Sony Ericsson sees fall in profit
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd.,one of the leading brands in the mobile-phone handsets segment in India and world over declared the second-quarter results according to which profit fell 19 percent as competition increased.
Net income at London-based Sony Ericsson, the world’s sixth- biggest mobile-phone maker, declined to 75 million euros ($91 million) from 89 million euros a year earlier. Sales rose to 1.61 billion euros from 1.50 billion euros. Sony Ericsson has blamed the tough competetion with No. 1 brands like Nokia. Sony Ericsson is all set to take on its rivals with music phones using Sony’s Walkman brand and by introducing cheaper handsets in China and India.
Radico Khaitan launch new Vodka brand
Radico Khaitan Ltd is likely to unveil its vodka brand, Magic Moments very soon in India as well as International market. As per the expansion plans, Radico Kaitan has initiated talks with various parties for acquiring bottling plants, distilleries and liquor brands. The company had earmarked Rs 85 crore for acquisitions of bottling units and distilleries this year.
Radico Khaitan has already expanded its two flagship brands vertically. While its 8 PM whisky was expanded to the rum and brandy categories, Old Admiral, the whisky, was enlarged with rum and brandy segments. Incidentally, both the brands have been recognised as two of the fastest growing top-10 brands in the region as reported by Millionaires Club 2004 survey conducted by the leading Belgium magazine Drinks International. While the whisky brand grew at 38 per cent in the last four years, the brandy registered a growth of 48 per cent. Its Contessa rum too found a place in the club.
Coca Cola serves legal notice to Haksar
The leading soft drink brand Coca-Cola India Inc has served a legal notice on well-known photographer and Chennai-based ad man Sharad Haksar for ‘‘illegally’’ using the branding of the company in a creative hoarding put up on Nungambakkam High Road.The controversial hoarding has a dry hand pump and lined-up empty pots in the backdrop of the Coca-Cola brand advertisement with a slogan ‘‘Drink Coca-Cola’’.
Coca Cola India has served the legal notice to Haksar on the pretext that he had used the branding of Coke in his creative work without Coca Cola’s permission which has done considerable damage to brand equity in south India of the soft drink major. The brand is already facing a protests in Kerala on the charges of over exploitation of ground water.
It is intresting to know that Sharad Haksar also happens to be a photographer for Coca Cola India so efforts are on to sort out the issue through discussions.
Korean brand i-river comes to India
Reigncom, a $450 million Korean portable digital device maker, is expected to bring some 18 models of mp3 players and portable video players to India and the SAARC countries, starting September. The Reigncom sells these devices under the brand i-river. Its products will be distributed by India based Salora International Limited.
Priced between Rs 5,000 ($116)and Rs 20,000 ($465), these devices use flash memory chips at the low end and miniature hard disk drives at the upper end. Users will be required to download music onto the devices, from the Internet portal Napster for instance. Salora is also expexted to distribute, later, a touch screen based portable digital video player that also comes loaded with gaming capabilities in India.
Ready-to-eat fish for north Indians
Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) now plans to launch Ready-to-eat fish curries in markets across North India as a result of the technology developed by them.
In a public-private enterprise, the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) in Cochin — which falls under ICAR — has developed the technology for packaging and processing of the curries.
Indian Council for Agriculture Research has commercialised and transferred the technology to M/S. Forstar Insta Foods, Mumbai, with HACCP certification. Today ICAR DG Mangala Rai officially launched the product under the brand name ‘‘Secrets of the Sea’’. The curry would be packaged in flexible heat stable pouches developed by Central Institute of Fisheries Technology and is expected to have a shelf life of one year.
Gecics Global aquires Creditek Corp.
Ahead of a major rebranding initiative, Gecis Global, the former business-process-outsourcing arm of General Electric Co., has made its first acquisition since spinning off from its parent company about six months ago. It has acquired Creditek Corp., a Parsippany, N.J., provider of order-to-cash and receivables-management services.
