Nokia launches new E-series models

Mr Vineet Taneja, Director, Marketing, Nokia India, launching the new E72 in the Capital. - Kamal Narang

Nokia today unveiled the new addition to its E-series range, Nokia E72, a device tailor-made for business and personal messaging.

Nokia's latest smart phone comes with push consumer email service, messaging and onboard clients for Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveller. The Nokia E72 will be available in the market from December 1 in two colours — Zodium Black and Topaz Brown at a price of Rs 22,989.

Mr Vineet Taneja, Marketing Director, Nokia India said, “Today consumers are looking for solutions that give them flexibility to manage time in a way that they can juggle and balance both work and life. They are looking for ways to connect with their friends and peers while on the go which has led to proliferation of email on mobile.”

Tatas may launch electric Indica by early 2011

Current talk: Mr P.M. Telang, Managing Director, India operations, Tata Motors

New Delhi, Nov. 24 With many automakers planning to launch eco-friendly vehicles for the domestic market, Tata Motors said on Tuesday that it may launch the electric version of the small car Indica in early 2011.

The company has been developing the car with Norway-based Miljøbil Grenland/Innovasjon, in which it has a 50.3 per cent stake. It plans to start a feasibility study for this in the next year and may launch the car simultaneously with the European launch.

“It will be available for India at around the same time as the global launch. It will be launched in Norway, Denmark and the UK in 12-14 months. We’re evaluating the option of an Indian launch, but are still not sure if the electric vehicles (EVs) are the best option for the country,” said Mr Prakash M Telang, Managing Director, India Operations, Tata Motors.

He further added that the main problem is the high cost attached to EVs, which is mainly because of the expensive batteries. “It will be 70-150 per cent more expensive depending on batteries. While lead acid batteries are not good enough, lithium-ion is too expensive. We have to look into the cost equation,” he said.

Responding to sales outlook for the remaining half of the fiscal, Mr Telang said that the shift from Bharat Stage III emission norms to Bharat Stage IV in April, may lead to good sales in the fourth quarter.

“There is optimism – I see good sales in the fourth quarter. In commercial vehicles (CVs), there may be pre-buying because of the change in emission norms. Even passenger cars may see better volumes, but not as much as CVs since price escalation will not be as much in them. This has been the experience in most countries across the globe,” he said.

Automakers and especially commercial vehicle manufacturers are expected to raise prices from April, because of the newer engines that companies will have to deploy on their vehicles in order to meet the new emission norms.

When asked about the status of the Nano’s Sanand plant, Mr Telang said that the company is producing around 3,000-4,000 units of the low-cast car a month at the Pantnagar facility and it will start the trial production at Sanand by the fourth quarter of the fiscal. The Sanand plant will have an initial annual capacity of 2.5 lakh units a year, which will later be increased to 3.5 lakh units. The Pantnagar plant mainly produces the light commercial vehicle (LCV) Ace.

“We’re striving between the Ace requirement and the Nano. The plant has a capacity to produce 1.5 lakh Ace LCVs a year,” he said.

Tata Teleservices launches 3G-enabled TV services

Television on the move: Mr Anil Sardana (left), Managing Director, Tata Teleservices, and Mr Lloyd Mathias, Chief Marketing Officer, at the launch of Photon TV in the Capital on Wednesday. — Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi, Dec. 2Now you can watch television on your laptop while moving in your car. Tata Teleservices has launched Photon TV, a service that allows its high speed Internet subscribers to watch live television channels on their laptops or PCs. Existing subscribers who have the Photon Plus USB card from Tata Teleservices can avail themselves of the service by downloading an application.

The pricing is based on a subscription model. It is currently available in three different subscription options – Rs 4 a channel per month; Rs 29 a month for My Combo (a bouquet of 10 channels); and Rs 75 a month for all 40 channels on offer. In addition, the subscriber will have to pay for usage as per the subscriber's data plan. Viewing TV consumes about 1.2 MB per each minute.

