Hillstock Festival - State Of Mind

State of Mind, one of the leading Brand Communications Agencies in India is organising Hillstock Festival, a musical extravaganza in the hills of Kumaon. Details of the Hillstock are available here. If you are interested in becoming a part of Hillstock, please get in touch with

Raul at 9313332103 State Of Mind at 91-1151633393. email us at som.experience@gmail.com

India Brand Equity Foundation to promote Brand India

The India Brand Equity Foundation is to work towards a 10-year plan to promote brand India and seek a more active public-private partnership. The India Brand Equity Foundation is expected to answer the ubiquitos question: Now that India has arrived and is on the radar screen. What next? The India Brand Equity Foundation board is chaired by commerce secretary S.N. Menon and includes secretary (east) in the ministry of external affairs Rajiv Sikri and tourism secretary A.K. Misra as government nominees. The other members are: Tata Sons director Krishna Kumar, Equus Adversiting chief executive Suhel Seth, Escorts Heart Institute executive director Naresh Trehan, Ogaan director Kavita Bhartia and Media Trans Asia director Simran Bedi. Ajay Khanna, deputy director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry, is the foundation's chief executive officer.

Nokia picks up CII's Brand of the Year Award

What has instantly become as one of the most coveted achievements in the branding scenario in India made its debut recently with a big BANG. The recently held CII Brand Summit, which has returned after a hiatus of five years launched its Brand of the Year award. An impressive list of India's most admired brands from across all categories were placed on an even keel, and then passed through a rigorous test called Brand Microscope. The methodology, devised by Vertibrand, tested each brand against its peers, in the marketplace and the consumers before arriving at the final list. The jury members included Gurcharan Das, K.N. Shenoy, Dorab Sopariwala, Mani Aiyar and Prof S. Ramachander among others. The 10 finalists were Titan, which incidentally was everyone’s favourite, Nokia, Eveready, Lux, Pond’s Dreamflower Talc, Dabur Chyawanprash, Fair & Lovely, Rin, Indane and Pond’s Body Lotion. Even as a large section of the crowd rooted for Titan, the surprise winner came in the form of Nokia, which in a decade’s time, seems to have made itself completely at home with the Indian consumers. The summit also featured an amazing fusion music performance by kanjira wizard Selva Ganesh, legendary bass player Jonas Hellborg, ghatam exponent Vikku Vinayakram and others. the performance was the perfect break from a day packed with facts and figures and analyses by eminent speakers from across the country and the globe. Read more about why India loves Nokia at Mobile Phones India.

Bollywood can catalyze Indian fashion retail

Bollywood can be a catalyst for the booming Indian retail trade sector and push fashion merchandise market to $4.5 billion in the next two years, a new study says. Read full story at Yahoo. It indeed has been the case that the fashion trends in India are guided by film stars rather than fashion houses. What our popular actors wear becomes a fashion statement. Hope that the multinational fashion houses eyeing India will realise this potential and use Bollywood to catalyse demand for their brands.

Now Suggestive 'Moan Tones' for your Mobile Handsets

Polyphonic ring tones are passe. Now, your mobile handset can be actually moaning, that too, suggestively! So, are you ready for the moan tones. Yes, that's the latest addition to the fancy services on your mobile handsets. Read the complete story at Mobile Phones India.

BSNL targeting 55% market share

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is targeting a marketshare of 50-55% to achieve its share of 120 million phone connections out of the 250 million phone connections target by 2007 announced by the government. Read complete story at Mobile Phones India.

Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Haier, Motorola to launch new mobile handset models

Almost all the major mobile phone vendors in the Indian market like LG Electronics, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Haier India, Bird International, Reliance, Philips India, Akasaki International, among others, are all set to launch new mobile handset models in India. Read complete story at Mobile Phones India.

