Volvo to make additional investments in India
New Delhi: Volvo India, subsidiary of Volvo, the Swedish automotive group, is planning to issue preference shares to raise a capital of $22 million for its Indian operations. The preference shares will be at a value of Rs 90 per share -- Rs 10 face value and Rs 80 premium. These shares will be converted into equity shares at a later date.

Volvo, the second largest truckmaker in the world, has a truck making plant at Bangalore. It introduced two heavy-duty trucks -- the FH12 in August 1998 and FL7 in March 1999. The Swedish parent has the permission of the Foreign Investments Promotion Board to invest $60 to $80 million in its Indian subsidiary.
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Satyam to promote in-house entrepreneurs
Mumbai: Satyam Computers is setting up a software incubator programme for its staff to motivate them to be entrepreneurs on their own. The company has already set up a steering committee for the purpose.

Under the programme, the company will offer seed capital as well as management support for willing entrepreneurs within the company to take up ventures. The company is understood to be earmarking $2 million for a corpus for this purpose.
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Korean companies overtake US firms
New Delhi: South Korean companies, which had displaced Western multinationals as the largest foreign direct investors in India, have now posted the highest growth rates in the consumer electronics and white goods markets. Established companies like Whirlpool, GE, Electrolux and Sony have been left behind by two South Korean companies, LG and Samsung, in terms of sales.

LG registered sales growth of 130 per cent, and Samsung 70 per cent in the period January to September 1999 compared with the first three quarters of 1998, according to a study by The Economic Times.
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P&G refocuses activities
Mumbai: Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care, the former Procter & Gamble India, has refocused its businesses. It has now identified health care and feminine hygiene as its long-term business activity. It has made an alternative arrangement for its skin care products

The company has announced that it has terminated its arrangement with Procter & Gamble Home Products for making shampoo during the current year. This will affect the company's sales by Rs 14 crore in the second half of 1999-2000. The company has also sold its Mediker brand of shampoo to Marico Industries.

As part of its restructuring, the company has introduced a voluntary retirement scheme at a cost of Rs 9 crore to cover 60 employees.
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Sony encouraged by market in south
Chennai: Sony India is encouraged by the market response in south Indian cities. The company's managing director, Hiromi Matsumoto, said the company's south India sales have grown so fast that it is next only to the East. He said the south is a key market for Sony, and expects sales to grow 40 per cent in the near future.

The company had organised 'Sony Vision', a four-day annual event to exhibit its latest range of products at Chennai. The products on display included colour TVs, hi-fi music systems, cordless phones, VCD players, DVD players, VCRs and home theatre systems.
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Used car import worries automakers
New Delhi: The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers is worried over the prospects of import of second-hand cars from Japan. The society feels this will pose a major threat to the Indian auto industry.

Second hand cars are very cheap in Japan, according to the society. It cites that import of second hand cars from Japan had adversely affected the automobile industry in New Zealand and Australia. To prevent an eventuality like this in India, the society has suggested a five-tiered duty structure with a maximum import duty of 100 per cent.
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Hyundai to build complex in North Korea
Seoul: The Hyundai group of South Korea says it is planning to build an industrial complex on the west coast of isolationist North Korea, close to the border between the two Koreas.

Hyundai group chairman Chung Mon-hun said the group will build an industrial complex in Haeju, North Korea. The complex will house industrial units from both North and South Koreas.
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