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Government; an all-out effort to break Dabhol
impasse
New Delhi—In order to sort out the Enron promoted Dabhol Power
Company ‘s payment crisis, the government is working on a new package which will be
acceptable to all parties.
A V Gokak, the centre’s representative on the negotiating committee, said that an
solution acceptable to all is being contemplated and none of the parties to the dispute,
was in favour of closure of the $3-billion project.
Power ministry officials said that both sides were now willing to make some sacrifices.
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Zee aims to hike revenue from
Indian operations
New Delhi--Zee Telefilms is making all-out efforts to increase
subscription revenue in excess of Rs 100 crore from the domestic market for year 2002.
As part of this aim, from June 10 the entire bouquet of 14
channels from Zee, including the prime channel Zee TV, become pay channels as the top
management at Zee feels that pay revenues would give a significant boost to the overall
profitability of the company in the future.
Zee also plans to bring in a strategic partner for Siticable and will begin syndication of
programmes from this year.
R K Singh, head, Corporate Affairs, Zee Telefilms said over the next one year the network
plans to triple its subscription revenue from the domestic market which contributed around
Rs 35 crore to the total subscription revenue of Rs 205 crore in 2000-01. Zee aims to
increase this around Rs 105 crore over the year he said.
Zee executives say that international markets like South Asia, UK, Europe, Canada and
United States – are the major contributors to the subscription kitty while Africa,
Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, Middle East, Bangladesh and Pakistan are the key
growth areas for the network in 2001-02.
Zee Telefilms on Thursday announced net profit of Rs 138 crore for FY 01, compared to Rs
81.2 crore the year before. Total income for the year ended March 31, 2001 was reported to
be Rs 435.7 crore as against Rs 297 crore the year before.
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Reserve Bank takes IDBI
Bank to task
Mumbai--The Reserve Bank of India wants the issue of the divestment of
Industrial Development Bank of India, IDBI, in IDBI Bank to be expedited. It wants the
IDBI stake in the bank to be bought down to 40 percent from 57 percent at present. It has
also told the bank to submit a time-bound plan for bring down the promoter’s stake.
IDBI has been resisting moves of bringing down its equity stake in the bank on the
rationale that a controlling stake in the bank is a pre-requisite towards its goal of
"universal banking".
In fact IDBI has not made any efforts in the direction of reducing its holding in the
bank.
DBI Bank has recently initiated a major organisation revamp by hiring several bankers,
de-risking credit portfolio, shift in assets to the retail side and technology
upgradation.
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Dabur net profit up
New Delhi—Dabur India has declared an almost 40 per cent increase in
net profit on a sales turnover of Rs 1,166.5-crore for the year ended March 31, 2001. The
company has proposed a 100 per cent dividend, subject to shareholder approval.
In the previous fiscal year net profit went up to Rs 78.5 crore from Rs 56.4 crore.
Turnover grew almost 12 per cent from Rs 1,042.6 crore in the same period of the previous
year.
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Car sales in May
New Delhi—The month of May proved to be a good one for Hyundai Motor India, as
it recorded a 7.8 per cent rise in sales at 8,109 cars during the period as against to
7,522 cars in the same month last year. The May sales were an increase of 12.5 per cent as
compared to 7,203 cars sold in April 2001, according to a company statement on Friday.
The company's cumulative sales (April-May 2001-02) stood at 15,312 cars, an increase of
three per cent over 14,857 cars sold in the same period a year-ago. Total sales from
January to May 2001 stood at 39,177 units, the statement said.
Hyundai India, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor company of South Korea, manufactures the
premium small car 'Santro' and the mid-size car 'Accent' at its plant near Chennai.
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Hindustan Motors
For Hindustan Motors however May 2001 was a bad month as it
recorded a 42 percent drop in sales at 1,224 units over 2,111 units sold in the same month
last year.
However, compared to sales in the month of April at 1,270 units this year, sales in May
were down by a marginal 3.6 per cent. This was mostly due to a fall in sales of the
Ambassador, said an official with Hindustan Motors.
During May, the company sold 510 units of the premium mid-size car Lancer, which was a
drop of 32.8 per cent over 760 units sold in the corresponding month of the previous year.
HM sold 714 Ambassador cars, down 44 per cent over 1,275 units sold in May last year, the
official said.
