Making hay while the sun shines

Zee8217;s Subhash Chandra must be sighing with relief. His bold move to group Zee with other cable companies and increase subscription reve...

Zee8217;s Subhash Chandra must be sighing with relief. His bold move to group Zee with other cable companies and increase subscription revenues has finally paid-off. Zee Network has netted a 16 profit in 2001-8217;02, despite a tight market for the cable guys last year. When Chandra acceded to co-operate with other cable bigwigs the price wars had reached a stage where cable companies had begun gnawing into each other8217;s business. Also, Zee was incidentally facing rough weather. So Chandra was on the look out for new sources of revenue, including the sale of equity. Fortunately for Chandra, some weeks back, major operators like Incable Net, Hathaway Cable 038; Datacom, Wincable and Zee8217;s Siticable decided to join cables and increase subscription rates in order to bring about some calm to the situation. But sadly for subscribers, once the cable companies teamed up, the cable TV bills predictably doubled. Expectedly, the local cable operators are vexed at the arbitrary hike. This is because now Chandra and friends are more effective in keeping a tab on those who have a deceitful tendency to under-report the number of households connected. This move would force the locals to declare higher subscriber connections. On the other hand, subscribers are being forced to pay for channels that they do not even watch. In the meanwhile, Chandra has cleared a restructuring proposal for Zee. And not a minute too soon. The unwieldy corporate structure of ZTL was seen as a possible impediment to investors and this move was made to address their fears. But while enjoying the revenue that Zee and Chandra8217;s other regional channels might earn for him, Chandra should watch his advertising revenues that may result in a bad spell for the flagship.

Tough Pill!

The success of companies like Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy8217;s Laboratories perhaps seem easily replicable but when one comes down to the crux of it, companies in the middle rung of this once soaring ladder are wedged in the middle of a crisis. Thirty-two year old, Glenn Saldanha, joint managing director of the Rs 270 crore Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, for instance is one among such companies who could well find himself in hot water. Seemingly easy to follow, Glenn has set out with the same agenda as those of the successful companies8212;building strong research capabilities and tapping the global pharma market. The main glitch lies in cheap imports from China and the fact that companies that copy and launch the same drugs will not be able to do so as easily with the WTO deadline fast approaching. Today as opposed to what it was, for companies like Glenmark, there is paucity of talent in the research sphere and US generic companies are far more proficient today than they were at the time that Ranbaxy and other global giants took their first steps. All this will certainly result in prices hitting rock bottom with more and more companies in the fray. Has Glenn8217;s Glenmark decided to embark on this venture just that little too late? Does his company have the required finances for this mammoth task? Can the company establish itself in overseas markets? Glenn believes that the solution lies in finding new chemical entities that cure asthma and obesity but only time will tell if this is the right prescription and if this is indeed what the doctor ordered!

ITC8217;s new 8216;Passion8217;

ITC chairman Yogi Diveshwar now has a new passion. India8217;s largest tobacco company is passionate about cigarette money going into event sponsorships. It has therefore been looking for alternatives and surrogates for its campaigns and brand promotions and this need not be tobacco at all. With this in mind, Diveshwar has launched 8216;Passion as a surrogate theme for one of its most popular brand of cigarettes, Wills Classic. It is now going to be the Passion tag that will be used for sponsorships and promotions for this brand. What with Passion Hour, Passion Yours, Passion Nights and even Passion Notes, on will see a lot of new found passion with ITC. Kolkata where Yogi is based has recently witnessed a lot of this passion. Disco nights are being sponsored by Passion but no one is being fooled by the fact that the Wills Classic brand is behind these sponsorships. Even the full-page advertorials about the Passions of celebrities in publications through Passion Notes has the health warning loud and clear. ITC has always tried the guise of different themes so whether it is Unlimited for Wills Navy Cut or Expressions for its Greeting cards the fact remains that cigarette smoking will continue to remain a passion for most. Notwithstanding the health warnings, is this the Passion ITC trying to promote?

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