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SWC
chalks out 3-year growth strategy to promote its brands
Kolkata: Liquor major Shaw Wallace & Co Ltd
(SWC) has charted out an aggressive three-year growth
strategy to push its liquor brands further in the IMFL
market. The company is re-designing its liquor brands
and has also embarked upon an “educative programme”
to popularise consumption of wines in India. SWC has roped
in consulting house McKinsey to draft a blueprint for
its growth strategy which will aim at bolstering the company’s
marketshare in the 850 lakh cases IMFL industry in India.
According to industry sources, SWC’s new-look strategy
will dwell upon enhancing its brand equity in the premium
segment, creating brand extensions in deluxe and prestige
segments and trading in products from international spirits
and wine majors including vodkas, Scotch whiskies and
wines. SWC has recently entered into a mega deal with
the world’s second largest beer company SABMiller
Plc to fortify its beer business. The merger of the two
beer majors’ operations in India has already made
SWC the largest beer manufacturer with a marketshare of
around 35 per cent in the rapidly growing beer market.
For the road ahead, the company is planning to leverage
on its traditional brand building capabilities for increasing
the appeal and market shares of existing best sellers
as well as leveraging on its countrywide distribution
network for trading brands manufactured by international
spirits majors.
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Kronotex
Fussoboden sets up 100 per cent Indian subsidiary
New Delhi: Germany-based laminated flooring major
Kronotex Fussoboden GmbH & Co has entered the Indian
market with a wholly owned subsidiary ‘Kronotex (India)
Ltd. The company is looking at setting up a manufacturing
plant in India to cater to the markets of India, South
Asia and Australia markets. Kronotex India CEO Vijay K
Sharma said that the company would set up a 5 million
square meter a year laminated floor plant in India with
an investment of over Rs 50 crore by the year 2005. This
will be in addition to the immediate investment of $2
million in Indian operations, largely towards marketing.
Adds Sharma: ‘‘Currently, Kronotex has a 500
million a year plant in Germany. It has plans to set up
one plant each in the US and India now.’’ Kronotex,
which has begun its operations with a test phase sales
of Rs 2 crore, has not yet finalised the manufacturing
location. With a local manufacturing facility, the company
hopes to cut its costs significantly from Rs 150-160 to
per square feet to Rs 70-Rs 70 per square feet. Says Sharma:
‘‘Under the proposed plan, we would save on
customs duty of 52 per cent. However, we will have to
import paper (laminated sheet) from Germany
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Welspun-Gujarat
to prepay IFCI loan
New Delhi: Welspun-Gujarat Stahl Rohren, a company
of the Rs 1500-crore Welspun group, has finalised pre-payment
of its entire Rs 100-crore rupee term loans to Industrial
Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) at a reduced interest
rate of 12.50 per cent instead of the existing rate of
16 per cent. The company has also bagged pipeline orders
worth $102 million (Rs 480 crore) from Iran: a $52 million
(Rs 245 crore) order from Petroiran Development Company
for supply of 247 kms pipeline of 30-inch diameter for
the Salman oil and gas field integrated development project
in the Persian Gult and a $50 million (Rs 235 crore) order
from National Iranian Gas Company for 100 kms of 56-inch
diameter pipes for its IGAT-IV project. The prepayment
of loan to IFCI would result in substantial interest cost
saving of Rs 12 crore in the current financial year ending
March 2004. Welspun’s vice-chairman and managing
director BK Goenka said the loans were being repaid from
the company’s own resources. “The company’s
healthy order book position and excellent profitability
has enabled us to repay the loans without additional borrowings,”
he said.
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DPC
lenders mull asset, equity sale
Mumbai: The Dabhol offshore lenders led by the
US government promoted Overseas Private Investment Corporation
(OPIC) and the Indian lenders are currently closetted
in London to look into the possibility of an early revival
of the distressed project through equity or asset sales.
The meet deserves importance especially when the foreign
lenders have already initiated arbitration proceedings
against their Indian counterparts for blocking the funds
from pursuing rights embodied in the financing documents.
