia from Aurangabad by Diwali.

The company, which has set a modest 1,200 units to be sold during the first year, has reworked the Octavia pricing around Rs 11.5 lakh from the originally proposed Rs 9.5 lakh, following "the fast changing market conditions and growing competition".

The company also proposes to begin assembly of the petrol version by November-December 2000 from its assembling facility, coming up at Shendre near Aurangabad. It currently operates out of a leased space at the Siemens factory.

Skoda had earlier planned to roll out the first Octavia from June this year. This deadline was not met since the company was involved in clearing the necessary paper work from the Director-General of Foreign Trade, customs, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and other government agencies.

The company is said to be in the process of appointing 14 dealers all over India, including three in Mumbai. The first state-of-the-art showroom based on company's stipulated standards and designs is to open shortly at Delhi. According to company sources, the company had trained local dealers before their appointment to maintain its standards and quality in India. The company also proposes to open servicing outlets servicing all over the country.  Back to News Review index page 

Mercedes-Benz A-class not to run on Indian roads
New Delhi: Mercedes-Benz India Ltd (MBIL) has finally decided to drop its plans of introducing its famed small car 'A-class' in India, as it believes the car cannot compete cost-wise, with other small cars in the Indian market. Efforts are currently on to finalise a model from the Chrysler stables to be rolled on to Indian roads.

The A-class is said to have almost all the features of any other Mercedes-Benz car in terms of technology, comfort and space and hence cost-wise cannot compete with the small cars in the Indian market. As a result of this the company believes that the market communication for such a car would be difficult.

Instead, the company has decided to concentrate on the upper segment of the market and will introduce the S 320L, sporting a price tag of Rs. 65 lakh, as its second passenger car offering for India. The S 320 L will be introduced in a petrol-driven version with automatic transmission. MBIL is targeting to sell around 100 units of the S 320L in the 2000 calendar year.

The company expects to achieve total sales of around 800 units (including E-class) in 2000 and gradually increase it in subsequent years. However, the company, in line with its long term plans, has decided to shift focus from exporting finished cars to parts and components.
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