Indian Oil Corporation to set up 10,000 retail outlets

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has chalked out an aggressive expansion plan. The state-run oil major has decided to enhance its retail operations by setting up over 10,000 retail outlets by the end of the current financial year. The oil major plans to add over 1,000 new retail outlets by December, 2005. The annual spends on retail expansion is estimated to be around Rs 500 crore. “We have already opened over 1,000 retail outlets in 2004 and in 2005 we plan to open over 1,000 new retail outlets across the country. We will have in excess of 10,000 retail outlets by the end of the current financial year,” S K Swaminathan, executive director (lubes), marketing division, IOC told Business Standard. The corporation has appointed Leo Burnett to promote its retails outlets and retail-related offerings. Bulk of the promotional spends, which comprises all forms of advertising and marketing support, will be focused on IOC’s flagship lubricant brand, Servo. The budget spent for Servo is estimated to be Rs 30 crore. The brand commands a 40 per cent share of the Rs 5,000 crore lubricant market. For the retail outlets, the corporation plans to promote its petrol stations as brands, in addition to promoting the offerings at the outlets such as branded diesel, branded petrol and branded cards amongst others. At present, IOC’s marketing network is spread throughout the country with over 22,000 sales points, the largest in the country, which include petrol and diesel stations, consumer outlets, lube distributors, servo shops, and LPG distributors amongst others. The corporation commands over 53 per cent of the petroleum products market share, 41 per cent national refining capacity and 76 per cent downstream pipeline transportation network in the country. IOC is the lone Indian company to feature in the Fortune 500 list. It is also the 17th largest petroleum company in the world. The corporations concept of ‘Jubilee Retail Outlets’ has also been launched to set up petrol and diesel stations on highways with comprehensive value added facilities for various customer segments, such as truckers, farmers, tourists and passenger transport amongst others. The Jubilee Retail Outlets include motels, restaurants, parking lots, weighbridges, sale of tyres, batteries, accessories, agricultural machinery repairs and recreational facilities provided selectively.

Indian Oil Corporation to set up 10,000 retail outlets

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has aggressive expansion plans and will strengthen its retail operations by setting up over 10,000 retail outlets by the end of the current financial year. Indian Oil Corporation's annual spends on retail expansion is estimated to be around Rs 500 crore. The corporation has appointed Leo Burnett to promote its retails outlets and retail-related offerings. Bulk of the promotional spends, which comprises all forms of advertising and marketing support, will be focused on IOC’s flagship lubricant brand, Servo. The budget spent for Servo is estimated to be Rs 30 crore. The brand commands a 40 per cent share of the Rs 5,000 crore lubricant market. For the retail outlets, the corporation plans to promote its petrol stations as brands, in addition to promoting the offerings at the outlets such as branded diesel, branded petrol and branded cards amongst others. At present, IOC’s marketing network is spread throughout the country with over 22,000 sales points, the largest in the country, which include petrol and diesel stations, consumer outlets, lube distributors, servo shops, and LPG distributors amongst others. The corporation commands over 53 per cent of the petroleum products market share, 41 per cent national refining capacity and 76 per cent downstream pipeline transportation network in the country. IOC is the lone Indian company to feature in the Fortune 500 list. It is also the 17th largest petroleum company in the world. The corporations concept of ‘Jubilee Retail Outlets’ has also been launched to set up petrol and diesel stations on highways with comprehensive value added facilities for various customer segments, such as truckers, farmers, tourists and passenger transport amongst others. The Jubilee Retail Outlets include motels, restaurants, parking lots, weighbridges, sale of tyres, batteries, accessories, agricultural machinery repairs and recreational facilities provided selectively.