Gecis is expected soon reveal a new brand name and branding initiative to establish its presence as an independent service provider. Last year, private equity firms General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital Partners purchased 60% of the company from General Electric.
Jindal Steel plans overseas plant
AFTER completely strengthening the steel brand, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) is now looking beyond the Indian borders. The company plans to set up an integrated steel plant abroad. The major steel brand is looking at several destinations such as Iran, South America and Australia where iron ore and coal mines are available which they plan to acquire initially and eventually set up an integrated steel plant.
Jindal Steel and Power Ltd is open to investing around $2 billion for setting up a greenfield steel plant provided it gets permission to import coal and iron ore from that country initially for its requirements in India.
Jindal Steel and Power Ltd has announced two greenfield ventures for setting up steel plants in Orissa and Jharkhand. The company recently appointed SBI Capital Markets Ltd for financial appraisal of its proposed two-million-tonne plant in Orissa.
IFC to take up equity in Apolo
INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, the private equity arm of the World Bank, is expected to pick up equity stake in Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. IFC is expected to invest $20 million (Rs 90 crore). Apollo is raising about $70 million (Rs 315 crore) for its expansion programmes, which includes consolidation opportunities in India as well as ventures abroad. IFC’s investment will support these programmes.
By strengthening Apollo’s branding of a leading healthcare network, the expansion programme is expected to raise the overall quality of private medical services delivery in India and have a strong demonstration effect throughout the region.
Palio prices cut by Rs. 22,000
FIAT India, a well known passenger car brand, has dropped prices of its B-segment offering, Palio. Fiat announced on Thursday that it has reduced prices of the Palio by up to Rs 22,000. Now the entry-level Palio is available for Rs 3.64 lakh, while the top-end NV Sport is now priced at Rs 4.39 lakh.
The price reduction is applicable with immediate effect in Mumbai, and will be implemented in other cities over the next few days. The price has been done with an aim of making Fiat in India a most preffered choice. Facing stiff competetion with big brands and market leaders like Maruti, Tata Motors, Hyundai, Toyota etc.. its is essential that Fiat India creates a brand equity amongst middle-income buyers.
BDK Model 93 launched
BDK Group, a leading valve and pump manufacturing brand has announced the launch of its first R&D product in Indian market from its facility in Hubli - BDK Model 93 - triple offset butterfly valve. These valves are used in chemical and process industries, steel plants, thermal power stations, refineries, petrochemicals etc., for reliable sealing applications.
BDK Model 93 is cost effective, zero-leakage and designed to tolerate high pressure and temperatures and is one of the most advanced high performance butterfly valves to be manufactured in India. The low weight and compact size of the valve ensures low initial cost and low cost of automation.
Ranbaxy gets permission for AIDS Vaccine
RANBAXY Laboratories Ltd a major brand in pharmaceuticals in both India and interanational market has received tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture and market zidovudine tablets 300 mg used in combination with other anti-retroviral (ARV) agents in the treatment of HIV infection.
This is the first approval granted by the US regulator for generic zidovudine and Ranbaxy’s third tentative approval under the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief
Birla to foray in Biotechnology
The Aditya Birla group is said to be in an advanced stage of talks with Ahmedabad-based Intas Pharma to take over the latter’s biotechnology arm. With this acquisition, the Rs 28,000-crore Aditya Birla group, which enjoys a huge brand equity will be the third largest industrial house in India — after Reliance and the Tatas — to foray into the biotechnology business.
The Rs 400-crore Intas Pharma has a research and development division on biotechnology discoveries. Intas was planning to develop new technologies for biotechnology products besides making forays in preventive vaccines and wsa looking for a strategic partner for this arm.
Intas Pharmeceuticals undertakes R&D activities in biotechnology products and vaccines clinical research for new molecules (phase III trials) are in progress. It has products for cancer treatment and acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APML), which is the cancer of white blood cells that can affect patients at any time in their lives.