Compared with April 2001 sales of 350 units, the Lancer posted an increase of 45.7 per
cent in May, while sales of the old workhorse Ambassador fell 22.3 per cent from 920 units
sold in April this year.
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Honda-Siel Cars
New Delhi-- Honda-Siel Cars India said its
cars sales in the month of May were down by 21.3 per cent at 710 units over 903 units sold
in the year-ago month.
However, May's sales were up by 15 per cent compared to 617 units sold in April this year,
a company spokesperson said.
Cumulative sales (April-May 2001-02) were down by by 27.3 per cent at 1,327 cars over
1,826 cars sold in the corresponding period a year-ago.
Honda Siel is a subsidiary of Japan's Honda Motor Company, which holds a 99 per cent stake
in the company, while Siel has 1 per cent stake.
Honda manufactures the mid-size City in India and will roll out its luxury car Accord in
the first week of July this year.
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General Motors
General Motors India has reported an 11 per cent growth in
sales at 622 cars during May 2001 over 560 cars sold in the same month last year.
The newly launched mid sized car Opel Corsa was the main driver behind the sales as 452
units of this car were sold in May, while 170 units of the premium mid-size car, Opel
Astra were sold in the same period.
May sales were up by 8 per cent compared to the 575 cars
sold in April this year, said a company statement.
Cumulative sales (April-May 2001-02) went up by 5.6 per cent at 1,197 cars as against
1,133 units sold in the year-ago period.
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DRL eyes Eli Lilly’s
Prozac
Hyderabad-- Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, DRL, has an eye on the US
generic drugs market as the patents of an estimated 20 drugs (annual sales of over $1
billion) are expected to expire by the next decade. DRL is thus trying to make its its
presence felt in the US generic markets.
To begin the company is eyeing the pharma major Eli Lilly’s — Prozac —
drug. Prozac, an anti-depression drug would be off patent by August 2 this year.
DRL has already applied for an ANDA to launch Fluoxetine (generic name for Prozac) in
capsules of the size of 10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg.
It is estimated that one in eight Americans, or 12.5 per cent of the US population,
suffers from depression. Prozac has treated more than 40 million patients worldwide in
nearly 100 countries since its introduction in 1986, sources said.
The move would eventually pitch DRL against seasoned pharma players in the US.
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Dr Reddy’s sees progress in
Prilosec launch
Mumbai-- Dr Reddy’s Labs says it has made progress towards the
launch of its generic version of ulcer drug Prilosec in the US.
This was after an American court ruled in its favour in a
patents dispute against AstraZeneca.
Company officials said that there were still battles ahead and there were more patent
cases to win on omeprazole, the generic name for Prilosec.
DRL’s wholly owned subsidiary in the US is Reddy-Cheminor, became the first Indian
pharmaceuticals firm to list on the New York Stock Exchange last month.
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HLL consolidates oral-care
Mumbai-- Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) is
consolidating its oral-care operations by transferring the business from its wholly owned
subsidiary Indexport, to itself.
Earlier toothpowder and toothbrushes were marketed by the
subsidiary, while toothpaste was marketed by HLL but things have now changed and the
manufacturing activity is now either conducted in HLL or outsourced.
Earlier HL’s toothpowder was available through the Pepsodent brand toothbrushes are
sold under both the Close-Up and Pepsodent brands names.
Officials say that the move allows greater focus and synergies to its two main brands --
Close-up and Pepsodent, as the toothpastes are housed in HLL, they said.
Aim, another toothpaste brand introduced last year to gain a presence in the low cost
segment is to be withdrawn from the market as part of the company's ongoing brand
rationalisation.
In the Rs 1,200 crore toothpaste market, HLL has a market share of about 38 per cent
compared with Colgate's share of about 50 per cent.
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Birla
Corporation may revamp operations
Kolkata—The flagship company of the
Madhav Prasad Birla group, Birla Corporation Ltd, is examining restructuring of
operations.
The group is examining the possibility of streamlining low profit divisions.
The divisions, which contribute low profits are synthetics and cotton yarn (0.12 per
cent), vinoleum (0.81 per cent) and carbide and gases (3.27 per cent).
The company reported a turnover of Rs 1011.84 crore in the financial year ended March 31,
2000.
Sources said the company had appointed advisors to review business operations and the
financial position of the company and suggest a possible restructuring of its various
business operations. The smaller divisions employ nearly 1500 workers.
