Tata, Birla, Ruia urge PM to review WiLL issue
New Delhi: Leading industrialists, Ratan Tata, Kumarmangalam Birla, Sunil Mittal and Shashi Ruia, who have substantial investments in the telecom sector, have asked Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to review the decision to allow fixed operators to offer 'limited mobility' services.

This follows the go-ahead given by the Group on Telecom and IT to basic operators to offer limited mobility services. In their representation, the industrialists told the Prime Minister that the the New Telecom Policy, 1999, did not permit limited mobility.

Earlier, the GoT-IT had slashed revenue to be shared with government on long-distance calls to just 5 per cent from 60 per cent in a bid to provide level-playing-field. Despite this the cellular industry does not seem to be satisfied.

The issue of limited mobility has pitted the industrialists against the Reliance Group, which favours limited mobility. Reliance, it is learnt, is not opposed to the decision to slash the revenue share of basic operators to only 5 per cent in the case of long-distance calls originating from private basic phones. This is because Reliance will be building its own network and expects to carry long-distance traffic itself.
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Sterling plans DTH platform
Mumbai: California-based maverick NRI businessman, C Sivasankaran, promoter of the Sterling Infotech Group, has announced ambitious plans to launch a direct-to-home broadcasting platform.

Mr. Sivasankaran is understood to be in talks with US-based Ecohostar and DirecTV to put in place a DTH platform in the country. To enable his group to do so, Mr. Sivasankaran also announced that he would be pulling out all his investments in other media business. Sivasankaran has a stake in Entertainment Television Network and Rathikant Basu's Tara bouquet of regional channels.

Mr. Sivasankaran announcement to go ahead with his DTH plans is a break from the other players who have held back their plans due to the 20 per cent investment limit announced by the government.

According to him his DTH platform would have 80 channels, focusing mainly on entertainment and education and is expected to be available in India as soon as possible.
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Lumax Industries sells stake to the Koreans
New Delhi: Lumax Industries has decided to sell its entire stake in its joint venture, Lumax Samlip Industries, to its joint venture partner, the Korean major, Samlip Industrial.

With this acquisition, Samlip would hold 93.3 per cent of the equity in Lumax Samlip, with the balance 6.67 per cent equity being held by Hyundai Corporation.

Lumax Samlip is the largest supplier, in terms of number of components, to Hyundai Motor India, supplying about about 140 components including lamps, chassis and trim parts to Hyundai’s car facility.

Lumax Samlip began commercial production of automotive components such as head lamps, tail lamps, automobile lighting equipment and other components for the Hyundai car projects.
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BPL to recast manufacturing facilities
New Delhi: Consumer electronics major, BPL Limited, announced that it would soon appoint a management consultant to advise the company on restructuring its manufacturing facilities.

BPL has eight manufacturing facilities spread across the country, which include a unit at Gurgaon making black & white televisions, two facilities in Bangalore for colour TVs and monitors respectively, three units at Palakkad, one each for home appliances, ECG machines and measuring instruments. Besides these the company also has a plant in Noida for manufacturing CTVs and at Tumkur plant for making alkaline batteries.

The company made it clear that mere appointment of an external agency for restructuring did not tantamount to the company closing down any of the manufacturing facilities.
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Infosys and Reliance among Asia’s 'best managed firms'
London: According to a survey conducted by leading financial magazine, Financeasia, Infosys Technologies and Reliance Industries rank as the first and second best-managed companies in Asia.

The survey was conducted amongst leading international analysts and investment decision-makers during the first quarter of the current calendar year.

Infosys won rave reviews for its corporate governance, transparency, skilled management and corporate culture. The survey noted that these factors have enabled the company to keep key personnel in a competitive environment, increase revenues and profitability and enhance shareholder value.

The survey was undertaken for four broad categories -- best-managed company, best in investment relations, commitment to shareholders value and best e-commerce strategy.

In the 'best-managed company' category, Infosys and Reliance were ranked first and second, reflecting consistently high quality management decisions and a high ability at strategic implementation.

Under the 'best in investor relations' category, Infosys and Reliance also bagged the first and second slot.

