Tata Chem decides to focus on core areas
Mumbai—Tata Chemicals Ltd (TCL) plans to focus aggressively on its core business areas — soda ash, salt and urea — in which it feels it has an established position and aims to be one of the top three players in core areas through superior strategic competencies and higher operational efficiencies.

Says Prasad R Menon, managing director TCL, inorganic chemicals and fertilizers will remain the core operations of the company. There is tremendous potential for growth in India in inorganic chemicals and fertilisers.
As a part of its renewed focus, TCL is embarking on a comprehensive restructuring programme covering operations, product offerings, marketing, logistics and human resources with a view to enhance value for all stakeholders.
The company has set itself a target of becoming the lowest cost soda ash producer in the world over the next three years. This will be achieved through a reduction in the consumption of raw materials and lowering the transportation cost apart from inventory management and supply chain management and efficient energy consumption. The company is also looking at the possibility of transportation by sea to southern and eastern India.
For salt business, TCL intends to consolidate and grow its market share in the branded salt segment by an aggressive promotion strategy that will serve to consolidation by inducting specialised marketing team.
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Senior level reshuffle at VSNL
Mumbai-- Following the departure of the executive director-operations, Amitabh Kumar, K P Tiwari, CGM-Internet, has been given charge of operations.
Rajnish Gupta, one of the three remaining full-time directors on the VSNL board, has been transferred to Delhi from Calcutta. Kumar’s second-in-command Hardev Singh, CGM-operations, has been put in charge of development.
Said SK Gupta, VSNL chairman and managing director, "We have made a request to the government to expedite the process of filling up the vacant directors’ posts. We expect the Public Enterprises Selection Board to get the process going shortly."
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Gillette’s Geep acquisition falls flat
New Delhi—The only acquisition done by Gillette in the Indian battery segment — Geep from the Shervani family —is not doing too well.
Last month the Shervani Industrial Syndicate, the erstwhile owners of the Geep brand, closed down their battery making factory in Allahabad due to lack of orders from Gillette.
According to the deal signed by the two, Gillette was to source batteries from the Shervanis for a period of three years, but due to lack of orders the factory is being closed down six months before the expiry of the three-year period ending December 2001. Geep’s market share has dwindled from a pre-acquisition share of 8 to 10 per cent, to 5 to7 per cent now.
Gillette officials, while agreeing that its marketshare was now in the 7 per cent level said and that the focus worldwide was on alkaline batteries and said that Gillette had plans for reinvigorating the brand. This would be done by a combination of measures including changing the product design, making it mercury free, improving its distribution and the product profile, company sources said.
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DoT cracks whip on Bharti
New Delhi-The department of telecommunications has threatened to throttle Bharti’s plans to emerge as a leading player in telecom if it doesn’t clear outstanding dues for the Punjab cellular licence, originally owned by JT Mobile, since bought over by Bharti.
When Bharti made the acquisition, JT Mobile had already transferred the Punjab licence to Evergrowth, a JTM subsidiary managed by Essar. Evergrowth defaulted on its licence fee for Punjab and DoT encashed its bank guarantee of Rs 35 crore and cancelled the licence in July 1999.
Later when Bharti acquired JT Mobile in December 1999, it obtained possession of the two remaining licences — that of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh .
15 months later the DoT has re-focused on the Punjab licence 15 and asked Bharti to cough up Rs 455 crore. Bharti was taken by surprise and disputed the DoT order and the matter was referred to the attorney-general whose his opinion was in Bharti’s favour.

Now, DoT has referred it to its legal cell, as it is not satisfied with the AG’s opinion. As per conditions laid down in the letter of intent, Bharti will get basic telecom licences only if it pays all its outstanding dues to DoT.
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BSNL to brand services by Aug
New Delhi-- Bharat Sanchar Nigam plans to have separate brandnames for its celluar and Internet services by August this year.
Said DPS Seth, BSNL chairman and managing director in view of the increasing competition in the market it is essential to have branded services for recognition in the market.
Having started its cellular services in Patna, BSNL will spread to other parts of the country by early 2002.
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Brightstar may get 15 percent of FI stake in VST
New Delhi—Financial institutions, which together hold about a 15 per cent stake in VST Industries, were reportedly keen on offloading their stake in favour of Damanis' Brightstar Investments. This came after Brightstar and ITC subsidiary Russell Credit held protracted negotiations with the Fis, who clarified that they would consider offloading only to the highest bidder market sources said.
Life Insurance Corporation is the single largest institutional shareholder in VST with about 7 per cent equity stake and UTI together with other insurance majors holds the remaining 8 percent.
On Sunday, the last day of making changes to the offer as per Sebi guidelines, Brightstar announced an increase in its offer price to Rs 151 against Russell's Rs 125. The latter had clarified that it would not raise its offer price further, which stays at Rs 125 per share.
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Siemens to increase stake in Indian subsidiary
New Delhi—The government has approved Siemens India’s buyback plans, paving the way for Siemens AG to increase its stake in its Indian subsidiary to 60 per cent from the existing level of 51 per cent.
Siemens India will make the buy back at a maximum price of Rs 250 a share. As against this, Siemens India shares closed at Rs 204 today on the bourses.
The total cost of the buyback operation is estimated at a little over Rs 80 crore. It is, however, not clear whether the company would use the open offer route or resort to treasury operations for the buyback.
In recent years, Siemens India’s turnover has been almost stagnant, though it has been consistently improving its net profits.
For the half year ended march 31, 2001, while its turnover grew by just three per cent to Rs 527.1 crore from Rs 509.7 crore in the corresponding period of last year, the net profit grew by eight per cent to reach Rs 38.6 crore from Rs 35.7 crore during this period.
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Mittals, Videocon in consortium bidding for IA
New Delhi--Steel baron L N Mittal has now teamed up with consumer electronics company Videocon in bidding for a 26 per cent stake in domestic carrier Indian Airlines, according to reliable sources close to the bidding process.
Last year Mittal of Ispat International NV had bid for 40 per cent of Air-India, but withdrew ahead of a February 23 deadline to declare consortium partners. Ispat claims to be as the world’s seventh-largest steel group and is headquartered in the Netherlands.
Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of Videocon International, refused to comment on his partners in the consortium bidding for Indian Airlines.