For example, if a subscriber has taken the Photon Super Surf plan for Rs 1,500 a month, they can watch TV for up to 15 GB (enough for about 160 hours of TV viewing a month) without any additional fee. But usage beyond 15 GB will cost 50 paise per MB. Tata Teleservices is deploying third generation technology to offer the service on its existing spectrum. Tata Photon Plus users get live TV feed from various sports, news, entertainment and regional channels, and to watch recorded TV shows from the library (viz Coffee with Karan, Zoom, Pogo, etc), movies, music and videos on demand.

“We have moved mobility another few giant steps along the evolutionary path, with the launch of Photon TV today. This innovative product underlines the technological superiority of the Photon technology, which has become the rage amongst Internet-users,” Mr Anil Sardana, Managing Director of Tata Teleservices Ltd, said.

Ties up with Apalya

The company has partnered with Apalya Technologies for putting together the platform including dealing with content providers.

“Today, with the technological innovation and breakthrough in mobile broadband services space, we have again taken the first-mover advantage by launching Photon TV, an innovative application and service that will appeal to a wide cross-section of our user base,” Mr Lloyd Mathias, Chief Marketing Officer of Tata Teleservices, said.

Bhimas enters kitchen spices market

The Minister for Roads and Buildings, Ms Galla Arunakumari, and the TTD Trust Board Chairman, Mr D.K. Audikesavulu (left), at the launch of kitchen masala range of products by the Tirupati Bhimas Spice and Foods in Tirupati on Sunday. The Bhimas group head, Mr K.V. Ranganathan, is also seen. - K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

The Tirupati-based Bhimas Group of hotels has launched a range of kitchen spices with brand name ‘Tirupathi Bhimas'.

“The brand has already been popularised in the southern States and the product is ready for launch in the four southern States, Pondicherry and the Andamans,” Mr K.R. Hariharan, Director (Operations), Tirupati Bhimas Spice and Foods said here on Sunday.

With the tagline ‘Every kitchen will now be a Bhimas Kitchen', the products come in the sizes of 100g standy pouches, 50g cartons and 15/20g single-use mini packs.

The South Indian dishes comprise Sambar powder, Rasam powder, Kara pulusu, Bisibelabath mix, Dal powder, Idli chilli powder and Andhra curry, while the ‘Chaat' masala delicacies include Chana masala, Pav bhaji masala, Tandoori masala. Rose milk and Badam milk form part of the ‘hot and cold flavoured drinks' segment.

The Roads and Buildings Minister, Ms Galla Aruna Kumari, formally launched the products into the market.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board Chairman, Mr D.K. Audikesavulu said the board would consider use of the spices for preparation of meals in the ‘Annadanam' canteen at Tirumala, where tens of thousands of pilgrims are fed everyday.

The Group Head, Mr K.V. Ranganathan, said that the range of products would keep its promise of tickling the taste buds of Bhimas' die-hard customers.

Coca-Cola India unveils ‘Burn' car

Close on the heels of its energy drink's launch in India, Coca-Cola India on Monday announced the promotional campaign to accompany the launch. As part of the campaign, Coca-Cola India has tied up with car designer Dilip Chhabria, to bring out exclusively designed cars which would ply on the roads of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to connect with the target audience.

Coca-Cola's energy drink ‘Burn' was launched last week and the car has been designed to capture the essence of the brand. Mr Ricardo Fort, Vice-President, Marketing, Coca-Cola India, said, “Innovation has always been the hallmark of Coca-Cola's business strategy in India. The styling of the car confirms to the brand imagery and association that is targeted at socially active and adventurous young adults. This is the first country where we are using a specially designed car for promotion of the brand.” He added that the promotional campaign is a long-term campaign. The car has been designed by Mr Dilip Chhabria's design studio team and built on the Matiz platform. Mr Fort said, “In other countries, we took an existing car and enhanced it further. This is the first time we have built it from scratch.”

Mr Fort added that along with the on-road promotional campaign, Coca-Cola India is developing digital activities for the brand Burn. “Our media communication plan for the brand entails the digital medium, out-of-home activities and the Burn car promotional campaign.

