GM opens techonology lab in Bangalore
Bangalore: General Motors on Tuesday announced the opening of its first global technology lab outside the US in Bangalore, which would harness local talent to do research on futuristic vehicles for the world's largest automaker."The research lab in India provides an increased diversity of talent and resources to our global R&D network," the GM Research and Development Executive Director of the Science Laboratories, Mr Alan Taub, told newspersons.

He said the Indian lab would carry out research in advanced vehicle design, vehicle analysis, lightweight materials, agile manufacturing processes and automotive electronics and controls systems. GM's India Science Lab director, B.G. Prakash, who earlier worked with Aeronautical Development Agency, said the work at the centre would help accelerate the pace of innovation.In February this year, General Motors announced that it was setting up a global research lab in Bangalore with an investment of around $60 million over three years and hire around 280 engineers.
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Nicholas Piramal, Anna varsity tie up for cancer research
Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal India Ltd has inked an agreement with the Center of Biotechnology (CBT), Anna University in Chennai, for research in areas of cancer and inflammation. The exclusive R&D tie-up is designed to fast track the identification and development of plant extracts in the repository of the CBT for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.

The Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company would have exclusive rights to commercialise any products coming out of the collaborative effort. NPIL's vast collection of natural products (over 6,000 plant extracts and 18,000 microbial strains) will also be evaluated by Dr Arun Balakrishnan, Director, CBT, against a variety of established targets, according to a press release. Nicholas Piramal has also established its fourth R&D centre on the outskirts of Chennai with an initial staff of 50 scientists.
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Roche set to sign pact with AP firm for outsourcing
New Delhi: The Indian-arm of Swiss-pharma major Roche is set to formalise an agreement with an Andhra Pradesh-based pharma company to source active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediaries. This comes, even as Roche formally parts ways this month with Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL), with regard to the distribution of biotechnology drugs.Dr G.L. Telang, managing director, Roche Scientific Company (India) Pvt Ltd, told that the process of evaluation of the facilities had been completed and a formal decision could come as early as January 2004.

Elaborating on Roche's India plans for the biotech, pharmaceutical and diagnostic segments, he said that these segments would see an increased activity in terms of research and clinical trials. The company was also in talks with local contract research organisations for this purpose.Company officials, however, said that though NPIL's decade-long agreement with F. Hoffman-La Roche (FHLR) on biotech drugs came to an end on November 3, 2003, Roche continued to have agreements with NPIL on other chemical drugs till 2018.

"The time period varies with the agreement for different drugs, but NPIL has the first right of refusal for new Roche drugs in India," they pointed out. With the ending of the biotech distribution agreement, NPIL would stop distributing six products "Cymevene, CellCept, Zenapax, Mabthera, Xeloda & Herceptin - worth about Rs 35 crore, said the NPIL top-brass. However, a clutch of other biotech drugs, such as Neupogen would continue to be with NPIL till 2008.

All this action comes even as Roche has appointed Taksal Pharma Pvt Ltd as its new importer and distributor of products from the parent company. But on the research front, Roche is bullish, with the company taking up research for known biotech drugs in new application areas.Dr Telang cited the example of oncology drug Mabthera, which is being researched for its application in rheumatoid arthritis. Company officials said that it would undergo phase III trials in the new application area, in India. Similarly, CellCept, a biotech kidney transplant drug, was being researched further in the auto-immune disease segment.

The company was also undertaking a study on the prevalence of multi-drug resistance for anti-retrovirals (ARVs) or anti-AIDS drugs. This would be a precursor to the use of Roche's anti-AIDS drug Fuzeon, which was used in cases where resistance was seen to ARVs, he said.
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Siemens to open centre in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram: Siemens, the third largest engineering company in the world, plans to open a centre in Kerala. This is the outcome of talks a visiting team of the Kerala State IT Mission had with officials of Siemens Information Systems Ltd at the latter's facilities.Siemens has zeroed in on healthcare operations for setting up a base in the State, a spokesman of the IT Mission said. The parent company, which employs 4.26 lakh employees, is also one among those who spend the highest in research and development with a budgeted allocation of seven per cent. Siemens has a collaboration with the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences at Kochi, which is claimed to be the country's first fully digital hospital.