Piramal plans 16 Piramyd Megastores in next 3 years

To cash in on the retail boom, Mumbai-based Piramal Holdings Ltd (PHL) has decided to invest over Rs 300 crore for setting up 16 departmental stores, named Piramyd Megastore, across the country in next three years. At present, Piramal Holdings Ltd has three such departmental stores in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. Piramyd Megastore will set up shop in Ludhiana and Ahmedabad by May and in Delhi by June this year. It will also put up two mega stores in Pune by October. Each Piramyd Megastore will be around 70,000-80,000 sq ft in size. Crossroads, which houses other retail formats such as Piramyd Megastore, Piramyd Supermarket and Jammin, the family recreation centre, is the mall format of Piramal Group. The company is also eyeing five properties in Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Mumbai.

Planet Sports to sell its 49% stake to Pantaloon

Pantaloon Retail is continuously working on strengthening its its position as the undisputed leader in the retail sector. The latest news is that the company has acquired 49 per cent stake in Planet Sports, a leading sports and fashion retail company . The deal has brought internationally acclaimed brands such as Marks & Spencer, Wilson, Puma, Speedo and Converse to Pantaloon’s portfolio. Planet Sports plans to triple its turnover to Rs 105 crore from the current Rs 35 crore in the next two years. Planet Sports has six Marks and Spencer and 25 Planet Sports stores in the country.

Nokia to set up mobile handsets manufacturing plant in India

World renowned cell phone manufacturer Nokia has definitive plans to set up a mobile handsets manufacturing unit in India. Nokia India has already started negotiating with various state governments in India to finalise the location of its proposed mobile phone manufacturing plant and the company expects to zero in to the site by end of this financial year. Read full story on Mobile Phones India.

Amway launches new skincare brand

Leading FMCG firm Amway India forayed into the Rs 3,250 million skincare market in India with the launch of cosmetic brand Attitude and has signed Diya Mirza as its brand ambassador. Currently five products will be available under Attitude brand - cleanser, toner, moisturiser, face wash and sunscreen lotion. Like all other products of Amway, `Attitude' will be sold exclusively through its 4,00,000 distributors spread across the country. Amway India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of $ 6 billion Amway Corp, expects 10 per cent growth by the end of the present financial year current with the trend continuing next year too.

Delhi to host Mobile Phone Exhibition

Top mobile phone manufacturers and service providers are converging towards New Delhi, India to participate in Mobile Expo 2005, an exhibition that will showcase the evolving mobile phone industry in India. Read more at Mobile Phones India.

Merger & Acquisitions picking up in India

It is a good opportunity for discerning Indian investors to grab some cool deals as many Indian companies are going in for big time merger and acquistion activities. Corporate honchos are fishing for companies that might prove be a strategic fit in their existing portfolios and add value to the long term plans. And this time around, the relatively smaller companies are more proactively homing in on ambitious targets for takeovers. Mergers and acquisitions are no more a reserved playing field for the big and mighty. While Procter & Gamble’s acquisition of Gillette in a $57 billion deal dwarfs the $800 million (Rs 3,600 crore) deal for a controlling stake in ACC by Holcim - the Zurich-headquartered second largest cement producer in the world - and Dabur’s Rs 143 crore acquisition of Balsara as well as Videocon’s recent acquisition of Thomson’s colour picture tube unit in Anagnani, Italy, what’s clearly evident is that businesses are increasingly opening up to growth through the inorganic route. Analysts attribute picking up of M&A activities in the country to India's rapidly evolving economy. They are also equivocal on the year 2005 to be much better than last year in terms of M&As. Most of the analysts expect things to hotten up as the economy further opens up and people with a long-term view eye opportunities.

LG launches India's first 3G Mobile Phone

LG Electronics became the first mobile phones vendor in India to introduce 3G mobile handsets in the country.

LG's new range of handsets is priced between Rs 16,000- Rs 30,000. LG's four new compact, lightweight and versatile 3G-enabled GSM mobile phone models launched by LG would offer live video streaming, gaming, continuous video recording, downloads, among other features at a speed of 384 kbps as against a GPRS speed of 48 kbps. Read the full news at Mobile Phones India.

Adidas courting Sania Mirza for a longer contract!

