Help from the TRAI may be finally on its way for Sunil Bharti Mittals flagship company that doesn’t seem to be winning their battle with BSNL. Bharti Tele-ventures was supposed to have implemented interconnectivity in select telecom circles this week. This promise is again expectedly delayed by BSNL. The man is screaming himself hoarse from every accessible rooftop about the lax attitude of the telecom biggies in question. He has even resorted to threatening BSNL with ‘expensive claims against the government’ if his demand for quick connectivity is not met. But to no avail! Ask him if he would take solid measures to teach the concerned party a lesson and he shies away. With good reason too. The bizvine prattles that Mittal is importing submarine bandwidth cable to provide Tamil Nadu and eventually the entire country with higher levels of bandwidth. But yet again with the security clearance expected to take another month, Mittals plans are moving at a pace slower than his norm. And here comes the catch. Even after the clearance is granted and the cable is synchronised, Mittal would still require to sort out affairs quickly with the BSNL before the cable will be able to carry traffic. He better be careful then. That’s why the interconnection row has the feel of a fist in a velvet glove as far as Sunil is concerned. Out of my way Venu Srinivasan, the pugnacious two wheeler player from the South, is confident that Suzuki’s plans to compete in his segment are something he can handle. For a start, Srinivasan has reason to believe that the Japanese giant may keep its distance from him. The former partner has set up its camp office for two-wheeler activity far away from Srinivasan’s home base, Chennai. The scouting has started from Delhi as a base and it’s likely that Suzuki will stay out of Srinivasan’s way for the first few years. Market rumours indicate also that Suzuki is still trying to figure out how to outflank the wily TVS operation that it helped to start. Srinivasan’s research whizes in Chennai have apparently got enough product variants on the drawing board to confuse their former partner. So Suzuki is doing the next best thing. It plans to outspend TVS by earmarking Rs 200 crore for its two wheeler venture. But then cash may be in short supply if Venu Srinivasan nudges government into upping the price at which majority stakes in Maruti will be offered to Suzuki. Since cars are that company’s cash cow chances are that any money for India will be diverted in that direction. In which case, Venu may get longer than the two years he currently has to tighten his grip on his part of the two-wheeler market. Caught In a Tangle Ramesh B. Garware, chairman of Garware Wall Ropes has never had to deal with any significant competition from the organised sector. The company is the largest domestic manufacturer of fishing nets, twines and industrial mooring ropes. Of late, however, problems have commenced with the availability of cheaper Korean and Chinese goods that have made an influx to the market. Added to this the profit margin of Ramesh’s company is strained with fluctuating prices of crude oil derivatives—which constitutes an essential raw material of his products. Though initially it was US-based Wall that had supplied the technology for the manufacture of eight strand ropes to GWRL, the American partner surrendered its stake in favour of the Garware group and technical collaboration was terminated then. GWRL now has plants at Chinchwad, near Pune and Wai. Today, Garware Wall Ropes Ltd is among the three largest manufacturers of synthetic cords worldwide. With exports to over fifty countries internationally, with a domestic market share of over 65 per cent the going used to be comfortable. But with low margins, a fragmented industry and the cyclical nature of the fishing business thanks to the monsoons Ramesh and his company are now in a knotted web. Although the growth of deep sea fishing has increased the requirement for high-density ropes and twines, Ramesh is finding it tough to fight his way out of the snare. And trapping the Koreans and the Chinese at their game is going to be what decides this tycoons fate. 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 dilipcherian@now-india.net.in