Institutional sources told that Indian lenders led by
IDBI with an exposure of Rs 2,121 crore of the total Rs
6,200 crore has been favouring Dabhol asset sale while
offshore lenders have been pitching for equity sale. IDBI
chairman PP Vora, executive director AK Doda and its legal
advisor GM Ramamurthy, who are leading the Indian lenders’
team, are expected to argue for an early revival of Dabhol
power generation with the active association of GE and
Bechtel, which hold 10 per cent stakes each in the now-fallen
Dabhol Power Company (DPC). The Indian lenders have been
of the view that the resumption of power generation and
the subsequent offtake by MSEB would start revenue mobilisation.
Sources said that such an arrangement would be for a year
on ad hoc basis and during which Dabhol asset sale can
be pursued.
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Sandvik
Asia gearing up to bid for core projects
Pune: Sandvik Asia Ltd is all set to grab a piece
of action on the the golden quadrilateral front and other
infrastructure upgradation projects in the ports, iron
and steel and power sector in the country. Sandvik added
a new manufacturing unit for production of rock processing
plants and equipment at its Pune facility. The unit will
produce equipment for mining and construction industry
such as crushers, screens, feeders, mobile crushing and
screening equipment. This unit has come as a result of
a global acquisition by Sandvik AB. With this addition
Sandvik would be able to offer the mining and construction
industries the complete process chain from drilling to
loading to crushing, screening and conveying. Sandvik,
through its Mining and Construction business area, acquired
parts Swedala Industri AB from Finnish company, Metso
Corporation. Swedala’s Indian operation was headquartered
in Gurgaon while it had manufacturing units in Sweden
and France. This is the first manufacturing unit in India.
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Bank
account of Nicco Park attached over tax dues
Jamshedpur: The Jharkhand commercial taxes department
has attached the bank account of Nicco Jubilee Park Ltd
(NJPL) here for non-payment of entertainment tax, including
penalty, to the tune of Rs 5.88 crore. NJPL, a joint venture
between Nicco Parks & Resorts Ltd and seven to eight
other partners including Tata Steel, has been running
the Jubilee Amusement Park here since June 2001. According
to senior officials of the commercial taxes department
here, the government had slapped a 110 per cent entertainment
tax on NJPL after four months of its operation in accordance
with the state Entertainment Tax Act. A senior commercial
taxes official Wednesday told that a notice was served
on the company in April this year, giving it 45 days’
time to pay up a sum of Rs 5.88 crore, which included
the entertainment tax dues up to March 2003 and penalty.
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US
Power majors to divest stake in Neyveli Project
Bangalore: The US power major CMS Energy and ABB
Energy Ventures plan to divest their stakes in the $320-million
lignite-fired 250 MW power project in Neyveli in Tamil
Nadu. Andhra Pradesh-based GMR Group appears to be front
runner for taking over the combined stakes of the joint
venture partners. Both CMS and ABB have 50 per cent stake
each in the venture which was commissioned in December
last. The equity of both the companies in the venture
is estimated to be Rs 420 crore. But sources said that
the takeover may take place at a lower price than this.
“GMR Group is getting due diligence and valuation
of the project. A price will be arrived at on the basis
of this exercise”, sources added. The Rs 2,500-crore
GMR group has stakes in power sector, infrastructure,
IT and agri-business. It owns the 220 MW barge mounted
Tanir Bavi project in Karnataka. The company also has
26 per cent stake in GMR Vasavi, a 200 MW power project
in Tamil Nadu. Incidentally CMS had 49 per cent stake
in the venture and it had initiated discussions with GMR
and other stake holder Energy Equity Corporation of Australia
to divest its stake in favour of them.
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SCI
Q4 net zooms 309 per cent to Rs 127 cr
Mumbai: Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has
reported a 309 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 127.49
crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2003, as
compared to Rs 31.17 crore during the corresponding quarter
last year. Net sales moved up by 10.78 per cent to Rs
690.97 crore from Rs 623.71 crore last year. The increase
in profits could not be entirely attributed to the company’s
performance since a number of adjustments pertaining to
claims and provision have been written back, SCI officials
said. SCI scrip at the Bombay Stock Exchange opened at
Rs 73.45 per share and touched a high of Rs 75 per share
before closing at Rs 73.80, registering a 0.48 per cent
increase over previous day’s close.
