Nissan et Renault veulent faire des voitures pour la classe moyenne indienne

Source : Economic Times

Japenese car maker Nissan is co-developing a new small car platform for developing markets along with its alliance partner Renault, joining a growing list of global car makers seeking to exploit India’s strengths in the volume car business.

This new platform is specially targeted at emerging markets like India and Russia and comes as further validation of India’s emerging status as a global small car hub.

Sources close to the development have indicated that Nissan and Renault are working on a small car, most likely a B segment hatchback, which is expected to be one of Nissan’s flagship models in India. Further details about the new platform were not available.

People close to Nissan say that India may become an important manufacturing hub for the new small car as Nissan is known to be targeting big volumes in its India facility.

Easy availability of finance, increased salaries, higher proportion of double income households, a higher propensity to spend and little improvement in public transportation have led to a boom in India’s mini and compact car segments. Accounting for over 75% of passenger car sales last year, the small car segment is poised for a major expansion with a slew of new models waiting to hit the market in the next two years.

The compact car roster currently includes Volkswagen which is putting up a greenfield plant in Pune to manufacture a derivative of its Polo model and General Motors which has already rolled out the Aveo U-VA in the hot hatch segment and is working on the Chevrolet Spark to target the mainstream small car segment. Also lined up are products like the Grande Punto from the Tata Fiat combine, the next-generation Honda Jazz and a small car from Daihatsu to be rolled out by Toyota. Besides these market leader Maruti Udyog is also expected launch a host of new cars in the segment.

“On new product issues we have no clear statement to make at this stage,” Nissan India MD Yoshie Motohiro told ET. However, she said that in the past, the alliance has worked towards greater collaboration in product development. “The policy of the Nissan-Renault alliance is that if both companies find a win-win situation, we go through with any project. So, according to that strategy, we have collaborated in the past on common platforms and powertrains.”

However, Nissan and Renault have never before jointly developed an entire model. Renault’s success with the low-cost mid-sized car Logan may have gotten its Japanese partner interested in collaborating with it for a new car for emerging markets.

Though it has set itself an ambitious target of manufacturing 3,00,000 vehicles a year in India, Nissan is yet to reveal its strategy for the country. On Nissan’s local manufacturing plans Ms Motohiro said: “As announced in November, we are still actively discussing with Renault-Mahindra whether a collaboration can be achieved. So I cannot comment on that. Nissan will take a call on the matter by March."

As announced by Renault/Nissan top boss Mr Carlos Ghosn in November 2006, Nissan is expected to join the Mahindra-Renault joint venture company for manufacturing its cars in India. But the company is also known to be exploring other options like setting up a greenfield facility to meet its requirements.

Maintenant c'est Glenmark qui veut acheter en €uros

Source : Economic Times

Leading mid-sized pharma company Glenmark Pharmaceuticals will soon enter the European market by acquiring a front-end pharmaceutical company for about Rs 100 crore. Glenmark MD Glenn Saldanha told ET that the target company is in Central Europe and the deal is likely to be through before the end of March.

It has a strong marketing force and some approved products, Mr Saldanha said without disclosing the company’s name. Glenmark just has an office in the UK now for business development.

Merchant bankers said there are many small and medium-sized family-owned pharma firms in Europe that have low profitability and are up for sale. They would suit the needs of Indian companies planning to enter the EU market, they said.

Glenmark is already present in over 80 countries including the US in the business of finished products and key ingredients called APIs. It is strong in therapeutic segments such as dermatology, internal medicine, paediatrics, gynaecology, ENT, diabetes and oncology.

The company is also in talks with a few MNCs to licence out the Europe rights for its experimental asthma drug oglemilast. US-based Forest Laboratories Inc has the North American market rights and Teijin Pharma has the Japanese market rights for the drug.

Vodafone rentre en Inde pour y devenir le premier marché dans le monde

Source : PTI News

Vodafone has announced acquisition of majority 67 per cent stake in Indian mobile firm Hutch- Essar for 11.1 billion USD, marking the single largest foreign investment into India -- one of the fastest expanding telecom markets.

Announcing the deal that puts the enterprise value of Hutch-Essar at 18.8 billion dollars last night, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said: "We are delighted to be deepening our involvement in the Indian mobile market... We have concluded this transaction within our stated financial investment criteria." Simultaneously, Vodafone offloaded its 5.6 per cent direct stake in India's mobile leader Bharti Airtel to the Bharti Group for 1.6 billion USD.

Vodafone said it had agreed to buy Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom International Ltd's 67 per cent stake in Hutch-Essar for 11.1 billion USD plus two billion USD in debt, valuing the company at 18.8 billion USD.

"This is a good price which reflects the premium position of Hutchison Essar as India's leading operator," Essar, which holds 33 per cent stake in the venture, said in a statement.

Vodafone's bid trumped offers by Reliance Communications (RCOM), Essar and the Hinduja Group.

