Hindustan Lever takes on Barons with modern biscuit
New Delhi: The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) player Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) is munching the crunchy for the Rs 2,500-crore biscuits market. In a quiet move, the company has made a foray into the ‘conventional’ biscuits market by launching a traditional glucose biscuit under its acquired bakery brand Modern. HLL also launched its first indigenous fruit-cream biscuit brand under its Kissan franchise, recently. However, the launch of a glucose biscuit by HLL is much more significant since it brings the company in direct competition with the big biscuit barons like Britannia Industries Ltd and Parle Biscuits Ltd. A low value-added product, glucose biscuit segment forms a huge 60 per cent of the branded biscuit market. While glucose is still just over 22 per cent of Britannia’s biscuit portfolio, the comparable figure for Parle is about 80 per cent.
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Eveready Inds to source flashlights from SSIs to head off competition
Kolkata: Eveready Industries India Ltd of BM Khaitan is taking new initiatives in its lighting products division to counter the influx of cheap flashlights which are flooding the market. The company is planning to source flashlights from a few small-scale industry (SSI) units spread across the country and price it attractively to directly take on the competition. Eveready Lighting Products Division vice-president (V-P) Subir Chaki said that the company was already in talks with seven SSIs across India and would soon offer a cheap flashlight for the Indian consumers. “We have identified seven such SSIs in West Bengal, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and have formed a core team which is working closely with these SSIs. We will soon offer two models of torches for Rs 40 each with two D-sized and AA batteries, depending on the models. We hope that this product will explode the market,” Chaki said. The company has also strengthened its R&D unit to cater to the lower end of the market, Mr Chaki added.
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BEL targets Rs 5,000-cr turnover in tenth plan
Bangalore: The public sector defence major Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) is targeting a turnover of Rs 5,000 crore and net profit of Rs 500 crore by the end of the 10th Plan period 2006-07. Making a presentation during the launch of BEL’s golden jubilee celebrations here, BEL chairman and managing director (CMD) VK Koshy said the company also plans to increase its export revenue to Rs 500 crore during the period. During the just concluded fiscal, BEL had recorded a turnover of Rs 2,571 crore and a net profit of Rs 275 crore. The company’s exports during FY 2003 was to the tune of Rs 50 crore.
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SC not to intervene in Parke Davis & Pfizer merger issue
New Delhi: The merger of Indian subsidiaries of Parke Davis and Pfizer, following global amalgamation of the two pharma giants, is delayed with the Supreme court refusing to entertain a petition challenging a Bombay High Court order staying the merger process. A bench comprising Justice RC Lahoti and Justice Ashok Bhan last week refused to interfere with the interim order of the High Court of March 13 staying the merger process and dismissed the appeal filed by Parke Davis. A single judge of the High Court had approved the scheme of amalgamation of Parke Davis (India) Ltd into Pfizer Ltd on February 7, 2003. This order was challenged by a shareholder of Parker Davis (India) before the division bench of the high court alleging certain statutory irregularities in the amalgamation.
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Shaw Wallace plans Rs 500 cr investment
Mumbai: Shaw Wallace & Co Ltd, the country’s leading manufacturer of alcoholic beverages, plans to invest Rs 500 crore in the next two years. The company will be expanding its brewing and distillery capacities. After the launch of Royal Challenge Student Fashion Awards (RCSFA), Jumbo Group COO P Nanani said, “At present the group is focussing on consolidating and expanding the liquor business in India. The company will be investing for mainly expanding the capacity of liquor and beer and much of the expansion will be through greenfield projects.” In order to consolidate its core business of alcoholic beverages, Shaw Wallace undertook a major restructuring-cum-reorganisation exercise. The aim is to consolidate existing businesses to maximise market shares and profits. As recommended by McKinsey, the alcoholic beverages business has been reorganised into separate entities for sharper focus on the core lines of liquor and beer and with a view to forge alliances with international majors in each product category. Shaw Wallace Distilleries Ltd looks after all liquor sales and marketing activities. All liquor manufacturing units have been brought under the umbrella of Maharashtra Distilleries Led.
