Anand karo

Deep Anand is a champion when it comes to forging overseas ties. In fact the tycoon8217;s Anand Automotive Systems already has 11 technical...

Deep Anand is a champion when it comes to forging overseas ties. In fact the tycoon8217;s Anand Automotive Systems already has 11 technical agreements and 10 joint ventures with international big names in automobile component majors like Dana Corporation and Federal Mogul. The tycoon is currently mulling over two new strategic tie-ups with global component majors in a bid to expand his product portfolio and is likely to finalise more significant deals in the coming two-three months. This time round the focus on a long-term strategy of branching out into new categories like electronic safety devices, which observers think are going to be made mandatory in the future. Anand and daughter Anjali are keenly looking at categories like seat belts, child-restraint systems, crash detectors and wheel pressure sensors. Anand is of course banking on the fact that new categories do create opportunities for higher margins. Even when his counterparts in India are taking the acquisition route to expand business Anand sees strategic associations as a better strategy to grow fast. Knowing that increasing globalization of Indian auto component market will continue to throw up new opportunities for Indian companies, he expects to register fast growth in his export income.

Be entertained

Anil Ambani8217;s interest in new age businesses was evident even before he parted ways with his brother. But what is coming to the fore now is a grand design for entertainment in particular. The tycoon is trying to enter each and every pie of the entertainment business, starting from television to radio to films to multiplexes to home video. Evidence was available in Anil Dhirubhai efforts that bagged 26 FM radio licenses in the recent round of bidding, making it suddenly the largest player in the segment. The company paid Rs 93 crore for the 7 big cities. But the tycoon seems particularly excited about his prospects in the 19 smaller cities for which he has paid a total fee of Rs 29 crore. If everything moves as per plan, Anil8217;s FM stations should be operational in the next 6-8 months. Having tied up with big names like Ram Gopal Varma, Prakash Jha and Ramesh Sippy, the tycoon8217;s foray into filmmaking seems to be on track as also a means of providing radio content soon. While radio and film expansion plans are all set to roll his ambitious Direct-to-Home DTH and Internet Protocol Television IPTN are projects still getting final touches from the top brass. However, some analysts worry that Anil is branching out into too many slots. But the 8220;emerging entertainment czar8221; does have the tenacity and acumen to prove pundits wrong. dilipcheriangmail.com