RCOM Chairman Anil Ambani, in a statement, welcomed Vodafone into India, saying: "Vodafone's participation is a further endorsement of the exciting future growth potential, and the progressive policies... In the Indian telecom sector." Earlier, Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal told PTI that "the Indian telecom sector is one of the most sought after in the world and the (Vodafone) bid is a strong endorsement of the government policy to promote the Indian telecom sector."

UK telecom giant Vodafone has offloaded its 5.6 per cent direct stake in India's mobile leader Bharti Airtel to promoter Sunil Mittal's group for 1.6 billion dollars, coinciding its acquisition of controlling stake in Hutch-Essar.

"Vodafone has sold its 5.6 per cent direct stake in Bharti Airtel to the group," Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal told PTI, elaborating that the deal was on a deferred payment basis.

Vodafone will, however, continue to hold an indirect 4.4 per cent stake in the Company, as a financial investor and will not have any representation on Bharti Airtel's board nor any management rights.

Mittal, whose group brought Vodafone to India by making that company a strategic partner, said: "We are pleased to welcome Vodafone and congratulate them on their Hutch acquisition.

He said that Bharti and Vodafone have enjoyed a very fruitful relationship and both the companies will work with the Industry to connect millions of people across India.

Après Carrefour c'est le tour de l'arrivé d'Auchan en Inde

Source : Economic Times

THE GOVERNMENT may be a fence-sitter on FDI in retail but that has not dampened the enthusiasm of global retailers to be part of India’s growth story.

Auchan, the $50-billion grocery and consumer goods retailer from France and the ninth-largest food retailer in the world, is shaping up its India plans.

The retailer is believed to have held talks with Bombay Dyeing, a Wadia group company which is currently finalising its retail venture. It is learnt that Ness Wadia has met the Asia-Pacific head of Auchan. Informed sources said the much-publicised Wadia-Carrefour alliance is still far from being finalised and the deal could swing either way.

Carrefour, it’s learnt, is talking to other Indian business houses as well. In the absence of FDI in front-end retail of food and grocery, which is also not set to be liberalised in a hurry, most foreign retailers are exploring a model similar to that of Wal-Mart-Bharti (JV at the backend and a licensing arrangement in the front-end) which is permissible under Indian laws. At the same time, foreign retailers want to partner business houses of repute who also have sufficient political clout. This explains why Wal-Mart chose the Bharti Group (it is learnt that it had also approached Reliance Retail) and why Carrefour’s talks with the Dubai-based Landmark group failed. Given the government’s blow-hot, blow-cold attitude towards foreign retailers, especially those selling food and grocery, consultants often advise such retailers to go with partners capable of providing sufficient cushion during rough weather. A Bombay Dyeing spokesperson declined to comment on its retail plans. However, it’s known that the group is currently finalising its plans in the space of malls, hyper markets and super markets. The group’s textile retail business is being handled independently of its other retail plans.

Auchan, the latest foreign retailer to join the India bandwagon, is known for its strength in hypermarkets and has also strengthened its position in supermarkets through the acquisition of Docks de France. It is currently faced with the challenge of pushing growth rates beyond France and other developed but saturated markets.

From the time its first outlet in Roubaix, France opened in 1961, Auchan has grown over the past 45 years to become a leading international grocery and consumer goods retailer, operating across 12 countries globally. With a workforce of 160,000, the Auchan Group operates over 600 supermarkets and 300 hypermarkets. Groupe Auchan, an unlisted family company, is implementing a policy of progressive and controlled international growth, and is concentrating its investments on priority development areas: Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Difficile de résister à un chèque de 1 crore rps (environ 15000 € / mois) et l’opportunité de travailler à l’étrangers?

Pas vraiment, pour deux étudiants de IIM (Indian Institute of Management) – Ahmedabad, qui ont laissé cette opportunité pour devenir entrepreneur. Devashish Chakrobarty et Vineeta Singh, qui ont rejeté l’offre de 1 crore Rs (175.118,61 €) de la Deutsche Banque, prévoit d’installer une chaîne de lingerie dans les métropoles.

C’est une des quelques aperçus de l’esprit d’entrepreneurs dans les couloirs des B-Ecoles. Et les réactions ne sont pas difficiles à trouver. Quand un salaire de 10 lakh Rs est proposé à un tout nouveau diplômé, avec en plus la sécurité de l’emploi et une exposition aux monde des affaires en générale, il est dur d’y résister.

Beaucoup d’étudiant disent qu’ils aimeraient commencer leur propre entreprise mais n’ont pas d’expérience. De plus, le risque d’échec, peut déstabiliser leur confiance, aussi tôt, dans leur carrière.

« Nous devrions apprendre comment gérer une entreprise avant de se lancer nous-même », dit Sourav Mukherjee de IIM – Bangalore. « Cependant quelques étudiants de notre institution ont optés pour des start-ups ».

SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Bombay, et la Fondation de Wadhwani, ont démarré un programme de 17 semaines, Commencer Votre Entreprise, pour des entrepreneurs potentiel. N.S. Raghavan, Cofondateur d’Infosys, a aussi débuté un centre à IIM – Bangalore, pour encourager l’esprit d’entreprise.

Ecrit par Karine