Core areas of business include cement - the main money-spinner with an 80.31 per cent
contribution to total revenue - and jute, which earns 12 per cent of turnover.
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FII
limit in HDFC Bank increases to 40 percent Mumbai—The
foreign institutional investors' (FII) holding in HDFC Bank is to go up to 40 per cent.
HDFC Bank, which had plans to push the FII limit to 30 per cent from the current 24 per
cent, today amended the proposal at its seventh annual general meeting.
The bank had recently been included in the Morgan Stanley Capital Index (MSCI).
Deepak M Stawalekar, HDFC Bank director, said at the AGM of the bank that the FII limit
has been proposed to be raised to 40 per cent because of the changes in the MSCI. Total
foreign holding in HDFC Bank stands at 33 per cent (20 per cent with FIIs, non-resident
Indians and overseas commercial borrowings, and 13 per cent through the foreign direct
investment route).
The bank will also bring down its capital market exposure by Rs 200-300 crore as per the
new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines.
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MTNL,
VSNL can now seek amendment to AoA
New Delhi--The ministry of communications has allowed
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd to seek approval from
shareholders to amend their respective Articles of Association (AoA) and the decision will
allow them to expand their operations to other circles.
For instance MTNL’s article of association stipulates that it can offer telecom
services only in Mumbai and Delhi.
The move comes after DoT rejected the PSUs applications for providing basic telephone
services in circles other than their existing ones.
The decision had an adverse impact on VSNL’s business plans which planned to
diversify into other telecom services including basic and cellular telephony to compensate
for loosing out on the monopoly status in international voice and data traffic generated
from India.
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Tisco net rises 31 percent
Kolkata—The Tata Iron and Steel Company
has reported a net profit rise of 31 per cent at Rs 553 crore for the year 2000-01 and the
board of Tisco has declared a dividend of 50 per cent for the year, which is 10 per cent
higher than the previous year.
Tisco also formally announced corporate level changes, redesignating three of its
executive directors to deputy managing directors.
Thus henceforth T Mukherjee will be deputy MD steel, F A Vandrevala deputy MD new and
allied businesses and A N Singh deputy MD corporate services.
B Muthuraman will be the managing director designate. He
will take charge after Jamshed J Irani retires in July 2001.
Tisco’s profit growth was checked by a Rs 86.2 crore provision made on account of
tariff revision claimed by the Bihar State Electricity Board with retrospective effect
from 1999-2000.
Tisco’s gross profit (profit after depreciation, before extraordinary expenses and
tax) also soared by 78 per cent to Rs 888 crore compared to the previous fiscal.
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New model from Ford this year
Chandigarh-- Ford India recorded a 122.1 per cent jump in its sales during April
2001 at 3,536 units over 1,592 units in April 2000 and is now said to examining the idea
of introducing a new model in the Indian market later this year.
Phil Spender president and MD, Ford India said that despite a slump in the car market with
industry sales plummeting 14.8 per cent during April 2001, Ford had no plans to offer any
discounts to boost up sales.
While some car manufacturers have been offering lollipops to increase sales, Spender
categorically ruled out any such possibility on Ford Ikon.
In fact, encouraged by a growing market overseas for its car, Ford India which exported
10,743 Ford Ikon CKDs between October 2000 and March 2001 to Mexico and South Africa has
now chalked up plans to boost exports further and during 2001 expects to ship 25,000 units
to the existing markets, including Bangladesh as well as seek new markets in the
neighbouring countries and in the Asia-Pacific region.
Against a turnover of $280 million during 2000, Ford India expects to end up 2001 with a
sales turnover of $350 million.
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Now smart cards, specialised
products from ICICI Bank
New Delhi--ICICI Bank is
introducing smart cards with real-time on-line integration for facilitating transactions
and payment for utilities and services, access control, customer loyalty management and
after sales service.
The bank will also introduce special banking products for students, small children
(Kid-E-Bank), high net worth clients and specific business segments, processed by its
centralised database.
ICICI has already introduced 'Business Multiplier' a premium current account to cater to
the needs of the small business segment and 'ICICI Select' service for high networth
clients, besides setting up 'I-fund' for mutual fund product distribution.
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Credit
Suisse; out of VSNL disinvestment
New Delhi—According to a decision taken by the central government the Credit
Suisse First Boston (CSFB) will be kept out of the privatisation of Videsh Sanchar Nigam
Ltd (VSNL).
