Titan to infuse additional equity capital next year
Bangalore: Titan Industries is planning to infuse additional equity capital in the next calendar year, top company officials were quoted as saying. The fresh round of equity funding will come from the current promoters, the Tata group and Tidco, and the share of the promoters' holdings is likely to stay unchanged post-capital injection, acording to Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhat. But he did not give details about the corpus of such capital injection. "We feel there is increasing possibility to infuse funds in a manner acceptable to both the parties. We planned the capital infusion early next calendar but now we are bit uncertain. Such injection is likely to be a bit delayed in the year.

At present, Titan's paid-up equity capital stands at Rs 42.48 crore and preference share capital was Rs 40 crore. The new round of equity capital will help Titan improve its debt-equity ratio, said chief operating officer (watch division) Bijou Kurian. The company has Rs 467.05 crore of debts on its books as on 31 March 2003. Controlling the debts has been a challenge for the company but cost control and drive towards increased productivity has helped boosting the operational efficiency, the officials said.
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Famous Grouse makers still in talks for India operations
New Delhi: Highland Distillers, part of the UK-based Edrington group and makers of the Famous Grouse whisky, has said that it is holding talks with international and local Indian manufacturers for its Indian operations. The company is yet to decide about the future course of action here. Paul Ross, emerging markets director, Edrington group, said his company has been approached by many international liquor companies interested in having Highland Distillers represent their brands in India.

"In case any of these negotiations succeed, we may even be looking at expanding and beefing up our Indian operations in a big way. We have already held discussions with three international brands for the same," he was quoted as saying. A number of Indian brands have also approached Highland expressing interest in distributing and marketing its portfolio of brands. The companies it has held discussions with include Radico Khaitan, McDowells and Triumph Distillers & Vintners.
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Best output award for FCI OEN
Kochi: FCI OEN Connectors Ltd, a company based here, has won the FACT-MKK Nayar Memorial Productivity award instituted by the Kerala State Productivity Council. The company has won the First Prize in the category of best productivity performance among medium industries for the year 2001-02.

This is the third year in succession that the company is being given this coveted award. The award is in recognition for the higher productivity and efficiency initiated by FCI OEN during the year.
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ONGC unions call off stir
Mumbai: ONGC's employeee unions have called off their anti-management stir after the management gave a written assurance on agreeing to their demands. The joint action committee formed by ONGC unions said they had struck work at Mumbai offshore and offices after an MI-172 helicopter crashed at the Mumbai offshore killing 25 ONGC employees and two employees of the helicopter company, Mescos.

The unions had demanded monetary compensation to the victims' families and action against the chairman and managing director for neglecting previous helicopter security breaches. They had also asked for an independent inquiry and a CBI inquiry into the incident.
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Soft drink firms now resort to damage control
New Delhi: After facing an unexpected controversy, the two cola majors have chosen the damage control route to retain their image in the Indian market. While the final verdict on whether the soft drinks have impermissible levels of pesticide residue as claimed by the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) has been put off till the 15-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) submits its report in the next session of the parliament, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are now adopting a guarded, wait-and-watch approach as far as "connecting back with the consumer" is concerned.

Shashi K Kalathil, executive director (marketing), Pepsi Foods, said: "We had thought that the health minister's statement issued on Thursday (August 21) was the end of the story. But there has been another spin now; it is an evolving situation." Sunil Gupta, vice-president, Coca-Cola India, said his company is working on various strategies to "recharge its connect" with the consumer. "We are still conceptualising our consumer connect exercise this could include television, print and online advertising, on-ground activity and meeting up with retailers."
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Mirc Electronics eyes Russia, Ukraine markets
Mumbai: Mirc Electronics is planning to set up manufacturing facilities in Russia and Ukraine. Mirc, the makers of the Onida brand of television, has already started evaluating the pros and cons of the markets for the purpose and has appointed representatives to develop the market, according to chairman Gullu Mirchandani. The company has set up a senior management team to conduct a study on the CIS countries in terms of the nature of the market, the consumers and the products in demand.

Said Mirchandani: "Our plans to set up manufacturing facilities in these regions are at a conceptual stage. Our decision to set up capacities in Russia or Ukraine will largely depend on our success is acquiring a healthy market share in these markets as well as on the political stability in these countries."
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UB now eyes Andhra beer mart
Mumbai: United Breweries (UB) is now eyeing the Andhra Pradesh market, where it lags behind arch rival Shaw Wallace. The company is relying on the Kingfisher Strong brand, which has about 7.5-per cent alcohol content, to grow its market share in the state. "We have a dominant market share in the mild beer category but the AP beer market is poised more towards strong beer, which constitutes 65 per cent of the total beer sales. We plan to overtake Haywards 5000, which is the market leader in the strong beer segment by aggressively marketing our Kingfisher Strong brand," Ramesh Viswanathan, general manager (marketing)of UB’s breweries division, said.

The company claims a 40 per cent of the country’s beer market, followed by Shaw Wallace with 24 per cent and Mysore Breweries with a 6 per cent share. But in Andhra Pradesh the company currently has a 30 per cent overall market share. Shaw Wallace’s Haywards 5000 strong beer is the market leader in the state.
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