Bharat Petroleum intrested in DTH Network
Major Petroleum brand of India Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) plans to foray into providing direct-to-home (DTH) TV, or content delivery to subscriber’s home using satellite. India’s third largest oil firm plans to use its 1800 LPG distributors, covering about 20 million consumers, for marketing of DTH and is targeting 30 per cent of the over eight million DTH consumers expected by 2010.
To provide digital content distribution service to subscribers at a very affordable price, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd may form a joint venture with a partner dealing either in cost intensive areas like content, transponder space and STB or a financer. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd has acquired in-house expertise in satellite up linking and optimization of precious space segment in satellite. It has acquired experience in hub implementation at integrated data center at Greater Noida for connecting 300 offices and 3,000 users all over India.
Infocomm in dispute with Newscorp
Anil Ambani owned-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises is in situation of a dispute over trademark with Newscorp. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Newscorp is understood to have taken objection to using the word `Sky’ in its direct-to-home (DTH) venture of the Indian brand. ‘Sky’ has been christened as Reliance Skymagic. Newscorp has claimed that Sky is registered trademark of BSkyB.The Anil Ambani group had only recently applied for a DTH licence under this brand name.
The trademark SKY is also registered in India in Classes 9 and 16 under the provisions of the Trademarks Act, 1999. The DTH market is getting crowded with four players - the Subhash Chandra-promoted Dish TV, Prasar Bharati’s DD Direct, Sun Direct and T-Sky - already in the Indian market. With Reliance and BPCL also interested in the business, India would be a unique market with several operators. Internationally, this is restricted to just one or two players depending on the size of the market.
MTV India introduces new segments
MTV India, the music channel is all set to move on to the next level of viewership with real time interactivity. The biggest brand in music channels has launched four new blocks of interactive programming that will allow viewers across the country to use their mobile phones to interact with the channel as the shows are being relayed.
This launch is expected to widen the MTV India brand and also help the channel to get into newer formats and enjoy a higher brand equity in the digital market as well. The network has launched the shortcode 6882 for this purpose. MTV Networks already has a channel in Holland-The Music Factory ,that runs 15 hours of interactive programme daily.
As a part of the first phase, the channel will see instant interaction on programmes like Doctor Love, Love Letter, Bol Baby Poll and Ha Ya Na. India is one of the few markets where MTV has introduced the digital services apart from Korea and Japan.
Tata Motors tops the chart
Hyundai Motor India Ltd has pipped Tata Motors to become the second biggest brand in the passenger car market, for q1 by selling 37,735 cars, as against 33,848 units sold by Tata Motors. However, Tata Motors also sold 7,343 utility vehicles (UV) in the said period, as against 523 UVs by Hyundai, making it the second biggest brand of passenger vehicles.
Powered by the overwhelming response to its Swift, market leader Maruti sold 99,184 passenger cars for the first quarter of the year, apart from the utility vehicles sold. Though the overall sales by Maruti has grown in the first quarter, the sales of its flagship brand, Maruti 800, has been falling continuously. Honda Siel India, riding on the success of its mid size sedan, City, has maintained its fourth position, selling 10,494 cars in the said quarter.
Despite the launch of Ford Fusion six months back, Ford India’s sales fell to 4,366 units in the first quarter. Ford is followed by Hindustan Motors (3418 units) and Toyota (2641) whose sales was almost flat without any new exciting model launch.
Now recharge your mobiles at your ATM
Financial Software and Systems (FSS), an e-payments solutions provider has partnered with Oriental Bank of Commerce to enable prepaid recharging on 500 plus ATMs across the country.
The launch enables customers of Oriental Bank of Commerce to avail the prepaid recharge facility of most mobile service providers including Airtel, Hutch, IDEA, Reliance India Mobile, Tata Indicom, BSNL-Excel BPL Mobile, Orange, Spice, MTNL-Trump, and also ISD and STD calling cards from all Oriental Bank of Commerce ATMs.
