SIA wants a 49 percent stake in A-I
New Delhi---Singapore Airlines wants to take a 49 per cent stake in Air-India and launch a domestic airline that would operate hub-and-spoke services in tandem with the national carrier after the disinvestment exercise is completed. This means a breaking up of its joint venture with the Tata Group and its elimination from the race for Air-India.The current mandate of the Union Cabinet does not allow foreign airlines to pick up more than 26 per cent stake in Air-India.The Tata Group wants to pick up 21 per cent of the 40 per cent equity in Air-India, on offer now, leaving 19 per cent for SIA.SIA's plans can fructify only if the government agrees to reduce its stake further in Air-India, and the Tata Group gives up its commitment of a Indian-led bid for the national carrier.SIA has reportedly written to the disinvestment department about the change in its stand. The airline's view is that taking up 26 per cent stake is not a viable option for any foreign carrier.Therefore, the government should either assure them of an option to increase the stake to 49 per cent at a future date or change the norms of the disinvestment game immediately.
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Drug firms protest against Bayer's EMR claim for moxifloxacin
Mumbai--Indian drug firms allege that German giant Bayer's exclusive marketing rights (EMR) application for moxifloxacin hydrochloride (for respiratory tract infection) amounts to back-door patenting.Pharmaceutical firms like Ranbaxy, Cipla, Dr Reddy's etc, under the aegis of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), have written to the minister of commerce and the controller of patents seeking strong disclosure requirements for EMR applications to ensure transparency in the grant of
EMRs.The IPA urges the commerce minister, Murasoli Maran, to direct the Patents Controller to periodically disclose (in the official gazette) basic particulars of all EMR applications such as the name of molecule for which an EMR is sought, patent number and country where the corresponding patent has been granted and based on which the EMR application has been made,
particulars of the marketing approval got in the convention country etc.
The IPA claims that Bayer AG had filed patent applications for moxifloxacin (EP 350733) in Austria, Germany, UK, France etc with a priority date of July 1988, in the US with a priority date of March 1989 etc. However, a continuing application for the drug was filed on March 20, 1995 (published in 1997).
"If Bayer has filed the EMR on the basis of the final continuing application or on the basis of EP 757990, it can shown that there is insufficient ground for the grant fo the EMR," the IPA says.
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Star hikes stake in indya.com
Bangalore--Star has almost acquired the horizontal Internet portal indya.com in what could be termed as its biggest investment in Asia's e-commerce space. Announcing the acquisition, Star group executive vice-president Gary
Walrath said the stake in the Pradeep Kar-promoted indya.com had been raised from 37 per cent to almost 100 per cent now. He did not, however, disclose the price at which the additional stake was bought or the exact stake holding. However, he said the 37 per cent equity acquired in April 2000 was
valued at $50m. He admitted since then valuations had dropped.
The 21 investors in the portal including ICICI, certain mutual funds and individual investors like Vinod Khosla have exited from indya.Commenting on the sale, Mr Kar said, "Aligning with Star accelerates indya's leadership position in the Internet space creating a unique and enviable position for indya.com.
Microland Group entities include InnerFrame, Planetasia, Net Brahma Technologies, MicroUniv and ITspace.
indya.com has a staff of 180 people. Its CEO Sunil Lulla said the portal had laid off recently 20 per cent of its work force or almost 40 people across all centres. He added indya.com will develop direct one-to-one relationship with consumers and will soon launch a host of new services.
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BPL M&As for future growth
Bangalore-- BPL is looking at the mergers & acquisitions route or a strategic alliance to expand its footprint in the two key pockets of South India--Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
While Chennai has a subscriber base of about 1,50,000, Karnataka boasts of 2,50,000 mobile phone users.
Chennai has Bharti and RPG Cellular and in Karnataka, Bharti Airtel and Spice are the operators. In both the states the market share is almost evenly spread out between the two service providers.
After the sale of the Madhya Pradesh circle to Hutchison, RPG Cellular operates only in Chennai, while Spice has become limited to Karnataka and Punjab after it gave up Kolkata to Bharti recently.