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Shriram
group to invest Rs 60 cr in wind power
Chennai: The Chennai-based Shriram group intends
to invest at least Rs 60 crore in the current year in
wind power. The investment was being made both because
of the tax benefit (80 per cent depreciation in the first
year), as well as the "attractive returns" post
payback period, Shriram Investment Ltd's General Manager,
N. Mani, told on Tuesday. The investment would be spread
across the three finance companies of the group, viz.,
Shriram Investments Ltd, Shriram Transport Finance Ltd
and Shriram City Union Finance Ltd, Mani said. All the
three are listed companies. The group has already invested
in wind power — it has 16 windmills in Tamil Nadu
and another 17 in Karnataka, with a total installed capacity
of about 15 MW.
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Tata
Steel to explore exports of Steelium
New Delhi: Tata Steel which recently launched the
first branded cold-rolled steel in the country, namely
Steelium, will also start exploring the possibility of
exporting the product. "Though we are still catering
to the domestic market, in the second half we will start
exploring the possibility of exporting our branded cold-rolled
steel," Ramesh Mani, chief (Sales flat products),
said here.
The company was expecting to generate a revenue of around
Rs 1,000 crore this year from Steelium and a total of
Rs 2,000 crore from all branded steel items, Mani said.
Regarding introduction of more branded items, Mani said
the company was yet to decide on the issue and would have
to examine what would be best for growth. The company
currently has four brands. Mani said the expansion of
the branded market could take three routes. "Either
the company can extend the existing brands, introduce
new brands or can even consolidate only on the existing
brands," he said and added that the exercise to identify
the right way would be taken up soon.
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ICSI
meet to discuss Cos Bill
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Chapter of the Institute
of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is organising a
day-long seminar on `An analysis of Companies (Amendment)
Bill, 2003,' here on June 29. In a press release here,
the chapter's chairman, P.S. Shastry, said the seminar
would be of immense benefit to company secretaries and
corporate professionals. Aimed at providing new measures
of corporate governance and investor protection, a comprehensive
Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha in 1997 to consolidate
and amend the law relating to companies and certain other
associations. Subsequently, some of the provisions contained
in the Companies Bill, 1997 were enacted by the Companies
(Amendment) Act, 1999 and Companies (Amendment) Act, 2000.
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Greaves
to divest 23.67 pc stake in Crompton
Mumbai: Greaves Ltd has decided to divest its 23.67
per cent shareholding in Crompton Greaves to the B.M.
Thapar group, Indian promoter of the company. The company
is also planning to acquire Pembrill Engineering Pvt Ltd
and Pembrill Industrial & Engineering Company Pvt
Ltd. Greaves did not reveal financial details of both
these deals. Greaves said in a notice to the stock exchanges
that it would divest its shareholding of 1.24-crore equity
shares in Crompton Greaves to the Thapar group. The company
had earlier transferred the voting rights of these shares
to Thapar group, pursuant to Thapar Family Settlement,
it said.
Greaves would also merge its investment firms - Rajpath
Investment Ltd and Carnation Investment Ltd - with Greaves
Lease Finance Ltd, (GLF) a 100 per cent subsidiary. The
merger is with effect from July 1, 2003, subject to mandatory
and regulatory approvals, the statement said. The company
also informed the stock exchanges that it is planning
to close its subsidiary Sidvim AG, Liechtenstein, Vaduz.
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Madras
Fertilizer submits recast plan to govt
Chennai: Madras Fertilizer Ltd hopes to push through
a financial restructuring proposal with the government
of India, financial institutions and banks, even while
enhancing efficiencies, which have contributed to its
turnaround and Rs 4 crore profit in 2002-03.
