Gati forms jt venture with Japanse co Kintetsu

Coimbatore: Distribution and supply chain solution company Gati Ltd has tied up with Kintetsu World Express (KWE) of Japan to form Gati-Kintetsu Express Pvt Ltd (Gati-KWE).

While Gati would hold 70 per cent stake in the joint venture, the Japanese partner would hold the rest.

Kintetsu World Express has invested Rs 267.7 crore for its 30 per cent stake, which has been approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Gati said the fund infusion would improve its balance sheet and help reduce the interest outgo.

It hopes that the joint venture would enable “seamless transfer’’ for cross border trade through single window solution to its clients such as Texas Instruments, HP, Panasonic and Toshiba.

Havells to enter small home appliances business

NEW DELHI: Electrical equipment maker Havells India will start selling small home-andkitchen appliances from July, hoping to profit from a Rs 5,200-crore market currently dominated by Philips, Panasonic, Morphy Richards and Bajaj.

Havells' product line-up will include mixers, irons, hand blenders and cooking and brewing appliances.

"The small home appliances segment is all set to boom," said Havells India joint managing director Anil Gupta said, adding that Havells would use its brand recall in the lighting segment to position itself in the home appliance space.

Havells will outsource 70% of manufacturing to local vendors and the rest to its partners in China , where its design centre will be responsible for developing the products.

The company, 30%-owned by QRG Enterprises, plans to invest Rs 70 crore in marketing its small appliances range over the next two to three years. A part of investments will also go into research and development.
Sales of domestic home appliances are growing at 15-18% every year. Premium appliances, which contributes a fifth to the total market, are growing even higher at 30-35%.

Gupta said the products would be priced competitively and will be comparable with those of Philips and Panasonic.
Some other prominent players in the segment include Usha and Maharaja Whiteline.

Havells products will be initially sold in top 40 cities through some 4,000 outlets retailing electrical goods. The products will also be sold through 115 exclusive Havells Galaxy stores, which will be increased to 200 by the end of this financial year.

The company also plans to export its products to Latin America and Thailand using the distribution channel of Sylvania, which it bought in early 2007. This acquisition had catapulted Havells into the top league of lighting equipment makers, behind Philips, Osram and GE.

Havells, which clocked a turnover of. Rs 5,600 crore in the year ended March'11, also sells fans and launched its water heater range in October last year.

Panasonic to cut 40,000 jobs, closes dozens of plants

Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corp will slash 40,000 jobs over the next two years in a bid to pare costs and keep up with ever-harsher competition from Asian rivals, a source said.

The company, which employs about 380,000 people, will incur more than 100 billion yen ($1.22 billion) in expenses this year related to the job cuts and a reorganisation of production facilities, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier.

Once unrivalled, Japan's consumer electronic firms are facing increasing competition from Korean and Chinese producers in particular. Panasonic is seeking to shift its focus to environmental and energy-related businesses such as rechargeable batteries in order to duck competition fromSamsung Electronics, LG Electronics and others in consumer technology.

As part of that strategy, it announced last year it would make Panasonic Electric Works and Sanyo Electric Co wholly owned units last year, absorbing a combined 160,000 workers, the Nikkei reported.

Panasonic is now seeking to shed staff in overlapping businesses, particularly abroad, it added. The units make a wide range of products including rechargeable batteries, factory robots, electronic components, lighting and solar panels.

Panasonic announces its earnings for the year ended on March 31 at 0600 GMT on Thursday. President Fumio Ohtsubo will speak to the media about the company's future direction from 0810 GMT.

Panasonic eyeing 65% jump in revenue from India in FY 12

MUMBAI: Japanese consumer durables major Panasonic is targeting a nearly 65 per cent jump in revenue from ts India operations in FY 12 to Rs 9,000 crore, a top company executive said today.

"We are aiming to achieve 200-billion yen (Rs 9,000 crore) in sales in India by fiscal 2012. Going forward, we will certainly continue to make our best efforts in India," Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo told reporters here.

The company''s head of marketing in India, Manish Sharma, said they will be focusing on product differentiation from competitors, developing India-specific products which cater to domestic needs and communicating in the right way to achieve the targeted Rs 9,000-crore revenues.

"200 billion yen or $2 billion is stiff but definitely achievable," he told PTI.

Panasonic India is currently in the midst of executing a Rs 1,400-crore capex programme, which includes investment in a manufacturing plant at Haryana''s Jhajjar which also has a dedicated R&D facility, Sharma said, stressing that products like an air-conditioner and LCD, which were designed for Indian market, have been met with good response.

Panasonic today launched a new range of smart television, VIERA, which has Internet surfing capabilities.

Sharma said Panasonic''s TV line, which comprises LCD TVs, high definition TVs and 3D TVs, should account for 15 per cent of the 4.5-million TV set sales by end-FY 12.