Jaipuria146;s new spirits

The word that8217;s going around is that apart from this a Mount Everest Brewery in Nepal, may also soon rest in the tycoon8217;s hands.

Though the tycoon denies it, by saying that bottling is his first love, and that he has no plans to give up possession of 12 per cent of the soft drink production in India.

But then again, Jaipuria has always been the innovating kind of tycoon, always following his own business instincts, even if they defy reason or trends.

Balaji8217;s luck is in the stars

Jeetendra Kapoor did not make too much news when he gave up 25.1per cent stake in his Balaji Telefilms to Asian Broadcasting, a Star affiliate. Rupert Murdoch is clearly on a trip of increasing his content production in India, after he has sussed out that the future lies in growing the Indian entertainment industry. But what is surprising is that he chose to take up Balaji8217;s stake, now just when it had just suffered some low luck in sales earlier in the year.

A net profit at Rs 11.02 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, compared with Rs 14.15 crore in the corresponding period last year was what got Jeetendra a little upset. The Star group now will have two of its directors on the tycoon8217;s board, but that8217;s no problem for Kapoor since he has Rs 155 crore from this deal to help him out in his company8217;s new growth phase.

Some say that the tycoon8217;s agreeing to the Star deal shows he8217;s not too confident of his soap operas and their success rate in the future, and is therefore looking for a steadier form of revenue. But if that is the case, he should not be worrying much.

The Indian entertainment industry seems to be moving at a good pace, and even the government seems keen on sustaining its growth. If the tycoon8217;s luck doesn8217;t run out again, and he controls his urges to create the same monotonous soap operas, he probably will have a good chance of staying in the lead.

Riding to Iran

Some time back we told you of Venu Srinivasan and how he, not demoralised by a bad drop in sales, managed to achieve high numbers in exports. He had at that time decided to head more aggressively for foreign shores, like Indonesia. Now the tycoon8217;s latest move is to set up an assembly line for his two wheelers in Iran. Considering the tycoon was just awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Warwick, UK, for his excellence in manufacturing, and his contribution in technology and R038;D, his trip to Iran has also been well researched and planned and will be well executed.

He has now, through Irizar-TVS, his partnership venture with Spain8217;s Irizar Motors, and Ashok Leyland, decided to launch a new bus range for his Sundaram Industries.

But the tycoon better shift his concentration more towards his domestic plans, which could face a bit of turbulence due to the entry of two-wheeler giant Honda into the motorcycle segment.

This is because the tycoon has planned the entry of his updated version of Fiero, onto which he has attached many hopes, around the same time. But Honda8217;s entry could mean a big market share anxiety for the tycoon. But he8217;ll care little, for he8217;ll be busy exporting more than 1 lakh vehicles next year.

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