document.writeln("
Hero
Honda renews technical pact with Honda
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motor has renewed its technical
collaboration agreement with Honda Motor of Japan for
another ten years. Hero Honda Motors had inked an equity
and technical collaboration agreement with Honda Motor
Company in 1984, which was renewed in 1994. Hero Group
and Honda Motor Company hold 26 per cent each in Hero
Honda Motors while the public holds the rest.
The
two partners have also decided to work together to launch
new motorcycle and scooter models to garner 50 per cent
of the domestic market by 2005. Hero Honda Motors has
announced its decision to launch scooters with technology
from Honda while Honda's 100 per cent subsidiary, Honda
Motorcycle and Scooter India would roll out a 150cc motorcycle
by October this year, officials from both the companies
told a press meet here.
Back
to News Review index page
Andhra
firms, Monsanto in tie-up for Bt cotton
Hyderabad:
Fed up of waiting for indigenous technology for Bt cotton
to be launched by government agencies, some seed companies
in Andhra Pradesh have tied up with Mahyco Monsanto India
to produce Bt (bacillus thurigiensis) cotton seeds of
their popular hybrids. They hope to launch Bt cotton varieties
in time for the kharif season in 2005.
Prabhat Agri Biotech, Vikkis' Agrotech, Nuziveedu Seeds,
Ganga Kaveri and Pravardhan have tied up with Mahyco Monsanto
Biotech (India) Ltd and obtained permission from the 'review
committee' on genetic manipulation' (RCGM) to carry out
trials on their hybrids implanted with Bt gene. Two more
companies - Nandi Seeds and Kaveri Seeds - are also reportedly
planning to seek RCGM nod for Bt cotton trials. Bt gene
makes cotton immune to the deadly attacks by bollworm.
According
to Monsanto officials it would take about three years
for government agencies to commercially offer Bt cotton
gene to seed companies and with the growing popularity
of Bt cotton in the country, companies had decided to
expedite the launch of their own Bt seeds by tying up
with Mahyco Monsanto, he said.
Back
to News Review index page
Hyundai
finds the going tough
Bangalore: Hyundai Motor's the leader in the compact
and mid-size car segments was able to catered to only
a third of its demand in April and May since the production
schedule was badly hit in these months. Disturbances in
its production schedules leading to delivery problems
may have caused nearly 30 percent customers canceling
Santro bookings, while the rest decided to wait.
It is likely now that Hyundai, Santro and Accent may lose
the top two market positions for the second consecutive
month with Maruti Alto said to have sold around 6,500
units in May far ahead of Santro's bookings. WagonR and
Zen, may still lag behind Santro, with sales of 6,024
and 4,740 units, respectively. Maruti's recently launched
entry-level Alto variant, priced a little over the AC
M800, has proved to be a hit. Hyundai Accent, whose production
came to a near standstill last month, is reported to have
sold only 300 units, while Elantra sold around 830 units
and Sonata 100.
Back
to News Review index page
Godfrey
to export own brands
Ahmedabad:
Godfrey Phillips India (GPI), the second largest cigarette
manufacturer in the country, is planning to export its
brands to the Middle East and African countries. The Force
10 king-size cigarette brand of the company will be officially
launched in the Republic of Guiena on June 10. The first
consigned has been dispatched is on a test basis.
This
is the first time that the company will be exporting cigarettes
under its own brand. Earlier it used to export cigarettes
to the Middle East and African countries for other brands
under contract manufacturing basis. To focus on exports,
the company has been recently restructured and has been
split into two divisions, domestic and international,
each headed by an independent chief executive officer.
The company has two major stake holders - the K K Modi
Group and Phillip Morris of the US and has over 15,000
shareholders in the country. The company manufacturers
some of the most popular brands in the country which includes,
Red and White, Four Square, Tipper, Prince, Jaisalmer
and Cavenders among others.
Back
to News Review index page
McDonald's
plans to prune price points
Mumbai: McDonald is planning to get into volumes
by slashing prices of its products. The company is working
out new price points for its products and plans to have
large number of its offering on its menu at the Rs20 price
point has McDonald's recently made a beginning by offering
burgers, pizza and dessert for Rs20. Earlier, McDonald's
used to bring down food prices through various promotional
activities spread over short tenures now it plans to retain
the prices permanently at lower levels.
Back
to News Review index page
AMP
willing to exit life JV with Sanmar
Mumbai:
AMP, the Australia-based insurer and fund manager, is
open to opt out of its Indian joint venture, AMP Sanmar
Life Insurance Company, if it gets the right price. AMP
demerged its loss-making UK operations last year into
a separate entity, Henderson. Officials said that AMP
Sanmar was not at this point soliciting or seeking a selloff.
Last year there were rumours in the industry that AMP
Sanmar was up for sale.
AMP
Sanmar is a 74:26 joint venture with the south-based Sanmar
group, where the Australian insurance giant, holds 26
per cent stake. AMP
Sanmar today is focused on south India, where it intends
to have a presence in all the B and C class towns by August
this year. It will also look at expanding its presence
in Mumbai, and other parts of Maharashtra as well as Gujarat.