The company is also working in close association with the promoters of the Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences and has submitted a project to the department of health, government of Kerala.The State enjoys a high Physical Quality of Life Index, whose healthcare facilities compare well with those in the US and European countries.While the visiting Kerala team was led by the industries and IT minister, P.K. Kunhalikutty, the Siemens group was represented by B.K. Kulkarni, general manager, and other senior officials. As a follow-up, a team from Siemens Bangalore will be visiting the State within the next fortnight, the IT Mission spokesman said.
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Bajaj Tempo sales up 28 % in October
Mumbai: Bajaj Tempo Ltd has reported a 28.42 per cent increase in vehicle sales at 4,487 units in October 2003 as compared to 3,494 units in the year-ago period. Sales of four-wheeled vehicles rose by 38 per cent to 1,165 units against 841 vehicles sold in October 2002. Three-wheelers sales increased by 23 per cent to 2,858 units (2,324 units). Tempo's `Balwan' range of hi-tech tractors reported 41 per cent increase in sales at 464 units (329 units).
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Fiero F2, Scooty Pep production trails demand'
Bangalore: TVS Motor Company said on Tuesday that it has been unable to meet the demand for its premium motorcycle, Fiero F2 and moped Scooty Pep because of undercapacity at its plant. The TVS vice-president for marketing, Harish Krishnamachar, told newspersons that it would take nearly three months for it to increase the capacity to meet the market demand for these two vehicles.Krishnamachar said it has been able to produce around 9,000 of these two vehicles a month, which is nearly 20 per cent less than the demand for them. "It will take us three more months to ramp up our capacity," he said. While the 150 cc FieroF2 is priced at around Rs 45,000, the 75 cc Scooty Pep is priced at around Rs 31,000.

Krishnamachar said the company expects to meet the targeted sales of around 1.26 million during the current fiscal year. Since April 2003, it has been able to sell around 5.8 lakh vehicles. It plans to sell nearly 4 lakh scooterettes and mopeds during the year and over 8 lakh units of motorcycles.He said the company does not have a sub-Rs 35,000 motorcycle and a scooter in its portfolio and may consider filling that gap. Krishnamachar said the 110 cc Victor is expected to sell over 4 lakh vehicles in 2003-04 compared with 3.79 lakh in the previous year. The company has so far sold 7.5 lakh Victors since its launch in September, 2001. It currently has a market share of between 12 per cent and 14 per cent among all the motorcycles in the market.

In October 2003, TVS Motor registered a growth of 4 per cent in the total two wheeler vehicles sold by recording sales of 1,04,308 units compared with 1,00,220 units sold last year during the same period. The company's growth in October 2003 was lower than the market due to the drop in sales of two stroke Max Motorcycles. This trend will continue till December 2003 by which time TVS Motor Company plans to launch two new four stroke motorcycle TVS Centra and an upgraded 125 CC TVS Victor. The motorcycle sales in October 2003 stood at 61,777 units taking the total motorcycle sales in period April-October 2003 to 4,24,904 up by 3 per cent compared to 4,12,156 units recorded last year for the same period.
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Millennium Alcobev eyes 33 % rise in beer sales
Bangalore: Millennium Alcobev Ltd, a three-way joint venture between Scottish & Newcastle, United Breweries group and Mr Ravi Jain, is expected to post 33 per cent rise in beer sales in the current financial year.The company is likely to close the year with sales of at least eight million cases up from six million cases in the previous year, according to the managing director, Ravi Jain. Millennium's flagship strong beer, Zingaro, is poised to emerge with over three million cases, while another key lager brand, Sandpiper, would sell nearly two million cases. "Zingaro is showing good growth in its strongest turf, Maharashtra. Sandpiper is coming up nicely in Kerala and Bullet remains buoyant in Rajasthan. Kalyani Black Label Strong has started doing exceedingly well in the entire east," Mr Jain said, explaining the growth picture of the company.

The beer market, after two successive years of growth, has swung negative this year on account of extended monsoon and a host of regional factors impacting some key States.It is estimated that the year might end with three to four per cent drop in sales or at best remain flat. In fact, during the year sales fell by almost 50 per cent in Haryana where the company's two brands, Sandpiper and Turbo, commanded significant market share. The domestic beer sale during last year was pegged at around 80 million cases.