The decision comes in the wake of Securities & Exchanges Board of India’s (Sebi)
indictment of CSFB for its role in the recent stock scam.
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AstraZeneca to invest $20 in India till 2005
Bangalore—Astra Zeneca Plc the pharma major is
planning to invest $5 million in India every year during the next four years. This is in
addition to the $10 million it is pumping in its R&D facility at Bangalore, which will
focus only on tuberculosis research program.
Announcing this on Friday the newly formed AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd’s recently
appointed managing director Lars Walan said the fresh investments will be used to support
research facilities in the Bangalore centre.
Earlier under Astra-IDL, the R&D facility focussed on Malaria, TB and anti-bacterial
projects. However, with AstraZeneca acquiring 51 per cent stake from Astra-IDL Ltd and the
consequent formation of AstraZeneca Pharma India, the facility has changed its areas of
operation. The focus areas have been streamlined due to the lack of a critical mass with
three separate areas of activities, said company officials.
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Bayer will launch
new pest control products
Mumbai—Embarking on a major expansion plan in environmental health segment in
India Bayer India plans to introduce a slew of products in the pest control segment and is
registering some of the products.
Bayer India’s animal health division has launched
a loyalty programme for its customers in the Pest Management Professionals (Pest Control
Operators) segment with the the inauguration of ‘The Pest Guard Professional
Club,’ which will be launched at the national level with events held at Bangalore,
Kolkata, New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.
Bayer plans to introduce a range of new generation products in the Indian market. Some of
the products are Racumin paste, Quick Bayt, Chloropyriphos etc., which are in the process
of registration.
Bayer India, a 51 per cent subsidiary of Bayer AG, has a wide product portfolio consisting
of agrochemicals, rubber chemicals, animal health care, consumer care and pharmaceuticals.
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HMR, Rhone Poulenc Rorer revamp sales force
Mumbai—Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR), to be renamed Aventis Pharma Ltd, has
revamped its combined field force with Rhone-Poulenc Rorer in April 2001 following the
operational integration of both entities. HMR’s latest annual report says that the
field force has been divided into five teams.
These are: acute care team (covering thrombosis and
anti-infectives), the chronic care team (covering cardiovasculars, metabolism, central
nervous system and vasotherapeutics), the primary care team (covering respiratory,
vaccines, anti-infectives, diuretics and metabolism), channel sales (covering commercial
products from dermatology, analgesics and respiratory) and the oncology team.
In December 200, HMR had made a strategic investment by acquiring a 49 per cent stake in
Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (India) Pvt Ltd at a price of Rs 4.4 crore. HMR’s portfolio now
stands augmented with the addition of Rhone Poulenc Rorer products namely Clexane,
Taxotere, Campto and Granocyte.
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Now
a calcium enriched version of Maaza from Coke
New Delhi-Coca Cola India on Friday announced the launch of a new version of Maaza,
which it claims is fortified with ‘calcium’.
Says a company spokesperson the move is based on consumer research conducted by the
company and is part of the company’s strategy to shift the brand towards a broader
portfolio.
The company claims that Maaza leads in the Rs 250 crore fruit-based drinks market with 28
per cent market share, as per the latest Org-Marg retail audit data. As per the study,
Frooti is the closest competitor at 23 per cent while Pepsi follows with a combined
marketshare of Slice and Mangola at 18 per cent.
The company has already invested upwards of Rs six crore in giving Maaza a new look
together with a new advertising campaign and logo and in the last one year, has also
increased the number of plants manufacturing Mazaa from 13 to 15. It has also increased
the total capacity from 2000 bottles per minute to 2500 bottles per minute. Apart from
that, the company has made substantial investments in increasing the capacities of
returnable glass bottles by 1,50,000 and undertaken two contract-packing alliances for
tetrapak packing of Maaza in Bhopal and Mysore.
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Royal Philips takes 11.2 percent stake in Punjab Anand Lamps
Mumbai--- Royal Philips Electronics NV, has picked up an 11.2 percent stake in the
paid up equity share capital of Punjab Anand Lamps by acquiring 1,027,635 shares of the
company.
The acquisition was done through open market purchases as
permitted under the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeover) Regulation 1997.
The maximum price paid for shares acquired through open market purchases was Rs 95 per
share, DSP Merrill Lynch informed the BSE on Friday.