“We believe that the time is right now to enter the market for energy drinks and there is a critical mass of customers for our product. We will be targeting the young generation who have an active night life and need energy to go on throughout the night.”

Keki Mistry to head HDFC

Mr Keki Mistry

Housing finance major HDFC Ltd has announced changes in the top management.

A company press release today said Mr Deepak Parekh, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, would step down from his executive position from December 31.

Mr Keki Mistry, now Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, will take over as CEO. Mr Parekh will, however, continue as Chairman. He has also been appointed Additional Director with effect from January 1, 2010 till the date of the next Annual General Meeting.

Court allows farmers to reclaim Reliance Power's Dadri project land

In what could be a major setback for the Anil Ambani group, the Allahabad High Court on Friday in effect cancelled the acquisition of 2,500 acres of agricultural land for the group's Rs 25,000-crore gas-based Dadri power plant.

The court quashed a notification issued by the Mulayam Singh Government in 2004 that used certain “urgency” powers to acquire the land for the proposed 7,480 MW project. The court said the notification was issued bypassing a provision that was meant to invite objections from farmers.

A Division Bench of Mr Justice Ashok Bhushan and Mr Justice Sudhir Agarwal passed the order acting on a group of writ petitions, filed by “illiterate” farmers and the former Prime Minister, the late Mr V. P. Singh, which claimed the petitioners were “forced to sign on certain documents (regarding land acquisition) and accept the meagre compensation offered by the Collector.”

The Court observed that though the State Government issued a particular notification claiming that the acquisition was carried out for ‘public purpose', the acquisition was instead done for a company.

The Court said though it is mandatory for a company to comply with the provisions of Land Acquisition (Companies) Rules, 1963, it “was not at all done in the present case”. According to the Rules, acquisition of agricultural land should be avoided as it is scarce and therefore cannot be diverted for non-agricultural purposes.

The court said farmers can now refund the compensation received. However, it gave the option to those farmers who have no objections to the acquisition to indicate it and seek exemption from the Collector on refund of the compensation.

Mr K.T.S. Tulsi, senior advocate and counsel for the petitioners, told Business Line that “the High Court has avoided a Singur-like situation. Farmers were determined not to part with their land and they were even willing to die for their land.”

This order would mean that if the Government wants the power project, it will have to acquire non-agricultural land in accordance with the land acquisition laws and by giving adequate compensation, he said. The court said the notification was a “colourable exercise of power by the State Government with an object to by-pass the provisions of” the laws concerned (the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and the Land Acquisition Rules). On the use of emergency provisions by the State Government, the Court said such powers are used only in extraordinary situations, adding that the State cannot invoke urgency powers as a substitute for lack of care.

Made in India, shipped to China, Thailand

“Trial production of parts has begun for the global platform cars scheduled to debut in China and Thailand next year. The tests have been very successful so far,” Mr Kiminobu Tokuyama, Managing Director and CEO, Nissan Motor India, told Business Line.

It is from the same platform that India will see the rollout of a hatchback, the revamped Micra whose production will be shifted from the UK, in mid-2010.

This will coincide with the launch of cars from the same platform in China and Thailand.

Global platform

The common global platform strategy is part of Nissan’s endeavour to produce a host of cars, be it hatchbacks or sedans, across five countries. Thus far, India, China and Thailand have been identified as key manufacturing locations. “We still have not taken a decision on the other two countries,” Mr Tokuyama said.

Experts, however, believe that there is a good chance of Russia and Brazil qualifying, keeping in line the positive outlook for BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies in the coming years.

For instance, Toyota and Honda have, like Nissan, drawn similar big plans for a global platform in the BRIC nations with India tipped to be the launch pad when their cars debut in two to three years.

From Nissan’s point of view, India is a favoured destination for sourcing given the high quality of the vendor base coupled with an effective costing structure.

There are 94 suppliers associated with the Nissan project and more could join the list as the levels of localisation grow in the coming years.

The Japanese automaker has targeted production of one million cars across these five countries, though no specific timeframe has been finalised yet. “India is an important part of the overall strategy and this can be borne by the fact that it has seen the single largest investment from Nissan in 2009, of the overall $3.5 billion earmarked by the company globally,” Mr Tokuyama said.

