It146; sell-off time News Archive News

The Khaitans of Eveready Industries India are in deep financial crisis. Why else would they be selling off their real estate one after the o...

Written by Dilip Cherian

May 27, 2002 12:00 AM IST

6 min read

The Khaitans of Eveready Industries India are in deep financial crisis. Why else would they be selling off their real estate one after the other. It8217;s now the turn of their Bhopal property inherited from the acquisition of Union Carbide which they have recently sold. Also on offer is a seven-acre plot in North Kolkata along the Ganges. It8217;s learnt that the Bhopal property which they have just sold spreads over 10.27 acres in a prime location and houses a research and developmental center. Word has it that the sale of this property has brought the Khaitans an estimated Rs 6 to Rs 7 crore. None other than Eveready Industries vice-chairman and managing director Deepak Khaitan confirmed the sale and talked about the plans to sell the North Kolkata one too. Khaitan also confirmed that EIL8217;s flats in upmarket south Mumbai have also been sold and they were looking for buyers for the remaining residential properties there. Considering the Khaitans are bogged down by huge debts the crores that come in from the sale of the real estate will go a long way in generating cash flow. Meanwhile, ICICI has lowered the interest rate from 16 to 10 in a restructuring package. Khaitan said that they hoped to maintain the same 7 to 8 growth that they had last year and have targeted sales of 840 million batteries this year as compared to 770 million batteries in 2001-02. The company is on a huge cost cutting drive and Khaitan confirms that they have already saved Rs 10-15 crore on raw materials. And the plant efficiency is also improved but the cause for worry was the dumping of low-priced Chinese batteries. Whether things start improving for the Khaitans and Eveready is currently only a matter of conjecture which only time will tell.

Care to display

Azim Premji of Wipro seems to have changed his communication strategy with respect to his FMCG brands. While the rest of his peers are busy bombarding the customer mindspace through print and broadcast media, Premji seems to favour the route of POP point of purchase display. Few people focus on the fact that Wipro businesses range to baby toiletries, soaps and cooking oils to bulbs and tube lights as well. After all that is what Wipro started out with. But somehow these seem to have got sidelined owing to the mammoth infotech business. However Premji insists that the consumer care and lighting business is showing considerable growth and are receiving ample care from the Wipro stable though it is a fact that the Wipro products have not been in the media limelight off late. An IT company making soaps certainly looks a little slippery, say sceptics. As if in reply, Premji is now piloting a cluster of POP initiatives. According to him, the small size coupled with a large repertoire of brands at the store leaves a fairly cluttered shop. Common initiatives like posters and danglers fail to grab customer attention. So comes his innovative displays. The idea behind it is that the only thing missing at the store is a consideration for your brand. And that is exactly what effective POP display would create. In addition the retailer would also be happy because his store looks more attractive as a result. It is easy to justify the POP measures but one cannot help but wonder if this is a move to phase out the FMCG business. Premji has definitely phased out heavy advertising and dealer incentives in the FMCG sector for Wipro and now this measure to focus exclusively on POP leaves one pondering about the future of the Wipro consumer care business. After all, finding a long-lost product like Shikakai in the store need not induce the buyer to necessarily buy it.

A deal too dear?

It8217;s clear that the bearded CEO of Sony Entertainment Television Kunal Dasgupta intends to take Indian television programming and entertainment globally. As CEO of one of the largest global entertainment groups, Kunal has seen to it that his channel has a foothold in various pockets where the Indian diaspora can be found. Whether these moves have met with success is of course a different matter altogether! The latest deal caught in a whirl of controversy is Kunal having acquired cricket telecast rights for the next six years in the Indian sub-continent. The rights, acquired from global broadcasting rights holder, World Sports Nimbus, will also include next year8217;s World Cup in South Africa and the 2007 World Cup in West Indies. The deal is said to have been closed at a whopping for Rs 1,500 crore and Kunal8217;s rivals believe that he has paid at least 100 million more than he should have. Now this certainly does not herald success for Kunal, with Sony having declared losses last year. Kunal is looking at capitalising on positioning the world cup as a mega event with promotions to target women through soaps currently on SETMAX , promos through SMSes etc, but forecasts indicate that this may not be possible. The hitch lies in that Sony does not have the exclusive rights in India. Doordarshan will also have rights for matches involving the Indian team and the truth is that DD reaches out to 70 million homes as compared to the 37 million homes that SETMAX reaches. Add to this that matches involving India are the most watched and the matches played by other nations fall by the wayside in comparison. Kunal has bagged the biggest-ever broadcast licensing deal in cricket from the likes of several bidders, Zee, Sahara, Doordarshan, ESPN and Star Sports but he does have more than daunting task ahead!

Dilip Cherian, runs a public affairs firm Perfect Relations. He is an economy watcher and tycoon tracker. None of the people he writes about are his clients. Your insider tales are welcome at dilipcheriannow-india.net.in

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