Adidas India has found a new love in Tennis after Cricket. Adidas India is celebrating the achievement of Sania Mirza, India's latest sports icon, at the Australian Open 2005 by announcing the opening of Adidas ITF Juniors’ Tournament in New Delhi in association with All India Tennis Federation. Adidas India has been supporting Sania with great products for the last 10 years and is also eyeing at extending the support to a long-term contract with Sania Mirza.

Benett Coleman buys stake in Pantaloon and Celebrity Fashions

Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd has announced that it has struck deals to acquire stakes in Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd and Celebrity Fashions (P) Ltd, makers of the Indian Terrain clothing brand. Bennett Coleman will acquire 4.53% in Pantaloon, and 12% in Celebrity Fashions. The Pantaloon deal is aimed at raising funds for the purpose of expansion, according to an unnamed company official. Launched in 1987 as a menswear maker, Pantaloon is now a leading retailer running stores, hypermarkets and food bazaars. Pantaloon has definitive plans to increase its space capacity to 3 million sq. feet (278,700 sq. metres) from one million over the next 18 months. Pantaloon would issue 9,53,653 fresh shares at Rs 734 each to Bennett Coleman. Pantaloon will also issue 408,165 convertible warrants to its founders at Rs 735 each. Bennett Coleman will shell out about Rs. 70 crore for the stake in Pantaloon. After the conversion of these warrants, Bennett, Coleman will hold 4.26% in the expanded equity. In the tie-up between Bennett Coleman and Celebrity Fashions, while the Chennai based company, which owns the popular Indian Terrain brand of men’s casualwear, is eager to strengthen its brand and gain enhanced mindshare amongst middle-class urban consumers, Bennett Coleman has the right media mix to spread the message. The four-year-old Indian Terrain brand, growing at a fast 15%, is set to cross Rs 35 crore in sales in 2004-05, and competes directly with brands like Raymond’s ColorPlus and Allen Solly. Currently operating through nine manufacturing facilities in Chennai, Celebrity Fashions supplies apparel to iconic American and UK-based fashion brands like Timberland, JC Penney, Diesel, Banana Republic, Quicksilver, Nautica and Marlboro. Celebrity Fashions has independent design studios to cater to foreign brands.

Mobile Phones India - News, Views & Reviews

Hi people, Have just launched my new blog - Mobile Phones India. If you are a mobile handsets freak, you will find the essential News, Views & Reviews on latest Mobile Handsets, Smart Phones, Camera & MP3 Phones on this blog. The topics will cover mobile, phones, cellular, handsets, cell phones, smart phones, mp3 phones, PDAs, mobile accessories, mobile gaming, cracks and whacks :) Once agin, the blog is Strictly for absolute mobile phone freaks! Sissies please excuse ;-) Do check the blog out and let me have your comments. I also will accept contributions in terms of real experience based reviews of the mobile handsets you have used. Send in your contributions to rishuzblogsATyahoo.com Do chage the AT in the above mail ID with @ ;-) Cheers!!! Rishu

Columbia Tristar renamed Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures Releasing International is the new name of Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International. Keeping in line with this name change, Columbia TriStar Films of India Limited will be now renamed as Sony Pictures Releasing of India Limited (SPRIL). The name change comes amidst Sony Pictures Releasing International's second best year at the box office. The international operation has generated more than $1 billion in box office receipts, pacing second only to the $1.3 billion in ticket sales the company recorded in 2002. Keeping in tandem with the international performance, the Indian operations too created records of sorts by crossing the Rs 1 billion mark in ticket sales in 2004. This is the second time that the Indian operations have scaled to such heights, in a short span of three years, the first time being 2002. Sony Pictures Releasing International will be releasing a highly anticipated slate of films in 2005 and 2006 that includes Hitch, Fun With Dick and Jane, Bewitched, Stealth, Click, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Legend of Zorro, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, All The King's Men, The DaVinci Code, Rent, XXX: State of the Union and Are We There Yet.

