Tata Power plans to merge JPC with itself
Mumbai: Tata Power is merging its wholly-owned subsidiary Jamshedpur Power Company (JPC) with itself, in what is considered to be the second phase of realignment of the group’s power business. The Tata Power board will meet on December 14 to approve the merger.

Earlier in the year, the group had merged two Tata Electric Companies—Andhra Valley Power and Tata Hydroelectric Power with Tata Power, the largest of the three. Jamshedpur Power Company, which was part of Tata Steel located at Jojobera in Bihar, was sold to TEC by Tata Steel. The plant caters to Tata Steel's captive power requirements, but following the expansion will also supply power to the state grid.

The Tatas have drawn up plans to expand the capacity of the power plant to 300 mw.

The JPC capacity is being raised from 67.5 mw to 300 mw, comprising two units of 120 mw each. The first unit of 120 mw has already been commissioned.
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Agrani to open 2,500 TIME stores
Mumbai: Agrani Convergence, a wholly owned subsidiary of Subhash Chandra’s satphone entity ASC Enterprises, is shortly making a foray into retailing of digital products. The company will be focussing on what it calls "TIME" products—for telecommunications, information technology, media and entertainment segments.

The products that will be available in these stores include computers and related peripherals, multimedia software, communication products such as cellular phones, pagers and land phones, other telecom based services, Internet related products such as cable modems, set top boxes etc.

The first store will be set up in Bangalore by the end of this year. Agrani is planning 150 retail outlets across the country by the end of the year 2001.The company also plans to further set up a chain of 2,500 smaller retail stores across the country by the year 2004. formats. These would comprise large super mall stores (15,000 sq ft space), the big retail outlets (1,000-4000 sq ft) and other smaller stores (400-500 sq ft), which would be on a franchisee basis.
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Bajaj’s November sales dip
Pune: Bajaj Auto Ltd. has recorded a decline of 5.44 per cent in sales of two-wheelers and three-wheelers at 108,419 units in November 2000, compared with 114,662 units in the year-ago period. However, the company's overall production has gone up by 6.85 per cent to 114,224 vehicles in the month, compared with 106,897 units in November 1999.

Scooter sales witnessed the sharpest fall of 37.90 per cent at 34,553 units for the month under review, against 55,637 units in the same month of last year. Scooter sales include complete knocked-down kits supplied to Maharashtra Scooters.

The Japanese motorcycle sales however showed positive sales with a hefty increase of 111.63 per cent to 45,3221 units sold in November, compared with 21,415 motorcycles sold in the corresponding month of the previous year. The November motorcycle sales surpassed the previous record achieved in September 2000, when the company had sold 44,052 units. The production of motorcycles too recorded a sharp increase of 160.36 per cent with 47,245 units produced, against 18,147 units in November 1999.

Bajaj Auto's stepthroughs witnessed a sharp decline of 28.94 per cent in sales at 12,239 units sold in November 2000, compared with 17,223 units sold. Scooterette sales showed a decline of 25.66 per cent with 4,601 units sold (6,189 units the year-ago period). Three-wheeler vehicle sales dipped by 17.56 per cent to 11,705 in November, against 14,198 units sold.
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Electrolux to diversify its product range
Bangalore: Electrolux India, has set an ambitious target of selling 1 million refrigerators and 1.5 lakh top-load washing machines in 2001. Besides, the company has planned to launch a major line-up of products shortly.

The company recently launched its Electrolux White Westinghouse air-conditioners and Electrolux cooking range, in Bangalore, adding to its home appliance portfolio. Mr. Arun Sharma, executive vice-president, Electrolux has said that his company was working on long-term strategy of ensuring strong presence in the Indian market, with a wide range of products.

Electrolux entered the Indian market in 1982, when it acquired 40 per cent stake in Eureka Forbes. Its Indian operations expanded further when it acquired 51 per cent stake in Maharaja International. It now holds a majority stake in three companies, Electrolux Kelvinator, Electrolux India and Intron.
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Rallis to out-license 3 brands
Mumbai: Rallis India, a Tata group company has decided to out-license the international marketing rights of three of its main pharma brands to multinational pharmaceutical firms. The three brands to be out-licensed include Iron Dextron, an iron injectable for anemia, Dextran-40, a plasma volume expander and Hyalournidase, an adjunct to anesthesia.

