M&M bids for Czech tractor plant
Mumbai: Mahindra
& Mahindra (M&M) is planning to take over a tractor unit in the Czech Republic in
an effort to foray into the European market. The company has bid for a state-owned tractor
unit, which in been put on the block for divestment. The deal is expected to be finalised
in two to three months if M&Ms bid was accepted. Mr. K J Davasia, M&Ms
executive director in charge of the farm equipment sector, has reportedly confirmed that
M&M was exploring options to enter the European tractor markets in a big way.
The company has in recent years,
established its presence in tractors in the US and a few African countries like Egypt. Its
wholly-owned subsidiary Mahindra USA, is believed to have captured a market share of close
to 40 per cent in the 30-40 horse power segment of tractors.
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United Airlines set
to relaunch services from April
Bangalore: United Airlines is relaunching round-the-world flights from
Delhi from April 1.
The airline, which returns to India after a two-year break in services is likely to
announce special introductory fares, double frequent flyer mileage points, and online
booking facility to kick-start its operations. The airline proposes to launch twice-daily
flight from Delhi, via Hong Kong and London. The airline is also likely to consider a
non-stop connection to Chicago, codeshare pact with Air India, special deals from India
with select airline partners of Star Alliance like Lufthansa, and new points of call, such
as Mumbai and Chennai/ Bangalore.
The airline's entry to Delhi will make it the single biggest player from the north with
two jumbos offering 736 seats a day to Hong Kong and London/ US, apart from giving
travelers a wider choice of gateways into the US and south-east Asia.
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IA losses likely to
rise to Rs 160-180 crore
Bangalore: Indian Airlines (IA), which is slated for divestment is likely
to make losses in fiscal year 2000-01 to the tune of Rs 160-180 crores. Already, by
January 2001, the airline has registered an estimated net loss of Rs 147 crore for the
first 10 months, despite a profit of Rs 1.9 crore in the same month last year. The months
of February and March are expected to accelerate the downslide of the earlier months. The
losses are attributed to rising fuel prices and wage bills of a bloated workforce,
maintenance and operation costs of nearly 20 old aircraft out of a 50 strong fleet. The
airline has however made profits in the last three years, which made it eligible for
divestment.
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Royal Enfield cuts bike
prices
New Delhi: Royal Enfield Motors has slashed prices of its motorcycles
between Rs 2,000-2,500.
The price cut would be made applicable for the Bullet Standard, Deluxe, Machismo, Machismo
A350, Bullet 500cc and Lightening 535 models. The price cut by Royal Enfield, a unit of
the Rs 1,000 crore Eicher Group, closely follows price cuts announced by other two-wheeler
companies like Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto, TVS-Suzuki and LML after the the excise duty
reduction announced in the Union Budget 2001-02.
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Samtel to set up Rs
300-crore project at Ghaziabad
New Delhi: Samtel Colour is setting up a 2.2 million greenfield 21"
super flat colour television and 15" colour display picture tube plant at Ghaziabad
with an estimated investment of Rs 300 crore. The new unit will enhance Samtel's total
manufacturing capacity to 5.5 million. With the commissioning of this plant in
November/December this year, Samtel will become the first company in India to manufacture
21" super flat CTV and colour display tubes in India.
The project is being financed through
internal accruals of Rs 120 crore and external debt of Rs 180 crore. International Finance
Corporation (IFC) has given a rupee loan of Rs 100 crore and ICICI a loan of Rs 80 crore.
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Verette to set up CRM
operations in India
Mumbai: Verette, a US-based multi-channel customer relationship
management services provider, is setting up a 250-seat contact center in Mumbai, which is
expected to be operational by end of March 2001. The company plans to provide CRM services
to the US technology market and executes all phases of a customized solution, including
staffing, solution design, and technology implementation and performance management.