Baazee to become eBay India

Baazee, India's most celebrated auctions site, would soon be rechristened as eBay India. This move is being undertaken to integrate eBay's global best practices, features and tools in the site and make it more user friendly. eBay had acquired Baazee.com and its subsidiary Baazee.com India Pvt Ltd for $50 million in August last year. Baazee.com has already started transferring user information to eBay's global technology hosting centers. This is part of a process planned as early as the eBay acquisition in August 2004 and the changes have been communicated to the Baazee users starting November 2004. Baazee is also planning to work closely with the IT industry and the IT ministry to explore the potential of Internet in enabling e-commerce and entrepreneurship in India. It also plan to reach out to all of India's Internet population over the next year through Baazee Academies, online advertising and PR to make them aware of Baazee's offering and get them to trade on the site.

Dabur buys Balsara for Rs143cr

Consumer goods major Dabur India Ltd. has acquired Balsara's hygiene and home products businesses, a leading provider of oral care and household care products in India, for Rs. 143 Crore ($32.7 million). Dabur's board has approved the acquisition of the entire promoters' stake in the three Balsara companies - 99.4% in Balsara Hygiene Products, 100% in Balsara Home Products and 97.9% of Besta Cosmetics. Dabur will soon seek shareholders' approval for completing the acquisition. The Balsara Group, which has oral care brands like Promise and Babool, mosquito repellents like Odomos and household products like Odonil and Odopic, has a sales turnover of Rs.2 billion ($45.8 million). The group has manufacturing facilities in three locations. In addition to its core oral care and household care businesses, Balsara operates in the high-growth herbal extracts business.

Tommy Hilfiger ties-up with Welspun for marketing home textiles

Global fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger has selected Welspun India to market its premium home textiles in India through a licensee arrangement. Welspun India is planning to capitalise upon the opportunities in the evolving home textiles market in India and expects to gain sizeable premium, mid-priced and discount segments over a period of next 3-4 years. Indian home textile sector is estimated to be around Rs 1200 crores. Welspun entered the segment last year marketing a range of bath and bed products under the brand Spaces, even as the Nusli Wadia owned Bombay Dyeing has been playing the lead role in the domestic market in a nascent market. Concentrating on the premium Rs 2,000 onwards market segment with the Tommy Hilfiger brand, Spaces will address Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 of the mass market, and Welspun will be the discount brand. Though Welspun supplies terry towels to Tommy Hilfiger, US, it will initially import the Tommy Hilfiger home linen products to be retailed in India. Expected to go for production after May/June 2005, the Tommy Hilfiger brand will be manufactured at its sheeting plant having 1 lakh metres per day capacity. So Bombay Dyeing, and a few ‘boutique’ stores like Jagdish Stores, Fab India and others will have competition this year like never before.

Germany based G-Hanz launches radiationless mobiles in India

German consumer electronics major, G-Hanz, has launched its 'harmless radiation' mobile phones in India and confimed that it is considering setting up a manufacturing base in the India. G-Hanz handsets overcome the effects of electro-magnetic radiation (EMR) by super-imposing a random noise field, so that these radiations become neutral to human tissue. The biochip technology, which mitigates the effects of EMR, was developed by US-based EMX Corporation. G-Hanz has signed an exclusive partnership agreement with EMX Corporation and has formed a new company - G-Hanz EMF Telecom - which would market the new range of handsets in India. G-Hanz expects to secure one per cent of the total mobile phone market in India and has aggressive strategies to penetrate the Indian market. G-Hanz has earmarked $5 million for promotional and marketing activities in the country and has retained India's star cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar as the brand ambassador for G-Hanz mobile phones.