According
to Sukumar N. Oommen, chairman and managing director,
MFL, it has submitted a proposal to the Government for
capital restructuring involving waiver of interest of
Rs 71 crore up to March 31, 2002. It also hopes to bring
down its interest rate to 5-8 per cent from the current
levels of 14-15 per cent. The total loan outstanding with
the Government is about Rs 220 crore. The company has
settled a loan with National Fertilizers Ltd through a
one-time settlement of Rs 65 crore, he said. The company
is also banking on a capital debt restructure with the
financial institutions and banks involving waiver of penal
interest and softening of interest rates to 8-10 per cent
from the prevailing 13.5 per cent. These institutions
had responded with a one-time settlement scheme that was
not acceptable to MFL, which has asked them to reconsider
their decision. MFL owes them over Rs 300 crore, which
includes Rs 138 crore to the banks and Rs 160 crore to
financial institutions. The banks will also have to consider
enhancing cash credit limits, he said.
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Saregama
board approves new recast scheme
Kolkata: The board of Saregama India Ltd (SIL),
which met here on Wednesday, approved a scheme of arrangement
for reconstruction of the company and extension of the
financial year from March 31 to June 30. Company sources
said that the accounting year was being extended in view
of the proposed merger of the TV software/film production
operations and creation of Saregama Films Ltd. The new
company, which was created only sometime ago for film
production, will now look after the software business
and also take over the investment in the South-based TV
software business which had been acquired by SIL. The
rationale for the demerger is that TV software and film
business have different funding needs in terms of separate
lines of credit.
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HPCL
due diligence may begin in Aug
New Delhi: The Indian government is expected to
begin due diligence for a stake sale in the cash-rich
state-run oil refinery, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
Limited (HPCL), in August, a senior disinvestment ministry
official said on Wednesday .
The official added that work on the initial public offering
(IPO) for Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) would start
next week and advisors to the public issue are likely
to be appointed by then. The official, who did not wish
to be identified, said the government will wrap up the
stake sale in HPCL by November. (Reuters)
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US
Parent to buy Glibenclamide from
Aventis Pharma’s Ankleshwar unit
Mumbai: Aventis Pharma’s Ankleshwar unit will
be the sourcing base for the parent company’s worldwide
requirement of glibenclamide — the active ingredient
in Daonil. The Indian arm will incur a capital expenditure
of Rs 12.5 crore to enhance and upgrade the Ankleshwar
plant to enable it in getting US FDA approval. This comes
even as the Indian subsidiary is preparing itself to export
Daonil to Western Europe from its Goa facility. The capital
expenditure of Rs 12.5 crore would be incurred over a
period of three years, Aventis Pharma director SR Gupte
said. He said this while addressing the firm’s annual
general meeting. Gupte chaired the meeting in the absence
of Dr Vijay Mallya, who reached late.
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Rabo
arranges $10-m ECB for BILT Graphics
Mumbai: Rabo India Finance has arranged a $10-million
external commercial borrowing (ECB) for BILT Graphics,
a subsidiary of Ballarpur Industries Ltd. The ECB, which
has a tenor of 5 years, has been placed with Rabobank
International, Singapore, a press release here said. BILT
Graphics will use the proceeds of the issue to pre-pay
part of its existing high-cost debt. The company will
be merged with its parent, Ballarpur Industries, in order
to consolidate its paper assets under a common entity.
BILT's turnover as a result of the consolidation will
be in excess of Rs 2,000 crore, the release added.
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Coates
to set up graphic arts unit
Kolkata: Coates of India Ltd, now a part of the
giant DIC (Dainippon Inks & Chemicals) Group of Japan,
has planned to set up a new plant in Bangalore for some
of its specialised Graphic Arts products. The production
unit of Coates Coatings India Ltd (CCIL), a subsidiary
of Coates, is now located in the Garden City, and an additional
plant is expected give a boost to the company's emerging
range of new products, courtesy its Japanese parent. Coates
now has units in eight locations, with the latest unit
coming up in Noida (in UP) (for cold-set colour inks)
to mainly cater to the printing ink needs of newspapers
located in the Hindi-speaking belt of North India. The
Rs 5-crore Noida unit is expected to begin commercial
production from July 15.
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ITC
enters into pact to offer vocational training to villagers
Bangalore: The tobacco and agri-business major,
ITC, has struck an alliance for a cause that will help
in creating vocational opportunities for the village youth.