This means that the standalone players are at a disadvantage against bigger players like Bharti and Hutchison, which have a wider network across the country and would be in a position to offer more attractive deal for their customers.
These factors may prompt RPG and Spice to scout for at least strategic marketing alliances if not for something more over the next five-six months taken by the fourth operator to get into business in these circles.Sources say while BPL may be a definite contender for a M&A or strategic alliance in Chennai, Airtel, the second operator in Tamil Nadu along with BPL may also be interested in having its footprint in Chennai.
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Bel cheese to set up wholly owned arm
New Delhi--Bel, plans to increase its presence on the Indian breakfast or for that matter any table. It plans to increase its penetration, as its Laughing Cow brand has become very popular in Delhi and Mumbai households.
The company plans that once it reaches a critical mass in terms of sales, it will set up a 100 per cent subsidiary in the country.
The idea is to use the country as a manufacturing hub for 100 per cent vegetarian cheese that will also cater to Japan, Vietnam, Middle East, Bangladesh and Pakistan markets.
However, Bel will not go the manufacturing way, but will opt for setting up a manufacturing facility. It plans to tie-up with contract manufacturers where it will provide technical support to the manufacturer.However that is all in the future, about a year from now.
For now Bel's liason partners in India are launching two more cheese brands : Kiri and Babybel. Kiri has a cream base and Baby Bell is a semi hard cheese, understood to be hugely popular among kids in the European markets.Bel is a french company with 400 cheese brands in its portfolio. Some are clearly unsuitable for the Indian palate due to its pungent taste and odour.
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Hero Honda now the number one 2-wheeler brand
New Delhi--Hero Honda is now the largest two wheeler brand in the country having dethroned Bajaj.
During the first four months of the current financial year, Hero Honda has sold 4,10,175 motorcycles, while Bajaj Auto, along with group company Maharashtra Scooters, sold 3,70,986 two-wheelers including motorcycles, scooters and mopeds.
In the first four months of the ongoing year, Hero managed to steal a march over Bajaj and from the beginning of the year, Hero Honda, a 26:26 joint venture between Honda of Japan and the Munjals, has been outperforming Bajaj.
The sale of its motorcycles was more (96,672) than Bajaj's cumulative two-wheeler sales (93,685) in the first month of the financial year. After that, there has been no looking back for Hero Honda.In May, it sold 1,05,099 motorcycles, 5,000 more units than Bajaj Auto's cumulative sale of 1,00,099 units. In June, Hero Honda sold 1,05,159 units against Bajaj Auto's cumulative 83,947 units.In July, it sold 1,03,245 units in the month against Bajaj Auto's cumulative sale of 93,255 units.Splendour continues to be the best-selling model in the Hero Honda stables, accounting for almost 50 per cent of the company's total sales.The company has been touting it as the largest selling motorcycle model in the world. The other motorcycles in the company's portfolio include; CD100,
CD100SS, CBZ, Passion and Joy
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Discovery to launch two channels in India
New Delhi-Discovery Communications has announced the launch of two new channels, Discovery Travel and Adventure and Discovery Health, over the next one year. It will also have a Tamil and Telegu feed in addition to existing Hindi feed.
Discovery channel will be introducing programming blocks during the day that would appeal to various target groups at times they prefer to watch television.Discovery has gone digital from August 1. Ten per cent of Discovery's viewership worldwide comes form India, which is 21 million households.
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Crompton Greaves discusses JV with Chinese firms
Mumbai-- Crompton Greaves is reportedly thinking of setting up a joint venture company in China and is currently in talks with a number of leading Chinese players to set up a venture to manufacture electrical components and some specific parts for its consumer products division.Apart from this the company is planning to set up a manufacturing base in China. "Said SM Trehan, managing director, Crompton Greaves, "We will take a
final decision on this in the course of the next two months."
While declining to divulge the proposed investment in this venture or the players Crompton Greaves was talking with he made it clear that the company had no plans of outsourcing final products from Chinese companies because of quality related problems.
Crompton Greaves is currently importing components like bearings and castings from some small Chinese manufacturers.
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