Star TV and Pacific Internet to form JV for narrow band
Mumbai: It is understood that Star TV has agreed to take a 35-37 per cent stake in an India-based, narrow-band internet services joint venture with Pacific internet, the Singapore-based Asia’s leading internet services provider. Indian-promoted Thakral group is said to be taking around 26 per cent in the three-way ISP venture.

The new joint venture, which will carry the Star brand name, is likely to have an investment in the region of $20 million and the authorised capital will be around $100 million. It would initially offer dial-up ISP services throughout the country. Star is also likely to provide its marketing infrastructure and entertainment and news content.
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Fiat banks of Weekend to take on Hyundai, Ford
Mumbai: In the already crowded and competitive market place, Fiat India is banking on its latest introduction, the Sienna Weekend, to take head on Ford and Hyundai in the Indian market.

The new model will also be pitched against Maruti’s Baleno Altura, which is costlier by around Rs 1 lakh as well as the Ford Ikon and Hyundai Accent within the same price band. The company expects the model to drive up sales of its mid-size offering and promote the company’s brand to target customers.

The company plans to use the Sienna Weekend to target the young and dynamic professionals and businessmen who are looking for something different. The model is expected to strengthen the Fiat brand and push up sales of our mid-size Siena as well.

Though the Siena model sold over 1.5 million units globally, the volumes in India have remained significantly below the company’s expectation levels. Since its launch last year, Fiat India has sold around 6,500 units of the Siena.

The company is targeting a sales volume of 1,600-2000 units for the Siena Weekend during the calender year, although officials are not sure as to how the segment will fare.
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Maruti planning to launch Alto on Wednesday, despite staff stir
New Delhi: In its bid to phase out its existing 800 cc and Zen models, India’s leading car manufacturer, Maruti Udyog, is planning to launch two variants of its new model, 'Alto', in its small car range with price tags of Rs 2 to 3.5 lakh on Wednesday. The two models would have 800 cc and 1000 cc Euro-II norms compliant petrol engines.

The company has already poduced over 3,500 units of Alto at its Gurgaon factory, company sources said adding MUL would be ready for national delivery at the time of launch.

The localisation level of both the new models are likely to be over 70 per cent, according to the company, which has also stated that the level would be increased soon to bring down their manufacturing cost.

Meanwhile, the Maruti Udyog Employees Union said it would intensify its agitation to press for incentives and pension package and the stir could affect the production of vehicles, including the latest model Alto which the company is likely to launch on Wednesday.

The decision to intensify the agitation came within hours of talks breaking down between management and unions last evening even as maruti dealers said two variants of new small car model alto would be launched on Wednesday.
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Escotel to diversify into Net, radio services
Kochi: According to Mr. Manoj Kohli, chief executive of Escotel, a leading cellular operator, would soon diversify into internet services, mobile portals and general packet radio services. Escotel, which recently crossed the one-lakh customer mark, said its CEO Manoj Kohli. Kerala Escotel has emerged as the third circle operator in India to cross to emerge as the third circle operator in India, is likely to cross the two-lakh subscriber base by May 2001.

The company will make an investment of Rs 25 crore to fund its diversification plans.
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Fiat to infuse $4 m in R&D centre
Mumbai: Italian auto giant, Fiat, is likely to invest $4 million for setting up a full-fledged research and development centre at its Kurla plant in northeast Mumbai. This will be the fourth centre in the world set up by Fiat after Turin, the headquarters, Brazil and Turkey, while another has been planned in China.

The company has already pumped in $1 million, while the rest would come in over a phased manner spread over three years. The Mumbai R&D centre is to become a hub for developing and exporting components to other Fiat units.
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Tatas to bid for Tala transmission
New Delhi: In a major initiative for creating the infrastructure for transmitting power from North-East to Delhi, India’s leading private sector group, the Tata Group, will bid for the transmission project. Other corporates like the UK-based National Grid are also looking to play a role in the project.

The project in question is the Tala transmission project, which seeks to evacuate power from the 1,000 mw Tala power plant in Bhutan to Delhi. This would be the first time a power project is being developed through the special purpose vehicle route, finalised recently to ensure that developers do not spend unnecessary time chasing clearances.

State-owned PoweGrid Corporation would partner the winning bidder with a 26 per cent stake in the project, which is expected to cost about Rs. 1,200 crore. This will be the first transmission project conceived with private participation ever since the transmission sector was opened up for the private sector.
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Boston Consulting to help HMR revamp products
Mumbai: Coming close on the heels of its mandate to assist British multinationals Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham with their proposed Indian integration efforts, international consultants Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is said to have bagged the mandate to assist Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR) on a host of product revamp issues.

It is understood that BCG will assist HMR with brand-building strategies and may even help chalk out measures to boost contribution of older molecules in the German multinational's portfolio.

HMR, which has been weeding out older, low revenue-earning brands over the recent past, had earlier disposed of brands like Haemaeccel and Omnatax to Nicholas Piramal and put others like Cidomex and Cidoresp on the block as part of a routine product-pruning effort.

The proposed product thrust at HMR comes at a time when the German multinational is in the midst of a global merger with French multinational Rhone Poulenc SA to form a new global life sciences company, Aventis.
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Marico terminates distribution deal with West Coast
Mumbai: Marico Industries, which recently acquired the Oil of Malabar brand of coconut oil from West Coast India, has terminated its distribution agreement with West Coast with immediate effect.

West Coast was distributing the brand soon after take-over, since Marico had to get some back room activities sorted out. Marico was paying a distribution fee to West Coast for this purpose.

According to Mr Shreekant Gupte, chief executive of the nature care division of Marico, the company has a well-established distribution network. Now, having accomplished the back-room initiatives, the company believes that it is in a better position to distribute the brand and improve its equity.

Marico also has a non-compete agreement with West Coast India, wherein the latter will not deal in coconut oils, edible oils and hair oils. These are the categories from which Marico draws substantial strengths.

By bringing distribution in its fold, Marico is expected to prop up sales of Oil of Malabar which has a strong presence in markets like Karnataka, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab, feel industry analysts. This also signals a renewed marketing push behind the brand in the near future.
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