S Kumars drops plans to spin off worsted fabrics unit
Mumbai: S Kumars Nationwide, the flagship of the S Kumars Group, has withdrawn its plans to hive off worsted fabrics division into a separate company. The company has also dropped the proposed plan for a Rs 200 crore issue it had envisaged for the hived-off entity. The plan to spin off the worsted fabrics division was part of the recommendations made by Andersen Consulting.

Instead, the company is believed to be now talking to Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) to raise an amount of Rs 400 crore, through optionally fully convertible debentures, which can be converted into equity at a later date.

The company’s worsted fabrics brand Reid & Taylor has cornered around 10 per cent of the market share in a short span of one year. The worsted fabrics’ plant at Mysore had started commercial production in early 1999. Reid & Taylor (UK) presently has a 20% stake in S Kumar Nationwide.
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Motorola to invest $40 million for Bangalore centre
Bangalore: Motorola, world’s leading communications equipment and semiconductor maker, plans to invest around $40 million in Karnataka, to set up a 500,000 sq ft software development centre near Bangalore.

In the first phase, a sum of around $12 million will be invested for setting up 150,000 sq ft of the development centre, which is expected to be completed by 2003. The phase two will be taken up in 2005. Motorola has so far invested around $60 million in India.

Motorola’s software development centre in India is one of its largest development centre in the world and is currently working on bluetooth and WAP technologies. Apart from its two software development centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad, the company also has two integrated circuit (IC) design centres in Gurgaon and Noida.

Motorola’s software development centre posted a revenue of Rs 105 crore in 1999, which is further expected to go up to around Rs 150 crore during the current fiscal.
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Maruti 800 getting better says JD Power report
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog Ltd’s flagship brand Maruti- 800, has improved in quality by 28.75 per cent over last year, according to the initial quality study by JD Power, America's biggest name in customer survey. The popular brand car has scored 223 problems per 100 vehicles compared with 413 in 1998 and 313 in 1999.

The improved rating assumes significance considering that indigenisation level in Maruti 800 had already reached more than 95 per cent. JD Power IQS gives the details about how many problems a model is likely to have in the first three to five months of ownership. Each model is given a PP 100 score and lower the score, the lesser the problems.

Maruti 800, launched in 1983, is the cheapest car in its category in the world and most appropriate entry-level car in India, the survey has said. It alone accounts for about 30 per cent of total passenger cars in India and has exported 1.06 lakh units to over 80 countries.
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Aurobindo picks stakes in two US firms
Mumbai: Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals has picked up controlling stakes in two US-based firms Med Pharmex Inc and Medgen Inc, through its US holding firm - APL Holding Inc. It has bought 50 per cent and 65 per cent stakes in these two companies respectively.

According to Mr. A J Kamath, director (finance), Aurobindo Pharma, the company has pumped in $9 million to pick up stakes in the US ventures. In Med Pharmex, the company has invested $1.50 million as equity and $3 million as debt, and in Medgen the equity contribution is $1.95 million while the debt is $2.4 million."

The company has also recently formed a 50:50 joint venture with a Chinese firm, Shanxi Tongling Pharmaceutical. The venture, named Aurobindo Tongling Pharmaceutical, will manufacture and market the company’s products in China.

With these initiatives, the company will now foray into the cephalosporin and non-cephalosporin drug markets in the US and the amoxycillin and lyophyllised markets in China. In its domestic operations, Aurobindo has become the fourth largest pharmaceutical company in terms of revenue, with a turnover of Rs 740 crore for 1999-2000. The company expects to cross the Rs 1,000 crore mark in sales during the current fiscal. It is also planning to generate revenue of Rs 2,000 crore in the next 3-4 years through domestic and global manufacturing, marketing, technology transfer, acquisitions and joint ventures.
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Timex to launch Internet-savvy watches
New Delhi: Timex India Ltd. is set to transform the Indian watch market with its proposed plan to launch 180 new watches in the Indian market in the next three-to-five months. The first phase of the product revamp will see launch of upgraded versions of the existing watches starting in January 2001. In the second phase, by mid-2001, Timex will introduce new advanced information technology-inspired features for the Indian consumers.

Amongst the features to be introduced are the ‘Internet messenger’ range, wherein an individual will be able to access the Net through his watch and will be able to send e-mails as well. Some other watches will include ‘pager’ features.

A major thrust is also being planned for its ‘Datalink’ watch, with which a person can download data from the computer on his watch just by placing the watch in front of the monitor screen. The watch is likely to be priced at Rs 2,995 in the Indian market.
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P&G to enter toothpaste market soon
Mumbai: Procter & Gamble Home Products is planning an entry into the highly competitive toothpaste market in the country presently dominated by Colgate Palmolive and Hindustan Lever. The strategic move, which is believed to be part of its global restructuring exercise, focuses on the launch of power brands in new markets.

P&G is planning to launch the premium-end international brand, Crest, keeping itself out of the lower end of the market. The planned launch of Crest is in line with the company’s strategy to launch premium products, where the margins are higher and stay away from low-margin mass market products.

According to market analysts, P&G would not have to incur any major expenses in launching Crest as it can leverage its strong distribution network -- through P&G India. The company will be importing and selling the toothpaste brand.

Company executives had recently gone on record saying that P&G was studying the possibility of launching products which did not fall into the feminine care, healthcare, hair care and detergents segments—areas in which P&G is present in India.

The Rs 1,000 crore Indian toothpaste market has been more or less stagnant over the years with new entrants gaining their share of the market by placating existing brands. Thus, Colgate Palmolive's overall market share has dropped - from 61 per cent in 1996 to 50 per cent at present while in the same period, Hindustan Lever has improved its share from 19.5 per cent to 35 per cent. The battle for market has become intense, especially in the lower end of the market, where both Colgate and HLL have been introducing new brands. Other brands like Anchor, Babool, Meswak and Aim have also been attracting a large band of price-sensitive consumers and putting pressure on existing strong brands.
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