Jet plans services to US from June
Singapore: Jet Airways intends to introduce six flights a week from Mumbai to Newark in US from mid-June. It also aims to step up its daily flights to 21 services a week from India to Singapore in its winter schedule, subject to necessary government approvals.

Daily flights from Mumbai to London are scheduled with leased Airbus A-340 aircraft with plans to step them up to double daily as and when more aircraft would be acquired.

Airlines officials said that the airlines was looking for 9-15 wide body long-range and medium-range aircraft during the next one year to fly non-stop to US destinations following the Open Skies Policy signed between India and the US.

Subject to government approval the airline would fly from Chennai and Delhi to Singapore daily providing a point-to-point service and enabling a businessman to return home the same day.

Similarly, Jet would be introducing a daily Chennai-Kuala Lampur flight from May 5.
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Tata Tea forays into the economy segment with Agni
New Delhi: Tata Tea Ltd has announced its foray into the economy segment of the branded tea market by relaunching the Agni brand as 'Tata Tea Agni'.

The new, upgraded Agni will be priced at about 7-8 per cent premium to the existing variant and is an attempt by the company to take forward its branding initiative.

"With the launch of Tata Tea Agni, Tata Tea now has a strong presence across all segments in the leaf-tea market. The company has demonstrated robust performance in its key markets, making significant gains in market share. This initiative will allow us to provide a tighter focus to our brand building efforts and also enlarge opportunities for further reinforcing equity, our flagship Tata Tea enjoys," said the Managing Director, Percy Siganporia.

Recently, the company relaunched its flagship brand Tata Tea Premium whereas Tata Tea Gold was launched in 2003. Tata Tea has been conducting a thorough organisational restructuring, selling off some tea plantations in the South so that it can better focus on the branded tea business.

Besides Tata Tea Agni, its branded portfolio comprises Tata Tea Premium, Tata Tea Gold and the Tetley.

About 650 million kg of tea is consumed in India each year, of which branded tea accounts for about 300 million kg. In the branded tea market, estimated at over Rs 2,500 crore, most of the teas sold are small regional brands.

Tata Tea plans to wean away these consumers through its branding initiatives. On the basis of prices, the largest segment of the packet tea market is economy at 61 per cent where the average tea price is less than Rs 145 per kg; followed by the popular segment where pricing is in the Rs 145-180 per kg range and then the premium end beyond Rs 180 per kg.

At present, Tata Tea claims 5 per cent share of the economy segment and plans to double this within this fiscal through the new Agni.
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Bosch to launch 'do-it-yourself' tools next month
Bangalore: Bosch Power Tools, a division of the euro 40-billion Bosch group, has announced its plan to launch new products targeting the home and small professional segments under its new concept `do-it-youself'.

The new products consists of IXO, a battery powered screwdriver, Smart Home Kit for carpentry, plumbing and electrical repairs, and Aquatak, a pressure jet mounted equipment for wet cleaning of buildings, floors, glasses and vehicles.

The products, to be launched next month, are set to yield sales turnover of Rs6 crore in the first year ending December. The tools have been designed to help execute jobs at home ranging from drilling, fixing screws and cleaning instead of depending on carpenters, electricians or cleaners.

To popularise the 'do-it-yourself' concept in India, Bosch has targeted the new housing complexes, which are maintained by professional facility management companies, apart from individual customers who have taken to small repair works in their homes as hobbies.

While world over, the usage of power tools between the industrial and do-it-yourself segments was equally divided, in India it was only two per cent of its overall sales, officials said, adding that Bosch plans to increase it to 30 per cent in about five years.

Bosch has tied up with Canara Bank for loan assistance to carpenters, electricians and plumbers to popularise the do-it-yourself power tools and has equipped six of the bank's thirteen training centres with facilities to impart training to the artisans.
Bosch achieved a turnover of Rs120 crore last year in the Rs300-crore power tools market, which is estimated to grow at twelve per annually.
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FDA bans sale of Harpic
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has prohibited the sale of Reckitt & Benckiser's popular disinfectant Harpic in the State.

This follows a notice from the regulatory authority to the company, charging it with violating provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act by not procuring the licence for manufacturing of the disinfectant, an FDA note said.

Harpic is sold as a disinfectant and germs killer in the market, and, therefore, requires a licence for manufacturing it and the ingredients in the product have to conform to the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the note added.

An FDA official said that the product is manufactured in Himachal Pradesh and the State's Drug Controller has also been "requested to take necessary action against the manufacturer for manufacturing the disinfectant without a drug licence," the note said. The company has been given 15 days to reply to the notice. The company officials were not available for comment.

Further, the FDA has also issued a notice to the manufacturer of "No Marks" toilet soap and asked the manufacturer, Ozone Ayurvedic Company, to support its claims with documentation.

"The company has been claiming in the advertisement that this is an `All Cure' dermatological soap with property to remove all types of blemishes on the skin such as acne, pimples, warts, toning of skin etc.," the FDA note said.
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Tecumseh exports one million compressors
Hyderabad: Tecumseh India, a leading manufacturer of compressors, has logged an export figure of one million air conditioning compressors, the first Indian company to reach the milestone.

During 2004, the company doubled its exports of AC compressors with sales of almost 0.5 million units. Buoyed by this performance, Tecumseh is now targeting over 30 per cent growth this year.

Exports are being targeted to contribute revenues of 60 per cent while air-condition compressors are slated to constitute 75 per cent of this, according to company officials.
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Quarterly Results: Finolex, Aztec Software
Finolex net up at Rs95.92 crore
Pune: Finolex Industries Ltd (FIL) has clocked an annual turnover of Rs1,001 crore and recorded a net profit of Rs95.92 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005 as compared to Rs865 crore and Rs90.2 crore respectively in the previous year.

The board has recommended a dividend of 30 per cent, which works out to cash outgo of Rs42.4 crore. The total turnover for the fourth quarter ended March 2005 stood at Rs289.5 crore indicating a 20 per cent rise over the corresponding period of the previous year. The net profit for the quarter was placed at Rs27.6 crore as compared to Rs35.8 crore during the same period.

Company official said that a sharp rise in the oil prices and its cascading effect on the downstream products had an adverse impact on the bottom line in the last two quarters.

The company's efforts to broad base the market through expansion of distribution network has already started paying rich dividendS as it has been able to penetrate northern markets in the last one year.

The Company's PVC resin plant operated at 113 per cent capacity utilisation and contributed 70 per cent in the total turnover. The contribution from the PVC pipe business stood at 30 per cent to the turnover for FY2004-05.

The company said in a press release that the global PVC demand is expected to grow at the rate of over four per cent per annum till 2008, though prevailing high prices of crude oil is a matter of concern. The demand for PVC in India is expected to grow at the rate of around 7 to 8 per cent per annum in the medium term, with the annual demand growth rate being impacted significantly by agricultural income.

Aztec Soft posts Rs17.9 crore net
Bangalore: Aztec Software has reported a net profit of Rs17.89 crore on revenues of Rs98.15 crore for the year-ended March 31, 2005. The Aztec board has recommended a dividend of 30 paise per share (10 per cent on face value of Rs3 each) for the year.

For the fourth quarter ended March 2005, Aztec reported a net of Rs6.6 crore on revenues of Rs36.12 crore against a net of Rs18 lakh on revenues of Rs12.69 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Revenues for the fourth quarter in 2005 included earnings of Rs12.11 crore from Disha Technologies, which Aztec had acquired last year, said a company release.

Aztec launched a new offering AztecSource during the quarter.
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