For 'best e-commerce strategy' ICICI, India's second biggest lender and the first Indian company to list on the New York Stock Exchange, came first followed by Infosys.

Investors and other executives from financial centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and London participated in the survey besides 497 analysts and investment decision makers.

Earlier, in another survey conducted by Euromony magazine in February, Reliance and Infosys were adjudged as the best managed companies in Asia in their respective fields.
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Reliance VRS program to cost cost Rs. 90 crore
Mumbai: India’s leading petrochemicals company, Reliance Industries said it would offer a voluntary retirement scheme, announced earlier this month, to 4,600 employees instead of 3,000. This would cost the company Rs. 90 crore.

The retirement scheme, part of the company’s restructuring plans, had attracted applications from 4,900 workers. The objective of the downsizing was to boost margins and improve competitiveness.
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HM hopes CNG/LPG versions will help in turnaround
Kolkota: Domestic passenger car company, Hindustan Motors, is aiming at using the CNG and LPG versions of its flagship car, Ambassador, for staging a turnaround.

According to Mr. B K Chaturvedi, president and executive director, the introduction of CNG versions of vehicles in Delhi had definitely come as a shot in the arm for the loss-making company-controlled by C K Birla.

The company is targeting sales of at least 3,000 such vehicles in the current year.
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Timex to exit mass market for watches
Mumbai: Two years after its separation from that Tata Group company, Titan , the Indian susbidiary of Timex Corporation, Timex Watches, has drawn up a plan to reposition itself for the Indian market.

According to the plan the company will reposition itself from a low-end mass-market brand to high-end, technology-oriented brands, thus effectively phasing out most of the models in the below Rs 1,000 range.

This range currently contributes 50 per cent of the sales turnover, down from 95 per cent two years ago. The company will now focus on the Rs 1,000-5,000 price band.

According to the company’s newly appointed managing director, Mr. Kapil Kapoor, the decision to phase out the low-end watches was based on research which showed that the high-end price band was the most profitable segment of the watch market.

The Indian watch market is estimated at 31 million units of which 11 million units is the organised market valued at Rs 1,000 crore, in which Timex claims a 18 per cent market share.

Post its break-up with Titan, the company looked at newer channels of distribution and set up a division called NTO (non-traditional opportunities) which caters to the non-traditional channels of distribution.
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Three new 3-wheeler models from Bajaj
New Delhi: As per the recommendations from consulting firm, McKinsey, India’s leading two-wheeler company, Bajaj Auto has has started restructuring its marketing and sales operations. The company also announced that it will launch new three-wheeler models in a bid to boost sales.

The company is understood to have already recruited over 100 people in the ongoing reorganisation of the marketing and sales department. Among the more prominent recruitments are Mr. Sridhar from TVS-Suzuki as general manager (marketing) of two-wheelers and Mr. C K Rao from Hindustan Motors as GM (marketing) of three-wheelers.

The company’s new three-wheeler models will have higher payload capacity for transporting goods.

The company has also set up an ambitious export target especially to countries in Latin America and the south east Asian countries.
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Ranbaxy gets FDA approval for marketing 2 drugs
New Delhi: Domestic pharma major, Ranbaxy Laboratories, has been granted exclusive marketing rights by the US Foods and Drugs Administration (USFDA) for marketing two drugs in the US market for six months. These are Ibuprofen and Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride tablets and have a market of over $50 million in the US.

The company is also working on a path-breaking new drug delivery system (NDDS) product in the antibiotics segment for which it is expected to file Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for it soon.

The US approval has been accorded to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ohm Laboratories. The subsidiary will manufacture the two drugs and the marketing and distribution in the US market will be done through a joint venture the company has entered into for marketing the product.

According to sources, Ohm’s application represents the first generic equivalent with an ‘AB’ rating to Whitehall Laboratories Inc’s ‘Advil’ cold and sinus tablets, an over-the-counter (OTC) combination product for treatment of nasal congestion, headache, fever, body aches and pains.

