Tata Chemicals to take its salt brand global
Mumbai: Tata Chemicals, which is planning to take the Tata Salt brand global, will use the global distribution network of Tetley, the UK-based tea company owned by group company Tata Tea. "We are looking at launching the Tata Salt brand overseas and we have the option of leveraging Tetley's distribution strength," an executive at Tata Chemicals was quoted as saying.

Hindustan Lever, Tata Chem's competitor, has taken its Annapurna salt brand, the country's second-largest salt brand, global through the Unilever set-up. Tata Chemicals is planning to initially launch the brand in countries where the Indian population is high, and then moving to other parts of the world.
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HFCL plans to hive off services arm
New Delhi: Himachal Futuristic Communications has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the company is considering hiving off its basic telephony services in Punjab from its telecom equipment manufacturing division to form separate companies.

In a letter to the stock exchange, HFCL said: "The company has already embarked upon a business restructuring exercise aimed at improving efficiency at all levels by remaining focused on its core competence — telecom equipment manufacturing with related turnkey services and R&D — and segregating all its non-core assets, including financial assets and investments from its core operating assets. This exercise is expected to enable the company to reflect the growth of its core business." As part of the restructuring, HFCL will spin off its basic telephony services in Punjab into a separate company.
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Wipro plans to recruit 6,000 software engineers
Mumbai: Wipro is all set to go on a recruitment drive. It has drawn up plans to recruit 6,000 software engineers and another 3,000 personnel for IT-enabled services such as business process outsourcing services and call centres, said Azim Premji, chairman, Wipro. Saying the average age of its 24,000 employees was only 26.5 years, Premji said manpower training forms a vital part of its business strategy.

This amounts to about 5 per cent of the company's total compensation costs. He said the company is seriously looking at the growing computer hardware market in China and indicated that Wipro will enter the Chinese market within a couple of years.
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M&M's Rs 1,722-cr bid for Finnish firm Valtra
New Delhi: Tractor major Mahindra & Mahindra has reportedly bid an estimated euro 350 millio for Finnish company Valtra. Analysts were quoted as saying that the bid, working out to around $378 million (Rs 1,722.35 crore), is the largest overseas bid by a private Indian company and a healthy improvement over the previous biggest acquisition — $271 million (Rs 1,235.76 crore) that the Tatas paid for Tetley in 2000.

The Valtra bid is expected to be a leveraged buyout, like the Tetley deal. The other bidders, reportedly, include some pretty well-known names in the global farm equipment sector, such as Agco, Same, Klaas and Ponsse, a small company backed by Swedish funds and said to be fronting for the Finnish government.
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Saregama to venture into crossover movies
New Delhi: Saregama Films, the newly-set up movie-production division of the RPG group, is forming a strategy to make a slew of crossover films, targeting specific markets and the Indian diaspora. The company has plans to make at least four crossover films over the next one year, with themes that will appeal to the audiences in the US, the UK, South Africa and Malaysia.

The move will be part of Saregama's portfolio to produce 20-odd films over the next three years that will include 10 regional films, and around six Hindi movies. With a project cost of around Rs 40 crore, the company is now looking for institutional finance and is also in talks with private venture capital funds for co-production deals. Plans are also on to enter into distribution and marketing of movies at a latter date.
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Reliance Info offers two schemes to upset Tata Tele
Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm has announced two new initiatives to woo new subscribers. The bid is believed to be a reaction to a steep reduction in entry tariffs announced by rival Tata Teleservices yesterday in Maharashtra. Reliance will now offer a special festive scheme, Free Talktime Hungama, entailing a host of discounts, along with the introduction of CDMA 2000 1X Nokia 2280 handsets under the Monsoon 501 Hungama scheme.

The scheme includes free unlimited calls between two RIM subscribers for 10 months for a charge of Rs 50. Subscribers can send up to 10,000 domestic SMS within two billing cycles for Rs 99 and make calls to any CDMA mobile phones between 10 pm and 8 am at a monthly recurring charge of Rs 49 for the first two months.
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Royal Enfield to come out with a new range
New Delhi: Bike-maker Royal Enfield will come out with a slew of new products this year in the 350 cc to 500 cc motorcycles segment. Siddhartha Lal, chief executive, Royal Enfield, said his company is working on a completely new engine, which will be rolled out in April 2004 in the same capacity segment. Royal Enfield is drawing up a strategy for the exports markets as well. The company will be rolling out a 500cc bike (using the same engine which is being utilised in the Thunderbird 500) within the current year. The vehicle will have a more classic design to appeal to foreign customers.

"We will be displaying the new bike at the Birmingham Auto Show in November. In the initial phase, we are only looking at exports to the UK, and subsequently to the US and other countries in Europe," Lal said. Royal Enfield is also planning to introduce an upgraded version of the Bullet Electra in the current fiscal.
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Air India to unveil multilingual website
Mumbai: Air-India is planning to launch a multilingual website very soon. A company spokesperson said the website will be launched in various international languages in an attempt to improve customer interaction. The facility will enable the airline's international customers to make enquiries regarding online reservations, frequent flyer mileage points and reconfirmation of tickets online, among others, with greater ease in a language that they are comfortable with.

The airline's website has been receiving a huge number of hits. He said the websites of other global airlines, including Air France, Emirates and Lufthansa are available in multiple languages. As part of its efforts to achieve higher customer satisfaction, the airline recently set up a call centre that handles queries from customers based in the US and the UK. The call centre receives almost all passenger-related subjects viz. flight reservation, hotel bookings, car rentals, meal and seat preferences, special needs such as wheel chairs, bassinets, flight information, baggage handling, besides attending to Frequent Flyer and other elite club members.
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