CII to felicitate top performing brands of India

Over 150 nominations of various brands from more than 90 companies will be evaluated by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for its annual ‘CII Brand of the Year award’. The growing popularity of these awards can be guaged by the nominations, which include -

• Media brands like TV Today, The Times of India group, Ananda Bazaar Patrika group
• FMCG brands like Britannia, Cavinkare, Dabur, Eveready Industries, Heinz, HLL, ITC, Reckitt Benckiser, Berger Paints, Eletrolux, Godrej, ICI, Philips and Whirlpool
• Pharma and healthcare brands like Ranbaxy, Novartis, Nicholas Piramal, Dr Reddy’s, Apollo Hospitals
• Brands from hospitality sector like ITC Hotels and Taj Hotels.
• The petrochemical sector is represented by big guns like Indian Oil, HPCL and Bharat Petroleum.
• Leading telecom brands like Bharti Telecom, Hutchison and Reliance
• The auto sector is represented by the likes of Hero Honda Motors, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor, Toyota, Ford, Maruti, Tata Motors
• The financial sector is represented by ICICI, HDFC, SBI Life Insurance, IDBI, Life Insurance Corporation.

What is remarkable about India's ever evolving branding scenario is that even common place products like steel, batteries, plastic and needles are now being translated into unique brand experiences. Companies like Tata Steel, Hi+Care Plastics, Nilkamal Plastics, Amara Raja, Exide and Needle Industries have submitted their nominations for a place under the sun. Even government organisations have pitched in with entries from the like of Department of Tourism, Tamil Nadu government. The winner will be announced during the Brand Summit in February 2005.

Tata Motors launches Spacio Gold

Tata Motors has announced the launch of Spacio Gold, the premium version of its rural and semi-urban utility vehicle Tata Spacio A1. Spacio Gold, while retaining its core appeal of three litre DI engine, rugged built and high fuel efficiency, would offer enhanced looks and comfort to the up-market customer. Launched in 1999, Tata Motors has sold close to 48,000 Spacios so far. Available in AC and non-AC versions and complying with the Bharat Stage I/II norms, Spacio Gold is priced in the range of Rs 4.29-4.91 lakh. Tata Motors is not only a full-range, commercial vehicle manufacturer it is also India's largest and amongst the world's top ten. Over 130 models - from 2-tonne light commercial vehicles (LCVs) to 40-tonne tractor-trailers and buses that can seat from 12 to as many as 60 people - provide a wide variety of transport solutions. Besides, the company offers a range of special purpose vehicles, off-road vehicles and vehicles for India's defence needs.

Sony to retail Sony Ericsson's Mobile Phones through exclusive outlets

With Mobile Phones becoming ubiquitos in India and the mobile handset manufacturers becoming more aggressive in their branding efforts, Sony India has also announced its latest initiative to retail Sony Ericsson's mobile phones through Sony World and Sony Exclusive authorised outlets across the country. The entire range of Sony Ericsson phones will be displayed at and available at these outlets. The focus will be on enhancing the customer's retail experience, so as to meet their expectations from the brand. This is a step forward to demonstrate and display the strength of entire portfolio of Sony products, so as to meet their expectations from the brand. This is also a step forward to demonstrate and display the strength of an entire portfolio all Sony products, the unique features and advanced technology that allow consumers of Sony products to stay seamlessly connected. With close collaboration among all Sony companies in India and working hand-in-hand with its business partners, Sony is looking at achieving greater synergy and growth in India, which is a key market for the company.

Air Deccan to get more wings

Air Deccan, the airline that shook the Indian air travel industry with its professionally developed and executed positioning strategy, has announced that it will soon add more flights to its fleet and additional destinations to its route network. Air Deccan will acquire two more Airbus A-320s by February 2005 from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE), which will be stationed at Hyderabad and Kolkata, respectively. The two new aircrafts would be deployed to launch flights on the Kolkata-Delhi and Kolkata-Mumbai sectors, apart from enhancing connectivity between various cities, including the Bangalore-Delhi sector. Besides, the airline will also place the smaller ATR aircraft in Kolkata to launch operations into the north-eastern parts of the country. Remaining true to its positioning strategy of being a low-cost airline, Air Deccan's flights to new destinations and expanding the connectivity in existing destinations will see Air Deccan offer fares which are lower than the prevalent ones offered by the competing airlines.

