GM to unveil new versions of Opel Corsa, Astra
New Delhi: General Motors India (GMI) is set to launch two new varaints of its mid-size car Opel Corsa and Opel Astra and a station wagon version of the Corsa by the end of 2001. The 1.6 Corsa Royale and Astra Club 2001 will cost Rs 7.17 lakhs (ex-showroom-Delhi) and Rs 9.89 lakhs respectively for the petrol version, while the diesel version of the Astra Club 2001 has been priced at Rs 10.6 lakhs.
The Corsa Royale would sport features like root wood dashboard panels, rear spoiler, alloy wheels, leather steering and an optional electric sunroof. Astra 2001 would have a multi-intelligence digital display (mid) which would provide information on average fuel consumption, average speed over a certain distance, radio control information and range.
GMI, a 100 per cent unit of US-based General Motors Corporation, has targeted to sell about 11,000 units in this year, including 3,000 Astra and 7,700 Corsa cars. The company had sold 7,140 cars in 2000.
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Binani Zinc flags off Rs. 500 crore expansion plan
Kochi: Binani Zinc, a division of Binani Industries Ltd. (BIL) is investing Rs 500 crore to expand its production capacity by 1 lakh metric tonne. Binani Zinc, which has a turnover of Rs 250 crore, is also to be soon hived off in to an independent unit.

Mr. N Mohanan, president of Binani Zinc has said that raising of the company's capacity will be taken up in two phases. In the first phase, the smelter capacity will be raised to 65,000 metric tonne in the next two to three years, involving investment of Rs 350 crore. In the second phase, the capacity would be further raised to 1 lakh metric tonnes in another three to four years, with an additional investment of Rs 150 crore.

The company, started in 1967 with a capacity of 14,000 MT of zinc per year, has over the years raised its capacity to 30,000 MT. It was one among the two primary manufactures of zinc in the country which produced high grade zinc with 99.995 per cent purity and has state-of-the-art production facilities.
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RIL & Ispat projects denied extension of escrow cover
Mumbai: The Maharashtra state government has decided not to extend escrow cover to the Ispat group’s 1,082-MW Bhadravati project and Reliance’s 447-MW Patalganga project, because of Maharshtra State Electricity Board’s (MSEB) poor escrow capacity. The decision follows MSEB’s request to the government not to accord escrow cover to these projects on account of its depleting cash flows. MSEB had recently written to the government requesting it not to give escrow cover, as its projected cash flows would not support any more escrowability.
Earlier the state government had decided in principle to provide escrow cover to both the projects in mid-2000. The decision not to extend escrow cover is likely to delay the projects further. Meanwhile, the MSEB suffering from a major financial crunch has requested the state government to provide a recurring annual subsidy of close to Rs 100 crore to make its monthly payments to Enron.
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RPL and IOC to jointly bid for 33.5 per cent in IBP
New Delhi: Reliance Petroleum Ltd. (RPL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) are all set to jointly submit a joint bid for buying the government's 33.58 per cent stake in IBP. The two companies reportedly are engaged in advanced stage of negotiations to join hands in buying the government’s stake in IBP.

Already, IOC and Reliance Petroleum have a ten-year joint marketing agreement, under which IOC is marketing 50 per cent of controlled products from Reliance's 27 million tonne gigantic Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat. IOC has over 7,000 retail outlets under its fold. Reliance Petroleum, which has applied for independent marketing rights from the government, too has plans of opening around 3,000 petroleum outlets throughout the country.

IBP with its strong brand equity has over 8 per cent of market share and a network of 1,500 retail outlets. Reliance is interested in IBP is it does not have its own marketing network for selling the petro-products. For IOC, the IBP acquisition is significant keeping in view its own long term interests in emerging competition scenario, after the deregulation of the oil sector in April 2002.
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Morepen seeking marketing tie-ups in the US
Mumbai: Morepen Laboratories, which has entered into a joint venture deal with Diamed AG, world leader in blood group serology, is now in talks with the US-based drug companies to market its products - Atorvastatin, Fluvastatin and Zafirlukast. The company invested Rs.50 crores to set up the project and is likely to commence trial production this quarter and the actual production from next quarter. The project, once fully commissioned, is expected to contribute around Rs 30 crore to the turnover annually.

The company during the year proposes to focus on marketing and distribution, particularly of OTC products. Morepen Labs, during the last three months, have brought eight more states into its market purview by increasing the penetration of its sales force and have shifted their target audience from general physician to specialists. The emphasis on domestic marketing is a part of its plan to create a proper balance between its international and domestic operations.
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