M&M to increase production capacity of Scorpio
New Delhi: Mahindra & Mahindra is planning to increase the production capacity of the Scorpio. Akhilesh Kumar, general manager (sales and marketing, automotive sector), M&M, said: "We are planning to up the production capacity of the Scorpio to 3,000 units per month in the next three-four months from the current 2,400 units. At present, the waiting period for the Scorpio is about three weeks."

Thanks to the good demand for the vehicle, M&M has been periodically increasing the production levels of the Scorpio since its launch last year. The Scorpio plays a pivotal role in helping the company achieve a market share of 45 per cent in the hardtop utility vehicles market. Kumar said while there has been demand for the Scorpio from across India, it is particularly strong in the northern region. "At present, about 40-45 per cent of our sales comes from the northern region."
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Cola advertisements see an upsurge in August
Mumbai: Cola majors PepsiCo and Coca-Cola increased their press spends considerably in August 2003, when they were entangled in a bitter row over the alleged content of pesticide in several of their brands. Reports say while the monsoon months of June, July and August are generally an off-season for the colas as far as advertising activity is concerned, total press ad spend by Coca-Cola in August was more than Rs 139 lakh (calculated on market rates), as compared to a spend of just over Rs 39 lakh in July, according to TAM-Adex, which monitors ad spends in press and on television.

Pepsi spent more than Rs 113 lakh on press ads, as compared to just under Rs 10 lakh in July. The CSE report charging that the colas contained high levels of pesticide was issued on 5 August, and a Pepsi ad in the national dailies three days later declared, 'The safest thing you're likely to drink today is a Pepsi.' When the government gave a clean chit to the colas on August 21, the Pepsi ad the very next day invited consumers to 'Refresh your faith... refresh your thirst.'
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RIL, PSU marketing firms row: Govt not to intervene now
New Delhi: The law ministry, in a communiqué to the petroleum ministry, has said that it is too premature for the government to step into a commercial dispute between Reliance Industries and the public sector oil marketing companies — IOC, BPCL and HPCL. The dispute relates to the price at which LPG and kerosene was bought by the public sector oil companies from RIL's 27 million tonne refinery at Jamnagar for the period November 2002 to June this year. RIL claims that it is owed an additional amount of Rs 600 crore for the period in contention from the oil companies.

Based on a letter from Reliance seeking redressal on the issue, the petroleum ministry referred the matter to the law ministry. The ministry has now said that under the contract between the oil companies and Reliance, the two must sit down together at the executive director level. If unresolved, it should be taken up at the director level, before being referred to the government. The issue is close to four months old with both the parties holding steadfast to their positions.
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Avon Organics to go for debt restructuring
Hyderabad: Avon Organics Ltd (AOL), the city-based Rs 90-crore pharmaceutical company specialising in fine chemicals and bio-chemicals, is planning a major recast of its debt. "The management has decided to make all efforts to counter the increased cost of inputs and overheads. The company is also planning to go in for restructuring of its rupee borrowings into foreign currency loans to reduce the overall interest burden," a senior AOL official was quoted as saying.

For the year ended 31 March 2003, the company recorded a growth of 13 per cent in sales and operational income at Rs 89.65 crore over the previous fiscal. As against a net profit of Rs 4.26 crore in 2001-02, AOL recorded a lower profit of Rs 3.78 crore in the last fiscal. "Despite a healthy increase in sales, the performance of the company during the last fiscal was marginally affected by the abnormal increase in the raw material prices, power and fuel cost, and overheads. The company also had constraints in passing on the increased cost of inputs to the customers. Further, the company also suffered lower export realisations due to strengthening of the rupee against the dollar," the official said.
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ABP to buy 74% stake in Star news channel
New Delhi: Star TV has chosen the Kolkata-based publishing firm, ABP, as its partner for its news operations in India. The rival bidder, Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing, was informed about the decision, though a formal announcement is expected in a day or two. ABP will pick up 74 per cent of the equity, with Star holding the remaining 26 per cent. This is in line with the Indian government's new rules for TV news companies.

Previous investors in a controversial dummy company with Rs 4 crore equity, including Suhel Seth and Hemendra Kothari, will apparently be bought out. ABP may pay over Rs 75 crore for its stake in the partnership, which places the Star News valuation, pre-investment, at about Rs 25 crore, and post-investment at Rs 100 crore, reports said. The valuations for rival TV channels have been much higher in recent deals. NDTV had sought government approval for investment by Stanchart, in a deal valued, post-investment, at approximately Rs 350 crore.
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