The prepaid recharge facility is also available through SMS. The service is provided under the FSSNet brand of FSS, a product that can be readily deployed for payment solutions.
15 banks and over 10,000 ATMs are connected to FSS network, which has been operational in the payment solutions category for banks for over three years. Customers can now walk in to any Oriental Bank of Commerce’s ATM and carry prepaid products printed on the ATM receipt.
FSS is to add internet packs, broadband packs and VOIP packs to its existing suite of products in the coming weeks. The company has tied up with India Prepaid Services for providing this service under its brand, ‘Oxigen’ on the ATMs of Oriental Bank of Commerce.
JK tyres crosses 1 million radials
JK Tyre, the pioneer brand in radial technology segment in India, has crossed yet another milestone by rolling-out its one-millionth truck radial tyre at the company’s manufacturing plant in Mysore- India’s first Truck/Bus Radial tyre manufacturing facility.
JK Tyre pioneered the radial revolution in the country by introducing the first steel-belted Car radial tyre at the Jaykaygram plant in Rajasthan, in 1977. The roll-out of the one-millionth tyre at Truck Radial Tyre Plant at Mysore, has strengthened the branding and revisits the pioneering feat that ushered the renaissance in the Indian tyre industry, bringing products of global standards to the Indian consumer.
This milestone crossed by JK Tyre has set a new benchmark in the Indian tyre industry, and a testimony to the growing radialisation in the country across vehicle segments.
Funskool ties up with Cartoon Network
In a move to tap the booming cartoon based retail toy market, Funskool India, the top brand in toy segment has entered into an strategic tie-up with the number one kids’ channel of India, Cartoon Network, to retail the Network’s range of toys featuring the popular kindergarten trio- The Powerpuff Girls. The license agreement is for an initial period of two years, and is the first such exclusive tie-up in India.
Funskool expects this association with Cartoon Network will strengthen its branding and will be to offer moer such Television cartoon based toy range. The company aims to garner a market share of over 30 per cent in the growing cartoon based merchandising category of the organized toy market. Funskool will be producing board games, puzzles and creative items featuring the Powerpuff Girls at their factories in India.
Dr. Reddy’s launched New Life Coloustrum
Dr. Reddy’s, a leading brand in the pharmaceutical segment in a strategic tie-up with New Zealand based Symbiotics, has launched New Life Colostrum. The product is available in a novel chewable form for the first time in India. Colostrum is a nutrient rich natural substance produced by all female mammals during the first 72 hours after giving birth and consists of immune factors, growth factors, proteins, vitamins and minerals thus helps in the development of immunity.
Developed through unique manufacturing techniques, which ensures the availability of adequate quantities of immunoglobulins, immune factors, growth factors, proteins & minerals, New Life ColostrumTM is the World No. 1 colostrum brand and is derived from bovine colostrum.
New Life ColostrumTM prevents infections among children and is an useful supplement for children suffering from recurrent infections.
- New Life ColostrumTM is certified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, New Zealand to be free from – BSE, Foot & mouth disease, BST, Pesticides & antibiotics.
- New Life ColostrumTM has been certified by internationally recognized quality assurance standards, including ISO 9001 & ISO 14001.
Dr. Reddy’s is a strong brand in the pediatric segment with a diverse portfolio of products in both Indian as well as international market. New Life ColostrumTM launch follows other recent ‘first-of-their-kind’ product launches in India by Dr. Reddy’s for the pediatric segment. These include RebalanzTM, an oral rehydration solution for use by children suffering from non-cholera diarrhea, RedotilTM (Sachet), a novel anti-diarrheal agent used while treating acute watery diarrhea in children and EconormTM, a widely preferred yeast based preparation to prevent and control Antibiotics associated diarrhoea.
Tata Indicom appoints Identity Counsel
Tata Indicom, one of India’s fastest growing national telecom bnand appointed Identity Counsel, Singapore, to create its identity. The purpose behind this move is create an image of an innovative multifaceted communication brand for Tata Indiacom.
