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Korean giant LG
to tap Indian villages
Biocon to conduct
final trial for cancer drug Queen of Hills
needs consultant, says
hotel body chief Northern Rly
jumps billion-dollar signal Industry grows
6.9 pc last fiscal |
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PSU insurers post
stunted growth Indo-China trade
may cross $10 billion Poll newscast on
Reliance cellphones
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Korean giant LG to tap Indian villages
Greater Noida (UP), May 12 The consumer electronics leader will invest Rs 700 crore over the next three years for expanding capacity and its product portfolio. “Besides internal accruals, we will take loan for the purpose,” LG India Managing Director K R Kim told newspersons here. Mr Kim said the company was focused on the vast Indian rural market. About 90 per cent of the company’s total sales income in 2004 would be accounted for by high-volume, low-value products. With a view to tapping the scope in semi-urban and rural markets, LG has not only launched economy-range products but is also investing about Rs 7 crore in infrastructure, he said adding that the company is also expanding its footprint by setting up 72 regional area offices, 61 central area offices and 43 branches. “Greater penetration in rural markets would help the company achieve its targeted turnover of Rs 7,000 crore and Rs 15,000 crore in 2004 and 2007, respectively,” Mr Kim stated. In 2003, the Indian subsidiary of the South Korean consumer electronics, home appliances and telecom products major, recorded a turnover of Rs 4,500 crore. LG India Marketing Head Anil Arora said in the current calendar year, a corpus of Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for advertisements and brand building. Eighty-five per cent of the communications resources would be spent on promoting products of mass consumption this year while the balance 15 per cent would be spent on promoting premium products. In 2004, 90 per cent of the company’s sales income would be accounted for by mass products while premium products would account for the rest. Mr Arora said in 2007, 65 per cent of the communications resources would be spent on products of mass consumption while the balance would be spent on premium products. In that year, 75 per cent of the company’s sales income would be accounted for by mass products while premium products would account for the balance 25 per cent. Products priced below Rs 16,000 fall in the low-end category while those priced between Rs 16,000 and Rs 35,000 fall in the middle-range category. Products that are priced above Rs 35,000 are stated to be in the premium category. In its bid to increase penetration in rural markets, LG would unleash “round-the-clock, below-the-line secondary marketing initiatives” in regional languages in the hinterland across the country, he added. The company, which has invested Rs 500 crore at its manufacturing facility at Greater Noida, is setting up another manufacturing facility at Pune in Maharashtra, which will be operational by August this year. With an investment of an additional Rs 500 crore, the Pune plant will help the company cater to the Southern and Western regions of the country and the company plans to make it the export hub, he added. The electronics major also announced stylish cricketer Yuvraj Singh its new brand ambassador to endorse the company’s premium range of products, especially GSM mobile handsets. Yuvraj is the fifth Indian cricketer to join the LG stable. The other four — Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly and former skippers Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and K. Srikkanth —feature in LG’s ‘Captains of India’ marketing campaign.
— Agencies
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Biocon to conduct final trial for cancer drug New Delhi, May 12 She was talking to mediapersons, after delivering a lecture on “Biotechnology: Building Global Excellence through Scientific Entrepreneurs.” The lecture was organised by the Department of Science and Technology as a part of Technology Day celebrations. “The Centre and state government should nurture biotechnology industry that is still in a nascent stage. But it has tremendous potential to create wealth for country. The multiplicity of regulatory agencies is, however, creating hurdles in the development of new biotech products,” she observed. She called upon the government to do away with different agencies engaged in overlapping work. To compete in the global environment, we will have to streamline our regulatory framework, she said. Appreciating the role of Mr Chander Babu Naidu, outgoing Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to promote biotech sector in state, she said, the Centre should immediately set up a venture capital fund of at least Rs 200 crore to support small companies. She hoped that the next government would continue to promote biotech sector. Stressing the need for strong Academic-Industry partnership, she said,” discovery led innovation cannot happen without a strong and dynamic interface between scientists at academic laboratories and researchers within industry. Unless we can mesh the two we cannot make a global impact.” Lauding the growth of
American biotech industry, she said: “India will have to develop its own financial and granting models to encourage strong and lasting linkages between industry and academia.” She lamented that unlike the US, where around 70 per cent biotech drugs were developed in university and academic research labs, most of the drugs in India were still developed by the scientists working in industry.