Rumours Confirmed - Elder Pharma buys drug brand from Eli Lilly

The strong rumour reported by me a few days ago, that Mumbai-based Elder Pharma has bought the rights for an anti-infective drug, Tobraneg, from pharma multinational Eli Lilly India has been now confirmed through a formal announcement. Tobraneg, an injectable antibiotic brand of Tobramycin from Eli Lilly in India. The acquisition gives Elder ownership of Tobraneg for the Indian, Sri Lankan and Nepalese market. It is the first major brand sale deal in 2005 and the second product which Eli Lilly is selling in the recent months, the first being Dobutrex to Nicholas Piramal India late last year. The acquisition will help Elder Pharma to further consolidate its position in the anti-bacterial (anti-infective) segment. Tobramycin is an original research product by Eli Lilly and belongs to the Aminoglycoside class. Elder presently has cephalosporins (orals and injectables) with a total sale of Rs 20 crore from the segment, and the addition of an Aminoglycoside brand is expected to strengthen its product basket of woundcare anti-bacterials. Eli Lilly’s Tobraneg touched peak sales of Rs 5-crore sales last year. The drug enjoys brand equity among surgeons, gynaecologists, orthopaedics and consulting physicians. Tobraneg is prescribed as an add-on with cephalosporins in severe infections and surgical procedures. It competes with Aminoglycosides (prescribed for additional gram-negative bacterial cover and reduce chances of infections) molecules like Amikacin and Gentamicin. This segment has a total turnover of Rs 110 crore and unit-wise sales of more than Rs 8 crore annually. Some of Elder’s products include Chyrnoral, Salutyl and Oxoferrin. The exact price details of the acquisition deal have not been made public but the rumours are rife that Elder has paid about 1.25% times of the turnover of the brand, which was about Rs 5 crores in sales last year. Industry sources believe that apart from the expected increased income from the Tobraneg brand, Elder will also be able to extract mileage in the market place, which will push its brand equity to a new high because of an acquisition from an MNC's stable, that too, one like Eli Lilly.

Daikin India to spin off into two distinct companies

The $4.5 billion (about Rs 20,000 crore) Japanese consumer durables major Daikin Industries is planning to split its Indian arm — Daikin Airconditioning India Pvt Ltd — into two companies. While one company will focus on manufacturing, the other will be a trading company. Daikin Airconditioning India, is planning to demerge its manufacturing units at Faridabad and Silvassa into a separate company. The residual company will then be the trading arm. The plan is awaiting approval from foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) at the moment. The idea behind the split is to impart greater focus to the operations of the company and to facilitate brand building. The Japanese consumer durables major Daikin kicked off the first phase of its restructuring operations in India a little over a month ago, when it bought the 20% stake held by its joint venture partner — the Shriram group — in Daikin Shriram Airconditioning. The stake was held through Siel. Post this buyout, the company has been subsequently re-christened Daikin Airconditioning India. The company had clocked a turnover of around Rs 150 crore in 2003-04. The integrated airconditioning company Daikin Industries had entered the Indian market through this joint venture in 2000. Daikin Industries is a multi-product company with the air-conditioning business accounting for 74% of its business. It has a 10% share in the residential air-conditioning market and 36% in the commercial air-conditioning in Japan. The company has a presence in eight major international markets, and is now aiming to be a global leader. Earlier, Daikin had plans to set up a plant in India but dropped it as it felt the economy had still not opened up enough and that certain components required for the manufacture of ACs were still not available. The company has scaled down its manufacturing activities drastically in Silvassa after the government introduced a 12% exit tax. The Indian operations are functioning primarily on the basis of imports from Japan and Thailand.

