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Monday,
September 15, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Metro
Tyres to enter non-bicycle category, says Chhabra India asks
Pakistan to give MFN status Prospects
of cotton output bright |
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Bank
officers oppose VRS Cellphone
operators eye J&K
Stamp
duty
Sharp
rally by MNC scrips
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Metro Tyres to enter non-bicycle category, New Delhi, September 14 The company, which presently has a combined group turnover of around Rs 300 crore, has embarked on ambitious expansion plans including the launch of a co-branded two-wheeler tyres in the domestic replacement and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) market under the label Metro-Continental. The launch is scheduled for end of next month. “This is perhaps the first time that two-wheelers (motorbikes, scooters and mopeds) in India will have the option of tyres with a European brand name,” Managing Director of Metro Tyres Rummy Chhabra told The Tribune in an exclusive interview. Metro Tyres is one of the major players in the domestic bicycle tyre manufacturing business and presently enjoys a market share of about 22 per cent. This will be the company’s first foray into the non-bicycle category. Mr Chhabra, however, ruled out further diversification into the manufacturing of tyres for cars and bigger vehicles, at least in the short to medium term. “From bicycles to two-wheeler tyres is kind of natural progression. We want to stick to our core area of business, at least for the time being, he said. For the Continental brand tyres, the company is presently holding discussions with major Indian two-wheeler manufacturers for exclusive OEM agreements. “But our immediate focus is on the replacement market. The OEM agreements should take about a year’s time to firm up,” Mr Chhabra noted. Under the agreement with Continental, the German giant will pick-up tyres from the Ludhiana plant to the tune of 50,000 tyres and tubes per month. These will be marketed in Europe, Scandinavia, US and East Asia under the Continental brand name but will have a made in India label. “Eventually, we could see all the major global two-wheeler manufacturers using tyres produced in India as Continental is the OEM supplier to many players including Honda, Harley Davidson and Kawasaki,” Mr Chhabra said. The company will start manufacturing these tyres at its new plant in Ludhiana which was imported last year from Sweden at a cost of Rs 40 crore for producing bicycle tyres. Metro is investing another Rs 40 crore in this plant to set up a new manufacturing line for two-wheeler tyres. The new manufacturing line will produce 1,00,000 tyres and 1,00,000 tubes per month and out of this 50 per cent production will be exported to European, American and other overseas markets. Metro Tyres had initially signed an exclusive off take agreement with Continental for supplying Continental brand of bicycle tyres and tubes for the world market. This was followed by the company’s recent foray into the sportswheels segment and had signed a long term agreement with Continental to produce the world’s first of its kind hi-tech Rubber Sports Wheel in India. These Rubber Sports wheels widely used in roller skates is technologically different from the conventional Polyurethane Sports Wheel. As per the agreement, Continental will buy back the entire production of Rubber Sports Wheel from Metro for its USA and European markets. Metro has invested about Rs 10 crore for creating an additional production line for this product in its Ludhiana plant with a capacity of two million wheels per annum. The export turnover in the first year is expected to be around Rs 15 crore ($ 3 million) which is estimated to go up to Rs 75 crore ($ 15 million) within the next four years. In the segment of bicycle tyres, which is its core area of business, the company is presently exporting around 1.5 lakh tyres and 3.5 lakh tubes per month exclusively to Continental. For the domestic market, the company has OEM agreements with major players like Hero Cycles, Atlas, A-one, RMI and TI Cycles. Mr Chhabra feels that there is a distinct difference in the style and design of tyres between India and the Western markets. In Europe, the focus is on speed and for two-wheelers we have to make tyres which can touch the speed of up to 300 Km. This is not quite true for India, where 90 per cent of the two-wheelers are used for city commuting purposes and rarely touches speed beyond 100 Km. In the West, motor cycles have more of a recreation value where people pack off for long rides during weekends, he said. Consequently, the Indian two-wheeler rider focuses more on mileage whereas in Europe the premium is more on safety and grip, Mr Chhabra pointed out. On Ortem, the electrical appliances arm of Metro Tyres, he admitted tough competition was ensuing from the Chinese brands at least on the price point argument. “We are feeling the pressure on our margins from the Chinese producers as our main thrust area is exports and in several markets we are competing directly with them.” For this it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Samsung Corporation of Korea and Brother Industries of Japan for marketing the Ortem range of electric fans in East Asia and the Far East, Mr Chhabra added.
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India asks Pakistan to give
MFN status New Delhi, September 14 In his inaugural address at the launch of the India-Pakistan CEOs Business Forum here, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said there was a perception about India maintaining certain non-tariff barriers. “Let me declare in unambiguous terms that if there are any Pakistan-specific restrictions, the Government of India will strive to remove them,’’ he said. Calling for greater economic interaction between the two countries, Mr Sinha said if $2 billion worth of trade can take place when politics was working against trade, what would be the picture when politics and trade became aligned. He said it was India’s hope that Pakistan will also sooner rather than later give India the MFN treatment and remove all non-tariff barriers. Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmad said huge
opportunities existed for economic cooperation between Indian and Pakistan and other countries of the region. “Sound communication links and level-playing field are two paramount requirements for any sustainable economic cooperation between the countries of the region,’’ he said. The CII president Anand Mahindra said setting up of forum was the first step towards efforts at boosting bilateral trade. Leader of the Pakistan delegation Amin Hashwani hoped that the goodwill visit would set the ground for better trade ties.
