Refocusing on his business

The other is the now very popular 10,000-crore plant of 3,500 MW in UP, for which gas will be sourced from the HBJ pipeline. With the tycoon8217;s efforts it might be the world8217;s largest gas-based power generation plant. He will also very benevolently giving Uttar Pradesh a minimum of 40 per cent of the power from the project initially, which can and probably will be increased later.

The tycoon is finding firm support from the state government since he has vowed to transform the state into a power-surplus one. But funders are not to be easily found. This is because while the standard rate of debt is 70 pc, Ambani has chosen to seek 90 per cent debt. Apart from these two, his previous plan of setting up a 2,400 MW gas-based power plant in Delhi is still on the move, or so we are told, though we can8217;t see much happening. Well work is all that8217;s on his mind, since he8217;s already won over the public with his mere presence on the political scene.

Milky way
Realising that children recall products faster and better than adults, the country8217;s biggest cigarette tycoon has decided to target them. No, not to make them smokers but to attract them to his rather successful brand of Sunfeast biscuits. So Y.C. Deveshwar has lined up a school painting programme, in which 1 million children in 1,000 schools will participate. The kids will also get a chance to be entertained by the Sunfeast mascot, a first for a company where children were formerly completely out of bounds.

The tycoon entered the biscuit market last year, and has already spread his biscuits throughout Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, two of the largest markets for biscuits. His Sunfeast biscuits he insists are made of cow8217;s milk, which is sourced through a tie up with Aavin from the Tamil Nadu Milk Co-operative. Milk biscuits are a highly competitive and organized segment, and Tamil Nadu is a major market for them. Deveshwar8217;s aim of achieving a 14 pc share in the next three years in this 20,000 tonne milk biscuits segment should not be too tough, so long as the kids are won over with his milky treats.

More glass for India
B.M. Labroo, the tycoon behind India8217;s biggest glass operations Asahi India, has his task list for the next three years. He will invest approximately Rs 700 crore to set up new glass plants and expand his existing plants8217; capacity. Two new processing plants, one in the North and another in the South along with a float glass plant are the tycoon8217;s most pressing needs so far.

In the meantime, his Rs 170 crore new plant in Chennai would put Asahi in a better position to cater to its clients in South India like Toyota Kirloskar, Ford India, and Hindustan Motors, as well as its export markets. Labroo has also set up Asahi India Solutions, which will help raise India8217;s per capita consumption of glass from 0.56 kg per person per annum to the level of nations like Thailand which have a 6 kg p.a consumption. The tycoon clearly has lots of glazing to do.

8212; dilipcherianhotmail.com