The government wants to sell 26 per cent of Indian Airlines and 40 per cent of Air-India. New Delhi plans to complete both the big-ticket privatisations this year.
The only other bidders in the race besides Videocon for Indian Airlines are the Britain-based billionaire Hinduja brothers. For Air-India, the two suitors are Singapore Airlines, bidding in tandem with the Tatas, and the Hinduja brothers.
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HLL to divest 51 percent equity to fragrances JV
New Delhi—Hindustan Lever Ltd said the proposed joint venture with ICI India and Dutch major Quest International, in which HLL will offload majority 51 per cent equity, will become operational soon.
According to the deal, HLL will divest 51 per cent equity stake in favour of the two companies, while retaining the remaining 49 per cent for a consideration of about Rs 155 crore, which includes a premium for management control.
The JV will be a separate company which will take under its wings the flavour and fragrances business of HLL, currently under its quest division. This excludes the aroma chemicals businesses of HLL and the erstwhile Industrial Perfumes.
The turnover of HLL's fragrances and flavour business in year 2000 was Rs 95 crore, including captive consumption.
The formation of this venture was proposed after HLL's British parent Unilever exited its speciality chemicals business in 1997 and till that year the Quest division of HLL was the Indian arm of Quest International.
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GIC HF foray into housing insurance
Kolkata—The GIC Housing Finance has launched a new housing insurance product along with consumer durable loans for its customers and on the back of these plans has chalked out a five-year plan to reach a business volume of Rs 960 crore by 2003-04.
Said company chief executive N Sowmyan GIC HF will open 17 new outlets by this year.
The new branches, which would take the total number of offices to 25, is expected to fetch a business of about Rs 15 crore during 2001-02, he said.
He said, the company would soon introduce housing insurance scheme for the loanees to safeguard against any calamity destroying the structure.
The company, which already has a scheme of free accidental insurance cover for its customers, would offer the new product free or at a subsidised rate.
GICHF would also offer consumer durable loans along with housing finance at the same rate of interest, he said. The total sanction of the company during 2000-01 was estimated at Rs 180 crore.
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ALL; gearing up for global standards
Chennai—Ashoke Leyland Ltd (ALL), is gearing up for international competition both in the domestic and export markets. As part of this effort the company has begun moves to benchmark its processes against global standards.
Mr R Seshasayee, managing director ALL, said the move will enable the company to scale up its productivity levels considerably and further improve its competitiveness in the world market.
The company would complete mapping of all its processes vis-a-vis international norms by the end of the year and then roll out a systematic action plan to achieve the standards. It plans to rope in the services of a consultant for the purpose in due course of time,he said.
He said that an advantage of benchmarking with international norms is that the export markets can be exploited when Indian manufacturers move up the value chain. Today, the emission norms and product acceptability have restricted exports to SAARC nations, some countries in Africa and East Asia. With the country charting an aggressive timetable for Euro norms, it may not be long before the Indian companies can target developed markets. International productivity norms will then come handy for Indian players to fight their way into those markets.
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BankAm to exit investment banking in emerging markets
Mumbai—The Bank of America (BankAm) is exiting its investment banking business in India in line with its decision to exit this line of business in the emerging markets of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The bank took this decision recently on the grounds that at this point in time; this activity is not a priority for BankAm.
The business suite of BankAm that will now cease to exit are largely on the equities side like placements, mergers and acquisitions, and lead-managing cross-border deals like American Depository Receipts (ADR) and Global Depository Receipts (GDR). The finer aspect of this decision — as to whether debt-side operations like syndications will continue — will come through shortly.
BankAm’s operations will now cover traditional corporate banking, treasury, a non-banking finance company, BankAm Securities; and its proprietary equities arm and a deemed foreign institutional investor, BancAmerica Equity Partners.
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PSU insurance firms may float new venture for power, oil sectors
Chennai--Four public sector general insurance companies may team up to float a separate joint venture for providing insurance cover to the highly capital intensive and high-risk oil and power sectors.
The four PSU insurance companies - National Insurance, Oriental, New India and United India Insurance - may take up the new business plan in the forthcoming meeting of their umbrella body, General insurance (Public Sector) Association (GIPSA).
If this happens, it would be the first time that the four PSU insurance companies join hands to do business.
Sources close to the development said the proposal was the offshoot of a draft report prepared by Mahindra Acres.
Mahindra Acres was roped in late last year by PSU insurance companies to explore the possibility of setting up a separate subsidiary for providing risk cover to the oil and power sectors.
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Indian Rayon initiates Project Spark
Mumbai—Indian Rayon has initiated Project Spark, a part of its effort to identify areas to optimise cost. At the end of the project, the company hopes to be able to make a significant cost reduction.
Project Spark is aided by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The company says that implementation of the recommendations of the project will lead to achieving superior stock turnouts and cost reduction. The company added that these initiatives would improve margins significantly over the next few years.
The focus will be on its key business — garments. Insulators will help strengthen earnings further.
For growth in the medium term, the group is tapping new growth segments. It is launching blazers and jackets in multiple brands and price segments and exploring opportunities in the women’s formal wear segment in the domestic market.
In the carbon black sector, the company’s strategy is to focus on volume growth through increased share of export, development of non-tyre applications, improved realisations and tighten cost structure for enhanced profitability.
The company will leverage its strong R&D capabilities further and develop new grades of carbon black. A few patented grades, are being launched in the domestic market.
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Fiat India embarks on VRS at Kurla plant
Mumbai--Fiat India, the Indian subsidiary of Italian auto maker Fiat Auto, carried out a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) last week by offering a lumpsum of Rs 5,12,000 to nearly 230 employees comprising senior managers, officers and plant personnel at its Kurla plant in the city.
Fiat India is facing a tough competition from its rivals in the Indian automobile market,
As a result of the VRS the company’s public relations and corporate communications department has ceased to exist as four of its employees have opted for VRS.
The company offered VRS to those employees who have completed minimum of 10 years service and crossed 40 years.
There are some exceptions like that of a senior official from the public relations and corporate communications department, who joined the company two years ago, was also offered a VRS package at the last moment.
Similarly, an employee of the rank of personal assistant attached to the Fiat India managing director’s office, who had resumed the office after maternity leave was also offered a VRS package.
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Delhi HC orders NPPA to recover money from Ranbaxy firm
New Delhi--The Delhi High Court has directed the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to recover Rs 3,29,71,014 from Shimal Investment & Trading, a Ranbaxy company, for overcharging in respect of Gramogyl tablets after two weeks from the date of passing of the order.