The new logo Tata Indicom designed by Identity Counsel is representative of the company’s commitment to ‘opening up new and infinite ways of communicating, in order to find solutions that address the young Indian consumer’s present and future communication needs’. In order to strengthen the branding a symbol which signifies a ‘Thought Bubble’ and represents Tata Indicom’s constant attention given to every customer need, dream or want in arriving at a simple solution to meet every expectation has been designed. The idea for the symbol had to be simple, engaging, inspiring, approachable and authentic to the Tata Indicom and improve its brand equity not only amongst the Indians but also among local people.
Infosys designs strategy for China
Infosys Technologies, one of top technology brands of India, has sketched out mega expansion plans for its subsidiary in China to build up service delivery capabilities and serve the local market. Currently Infosys employs close to 100 people in China. The number is expected to grow to 1,000 over the next several quarters.
Infosys, which enjoys a huge brand equity in both India as well as international technology market has 39,000 employees, plans to add 7,000 people in the second quarter of this fiscal. It added 3,000 employees in the first quarter. To accommodate the growing number of professionals Infosys is expanding its infrastructure fast. It currently has a space of 68,99,450 sq ft with a capacity of 33,111 professionals. So far the company has spent Rs 623.31 crore (Rs 6.23 billion) on building physical infrastructure and Rs 170.58 crore (Rs 1.71 billion) in technological infrastructure.
Barista launches sub-brand of Premium Cafes
Barista Coffee, one of the top brands in cafe outlets in India and world over announced the launch of Barista Creme, an exclusive sub brand of premium cafes in India, costing Rs 50 lakh.
20 kiosks of the sub brand has been planned starting this September, at select petrol pumps on highways under its tie-up with Indian Oil Corporation.
Barista’s contribution to the outlets will be around Rs 7-8 lakh, other kiosks would come up on the Pune-Mumbai, Bangalore-Chennai and Bangalore-Mysore highways. The kiosks named ‘Barista on the go’ would be spread over 700 square feet area with sitting arrangement and a take away option. This new retail format would contribute an approximate of 10 to 15 per cent in the next two years to the brands top line.
According to the brands expansion strategy 60 outlets of Barista are expected to come up during the current fiscal year in the country with a special focus to South India. 25 out of the 60 outlets are to be opened in this region. Barista is also reportedly keen on entering IT parks and tie-ups with other big companies like AirTel for its promotion. Barista had earlier partnered with Ford Ikon and MTV by selling out its space as part of its promotion plans.
Motorola Plans a mobile phone R&D in India
Motorola, the new R&D centre in Bangalore plans to bring under one roof the research and development capabilities of Motorola’s Core Networks Division and Embedded Communications Computing, both part of Motorola Networks. The centre’s focus will be to work on new telecom switching technologies and products across CDMA and GSM/UMTS networks, as well as develop products for a new class of computers, the communications server. The new Reaserch & Development Centre is expected to give a fresh push to the growing mobile phones markets in India.
Toyota launches Daihatsu in India
Toyota already has a huge brand equity to its name in the Indian market with their highly popular Qualis utility vehicle. The branding was further strengthened with the amazing Innova, which still has a long waiting list with dealers even after months of its launch. The company is now planning to open a new plant in India to complement its already production plant. Toyota is now planning to invest around Rs 387 crore in collaboration with its mini-vehicle making arm Daihatsu.
The main aim of this venture is to develop a compact car for the Indian market, which is already crowded with brands like Maruti, Hyundai and to some extent Tata Motors. The model is expected to be based on the 1-litre-class car based on the Passo model that Toyota and Daihatsu co-developed. Toyota aims to produce around 100,000 small cars a year and is looking for possible locations for the plant.
