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| No new models
for 2 years, says Saito NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Maruti Udyog Limited Chairman Yoshio Saito today said no new models would be rolled out from the Maruti stables over the next two years. ....more Bakht presents NEW
DELHI, Nov 17: Union
Industry Minister Sikander Bakht today presented the
CII-EXIM Business Excellence Award for 1998 to Maruti
Udyog Limited (MUL). ....more CHENNAI,
Nov 17: Only
unleaded petrol will be sold in the Metropolitan Cities
of Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta after March 1999 and use
of leaded petrol phased out, Union Petroleum Minister
Vazhapadi Ramamurthy said .......more SIRSA, Nov 17: A five day international cotton research conference is being organised at Nagpur from December one to chalk out global strategies for countering uncertainities in sustainable cotton- based cropping systems. ....more |
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International cotton research conference from Dec SIRSA, Nov 17: A five day international cotton
research conference is being organised at Nagpur from
December one to chalk out global strategies for
countering uncertainities in sustainable cotton- based
cropping . ..... more NEW
DELHI, Nov 17:
Government clearance for seagram, the multinational
beverage company, for manufacturing alcohol from coarse
grain....more Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU,
Nov 17:
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)......more NEW DELHI, Nov 17: The pricing strategies adopted by new entrants in the small car business — Daewoo and Hyundai — seems....more |
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| No
new models for 2 years, says Saito NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Maruti Udyog Limited Chairman Yoshio Saito today said no new models would be rolled out from the Maruti stables over the next two years. "Developing a new model takes a lot of time and there are no plans for introducing new models at present. In fact, there are no new models in the offing for the Indian market for the next two years," Mr Saito told here today. This statement by Mr Saito, who is also the Executive Vice President of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), has come in the wake of the recent statement made by Industry Minister Sikander Bakht and senior officials from his ministry that Maruti would be rolling out two new models in the Indian market in 1999 as part of its efforts to sustain its leadership. This, they said, was announced at the minister’s week-long visit to Japan. However, Mr Saito categorically denied any plans of introducing new models. "We never announced any plans to introduce any models. It is all false. It is not easy to roll out new models so soon. We are working on the models at present but there is no question of launching new products in the next two years," he added. The two equal partners — SMC and Government of India, he said, are looking at all the options and market segments for the new models. "We are looking at all options from the small car to the Luxury car. But nothing has been finalised as yet and no launch schedule prepared." According to Mr Saito, the joint venture company is all set to meet the onslaught from global car majors. Industry Ministry officials had, pursuant to their visit to Japan, stated that Suzuki is exploring the possibilities of launching two additional models in the Indian market through its existing joint venture Maruti Udyog Limited. They had further stated that the new models would hit the Indian roads in 1999 and supplement the Zen and Esteem. Meanwhile, Maruti, in a bid to counter the imminent competition from new small car Entrants, has already launched a fresh Salvo in the form of an improved service set-up under which the vehicles would be picked up for service and delivered back at the doorsteps. Besides, a lot of effort is being put into increasing productivity levels at the workshops and improving the front office operations at workshops. The company is also working towards bringing down the complaints per 10,000 vehicles from 13 at present to ten. Moreover, the entire lay-out of workshops, the environment and the attitude of dealers are going in for a sea change. The dealers have also been asked to work out an individual promotional activity to push forward sales. The company has also increased the warranty on its vehicles from one-year 20,000 km to one-year unlimited km. These incentives are in addition to the several fiscal sops which the company had recently announced to counter the impending competition in the small car segment pursuant to the launch of Hyundai Santro and Daewoo Matiz. Jolted by the two back-to-back aggressive launches, Maruti had doubled the interest payment on bookings to 20 per cent per annum. Besides, cash sops are being offered to dealers to prop up sales. Riding on these initiatives, the company expects to surge ahead in volumes but with the market expanding, its share is likely to come down. Maruti is, in fact, now looking at a market share of around 70 per cent over the next two years as against the present 84 per cent. (UNI) |
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| Bakht presents
CII-EXIM Award to MUL NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Union Industry Minister Sikander Bakht today presented the CII-EXIM Business Excellence Award for 1998 to Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL). The jury, headed by Sundaram Clayton Limited Managing Director Venu Srinivasan, has cited MUL’s excellent manufacturing operations, sound management of supply chain, high degree of employee involvement and strong visible involvement of senior management in promoting total quality culture as the reasons for giving the award to the public sector car maker. MUL Managing Director RSSLN Bhaskarudu and Chairman Y Saito received the award. The award is given to country’s role model organisations, which exemplify the application of total quality management for achieving overall business excellence. The citation said MUL has made a significant impact on the automobile market in the country and set new benchmarks for Indian industry in many areas. The award entries are assessed by a group of trained assessors drawn from different disciplines from industry and short-listed companies are site-visited, Mr Suresh Rajpal, quality summit Chairman, said. Meanwhile, CII-EXIM commendation for 1998 was given to TATA Iron and Steel Company. (UNI) |
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| Leaded petrol to be phased out
