SAP to set up lab in Bangalore
Bangalore: The German software giant, SAP, is setting up its biggest research and development laboratory in Bangalore at a cost of $125 million.

The new R&D campus in Bangalore is expected to be ready by 2003 with over 1,000 skilled developers on board. Currently, SAP has a development centre of about 450 professionals located at ITPL in Bangalore.

Besides Bangalore, SAP has four R&D centres located in Walldorf in Germany, Palo Alto in the US, Tokyo in Japan and Tel Aviv in Israel.
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Becton Dickinson forms three arms
Kolkata: Becton Dickinson has demerged its domestic business into three fully-owned subsidiaries - BD Medical Systems, BD Bio Sciences and BD Clinical Laboratory Solutions.
BD Medical Systems will now include consumer healthcare, pharmaceutical systems and ophthalmic systems and hypodermics.
BD Bio Sciences will be a provider of products and services to researchers and laboratorians around the world.
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Cosmo Films acquires 77% stake in Gujarat Propack
Mumbai: Cosmo Films Ltd has acquired 76.51 per cent stake in Gujarat Propack Ltd at Rs 87 crore. The company has acquired the stake from Mr Bharat Patel and associates of Gujarat Propack at a price of Rs 29.25 per share.

Post-acquisition, Cosmo Films would become the leading player in the domestic market, as well as in the export market for Bi-OxylatePolyPropylene (BOPP) films in India. While Cosmo Films has a stronghold in the export market with a market share of over 75 per cent, Gujarat Propack is the second largest player in the domestic market with a 27-per cent market share.
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Bilt profits flat at Rs 17 crore
New Delhi: Ballarpur Industries Ltd has reported a flat growth in net profit at Rs 17.43 crore during the first quarter ended September 30, 2001 as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Operating profit rose from Rs 72.08 crore in July-September 2000 to Rs 76.58 crore in July-September 2001. A company press release stated that the operating profit as a percentage of turnover was 19.89 per cent in the first quarter this year, an improvement over last years first quarter figure of 18.82 per cent.
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ABN Amro plans mega auto show
New Delhi: ABN Amro bank is organizing a three-day Auto Show 2001from October 19 at the Le Meridien hotel here. All major car manufacturers will participate in the show. The idea is to showcase new automobile launches and provide an overall perspective to potential customers. Also present at ABN Amro Banks Auto Show 2001 will be major car accessory manufacturers, who will display their body kits, which are custom made for specific cars, and car stereo giant Alpine, which will display its premium range here.
There will be on-the-spot loan processing, special interest rates from ABM Amro on car loans, special packages offered by various car manufacturers and dealers, on-the-spot evaluation and car exchange facility along with on-site consultancy by an auto expert on cars and car accessories.
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Sify on cost-cutting drive
Chennai: Satyam Infoway Limited (Sify) is closing down some of its non-performing web sites, while at the same time expanding into new and lucrative areas of the portal business. The company has already discontinued the Gujarati, Bengali and Kannada channels of Walletwatch.com.

The company has stopped offline advertising for the promotion of its portals. The company is now advertising only online - that too mostly across its own properties.
In addition to hiking Net access tariff and hosting charges by around 10 per cent, the companys revenue enhancing measures include getting into more lucrative areas of e-commerce like travel and auctions. It is also moving towards e-tailing more low volume-high value goods like watches, cameras, cell-phones and other gadgets.
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Hind Lever to invest Rs 75cr in factories
Kolkata: Hindustan Lever will invest Rs 175 crore this fiscal on its seven manufacturing facilities across the country. The current years investment will lead to a direct employment of 1105 people at the seven manufacturing facilities.

HLL will invest Rs 50 crore in its soap manufacturing unit in Goa, which has a 50,000 tonne capacity employing about 250 people. Rs 45 crore will be invested in the Silvassa detergent bar and powder factory; Rs 16 crore in Assams personal products units; Rs 15 crore in the detergent bar factory in U.P; and Rs 4.5 crore each in the beverage plants at Silvassa and Khalilabad.
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Amitabh to campaign for Maruti
New Delhi: Maruti has roped in Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek to endorse luxury multi-purpose vehicle, Versa, slated for launch on October 24.

This will be the first occasion when the star father-son duo will feature together.

This is also the first time that Maruti is signing on celebrities to endorse a new product.
Versa will be Indias first MPV and Maruti expects its marketing campaign to focus on the values of the new category as much as on the luxury product.
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Leyland Sept sales slip
Chennai: Ashok Leyland's September sales have declined by 23.7 per cent. Because of this, the company had to report lower sales for the first half of the current year, as compared to the same period of last year.

In September, Ashok Leyland produced 2,088 vehicles, as against 3,067 in September 2000 - a drop of 32 per cent. The company sold 2,428 vehicles in the domestic market against 3,183 vehicles in the same month last year.

Exports of passenger vehicles were also down at 363 units, as against 547.
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Godrej Consumer Q2 net at Rs 10.66 cr
Mumbai: Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) has ended the second quarter of 2001-2002 with a net profit of Rs 10.66 crore. The companys board has recommended an interim dividend of 50 per cent amounting to Rs 2 per share on every Rs 4 share. It also approved a share buyback proposal at a price not exceeding Rs 100 per share and a maximum outlay of Rs 10 crore.

During the second quarter, GCPL's toiletries sales registered a decline of 19 per cent at Rs 8.93 crore (Rs 11.05 crore). Sale of soaps rose by seven per cent to Rs 66.21 crore, hair colour by 16 per cent to Rs 24.74 crore and liquid detergents by 17 per cent to Rs 2.31 crore.
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Tata, Hitachi to part ways
Mumbai: The Tatas are planning to exit Tata Hitachi, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Tea and the Hitachi group of Japan. The joint venture was initially set up to tap the high quality Japanese tea and coffee market.

But since the Tatas have a global tea brand Tetley, the company plans to marketing it directly in Japan. The Tetley group of Britain was taken over by the Tatas last year at a cost of 271 million pounds.

The Tetley group has a strong market position in the US, Canada, Australia and eastern Europe and is a market leader in the UK and Canada.
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BATATA, BPL begin integration process
Mumbai: The Birla-AT&T-Tata combine (BATATA) and BPL Communications have begun to integrate their cellular operations ahead of signing a formal agreement.

The two cellular companies have formally begun the process of identifying common advertising agencies, pooling its advertisement requirements, sourcing technical needs, recruiting new heads in line with the merger in mind.
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