The order follows a writ petition filed by Shimal Investment challenging the demand of Rs 4,38,92,663 (with interests) as per a recovery notice on May 8, 2001.
The notice was on the basis of a demand notice issued by the NPPA of February 24, 2000.

The notice by NPPA informed Shimal Investment that it had been manufacturing Gramogyl tablets as a pack of eight tablets (500 mg) and thus was required to adopt the prorata ceiling price of Rs 16.80 with effect from 1998. It further stated that since Shimal Investment continued to charge Rs 24.65 for a strip of six tablets and Rs 31.80 for an eight-tablet strip, amounting to overcharging.

And, since the petitioner, as to the actual quantity of Gramogyl tablets sold, furnished no information, the amount was worked out on the basis of the ORG data.
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Bajaj Allianz's life foray gets clearance from IRDA
New Delhi-- Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance's proposal to enter the Indian market has been cleared by the the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).

Officials said Bajaj Allianz has been given an in-principle clearance and will be granted a formal licence on completion of certain formalities.

The Bajaj-Allianz combine have already received IRDA’s sanction to enter the general insurance business.

Bajaj had initially applied solo to enter only the non-life business but later changed its plan and roped in Allianz as a partner for both the life as well as general insurance business.
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Sidbi to be recast; assigns consultant
Mumbai-- In the context of the impact of the new World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime on small scale industries, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) has decided to appoint a management consultant to suggest restructuring of its operations and organisational set-up.

P B Nimbalkar, chairman and managing director of Sidbi, said, the consultant will make recommendations on the right product mix, on how to raise resources in a cost-effective manner, on tapping new business avenues, on organisational structure and also whether any amendments need to be made in the Sidbi Act to make its functioning more effective.

Sidbi is planning to set up 'Laghu udyog nidhi' with a Rs 500 crore corpus for the development of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

It is seeking to convert the Technology Bureau for Small Enterprises, an outfit set up in 1995 in association with the United Nations - Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology, into a technology bank, which will, in addition to facilitating transfer of technology resources from abroad, tap the technology resources from rural India.

SIDBI recorded a 3.9 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 477 crore for 2000-01 against Rs 459.40 crore in the previous year.

A 15 per cent dividend on the paid-up equity share capital of Rs 450 crore, which was held by the Industrial Development Bank of India, was also approved.
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