Cut back and expand

Sanjeev Goenka is making changes; and some rather gigantic ones. His retail business has generated Rs 470 crore in revenues during the last ...

Sanjeev Goenka is making changes; and some rather gigantic ones. His retail business has generated Rs 470 crore in revenues during the last fiscal year, but he is not quite satisfied. He wants it to touch Rs 600 crore this year, and hold your horses double of that by the end of 2005. A target too hard to achieve? Goenka doesn8217;t think so. He has already put things into action, with a plan to set up 14 hypermarkets, by 2005, all over the country. His hypermarket Giant at present in Hyderabad is a huge bulk store selling everything from hardware and garments to food at discounted prices. It has been doing pretty well, while employing a massive 1,000 people. His next hypermarkets will appear in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida, within the next one year. Not keen to stop the roll8212;out Kolkata, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune will soon follow, promises our tycoon. Goenka8217;s total tally of private label products, which have been retailed through Giant hypermarket and Food World supermarkets will now be increased to thrice their number. Goenka was sourcing all these from within India itself, but now he will source personal care and food products from China and Malaysia too ,but will sell them under the RPG brand name. Given the fact that this business is now seeing the entry of very powerful global brands, Sanjeev is in a hurry. Also, given Indian penchant to shop based on prices, sourcing from abroad maybe the answer. In any case, India8217;s hyper customers will soon decide for Sanjeev.

Many a slip at the lip

Switching gears from hair-care to lip-care should normally be a cinch. After all, a host of cosmetic companies have made the smooth transition with barely a blip on their corporate balance sheets. So, it must have come as a bit of a surprise when tycoon C.K. Ranganathan paid a whopping Rs 15 crore to make the move easy. But the difference here is that the tycoon8217;s company Cavin Kare is looking at lip-care from a more basic viewpoint. It8217;s the lip -smacking goodness of pickles that Ranganathan is seeking to acquire. Getting hold of one of India8217;s best loved pickle brands Ruchi, is a bit of a bold move for Cavin Kare. The logic that8217;s being trotted out is that given Cavin8217;s huge distribution muscle, the massive retailing reach of Ruchi can add enormously to it. Indeed if all goes well the combined strength may win hearts and purse strings besides dominating the lips and the hair. Pickle purists in the meantime hope that the changes Cavin Kare plans to make to Ruchi are only of a cosmetic kind. Being able to do that well, will decide what the future of the acquisition holds for Ranganathan.

Variant hopes

The Pharma king of Hyderabad recently launched a subsidiary in South Africa, in order to establish a presence in the sub-continent, but Anji Reddy is expectant about other things, his battling against Pfizer8217;s litigation case for example. Being the first Indian company to receive a US FDA nod for a new drug application called Am Vaz its version of Amlodipine. It8217;s something to proud of. Specially since it will be the first branded product from Dr Reddy8217;s Laboratories for the US market. But the drug has brought with it some special excitement, since Pfizer had filed a litigation case against the tycoon8217;s company stating that its products had infringed upon Pfizer8217;s patent for Amlodipine. But what the Padmashree awardee is trying to get across is that, though Pfizer holds the patent for Amlodipine, it does not automatically apply to all its variants, and that Am Vaz by Dr Reddy8217;s Laboratories is a valid variant. Reddy, meanwhile, does not seem as bothered as he should be considering he would have to pay huge damages if he loses the case to Pfizer. Perhaps what8217;s keeping him happy is the thought that in case it goes in his favour then he8217;ll get an exclusive three-year period for the drug. Something worth fighting for? Well with expectations of the sales of the drug increasing DRL shares prices, already the tycoon is bound to stick with his variant plan.

Dilip Cherian runs public relations firm Perfect Relations.
Write to dilipcheriannow-india.net.in