The company has already initiated talks with some foreign pharmaceutical companies for out-licensing the brands and an agreement is expected soon. Rallis has also signed deal with the Netherlands-based Euro Drugs to locally market Salmon Calcitonine, a drug for osteoporosis-related diseases, in India. The osteoporosis segment in the country is believed to be growing by around 5 to 10 per cent growth every year.

Out-licensing international marketing rights of its leading brands in both agrochemical and pharmaceutical areas and in-licensing fast moving products of multinational players have been identified as a growth area by the company.
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Essar to have 38% stake in the consolidated Hutchinson entity
New Delhi: With the Hong Kong-based cellular major Hutchison Whampoa recently announcing its move to consolidate its Indian joint venture operations into a single entity, the Essar group has said that it will go for upto 38 per cent stake in the merged entity.

Essar already has 49 per cent stake in the Delhi cellular licence, while the balance is with Hutchison and Kotak Mahindra Ltd.

Essar had initially entered an agreement to buy 30 per cent stake in Hutchison’s Mumbai and Calcutta cellular licences and seven per cent in the Gujarat cellular licence. These joint venture companies will now be merged into one holding company, in which the Ruias - the principal partner - will have 35 to 38 per cent stake. Hutchison and the rest will hold the remaining shares. The proposed company is expected to go public in the next 12 to 18 months.

As part of consolidation strategy, Essar will however, continue to hold 100 per cent equity in operations of cellular licences in Uttar Pradesh (East), Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab (which will be operational shortly). It has proposed to invest Rs 800 crore in these circles to enhance capacity and upgrade services.

With this, Essar will become the largest Indian telecom operator with stakes in eight licences out of a total of 22 cellular circles in the country and four metros. The Essar-Hutchison combine will thus, jointly account for the biggest 'mobile' markletshare in the country with over 5 lakh customers out of a total of 23 lakh in the country.
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Blue Star to focus on window air-conditioners
Mumbai: Blue Star has decided to concentrate more on the window air-conditioners segment, as part of its expansion plan. Currently, Blue Star has a market share of 5 per cent in window air-conditioners segment, with Carrier being the market leader, with a market share of 21 per cent, followed by Amtrex 11 per cent.

The company is developing new models of window air-conditioners and is expanding its distribution network to penetrate the up-country market.

In the window air-conditioning segment, 70 per cent of the demand comes from the commercial sector, while the balance is household demand. Bluestar, one of the largest player in centralised air-conditioning with a market share of 35 per cent, will now be looking at the window air-conditioners segment in a bigger way, Mr. Bal K. Malhotra, executive director of Blue Star has said.

Over the years, Bluestar has been primarily focused on commercial customers but is now gearing up on the household segment, alongside consolidating its existing centralised air conditioning business.
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Samtel to spin off colour monitor unit
New Delhi: The Samtel group is planning to spin-off its colour monitor unit into a separate venture in collaboration with an overseas firm. The joint venture partner has however, not yet been identified. According to Satish K Kaura, chairman and managing director, Samtel intends to offload a minority stake, which is likely to be a little under 25 per cent. The decision is likely to be taken within the next three-to-four months.

According to Mr. Kaura the move to spin off the monitor business was felt necessary as foreign investors were evincing keen interest. The Samtel had only recently expanded its monitor capacity to about 0.5 million monitors by setting up the new factory at Pondicherry. The new joint venture company is expected to further increase production capacity to about one million colour monitors units per annum from the existing 0.5 million units pa. Samtel also intends to export about a third of its total production.

The Indian monitor business, currently growing at a healthy 48 per cent per annum, is likely to touch the 4.5-million mark by 2003. The market demand is likely to hover around a figure of 2 million units this year and is expected to touch the 3-million mark during 2001-2002.
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Binani Industries to bid for Hindustan Zinc
Mumbai: Binani Industries, India’s lone private sector zinc producer has announced that it planned to bid for a 26 per cent stake in state-owned Hindustan Zinc Ltd., which is being privatised.

Binani Industries has expressed interest to bid for a 26 per cent equity in Hindustan Zinc. Hindustan Zinc, India's largest zinc producer, operates five lead-zinc mines with an annual mining capacity of 3.49 million tonnes. It has four lead-zinc smelters with a combined capacity of 152,000 tonnes per annum of zinc and 65,000 tonnes of lead.

The government currently holds 75.92 per cent of the equity in HZL and financial institutions and employees control the rest. The company's paid up capital is Rs 420 crore ($89.84 million).

Zinc demand in India is currently estimated about 2.4 million tonnes per annum, compared with domestic supply of 1.82 million tonnes.
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