Back
to News Review index page
Reliance
Industries hikes polyester intermediate prices
Mumbai:
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has hiked the prices of
polyester, fibre intermediates and polymers but has maintained
status-quo in the prices of linear alkyl benezene (LAB)
at Rs53.90 per kg and poly vinyl chloride (PVC) at Rs47
per kg. The prices of polyethylene and polypropylene has
been raised by three per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively,
to Rs50.70 per kg and Rs49.75 per kg.
The
prices of polyethylene and polypropylene were hiked to
Rs49.20 per kg and Rs48.25 per kg, respectively, industry
sources said. In the polyester segment, prices of partially
oriented yarn (POY) and polyester staple fibre (PSF) went
up to Rs72 per kg and Rs64 per kg, respectively, from
Rs71 per kg and Rs63 per kg. In the fibre intermediate
segment, prices of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) went
up by 1.3 per cent to Rs40.40 per kg, while the prices
of mono elthylene glycol (MEG) went up by 1.8 per cent
to Rs48.60 over the previous month, sources said.
Back
to News Review index page
GMR
forms consortium with Fraport, IDF to bid for airports
revamp
New Delhi: GMR has formed a consortium with Fraport
AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, the owner and
manager of Frankfurt airport, and the India Development
Fund to bid for the restructuring and modernisation of
Delhi and Mumbai airports.
The company said that GMR would be the lead member of
the consortium while Fraport AG, an integrated airport
management company, will be the airport operator in the
consortium and IDF will be the financial investor. The
GMR group is currently developing the new Hyderabad international
airport, which is a public-private partnership. The statement
from the company came on the day the Government announced
its decision to extend the last date for submission of
expression of interest (EoI) by prospective bidders from
June 4 to July 20.
Back
to News Review index page
GE,
Bechtel initiate arbitration against
Govt in Dabhol case
Mumbai: GE and Bechtel, the multinationals that
acquired 65.8 per cent equity of Enron Corp in Dabhol
Power Company (DPC), have launched arbitration proceedings
against the Government of India for breach of Indo-Mauritius
treaty.
Capital India Power Mauritius, a GE arm, and Energy Enterprise
Mauritius Co, a Bechtel subsidiary which have launched
the proceedings say that the dispute between DPC and Maharashtra
State Electricity Board (MSEB) led to loss of business
for them and the dues towards power supply bills be recovered
from the GoI. The arbitration tribunal will begin its
proceedings in London in September this year.
Back
to News Review index page
Radico
Khaitan to buy 8 more bottling units
Hyderabad: Radico Khaitan while launching its "Old
Admiral Whisky" brand, said it was planning to acquire
eight more bottling facilities in different States during
the next three years. The acquisition involves an investment
of up to Rs 100 crore. At present, Radico has four of
its own plants and 26 bottling plants in which has a tie-up.
The
company recently acquired a bottling plant in Andhra Pradesh
following which its liquor production capacity has increased
to 10 million cases per annum. The company targets to
sell 3.5 million to 4 million cases of liquor this year
against 1.5 million cases sold last year. He claimed that
Radico had emerged as the third largest liquor company
in the country. Last year Radico Khaitan achieved a turnover
of Rs 727 crore and a net profit of Rs 26 crore.
Back
to News Review index page
Ford
Endeavour leads in SUV segment
Bangalore: SUV Ford Endeavour has emerged as the
leader in the SUV segment with sales expected to touch
the 1,000-unit mark within six months of its launch. Endeavour
was launched in December 2003 and has grabbed around 40
per cent of the SUV market with sales touching 833 units
between December 2003 and April 2004 ahead of the Honda
CR-V, which crossed the 500-unit mark during the same
period.
Endeavour and Honda CR-V have left the others SUVs far
behind. Chevrolet Forrester priced around Rs13 lakh, the
same as that of Endeavour, notched up sales of around
100 units between December 2003 and April 2004. Hyundai
Terracan, with a CRDi engine, sold 154 units during the
five months between December 2003 and April 2004. Grand
Vitara from the Suzuki's stable sold 65 units; and Mitsubishi
Pajero sold 50 units.
Back
to News Review index page
Deepak
Fertilisers plans Rs 350-cr investment
Mumbai: Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals plans
to invest close to Rs350 crore on future projects which
include setting up of a 70,000-tonne isopropylene alcohol
plant (a product similar to methanol) worth Rs204 crore
and a 9 mega-watt captive cogeneration power plant worth
Rs48 crore. The group is also diversifying into realty
and will set up a specialty mall at Pune for the construction
industry at a cost of Rs100 crore.
The company plans to fund all three new projects at a
debt to equity ratio of 1:5 and will raise money through
external commercial borrowings (120 paise over LIBOR),
non-convertible debentures and long-term debts. Deepak
Fertilisers has reported a marginal fall in net profit
for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2004 at Rs29.7
crore (Rs29.88 crore). Net sales for the quarter also
fell marginally to Rs134.44 crore (Rs135.42 crore). Sales
and profit fell mainly because of lower income from traded
chemicals, company officials said. Net profit and sales
for the financial year ended March 31, 2004 fell to Rs64.11
crore (Rs69.72 crore) and Rs471.39 crore (Rs522.57 crore),
respectively.
Back
to News Review index page