As per the deal, Vyakti Vikas Kendra, India (VVKI), a
charitable non-profit organisation founded by Sri Ravishankar
of the Art of Living, would get ITC'ssupport in training
village youth in agarbatti rolling. An `agarbatti community
participation programme' has been formed, which will dovetail
VVKI's mission of conducting service projects in and around
villages to make the youth economically and social self-reliant.
The project would motivate the villagers to create self-help
groups, to promote sustainable economic development through
vocational training and village-level entrepreneurship.
The youth service projects are currently in progress in
143 countries
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Glenmark
Inc ties up with Lannett
Mumbai: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc, the wholly-owned
subsidiary of the Mumbai-based pharma company, Glenmark
Pharmaceuticals Ltd has entered into a marketing alliance
with Philadelphia-based Lannett Company Inc. According
to the agreement, Lannett Company will market the ANDAs
(Abbreviated New Drug Applications) that Glenmark USA
will file over the next two years. The company is expected
to file five ANDAs, one of which will be filed by the
end of the current fiscal, a press release said here on
Tuesday. Glenn Saldanha, managing director and chief executive
officer, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, said, "Partnering
with Lannett is part of our strategic initiative to augment
presence in the US market. Lannett's operations will perfectly
complement our US subsidiary's business of facilitating
filing of ANDAs and marketing finished formulations in
the US."
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Eveready
gets health & safety certification
Hyderabad: Everready Industries India Ltd (EIIL)
has announced that that it has become the first dry cell
manufacturing company to receive the occupational health
and safety assessment (OHSAD) 18001 certification for
its Hyderabad unit. In a press release here on Wednesday,
the company said an internationally recognised occupational
health and safety management standard, the OHSAS-18001,
offers a structured approach to developing, maintaining
and continually improving occupational health and safety.
At present, EIIL is the market leader in the dry-cell
battery and flashlight industry in the country. The company's
range of products includes Eveready batteries, alkaline
batteries, flashlights and rechargeables, pocket tea under
Greendale brand and bulk tea.
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Assam
Carbon plans expansion
Hyderabad: With firm plans to invest Rs 16 crore
in expansion of capacities in its two plants at Guwahati,
Assam and at Patancheru in Andhra Pradesh, Assam Carbon
Products Ltd (ASPL) is set to emerge as a global supplier
for the $1-billion Morgan group of the UK. The expansion
plan to be implemented over the next two years includes
installing new equipment such as a sophisticated press
and kilning at Guwahati and a CNC machine facility at
Patancheru, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, according to
Rakesh Himatsingka, chairman of ASPL.
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Leyland
to enter auto parts sector
Chennai: Ashok Leyland Ltd has chalked out plans
to enter into auto components business. "I am convinced
that we have a role to play here," Ashok Leyland's
managing director, R. Seshasayee, told on Wednesday. The
company had made a beginning "in terms of exploration
and trial orders", but the business would grow into
a significant size in the next two to three years, he
said.
The decision to get into auto components and aggregates
(like engines) has also been driven by the existence of
surplus capacity and manpower with the company. For example,
the company has a press shop in Hosur-II, which has a
considerable spare capacity. The company's annual report
for 2002-03 speaks of the feasibility of supplying components
and aggregates to clients both "in India and overseas".
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Reliance
Info targets land-line users with fixed wireless phone
Mumbai: In a major move with which Reliance Infocomm
will take on MTNL landline phones, the company is planning
to launch a CDMA fixed wireless phone (FWP). The new initiative
is specifically aimed at the existing land-line subscribers
in the metropolis and will be on a door-to-door campaign
basis. The set is being manufactured by LG and will involve
an initial one-time charge of Rs 3,800. This will comprise
an initial deposit of Rs 3,000 and an activation charge
of Rs 800, say company sources. The model is LSP-340 E
and the technology involved is the LG-CDMA 2000 technology.
While Reliance has initiated bookings under this new scheme,
the official launch is tentatively slated for July 1.
When contacted, a Reliance Infocomm spokesperson declined
to comment. However, a Reliance Infocomm source involved
with the roll-out, has said the service will be within
the Mumbai city limits. The company has decided to adopt
word-of-mouth publicity for this initiative. A sizeable
number of Reliance executives has already been given the
phone for home use.
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