“We are very proud of our manufacturing plant in Chennai and do believe that India has lots to offer in terms of its quality and efficient manpower. From Nissan’s perspective, it is a win-win business model,” he added.

Vehicle strategy

The vehicle strategy for the country will involve a mix of direct imports and locally produced cars. Following the launch of the new-look Micra in mid-2010, a sedan will follow a year later to be succeeded by “yet another model.”

Nissan has also planned a second car platform for India though work is largely at an exploratory stage right now. “We are carrying out preliminary market research and there is still some way to go. For the moment, we are completely focused on the Micra and building our market share,” Mr Tokuyama said.

While sourcing of parts will be a key part of its strategy, Nissan will also export fully built-up cars from India. These could well head out to Europe (where fuel-efficient cars are now sought after), West Asia and even South Africa which is gradually emerging a favourite for Indian automakers.

However, Mr Tokuyama declined to get into the specifics and confined himself to the fact that numbers would go up from 110,000 units to 180,000 units within two-three years of production ramping up in Chennai.

Nissan’s global ally, Renault had also planned a separate production line in the plant but froze investments following the global slowdown. The French automaker is now likely to use the Nissan platform and produce its own models though no decision has been taken on the matter.

Kiri Dyes MAy acquire DYSTAR

Ahmedabad-based Kiri Dyes and Chemicals (KDCL) is in advanced stages of negotiation for acquiring the Germany-based DyStar Group, the global market leader for dyes and textile solutions that filed for insolvency a couple of months earlier for some of its subsidiaries.

The insolvency filing included DyStar’s sites in Frankfurt, Leverkusen, Brunsbuttel, Geretsried, and Ludwigshafen, according to reports.

“The deal size is estimated to be about ¤100-125 million (Rs 698-873 crore), including the liabilities,” said sources privy to the development. Kiri Dyes has got in a consortium of State Bank of India, Bank of India, Exim Bank and Corporation Bank for evaluation of the deal and has given them the acquisition financing proposal. The deal is expected to be complete by the end of this year.

The BSE-listed company has already raised Rs 150 crore through qualified institutional placements. The company plans to raise the balance amount required for acquisition through a mix of equity and funding through a special purpose vehicle, said sources.

DyStar clocked sales of ¤800 million (Rs 5,440 crore) in the 2008 calendar year. Currently owned by Platinum Equity LLP, DyStar has the parentage of global chemical majors such as Bayer, Mitsubishi Kasei, BASF, Mitsui and Zeneca.

Platinum is exploring strategic alternatives for DyStar, including total sell-off due to growing liabilities, sources said.

Kiri Dyes expressed its intent to acquire Dystar and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Platinum Equity Advisors to this effect in September, sources further said.

Kiri Dyes has also drawn up a restructuring plan for Dystar Group which includes shifting some operations from Germany to the low-cost production base in India. Also, the company has proposed to relocate the headquarters of DyStar from Germany to Singapore.

A top official of Kiri Dyes refused to talk on the matter.

The acquisition, if it materialises, will put Kiri Dyes in the league of integrated textile chemical majors in the world, with over $1 billion turnover, industry sources said. In July this year, Kiri Dyes and China’s Zhejiang Lonsen Group set up India’s largest dye and dyestuff manufacturing facility at Padra near Vadodara. Both players floated a 60:40 joint venture company called Lonsen-Kiri Chemical Industries Ltd to put up a 50,000 tonnes per annum unit, which became operational this year.

The global dyes and intermediates market is estimated at $23 billion and is expected to grow at two per cent per annum. China ranks sixth globally in terms of exports, while India is 16th. The recent withdrawal of tax incentive to dye/dyestuff exporters in China has impacted dyestuff exports from China and created an opportunity for India, industry watchers feel.

L&T looks to outsource power equipment manufacture

With orders for boilers and turbines worth over Rs 25,000 crore on hand, L&T-MHI is scouting for opportunities to outsource.