The Dutch parent company had earlier made an open offer to purchase the balance
outstanding equity of 17.37 per cent from the existing share holders of PALI. The Dutch
entity has made a voluntary offer to acquire 15,93,483 fully paid up equity shares of Rs
10 each representing the balance outstanding equity of PALI.
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State-run
banks to make full provisions for NPAs in mid-year says RBI
Mumbai—The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has requested state-run banks to make
full provisions for their non-performing assets (NPAs) for the first six months of a
fiscal.
Further, at the time of ascertaining the total NPAs, banks would have to keep in view, the
amount of NPAs at the end of the previous year, change in the status of any account during
the half year for which review is undertaken and the new accounts which had become NPAs.
RBI has also asked the state-run banks to cover at least 50 per cent of their advances,
for the purpose of half-yearly review of NPAs.
In a recent circular dispatched on May 17, RBI had asked
all the state-run banks to go in for review of their half-yearly accounts effective from
September 30. Currently, all banks give audited results on a yearly basis.
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Corporatisation of BSE starts
Mumbai--Members of the BSE have finally given clearance to the scheme of
corporatisation and demutualisation of the exchange. BSE will be rechristened BSE Ltd,
when the process is completed by September-October this year.
Once corporatised, the BSE will be the country’s second bourse after the National
Stock Exchange, which started operations in 1994.
Taking a cue from the finance minister’s announcement in April this year, to the
effect that all the stock exchanges in the country would be corporatised, the BSE
announced its plans in April that it, too, planned to corporatise the exchange from the
current Association of Persons (AoP), which is an unincorporated body.
The BSE aims to corporatise its activities on the lines of Nasdaq. This plan got a formal
approval from the BSE members at the extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) held on
Thursday.
And as per the scheme, after the exchange becomes BSE Ltd, the two most important
departments namely — surveillance and risk management — will be hived off into a
separate entity.
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Telco
to shut Jamshedpur plant for 6 days
Mumbai--Tata Engineering will shut down its Jamshedpur
plant, manufacturing medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MCVs and HCVs), for six days
from June 4-9, 2001.
A spokesperson said the closure had become necessary
"in view of the poor market conditions and the slump in demand for commercial
vehicles."
The ailing auto major will try to clear its inventory
levels, in addition to reducing wastage involved in running the plant at sub-optimal
capacities.
The shutdown is restricted to the Jamshedpur plant.
Production of light commercial vehicles, passenger cars and utility vehicles will not be
affected, he said.
Telco’s other manufacturing facilities are at Pune
and Lucknow. About 10,000 employees from six divisions will not attend work at Jamshedpur
during this period, although there would be no deduction of salaries for this.
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New structure for Tata Steel and subsidiaries recommended by McKinsey
Mumbai—Consultants McKinsey & Co has drafted a
new restructuring proposal for Tata Steel and its 12 operating subsidiaries. It has set
out a course of action for Tata Steel on reorganising its dozen-odd subsidiaries, all of
which are into niche steel and engineering businesses.
J J Irani, managing director of Tata Steel, said the
company will work on the basis of the recommendations, which broadly identified the
companies that should grow and the ones it should divest from.
He, however, declined to reveal the names of the
companies, which would be divested and the ones that will remain.
Consequently, another proposal set out two years ago to
reduce four subsidiaries into TRF Ltd and make it the allied engineering flagship has been
dropped.
The subsidiaries that are remaining are: Tata
Refractories, Tinplate Co, Tata Sponge Iron, Tata Metaliks, Tata-Yodogawa, Tata
Construction & Projects, Ipitata Refractories, TRF, Tata Pigments, Tata Material
Handling, Stewarts & Lloyds, Tata Technodyne and Tata Korf.
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Bar
on Russell's VST open offer vacated by Delhi bench
New Delhi--The single bench order against Russell Credit,
barring the ITC subsidiary from giving effect to its open offer for VST Industries has
been by the division bench of the Delhi high court today.
In an appeal filed against the single bench order
passed earlier this week, the counsel for Russell Credit Rajeev Nayyar submitted that the
petition filed by Mahavir Prasad was "highly motivated" and was an effort to
favour Bright Star Investment Ltd.
A similar petition was filed by Arun Pandey in the
Calcutta High Court on May 21. The matter was part heard and was posted for hearing to
June 27.
The petitioner was directed to make Bright Star, the only
party to benefit from the stay on Russell Credit, a party to the suit.
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