by March CHENNAI, Nov 17: Only unleaded petrol will be sold in the Metropolitan Cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta after March 1999 and use of leaded petrol phased out, Union Petroleum Minister Vazhapadi Ramamurthy said here today. He told a press conference that already in Delhi only unleaded petrol was being sold. This would be expanded to other three metros by March end. He said use of LPG as fuel for cars would be allowed by his ministry and an order in this regard would be issued soon. The minister said oil exploration in the high seas 70 km off in the Bay of Bengal had produced ‘encouraging results’ and the ONGC was analysing the data of the exploration. However, exploration at Palar Basin had not produced desired results. On reports that oil major royal shell had withdrawn from a proposed joint venture project in Uttar Pradesh, Ramurthy said his ministry would go ahead with the project, despite shell’s decision. "We are not dependent on multinational companies for setting up refiniries," he added. His ministry had sanctioned five refineries-at Bhatinda, Bina, Paradip, Sultanpur and Nagapattinam. Of this, foundation for Bhatinda had already been laid, he said. Ramamurthy said a comprehensive liberalisation package for the petroleum industry was being worked out by his ministry, in consultation with the Finance and Commerce Ministries. The package envisaging achievement of self sufficiency in petroleum products by 2010 ad would be announced ‘probably’ before the next budget, he said. He said there were possibilites of the price of diesel coming down. He ruled out bringing down the LPG price, on the plea that the Centre was giving a subsidy of Rs 72 per cylinder now. The Centre wanted it to be brought down to Rs 28 by 2002, he added. (PTI) |
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| International cotton research conference
from Dec SIRSA, Nov 17: A five day international cotton research conference is being organised at Nagpur from December one to chalk out global strategies for countering uncertainities in sustainable cotton- based cropping systems. Announcing this Dr Dalip Moga, head of Sirsa Regional Station of the Central Institute for Cotton Research said the conference is being organised by the C T Patel Memorial Trust, Nagpur which was named after the world renowned cotton scientist who developed the world’s first ever commercial cotton hybrid. Dr M S Kairon, the chairman of the Trust and director of CICR, Nagpur is the moving force behind this conference and has contributed a great deal to the cotton research, Dr Monga said. He said that the conference will be attended by the world’s leading cotton research scientists and hoped that it will provide effective solutions to the problems faced by cotton farmers of Northern India in particular. (UNI) |
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| International cotton research conference
from Dec SIRSA, Nov 17: A five day international cotton research conference is being organised at Nagpur from December one to chalk out global strategies for countering uncertainities in sustainable cotton- based cropping systems. Announcing this Dr Dalip Moga, head of Sirsa Regional Station of the Central Institute for Cotton Research said the conference is being organised by the C T Patel Memorial Trust, Nagpur which was named after the world renowned cotton scientist who developed the world’s first ever commercial cotton hybrid. Dr M S Kairon, the chairman of the Trust and director of CICR, Nagpur is the moving force behind this conference and has contributed a great deal to the cotton research, Dr Monga said. He said that the conference will be attended by the world’s leading cotton research scientists and hoped that it will provide effective solutions to the problems faced by cotton farmers of Northern India in particular. (UNI) |
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Grain alcohol project raises concern NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Government clearance for seagram, the multinational beverage company, for manufacturing alcohol from coarse grain has raised concern in sections of society. Seagram is planning to convert maize, sorghum, bajra and millets — the poor man’s food — into a rich man’s drink —whiskey. Presently the Distilleries and Breweries in India produce alcoholic drinks from molasses as it is a cheap byproduct of the sugar industry and yields high amount of alcohol — 230 litres per tonne. Indian scientists knew all along how to make alcoholic beverage from food grains. But this route was never pursued because of low yield (40 litres er tonne) and the fact, that for a country with millions of malnourished people, it would be immoral to covert food grains into whiskey. Under the liberalized policy, however, seagram acquired permission to become what it claims the only company in India which uses grain and not molasses in the production of its blended whiskies. Food surplus Western countries produce alcohol from food grains out of necessity because they do not have molasses, says H B Mathur, former Professor at the Indian Institute of technology here and an expert in alcohol production and use. To do so in India, which has abundant molasses, would be foolish as this may create food scarcity, Mathur warns. (PTI) |
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TRAI holding open house discussion tomorrow Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 17: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is holding an open house discussion on quality of service and open house on telecom prices here on two days beginning from November 19. The venue will be Hotel Ashok Jammu Tawi, according to Mr Gautam Sanyal, Director (A&R),TRAI. On November 19,there will be an open house on quality of service which will begin at 3 pm. The next day, on November 20, there will be open house on telecom pricing, which will start at 9.30 am, a TRAI release issued here said. It said that to hold open house was necessitated after the response from Government Departments, various service provides, voluntary organisations connected with telecommunications and the general public to its Second Consultation Paper on Telecom Pricing. The release said that such discussions will be held in various parts of the country. It said that to protect the interests of the consumers, the TRAI is releasing a Consultation Paper on Quality of Service which lists out the quality of service indicators, their benchmarks, targets,monitoring and enforcement procedures to ensure that quality should be effectively delivered to the consumers. |
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Maruti will continue to remain
No 1 car NEW DELHI, Nov 17: The pricing strategies adopted by new entrants in the small car business — Daewoo and Hyundai — seems to have given market leader Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) the much-needed shot-in-the-arm. In fact, so bolstered is the mood in the company that Managing Director RSSLN Bhaskarudu says, "we will continue to remain the number one carmaker in India." "We are confident, we can take on the competition. We have the latest technology at our disposal and as and when need be, we will roll out new models," he said. However, Mr Bhaskarudu refused to give details about the new models which are being planned for the Indian market. But MUL Chairman Yoshio Saito categoricaly stated that the company would not be rolling out any new models over the next two years. The company has already spruced up its service set-up and is working towards increasing productivity levels at the workshops and improving the front office operations at workshops. These are all part of the initiatives being taken to meet the competition. The dealers have also been asked to work out an individual promotional activity to push forward sales. Riding on these initiatives, the company expects to surge ahead in volumes as also retain its existing mareketshare of 84 per cent. The company presently has a capacity to produce 3.50 lakh vehicles per annum and another one lakh vehicle capacity is being added to it. Mr Bhaskarudu also reiterated that Maruti will not resort to any price cuts to meet the competition. He further stated that the company would not phase out the standard Maruti 800 model. (UNI) |
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