Ranbaxy is also in the process of expanding its presence in the global and domestic OTC and nutraceutical product segments, for which it has made some key senior appointments.
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Anchor to enter into coconut oil market
Mumbai: Anchor Health & Beauty Care, which has eaten into FMCG major, Hindustan Lever’s toothpaste market share, is all set to enter the coconut oil segment.

According to the company, Anchor coconut hair oil will be launched on a fresh USP different from what the current players have adopted. The entry of Anchor into this segment is likely to give HLL and market leader, Marico Industries, stiff competition.

Marico is the undisputed market leader in the coconut oils market with "Parachute" and HLL at the second rung, armed with its two brands "Nihar" and "Cococare".

The pricing and packaging strategy for Anchor hair oil is unlikely to be different from the existing brands.
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Dr Reddy’s to hive-off halogen lamps business
Mumbai: Domestic pharma company, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, which has a Rs. 17 crore investment in Compact Electric Limited, a manufacturer of halogen-lamps, has decided to hive off the lamps business.

Compact, which manufactures H3 and H4 type of halogen lamps, is a 100 per cent EOU.

The company is in the process of appointing a merchant banker to take the process forward.

Dr Reddy’s investment in the lamp unit has not yielded any significant income. CEL owes an outstanding dividend payment of Rs 3.16 crore on preference share capital owned by Dr. Reddy’s, in addition to the common equity held by it.

The company continues to make losses even at the operating level consequent of which its bottomline for 1999-2000 continued to be red with a net loss of Rs 1.70 crore.
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CNG version of Indica from Tata Engineering
Mumbai: With pollution being a focus point in metro cities, Tata Engineering has decided to launch the compressed natural gas (CNG) version of its flagship Indica by the first quarter of the current fiscal. The model is likely to be launched in in Mumbai and Delhi initially.

The company, which has tied up with an overseas supplier for CNG kits, has not divulged any pricing details for the new model.

The Indica would be the first small car which would be going in for a CNG version. Market leader Maruti does not have a CNG version for its small car though it has a CNG option for its Omni van.

While analysts believe that a CNG version would initially not have big volumes, it was a possibility that volumes could soar in future following the strict environmental norms being put in place.

Tata Engineering has also benefited from the recent SC verdict to replace existing diesel buses with CNG.

The company has received orders for 4,590 CNG chassis as of the end of March, 2001.

The Delhi Transport Corporation placed orders for 890 vehicles and private operators accounted for the balance 3,700 vehicles.
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Tata’s begin WTO audit of group firms
Mumbai: In a proactive and pioneering effort, the Tata Group has initiated a group-wide audit based on an indigenously designed "WTO diagnostic model", to orient the group towards challenges posed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime.

According to Tata group economic adviser Jiban K Mukhopadhaya, this audit will assess each company on WTO-related issues so that its competitiveness can be gauged vis-a-vis the Indian economy as well as the global economy.

The hidden assets of group companies will be analysed during the audit to make them competitive enough, not only to face the challenges of posed by the post-WTO regime, but also to take the opportunity as the whole world can be tapped as a market.

The indigenous model has been designed by the WTO cell set up in the department of economics and statistics. The process entails a three prong strategy of developing the concept followed by a comprehensive methodology and then a scoring pattern on the basis of which the audit of each company will be assessed.

Initially companies under the traditional economy, mainly those belonging to the manufacturing sector, will be assessed and this will be followed by the services sector.

While the entire group audit is expected to take almost two years, the first report of the company already under audit will be out within three months.
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AV Birla group plans acquisitions in carbon black
Mumbai: In a bid to consolidate its position in the carbon black business, the AV Birla group is planning acquisitions in China and eastern Europe.

It is understood that the group is eyeing state-owned companies in these countries that are being privatised by their respective governments.

The Birla group, which is the second-largest player in carbon black in this country, owns over 4 per cent of the global carbon black capacity with plants in Thailand, Egypt and India.

However, in the domestic market, following a recession in the auto sector, it has been facing problems due to poor offtake by the tyre industry.

This is the second time that Kumar Birla is looking at acquisitions outside India. In 1998, Birla had made his first overseas acquisition when he took over Atholville Pulp Mill in Canada. The unit supplies rayon grade wood pulp to Grasim in India, and his south east Asian units.
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