Daihatsu which is the second-largest mini vehicle maker after no. 1 brand Suzuki in the Japanese market is expected to independently manage and operate the new plant though the local operations would be taken care in collaboration with the parent company Toyota. India is a huge market for such small cars with value for money being the top priority for a new buyer in the auto market.
BharatMatrimony Centre launched in India
BharatMatrimony.com Pvt. Ltd, The No. 1 brand in Indian Matrimony service provider, announced the launch of its first ever offline business venture – the “BharatMatrimony Centre”.
The BharatMatrimony Centre will be positioned as “The worldwide marriage bureau” and is expected to target the customers who do not have access to the Internet and also those looking for easy and quick service and people who are looking for a trustworthy brand in the matrimony space to provide them with an alternative offline solution, which delivers quality service. The centre will be one window access to the best potential profiles available not just in India but from around the world.
BharatMatrimony Centre is designed to be a friendly neighbourhood marriage bureau. It will offer credibility, comfort and convenience (3Cs) and will redefine the way in which a typical marriage bureau operates in the market. With the launch of this offline service BharatMatrimony.com expects to improve its brand equtiy not only in India but with Indians all over the world.
German Medical Co. ties up with Menzes India
The 500 million euros BSN Medical GmbH, a leading German brand in medical devices and surgical products, has entered into a 61:39 per cent strategic tie up with the Goa-based Menezes family to set shop in India.
Through the tie up, BSN Medical — a joint venture between Beiersdorf AG (owner of the global brand Nivea) and Smith & Nephew Plc globally — will become the largest surgical products brand in India with a 40 per cent market share in the Rs 250 crore woundcare and orthopeadic market. BSN Medical is planning to introduce 10 new products in India with 27 already present in the market.BSN Medical has three global specialised business units — orthopaedics, wound care and urology products.
In addition to sourcing products for BSN India, the Indian manufacturing facilities will also export to the global market of BSN Medical in future.
Haier eyes Indian Television market
Global home appliances major Haier expects to emerge as the leading brand in the colour television sector in India.
In order to build up brand equity in the Indian market, Haier plans to target the premier segments . The company hopes to emerge as one of the top three colour TV brands in India by selling five lakh units in the first year and 15 lakh units by 2008. Haier recently launched its range of colour TVs, DVDs and home theatres.
Chocolate sauce launched by Cadbury
With the launch of its latest product chocolate sauce, Cadbury India has entered the dessert additives market of India. Cadbury wihich the leading brands in chocolates has so far been marketing milk additive products such as Bournvita and Delite, apart from its chocolate, biscuit and confectionery brands.
While Mapro’s chocolate sauce is priced at Rs 72 for 500 ml, Cadbury’s new product is priced at Rs 70 for 400 gram and Rs 110 for 700 gram. A Cadbury India innovation, it is being manufactured by a third-party operator in Ludhiana and will be retailed only through large organised players such as Big Bazaar, Giant and Food World. It will be made available through other trade channels, based on the consumer response.
With chocolate sauce, Cadbury India hopes to take forward its aim of tapping at in-home consumption occasions. While chocolates remain their core category, Cadbury is planning to innovate on products in other categories which can have chocolate as a base ingredient. chocolates market. Its Dairy Milk brand alone accounts for 30 per cent share of this market
Coca Cola to launch Sprite Zero
Coca Cola, one of the leading soft drink brands in India and world over now plan to focus on non cola products. In keeping with the Carboated soft drink (CSD) industry strategy, Coca-Cola India has decided to bring in the low-calorie version of its clear lemon brand Sprite. The new product, which will be out in the market soon, is called Sprite Zero.
The descision by Coca Cola India to launch the diet version of a non-cola product came after it realised that Sprite has been the fastest growing soft drink brand in volume terms across all CSD poducts of Coca-Cola India over last two years. The Sprite portfolio today comprises 11 per cent of the entire CSD market. The new sub-brand would not be endorsed by any celebrity instead it will be supported by several other means. These include owning brand properties around the number `Zero‘.