Colas declared safe; firms heave a sigh of relief
New Delhi: The Indian government has said that the tests conducted by two government laboratories have found that the samples of nine of the total 12 soft drink brands contained pesticide residue above European Union guidelines. Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj has said that only three samples of soft drinks were found to have pesticides below the limits set by the EU norms. But the 12 soft drink brands were found to meet the existing Indian norms, which have not been the bone of contention in the present controversy.

Soft drink manufacturers were recently trouble with the environmental organisation Centre For Science and Environment (CSE) revealing in its study that 12 soft drink brands belonging to the Coca-Cola and PepsiCo stable contained pesticide residues. Swaraj's statement follows sample analysis done by two laboratories: the Mysore-based Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and the Kolkata-based Central Food Laboratory (CFL). "CFTRI has reported that out of 12 samples, pesticide residues were below the EU limits in three samples. In the remaining nine, they were found above the limits. The number of times the residues are higher than the EU limits ranges from 1.6 to 5.2 whereas the CSE report alleges that the number of times the resides were higher than the EU limits range from 11 to 70 times," she said.
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Morepen repayment plan for FDs okayed
New Delhi: Morepen Laboratories Ltd (MLL) has said that the Company Law Board (CLB) has approved its repayment schedule for fixed deposit (FD) holders. As a part of its debt-restructuring plan, MLL had submitted a rescheduling plan for the fixed deposit amount to Rs 162 crore involving 80,000 deposit holders.

CLB has passed an order to approve the repayment schedule for the FD holders submitted by Morepen, after the final hearing and considering the comments or objections of holders. The rescheduling gives preference to small investors and also has a proposed additional amount of Rs 1 crore per year for hardship cases. The company has repaid deposits of over Rs 10 crore during the current financial year and as per rescheduling plan has to further pay around Rs 17 crore, it said. The approved scheme will be applicable to all fixed deposit holders of Morepen whether the individual FDs are overdue or yet to mature.
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M&M board approves bid for Valtra unit
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its board has authorised submission of an offer for buying the tractor business of Valtra Oy AB, Finland, and Valtra do Brasil Ltd, Brazil. Earlier M&M had said it will not be bidding for the Punjab government's 23.5-per cent equity stake in Punjab Tractors Ltd (PTL).

But later, on 28 July, Keshub Mahindra, chairman, told shareholders that M&M is in talks with the Finnish company Valtra Tractors for a possible investment. Valtra, which has been manufacturing tractors since 1951 (the origins of M&M's tractor business goes back to the 1963 joint venture, called International Tractor Company of India [ITCI] between itself, International Harvester Inc and Voltas Ltd), has two tractor plants in Finland and Brazil.
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Chhabrias to make open offer for 20% Herbertsons stake
Mumbai: The Chhabrias (Kishore Chhabria and M D Chhabria) have decided to make an open offer to buy 20 per cent of the paid-up capital in liquor company Herbertsons Ltd at Rs 90.50 per share. The offer opens on 3 October and closes on 1 November. Lazard India are managers of the offer. The announcement follows a 1 August Securities Appellate Tribunal directive asking the Chhabrias to make an offer to acquire 19,04,485 equity shares in Herbertsons.

The Chhabrias currently hold over 49 per cent in Herbertsons through Veneer Investment & Finance Pvt Ltd, Algid Investment & Finance Pvt Ltd, Airedale Trading Pvt Ltd and IMFA Holdings Pvt Ltd among others. SAT has directed the Chhabrias to pay 15 per cent interest per annum from February 24, 1995 till the date of actual payment of consideration for shares to be tendered in the offer, only to those persons who were holding share of Herbertsons as on January 25, 1995 and continue to be shareholders.
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Ranbaxy gets USFDA license for Loratadine
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (RLL) has said that it has received the green signal from US Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and commercialise its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Loratadine 10 mg tablets, an anti-allergy drug. Loratadine is the generic equivalent of Claritin, the anti-histamine from Schering Corporation and only recently Loratadine had made the switch from being an ethical or prescription drug to an OTC (over-the-counter) drug.

Ranbaxy's Loratadine Tablets, 10 mg, was cleared as a bioequivalent of Claritin Tablets, 10 mg, of Schering Corporation. Claritin is said to have a combined (prescription and over-the-counter) annual sales of $944 million. The product is indicated for the relief of nasal and non-nasal symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis. Loratadine will be launched in the OTC market by Ohm Laboratories Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc (RPI), the communiqué said.
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Bachchan brand ambassador for Nerolac Paints
Mumbai: Goodlass Nerolac Paints has signed in matinee idol Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador. "The brand essence stresses on the fact that our products touch people in every sphere of their lives," says Anuj Jain, vice-president (marketing and sales). The advertisement for this strategy will use the line, 'Yeh Rang Hai Jo Har Kisi Ko Chhoota Hai'. The advertisement with Bachhan will also help the company to position itself in the decorative paints segment.

"Goodlass Nerolac has decided to concentrate on decorative segment without losing focus on industrial segment," says H M Bharuka, managing director. Currently, decorative paints account for 55 per cent of the company's turnover. Bharuka says his company is expected to turn out fairly good performance during the second quarter of the current fiscal. The topline growth will be driven by continuing demand for paints further augmented by the feel good factor ushered in by satisfactory monsoon. "The paint industry which is worth Rs 6,000 crore has had a compound annual growth rate of eight per cent. This is one industry where growth has been sustained."
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Chandras Chemical to make footwear adhesives
Chennai: Chandras Chemical Enterprises, a part of the Kolkata-based PC Chandra group, complying with Euro norms, plans to get into adhesives with water-based chemistry for the footwear, automobile and leather goods sectors, said Monojit Mukerjee, CEO. The reason that the company is planning to comply is that Indian exporters in this sector have to meet these standards.

Chandras Chemical plans to enter into technical collaboration with a foreign company for this purpose. Mukerjee, speaking at a press conference to launch the Dendrite adhesive tube in Tamil Nadu, said the product is being sourced by global footwear majors such as Nike and Reebok and by Indian subsidiaries of automobile companies such as Toyota, GM and Hyundai. The company has two factories in Kolkata and manufactures and markets a variety of synthetic adhesives based on polychloroprene, polyurethane, epoxy, lamination and other elastomers.
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HPCL to select consultant for forward trading in crude
Mumbai: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) will soon select a consultant to help it draft a risk management policy for forward trading in crude oil. Several top global consultants are understood to be in the race to advise the company on complex hedging mechanisms. Sources were quoted as saying that half-a-dozen global consultants, including Deloitte Touche Tohamatsu and Ernst & Young, have made presentations to the company.

The process of selecting consultants and putting the risk management policy in place is expected to take a couple of months. Reliance Industries is currently the only Indian company that hedges crude transactions. Among state-owned oil companies, Indian Oil Corporation and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation have been permitted to put up oil trading and risk management desk.
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Proton's India plans put on hold
Kolkata: Proton, a Malaysian automobile leader, has put on hold its plans to seeking a presence in India. Some years ago the Malaysian company had initiated discussions with prospective partner Hindustan Motors Ltd (HM) of the CK Birla group with a view to selling Proton cars in India.

Talking to newspersons after the conclusion of HM's 61st annual general meeting held here on Thursday, A Sankaranarayanan, managing director of HM, said Proton has put on hold its plans to enter the Indian market. Discussions in this regard were held earlier between HM and Proton. Among other things, it had been proposed that Proton cars will be imported to India as completely knocked down kits before being assembled and sold here.
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