The company plans to base its front-end
operations in the US and the back-end including human resource and technology divisions in
India. The company plans to hire 750 people for its Mumbai center, which will offer four
multi-channel communication services like web collaboration, Web-mail management, fax
management and telephone support. Veretta has set up a dedicated lease line connecting
India to the US and has tied up with companies like AT&T, Cisco Systems, HP, Microsoft
and Telera.
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Apollo on expansion
drive
New Delhi: Apollo Hospitals group is planning a major expansion drive,
which includes opening clinics and managing overseas hospitals as part of its goal to
become a Rs 1000-crore entity by 2006. Apollo Hospital is also planning to venture into
traditional forms of medicine like homeopathy and ayurvedic.
The expansion plan forms part of the strategy put forth by the groups global
consulting firm, which seeks to move the group towards management of hospitals rather than
ownership. The group in line with this strategy is also setting up operations in African
nations like Tanzania, Ghana and Namibia and Gulf countries like Oman and UAE.
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PepsiCo ranked
"most-respected company"
New Delhi: Financial Times (FT) has ranked PepsiCo as the world's most
respected food and beverage company in its latest survey. The soft drink major has also
overtaken its arch-rival Coca-Cola as America's most admired beverage company, in a yet
another latest survey conducted by Fortune magazine.
The FT survey of "The World's Most
Respected Companies" says PepsiCo has moved up from No 9 position in the previous
year, to No 1 position this year, leaving behind Nestle at No 2, Procter and Gamble at No
3, Coca-Cola at No 4 and Danone at No 5. In Fortune's latest measure of "America's
Most Admired Companies", again PepsiCo has moved up from No 3 to No 1 in the beverage
industry category.
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Adani group to foray
into multi-mode delivery business
Bhubaneswar: Adani Exports Ltd., a private sector trading house, is
planning to foray into multi-mode delivery business and has planned to substantially
invest in setting up required infrastructure. The Rs 3,500-crore group is exploring the
possibility of coastal transportation of coal, minerals and finished goods, through the
Gopalpur Port on the east coast and the Mundra Port on the west coast.
The group has recently signed a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government, to develop the Gopalpur fair weather
port into a major harbour on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis. The group is
also weighing proposals to enter into coal mining, coal washery and coal blending
businesses and is working out plans to offer complete packages of delivery of coal to
power plants and other industries, located in the western and northern states of the
country. The group also has plans to venture into trading of other minerals such as iron
ore and chromite.
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Kinetic to power
growth with new launches
Bangalore: Kinetic Engineering, the Rs 1,200 crore two-wheeler major is
planning to launch several new generation motorcycles and scooters models over the next
twelve months. The plan includes foray into upper mid-segment mobikes at 175 and 250 cc,
along with an entry level breezy 60 cc scooter to be followed by a 125 cc up market luxury
version.
The company has
entered into the motorcycle world at the lower level with the 100 cc Challenger bike.
Since its launch, the company has sold close to 15,000 bikes since October 2000 in select
smaller towns and mainstream metros. The 100 cc Challenger is now slated for a nation-wide
launch commencing with Bangalore. The bike carries an ex-showroom tag of Rs 41,700 in the
Garden City. By mid-2001, Kinetic also plans to launch two more racy bikes, GF 125 and
150, with higher price points - Rs 55,000 to Rs 65,000 - and newer features in
collaboration with Hyosung of Korea.
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Hindustan Lever
launches Fair & Lovely premium soap
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd.
(HLL) is set to Fair & Lovely soap, its first-ever serious move to achieve growth
through cross categorisation, wherein the brand equity of its leading fairness cream
"Fair & Lovely" is sought to be extended to premium soap. Mr. MS Banga,
chairman HLL, had earlier stated that the company had rationalised its brand portfolio to
focus on 30 power brands and that it would soon embark on cross categorisation to get
better value of the brand strength. The newly launched Fair & Lovely soap is priced at
Rs 15 (75 gm) will directly compete with Godrej Soaps' Fair Glow fairness soap.
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