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Glaxo may mop up Rs 160 crore by sale of non-core assets
New Delhi: GlaxoSmithKline India is expected to raise about Rs 160 crore after selling some of its non-core assets like real estate, and will be leasing out 50,000 square feet prime office space owned by it in Bangalore shortly. The company’s topline is expected to get a further boost with the launch of four new drugs and a vaccine this year. It also boasts of a strong pipeline with 35 vaccines at various stages of research. To manage the real estate that it wants to sell and lease, Glaxo has appointed multinational real estate consultants Jones Lang LaSalle according to the company spokesperson. “We have land in Worli in Mumbai which is up for sale. Prospective buyers have been given up to May 15 to submit their non-binding bids and a decision will take some time after that. We have also leased out a 50,000 square feet building owned by us in a prime location in Bangalore and would be announcing the details in about a month,” he said.
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Gail’s DVPL project readies for LNG transfer from PLL
New Delhi: Gail India Ltd has decided to synchronise its LNG evacuation facility with the commencement of production from the LNG terminal of Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) in Dahej. The Dahej-Vijaipur pipeline (DVPL) of Gail will evacuate 20 MMSCMD of re-gasified LNG from Petronet LNG’s terminal and transport the same to Vijaipur. From Vijaipur the gas will be further distributed in states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and NCR of Delhi through Gail’s existing pipeline systems. A company’s press release said, “The work on the DVPL project of Gail is progressing steadily and is expected to be completed within the target schedule. The 612-km long and 42-inch diameter pipeline project is being undertaken at an investment of approximately Rs 2,936 crore and has a gas handling capacity of 24 MMSCMD”.
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IOC plans launch of Sri Lanka petrol station network in May
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will open its first petrol station in Sri Lanka this month and expects to renew a $100-million deal to supply diesel and jet fuel to the island, a company official in Colombo said on Tuesday. The company bought 100 petrol stations from state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp (CPC) last year and plans to have them all revamped by early next year. “It will have a convenience store and an ATM,” M Nageswaran, managing director of Lanka IOC (Pvt) Ltd, a unit of IOC, said.
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Maruti Udyog’s domain name freed from cyber squatter
New Delhi: In a major relief to India’s largest car maker Maruti Udyog Ltd, Wipo, an apex body of arbitration and mediation, has evicted a US-based NRI cyber squatter from using the domain name “maruti.com” Directing the cyber squatter, Tella Rao, to transfer maruti.com to MUL, a three-member Wipo panel held that the impugned domain name was registered and used by the NRI in “bad faith”, MUL advocate said in a release. The international panel consisting of David Perkins (UK), Sir Ian Barker (New Zealand) and Pavan Duggal (India) held that the disputed domain was deceptively similar to MUL’s trade mark Maruti. It was in the second attempt at Wipo that MUL succeeded in getting back the domain which was registered by the NRI on March 22, 1999, the release said.
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Microsoft India scripts mega expansion plan
New Delhi: Microsoft has chalked out a string of ambitious plans for its India operations. The software giant will offshore internal software development to Hyderabad and start providing support for its products and services on a global basis from Bangalore.
Having earmarked about Rs 2,000 crore (its largest investment outside US, excluding manufacturing activities) in three years, Microsoft has already spend over $50 million in the country in last 6 months. “We have already invested more than $50 million and are on track with our investment plans announced earlier,’’ says Rajiv Kaul, managing director, Microsoft (India).
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DD gets exclusive rights to telecast French Open
New Delhi: Doordarshan has tied up with London-based Ray Media Limited — a Company floated by former CNN South Asia Bureau chief, Ashis Ray — to telecast live the semi-finals and finals of the French Open tennis championships for three years, starting this year between June 5 and 8. Under the agreement signed on Tuesday, all matches including the men’s doubles and mixed doubles finals will be telecast on DD- (national) and DD-2 (Metro). The rights vested with Ray Media has been licensed exclusively for terrestrial transmission as the Grand Slam is ‘listed’ meaning it can be telecast only on terrestrial channels, explained Ray. Repeat telecasts, if any, also have to be on DD1 and DD2 only.
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Post CAS, Sony expects 40 per cent drop in revenue
New Delhi: Sony Entertainment Television may face up to a 40 per cent drop in revenues in the immediate aftermath of the implementation of the conditional access system in the four metros from July 14th onwards. However, any blip in revenue would be temporary and the channel expects a substantial jump in subscription revenue in the long run under the CAS regime, said senior company executives. "There are concerns about availability of set top box and ability of some viewers to pay for the service," said Sunil Lulla, executive vice-president, Sony Entertainment Television.