Officials of L&T have been visiting facilities of domestic boiler manufacturing companies to ascertain if some parts of the equipment can be made there.

Last week, they were in Tiruchi, a fabrication hub where a number of BHEL's ancillaries have surplus capacity. Sources told Business Line that L&T's officials visited six units – Cethar Vessels, GB Engineering, Veesons, Jayram Engineering, Athreya and Emperor Engineering.

“Yes, they came to us,” Mr K. Subburaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Cethar Vessels, said on Monday. “We told them that we are in a position to manufacture boilers up to 2,000 MW of capacity a year.”

The Rs 175-crore Veesons has told L&T it would be able to supply pressure parts (headers, coils and piping) up to 200 tonnes a month.

“Larger units such as Cethar, GB and Veesons have surplus capacity that could be used to service customers like L&T,” Mr B. Pattabhiraman, Managing Director, GB Engineering, said. In 2007, Larsen & Toubro Ltd joined hands with Mitsubishi Heavy Industry of Japan to form two joint ventures – one for producing boilers and the other for turbines. The production facilities are coming up at Hazira, Gujarat. It is learnt that the factories will be production-ready in 2011.

L&T-MHI has secured several orders, which, at a conservative estimate, are worth at least Rs 25,000 crore. The latest order L&T bagged is for a 2x660 MW supercritical unit at Rajpura in Punjab. L&T will form a company to put up the project, which will operate as an independent power producer.

While L&T is yet to announce the order public, a senior official of Punjab State Electricity Board confirmed to Business Line that L&T quoted the least – Rs 2.93 a unit – in the tariff-based bidding project. The boiler and turbine-generator will be supplied by L&T-MHI.

With this, L&T has won orders for the supply of eight sets of supercritical boilers and turbines of 660 MW, across three projects (see table). In addition, it has orders for two turbines of 800 MW, which incidentally, was the first order bagged by L&T-MHI.

It is learnt that L&T-MHI is close to securing another order in Uttar Pradesh for two BTG sets of 660 MW.

With all this, L&T-MHI has the most number of orders for supercritical boilers and turbines – all secured in the last three years.

A spokesman of L&T told Business Line that the lack of manufacturing capacity is of no consequence because the equipment “can come from anywhere”, including Japan.

Japanese car makers to source more components locally

A view of an auto component unit

Japanese car makers such as Maruti, Toyota and Honda are working to help their suppliers increase the localisation content in components to mitigate the increasing cost of imports. Apart from engine and safety related components such as air bags, many of these companies also import a significant amount of steel.

Some of them are also changing their export currency so as to suffer lower foreign exchange losses.

Maruti Suzuki has said that it will buy more components locally to offset any adverse impact of foreign currency fluctuations. “Of the 22 per cent components that we import as a value of our net sales, 12 per cent is imported by us and the remaining by our suppliers. So, we will work with our vendors in localising those components imported by them,” explained Mr Ajay Seth, Chief Financial Officer, Maruti Suzuki India. However, the company does not foresee any major shift in its sourcing pattern for steel as certain grades of steel for cars are not available in quantity and quality in the domestic market.

While till now, the company incurred losses on account of the dollar-rupee fluctuation, from this year, with its exports mainly to Europe, it will have an advantage. “Exports will now be in euro. So, we would have a better position moving forward,” he told Business Line.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s Deputy Managing Director, Mr Hiroshi Nakagawa, said, “Currently, Indian currency is weak. Japanese yen is strong. Our counter measure is very clear. We would like to increase the localisation in our cars this year.” Both Honda and Toyota have 50-75 per cent of parts sourced locally while the balance is imported.

A spokesperson for Honda said its import costs had risen by 30 per cent in the past eight months with the rupee depreciating vis-À-vis dollar by 16 per cent and the yen strengthening against the dollar by 10.5 per cent. European car companies seem to be less impacted as the volatility in the rupee against the euro has not been sharp.

“While we do have a strong localisation plan for our models, we are less impacted due to our hedging policy and a relatively lesser fluctuation in rupee vis-a-vis the euro,” said Mr Ashutosh Dixit, GM, Sales, Skoda India.