Millennium Alcobev has five breweries in Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala with cumulative brewing capacity of over 15 million cases annually. The company had recently gone in for capacity expansion in Haryana and Andhra Pradesh and is currently in the midst of an Rs 27-crore quality upgradation exercise across its plants.The company, which is a 40:40:20 joint venture between Scottish & Newcastle, United Breweries group and Mr Ravi Jain, plans to open two new greenfield breweries and would consider acquisitions at right price. It commenced operations in the year 2000 and has since then effected a string of acquisitions including Inertia Industries, Empee Breweries and GMR Vasavi brewery in Andhra Pradesh.
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Boards of Jisco, Jindal Vijaynagar to meet today
Mumbai: The boards of Jindal Iron & Steel Company Ltd (Jisco) and Jindal Vijaynagar Steel Ltd (JVSL) are meeting on November 13 to decide on the share exchange ratio for the consolidation of steel business of the two companies.The boards will also decide the de-linking of the investments of Jisco into a separate company and reorganisation of the capital of JVSL. The share exchange ratio has been recommended by the valuers - Deloitte Haskins & Sells and ICICI Securities Ltd.

The companies had announced plans for merging primarily to position itself as an integrated steel producer. Analysts were of the opinion that the share exchange ratio would be in favour of Jisco. Jisco, with a turnover of Rs 1,612 crore, is the country's leading galvanised steel manufacturer accounting for 17 per cent of India's galvanised steel products. JVSL, with an annual turnover of Rs 2,786 crore, has a hot rolling capacity of 1.6 million tonnes per annum.
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Car sales zoom 23% in October
Mumbai: Passenger car sales have registered a 23 per cent rise in October at 56,207 units as against 45,800 units in the same month last year. All the segments have seen a growth for the month, their sales buoyed by the festive season.The classification does not include multi-utility vehicles as well as Maruti’s Omni and Versa models. The A-segment, which comprises the Maruti-800, saw a 7.31 per cent rise at 12,195 units for October as against 11,364 units in the same month last year.

The B-segment, which comprises over half of passenger car sales, saw sales of all the main models in the segment, registering a climb in sales. Maruti’s Wagon R sold 5,573 units (3381 units). Alto sales also showed a substantial increase at 4,375 units (2192 units) but Zen sales showed a marginal drop at 4,862 units (4,946 units). Industry figures show that Hyundai’s Santro firmly remained the leader in the B-segment at 8,877 units (7,300 units), primarily on account of the launch of the Xing variant. Tata Motors sales for the month of the Indica remained flat at 7,200 units (7,192 units). Fiat Palio sales were lower at 723 units (1,305 units).

The mid-size segment or C-segment also saw a substantial rise of 43.5 per cent at 10,247 units as against 7,138 units in October 2002, with Hyundai Accent upstaging Indigo as the highest selling car in the segment. Hyundai Accent sold 2,326 units (1,800 units), while Indigo sold 2,285 units during the month.Maruti Baleno sales saw a rise at 235 units (55 units). However, some of the other offerings in the segment saw a sales decline -- Fiat Siena sold 25 units (60 units), Opel Corsa saw sales of 501 units (505 units) and Honda City sold 813 units (1,050 units).

The D-segment sales were powered by Toyota Corolla which sold 650 units during October 2003. Skoda Octavia sold 450 units (464 units), while Opel Vectra sold 25 units and Mercedes Benz C-class 92 units.The E-segment sold 545 units as against 435 units in October last year. Honda Accord registered sales of 231 units (95 units), while the Hyundai Sonata sold 117 units (150 units). Toyota Camry sales saw sales of 160 units (111 units).
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IOC to Convert its laggard outlets to flagship ROs
Mumbai: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has come up with a new strategy to transform its non-performing retail outlets (ROs) into flagship ROs by adding new facilities including salons.About 11 of its ROs built under the Jubilee ROs scheme have been found to be under-utilised, said IOC director (marketing) Dr NG Kannan. The Jubilee ROs were constructed along highways, with facilities such as restaurants, restrooms and tyre repair shops. The company has now decided to transform them into flagship ROs by adding facilities. Dr Kannan added that the huge plots where the outlets are located were not utilised to the optimum.

The Jubilee outlets were constructed to cater mainly to the truckers where the basic facilities required to be provided included dhabas and restrooms. The flagship outlets which are expected to be operational by April next year, will have additional facilities such as a salon and vehicle spare parts, widening the scope from just truck drivers.

The company plans to launch 123 flagship outlets at a total cost of Rs 160 crore. IOC has the highest number of retail outlets with over 8,000 outlets under its umbrella. The company has planned out Rs 1,000-crore retail investment in the current fiscal, and plans to launch additional 900 outlets this year.The company transformed its marketing programme last year to reach out to its customers and bifurcated its function vertically into retail and direct customers. Several branded products such as the 91-octane petrol called IOC Premium was launched by the company last year.
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