CII, Pak group ink pact
Meanwhile, the CII today signed an agreement with a Pakistani industry lobby to promote trade and investment between the two countries. As part of the agreement, the CII and the Young President Organisation (YPO), a network of Pakistani business leaders, set up an India-Pakistan CEO's Business Forum that will have industry captains from both countries as members. The forum will meet at least every six months to enhance networking opportunities, facilitate relationship building and increase bilateral trade and investment, said a joint CII and YPO statement. Amin
Hashwani, co-chairman of India-Pakistan CEO’s Business Forum and managing director of Karachi-based Hashwani Group of Companies, said business community in India and Pakistan must join hands to increase trade between the two countries. Bilateral trade between India and Pakistan is currently less than 1 per cent of their global trade. India and Pakistan have official annual trade of around $200 million, but exports through third countries total nearly $1 billion. Experts say trade could rise to nearly $4 billion if the two countries start trading with each other directly. Pakistan maintains a “permissible list’’ of 600 items like chemicals, minerals, metal products, cardamom and tyres that may be legally imported from India. Most finished products and white goods are not part of this list. Hari
Bhartiya, co-chairman of India-Pakistan CEO’s business forum and managing director of New Delhi-based Jubilant
Organosys, said Pakistan offered huge market potential for Indian companies.
— IANS
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Prospects of cotton output bright Ludhiana, September 14 The cotton production fell last year due to drought in major cotton-growing states. The cotton production in the Punjab circle comprising Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan is also expected to touch 26.5 lakh bales. The production in Punjab is estimated at 11 lakh bales while in Haryana, 11.5 lakh bales and Rajasthan 4 lakh bales, respectively. So far, the crop has not faced much serious attack of pests but experts are worried that if the wet weather condition continue, the cotton crop may be attacked by American bollworm (American Sundi). According to Mr D.L. Sharma, executive president of Mahavir Spinning Mills, there has been an increase in the area under BT cotton by two-and-half times this year in states like Gujarat and Maharashtra. In Punjab, the PAU has not released any variety of BT cotton so far officially. However, cotton growers purchased some seeds of BT cotton and sowed the same. But the area under the same is not much. Mr Sharma says the cotton crop is at a very crucial stage and flowering is good. This requires dry and little hot weather conditions. Cloudy and wet weather conditions will cause damage to the crop. Mr Sharma explains that there has been an overall shortage of cotton in the country and import was expensive because of high prices of the same in the international markets. The New York futures were quoted at 59 to 60 cents per pound. The forward deals in cotton in the country are also taking place at higher rates. Ginned
(pressed bales) cotton forward rates range between Rs 1,800 and 1,900 per maund and Rs 2,000 to Rs 2100 per maund. The cotton arrivals in the mandis will be delayed by about 10 days this year because of wet weather conditions, the experts say. Mr Sharma says the textile industry is passing through a difficult situation because of limited quota of export of readymade garments. The quota has almost been exhausted for the current year. The year 2004 is the final year of the quota system of expert of textiles and hosiery goods.
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Bank officers oppose VRS Patiala, September 14 Speaking at the 22nd general body meeting of the ABOA at a function held here in which more than 2,500 officers participated, All-India State Bank Officers Federation (AISBOF) President Amar Pal said at present banks needed more recruitment and not retrenchment. Association Secretary Amar Singh said the time had come when unions would have to devise new methods of organisational activities. State Bank of Patiala General Manager J.R. Devgan appreciated the role of the ABOA in the overall development of the bank. Mr J.D. Shukla and Mr B.C. Bassi, former presidents of the ABOA, also spoke on the achievements of the association at the conference on which resolutions were passed condemning moves to privatise public sector banks besides victimising trade union leaders. A new team of the ABOA was also elected unopposed. Mr M.J. Walia was elected President, Mr Rakesh Jasra — Vice- President, Mr Amar Singh — secretary, Mr S.S. Sidhu and Mr Chaman Lal Singla — treasurer.
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Cellphone operators
eye J&K
Jammu, September 14 Bharti Telecom, which has decided to launch its Airtel mobile service, has completed its 15 day long survey in the state with a very huge response, a company official said. Another private telephony operator, Hutch has also constituted its team for
conducting survey of prospective mobile service users in the state, company sources said. Hutch would complete its survey in next fortnight and decide about the launch of its service here, they said. Reliance Telecom has already decided to launch its mobile services in the state soon, the sources said, adding Reliance is most cheaper service with 40 paise per minute as compared to Rs 2.40 per minute call of BSNL.
— PTI
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New Delhi, September 14