The Broadband Brand - Hathway Cable & Datacom

Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Pune are the luckiest of cities as they have got onto the broadband wave way ahead of others and the credit goes to Hathway Cable and Datacom Pvt. Ltd., one of the largest and fastest growing cable networks in India. A brand name that spans across eight cities with a ready cable infrastructure reaching the last mile, Hathway is the pioneer of Cable Internet Service in India and one of the largest Multi System Operators (MSOs) bringing quality transmission of over 100 television channels across the nation. Hathway distributes its cable TV as well as Internet signals through the underground fibre optic networks, and has located optic fibre nodes at various points in the network, which substantially improves the distribution and quality of Internet services. Hathway is seeking to revolutionise the way people access the web. The high bandwidth advantage of the cable infrastructure of Hathway allows faster, uninterrupted, unrestricted, uninhibited and unlimited access for hours together to the internet. The fibre-optic backbone and its state-of-the-art Internet Node and Data Centre makes the network capable of providing reliable Internet service as well as digital TV transmission. It provides this service through its cable network on a subscriber’s PC/Corporate LAN using cable modem/router. Hathway’s cable Internet service is based on Data Over Cable Services Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) protocol, which has over 5 million deployments worldwide. It is now the de facto standard for all cable Internet deployments across the world.

Strong Rumours - Elder Pharma buys drug brand from Eli Lilly

There is a strong rumour that Mumbai-based Elder Pharma has bought the rights for an anti-infective drug, Tobraneg, from pharma multinational Eli Lilly India. If this is true, it will be the first major brand sale deal in 2005 and the second product which Eli Lilly is selling in the recent months, the first being Dobutrex to Nicholas Piramal India late last year. Looks like Eli Lilly is selling off its not so strong brands as part of its strategy to restructure its product basket so as to focus on ‘high value or high volume’ products. It will come as no surprise if the news is true and in the coming months Eli Lilly hives off some more products. Watch this space for further information on this. Meanwhile, I am working on getting the Elder Pharma buys drug brand from Eli Lilly rumour confirmed ;-) Read the follow-up story - Rumours Confirmed - Elder Pharma buys drug brand from Eli Lilly

Brand India vs. Brand China

India has come a long way from its status of being among the underdeveloped nations a few years ago. The last decade has been nothing less than a roller-coaster ride for India. The country has taken giant leaps in the global economic scenario and is now the 4th biggest economy. Even though India has an enviable base of knowledge capital, it is still lacking behind China, which is at number two in terms of world gross domestic product. Let's take a look at what the authorities in the fields of branding and marketing have to say on this.

I think the world communicates so quickly and global companies are so influential that a lot of the ideas have spread quite widely. If you go to China for example, they're maybe 20 years behind, and that's what's holding their companies back right now — branding and marketing. They've to learn how to build brands — that's what they're missing.

DAVID AAKER World's most respected marketing thinker, best-selling marketing guru, and author of the classics Managing Brand Equity and Building Strong Brands

As India and China develop economically, US firms will face a repeat of the Japanese threat which consisted of competing with Japanese companies able to offer better products at lower costs. This will force more companies to shift production to India and China and reduce the number of industrial jobs available in the US.

PHILIP KOTLER A man almost as famous as the word marketing. Given the complexity of the global marketing landscape, knowing Kotler becomes essential to survival

Over the next ten years, I see more protectionism. More and more countries will start levying tariffs on work outsourced to countries such as China and India.

EDWARD DE BONO The celebrated author of Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats de Bono, he is known as the father of lateral thinking

In contrast (to India), the greatest weakness of China is its incredibly small proportion of educated people.

PETER DRUCKER The celebrated management guru who coined the term knowledge society among many others

New opportunities are emerging for both the countries and the possibilities are immense. It remains to be seen which of the two countries will be able to emerge as the indisputable leader.

As for me, I am rooting for India... wanna bet? :-)