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Queen of Hills needs consultant, says Shimla, May 12 There has been a spurt in the foreign tourist traffic in the Northern region, which had been the target of terrorist violence over the past two decades. In 2002 over 2.50 lakh foreign tourists visited Northern India but the number swelled to 4.50 lakh the following year. This year it was likely to cross the 7-lakh mark. The foreign exchange earnings from the tourism also increased from Rs 8000 crore to Rs 17,000 crore over the
period. Mr Chaudhary said a number of factors had been responsible for the turn around. The Incredible India campaign launched by the Government of India also helped. Today India figures among the first top 10 countries in the list of Western tourists. The biggest beneficiary had been the state of Jammu and Kashmir where the number of tourists shot up from a meagre 18000 in 2002 to 2,08,000 in 2003. The state was on the verge of a tourism
boom. Mr Chaudhary said the association also discussed the problems faced by tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh, particularly Shimla, which was the most popular tourist destination in Northern India. It decided to appoint a consultant to find a permanent solution to the problems of drinking water, car parking and difficulties encountered in renovation of hotels and getting building plans approved from the Municipal
Corporation. The association, Mr Chaudhary said, would soon discuss these issues with the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and also submitted a memorandum to him. Besides maintenance of parking lots, toilets and other facilities it could take up major projects on build-operate and transfer (BOT) basis, he said.
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Northern Rly jumps billion-dollar signal
New Delhi, May 12 The jump in earnings over the revised budget for 2003-04 was mainly due to better crew management, close monitoring of rolling stock, special freight trains to port destinations like Kandla and Gandhidham and running of non-stop freight express trains. There was an increase of about 14 per cent in passenger traffic through which the Northern Railway earned Rs 2539 crore during the first 11 months of 2003-04. The passenger earnings for last fiscal is a growth of about 16 per cent over Rs 2194 crore recorded for the corresponding period in the previous year. “The new re-organised Northern Railway is already a billion dollar organisation and the future holds great promise” NR General Manager R.R. Jaruhar told reporters here today. After the reorganisation, the zone comprising Ambala, Delhi, Ferozepore, Lucknow and Moradabad cut its route-length to 6807.90 km from 11047.43 km and was able to improve operational efficiency. Claiming that the operational efficiency of Northern Railway had improved by 29 per cent, Mr Jaruhar said the zone was targeting revenue of Rs 5200 crore with a large part coming from freight.
— PTI
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Panel to study steel price hike The Ministry of Railways has issued orders for setting up a committee to study the recent abnormal hike in the prices of various steel products. Sources in the Ministry said that the three-member committee of Executive Directors in the Railway Board will study the hike in the prices of steel products used in the production of steel girder bridges and structures, reinforced concrete structures, pre-stressed concrete sleepers and carriage and wagon components. The committee comprising the Executive Director, Railway Stores, Executive Director Track (Maintenance) and Executive Director, Finance, will be appointed for two months. It will recommend ways and means to award the extent of compensation to the suppliers and contractors to take care of the hike in prices of steel products.