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Thumbs up: Coke posts first net profit
New Delhi: Coke has finally got its local act right. For the first time, the Atlanta-based cola major has posted a net profit in India, in excess of Rs 150 crore (on a turnover of Rs 5,000 crore) in calendar year ‘02. The net profit takes into account the money made by the two operating companies — Coca-Cola India (CCI) which manufactures soft drink concentrate and Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), the bottling subsidiary. While CCI has made some money in the past, the loss-laden bottling subsidiary was pulling down overall profits. “It seems Coke has finally got a grip on the bottling subsidiary which has made profits for the first time last year,” say sources.
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BSNL, MTNL roll back phone tariffs partially
New Delhi: Bowing to political pressure, both Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) have partially rolled back their landline tariff rates including free-calls that would cause them a revenue loss of Rs 3,616 crore in the current fiscal. Announcing this on Tuesday in the presence of the Union Communications Minister, Arun Shourie, the BSNL Chairman, Prithipal Singh, noted that landline to cellular calls in the non-metros will now be charged on a 60 second pulse basis instead of 30 second pulse that was announced earlier. What is more, the number of free calls available to subscribers in urban areas has been reverted to 50 from 30 and in rural areas to 75 from 50.
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Reliance Info eyes US market for data services
Mumbai: Relaince Infocomm Ltd is planning to take its broadband and data services to the US, specifically, once its enterprise and consumer netways are rolled out in India. These netways plan to connect millions of commercial buildings as individual homes with the help of an Ethernet 100 mbps network across the country, allowing for delivery of such diverse services as online shopping, provision of television channels, video-and audio streaming and films-on demand. These services can be provided in the US as well, where Reliance Infocomm has the necessary telecom license and has its switches already operational.
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Tata Chem to pay 55 pc
Mumbai: Tata Chemicals Ltd on Tuesday informed that its board had decided on an interim dividend of 55 per cent for the financial year 2003. "This amounts to a total dividend payout of Rs 112 crore, which is 57 per cent of the company's PAT of Rs 197 crore,'' an official statement said.
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Calcutta HC sets aside notice against Mallya
Kolkata: A Division Bench of Calcutta High Court comprising Justice D.K. Seth and Justice R.N. Sinha set aside a notice issued by the Asst. Commissioner -- Investigation Circle 4 (1) Calcutta U/s 154 of the I.T. Act, 1961 dated January 9, 1996 against Vijay Mallya, a noted industrialist. By this notice, the income tax authority assessed that Mallya was a resident of India for the years 1992-93 and 1993-94 because he had been out of India for less than 182 days in each year. The statute says that a person who lives outside India for more than 182 days for employment or any other purpose can be treated as non-resident Indian and his assessment of income tax shall be done accordingly.
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KRL to resume supply to FACT as standoff ends
Kochi: The standoff between Kochi Refineries Ltd (KRL) and Fertiliser and Chemical Travancore Ltd (FACT) appears to have reached an amicable conclusion with the former agreeing in principle to resume supply of raw materials, naphtha, fuel oil and benzene to the company. Confirming this, . P.R. Balasubrmaniam, CMD, FACT, said that the company would commence operations from May 15.
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Penal provisions in Companies Bill irks ICAI
New Delhi: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) plans to wave the `enforceability' card to dissuade the Government from introducing penal provisions on auditors in the proposed amendments to the Companies Act, 1956. "The proposed penal provisions are an area of concern for us. As we see it, the main problem is enforcement. A lot of suggestions on penal provisions would flow in that direction," the ICAI President, R. Bupathy, said, when asked to comment about the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2003.
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i-manager to open operations in Muscat, Lanka
Thiruvanathapuram: I-manager, a Thiruvananthapuram-based organisation imparting skill-based management training, is expanding operations to Muscat and Sri Lanka. According to Joe Winston, Chief Executive Officer, i-manager is tying up with leading players such as Spectrum in Colombo and Al-Miri Technologies in Muscat for opening the new ventures in the respective countries.
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M&M opens second assembly plant in US
Mumbai: Responding to rising US demand for its tractors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), USA, has opened a second assembly plant and distribution centre in Calhoum, Georgia. This centre is expected to strengthen the company's presence in the US market and supplement its operational unit situated in Tomball Texas. This facility will serve the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina,, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Vermont.
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