— TNS
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Industry grows 6.9 pc last fiscal New Delhi, May 12 The General Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the year April to March 2003-04 stood at 186.7, which is 6.9 per cent higher as compared to the same period in the previous year. For the month of March 2004, the index stood at 208.1, which is higher by 6.7 per cent as compared to March 2003. The indices of industrial production for mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors for the month of March 2004 grew by 3.8 per cent, 6.7 per cent and 10.1 per cent as compared to March 2003. The cumulative growths during April to March 2003-04 over the corresponding period of 2002-03 in the three sectors have been 5.1 per cent, 7.2 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. As many as 11 of the 17 two-digit industry groups have shown positive growth during the month March 2004 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. ‘Machinery and Equipment other than Transport Equipment’ have shown the highest growth of 28.6 per cent, followed by 20.5 per cent in ‘Wool, Silk and Man-made Fibre Textiles’ and 17.7 per cent in Basic Chemicals and Chemical Products (except products of Petroleum and Coal). On other hand, food products have shown a negative growth of 17.9 per cent, followed by a decline of 14.2 per cent in leather and leather and fur products and 4.0 per cent in rubber, plastic, petroleum and coal products. As per use-based classification, the growth in March 2004 over March 2003 is 5.7 per cent in basic goods, 17 per cent in Capital goods and 4.5 per cent in intermediate goods. The consumer durables and consumer non-durables have recorded growth of 20.3 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively, with the overall growth in consumer goods being 6.2 per cent, respectively.
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PSU insurers post stunted growth
New Delhi, May 12 ICICI Lombard posted 135 per cent growth in business at Rs 507 crore to topple Bajaj Allianz and emerge as the leading private player in 2003-04, according to data compiled by
IRDA. Stiff competition among PSUs and private players pushed up general insurance business by 13 per cent with premium income rising to Rs 16,118 crore last fiscal. The five PSUs contributed 85.79 per cent or Rs 13,828 crore of the business last fiscal compared to Rs 12,910 crore or 90.54 per cent of the market pie in 2002-03. New India continues to dominate the industry although its market share came down to 24.99 per cent last fiscal from 27.50 in 2002-03. The company grew by only 2.7 per cent in business at Rs 4,028 crore last fiscal compared to Rs 3,921 crore in 2002-03. National Insurance outsmarted United India to become the second biggest insurer with a market share of 21.2 per cent last fiscal compared to 20.08 per cent in 2002-03. The Kolkata-based insurer was the only exception among PSUs and posted a modest 19.33 per cent growth in premium at Rs 3,417 crore in 2003-04, compared to Rs 2,864 crore in previous fiscal. United India could manage a growth of 3.37 per cent by mopping up Rs 3,068 crore in premium. Its market share slipped to 19 per cent in 2003-04, from 20.81 in 2002-03. Oriental Insurance also grew by a miniscule 3.1 per cent collecting Rs 2,869 crore in premium. Its market share also slipped to 17.8 per cent at the end of March 2004, from 19.52 per cent in 2002-03. ECGC grew by 18.81 per cent with premium income at Rs 445 crore and a market share of 2.76 per cent. Among the private players, seven posted hefty growth while Reliance General witnessed fall in premium income. ICICI Lombard topped the chart with a market share of 3.14 per cent followed by Bajaj Allianz (2.96 per cent), Tata AIG (2.2 per cent) and IFFCO Tokio (2.02 per cent).
— PTI
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Indo-China trade may cross $10 billion Beijing, May 12 Noting that bilateral trade has already touched $ 3.1 billion during the first quarter (January-March) of 2004, Mr Surie expressed confidence that total trade during the year could easily exceed $ 10 billion by the end of this year, setting a new record. In 2003, India-China bilateral trade touched a record $7.6 billion. “In my personal view, India and China could easily aim to achieve bilateral trade of $ 20 billion by the end of 2010,” Mr Surie said here in his inaugural address at ‘India Day’ seminar on “Business Opportunities for Global Co-operation.” India and China are competitors but there are also significant complementarities, he said. “We therefore regard China as a business partner, not as a competitor. It is not India or China. it is India and China,” he said while addressing the seminar, organised by Chemtech Foundation as part of the ongoing ‘Achemasia 2004’, a major exhibition of chemical and process engineering.
— PTI
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Poll newscast on Reliance cellphones Chandigarh, May 12 RIM subscribers can view the latest NDTV video news clip by selecting NDTV 24X7 in the ‘News’ section of the main menu of R World.
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Listless Indian economy awaits political clarity. (
Spurred by a strong rise in domestic demand, industrial production clocked a robust growth of 6.9 per cent in 2003-04.
