Honda Motor bets on 100-cc bikes for rural push in India

NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: Japan's Honda Motor, the world's largest motorcycle maker, is betting on the small capacity 100-cc economy bikes as it embarks upon a rural push in the world's second biggest two-wheeler market, said people with knowledge of the development. The Tokyo-based firm, which separated from its long-term Indian partner turned competitor Hero MotoCorp, has appointed five management teams across India led by Japanese executives to create a new decentralised marketing structure for consistent sales, people from the industry told ET.

The Japanese two-wheeler maker is working on a new version of the CD platform in the 100-cc segment, where Hero's CD Dawn and CD Deluxe have the highest sales. Honda's new bike based on the 100-cc technology is targeted at India's vast rural hinterland that contributes almost half of the volumes to the nearly 5 million bikes Hero sells every year. The thrust on rural market is a reversal of sales strategy for Honda, which has so far been garnering most of its sales from cities and big towns.

"The company is currently focusing and tweaking bikes relevant for the Indian market to get closer to the customer ," said Abdul Majeed, auto practice leader, PwC. The 100-cc bikes laid foundation for Hero MotoCorp, erstwhile Hero Honda , to emerge as world's largest twowheeler firm in terms of volumes. Last year, Honda sold its 26% stake in Hero Honda to India's Munjal family while the technology agreement between Hero and Honda permits the former to use the joint name in products till 2014.

Honda, which owns the CD brand globally jointly with Hero, is likely to bring in a new improved engine with fresh design cues to attract young and rural India. Hero's claim on the CD brand exists only till 2014, by when Honda wants to emerge as a major player in the Indian circuit. Honda Motor did not reply to an email query from ET about its rural thrust and new marketing strategy. However, the company said it aims to emerge as a major player in India in the next few years as it comes up with strategies to consolidate.

Suzuki Motorcycle sales up 39 pc in August

NEW DELHI: Two-wheeler maker Suzuki Motorcycle India today reported 39.12 per cent jump in sales in August to 26,897 units.

The company had sold 19,334 units in the same month last year, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) said in a statement.

"We have received very good response from the market to all our products. The growing customer satisfaction among present owners of Suzuki products has led to a positive word-of-mouth in the market," SMIPL Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Atul Gupta said in a statement.

Auto component sector demands labour reforms

NEW DELHI: Delay in labour reforms hampers employment generation in the automobile component sector, the nodal agency for the Indian auto component industry said Tuesday.

"We believe that employment will get a boost by labour reforms which is the need at the moment," Srivats Ram, president, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event here.

According to Ram, the slow pace of labour reforms hampers the huge opportunity for the country's workforce to be employable in the sector.

"We currently employ around a million people directly and another million indirectly and this number is expected to double in the coming time," Ram said.

For this to happen, reforms are needed, he said.

ACMA further said that the industry was looking forward to a flexible labour policy and that its views on the same are being represented in front of the human resource and labour committees of the planning commission for the twelfth five year plan.

"We want a policy that allows us to adjust our work-form as per market economy. In the medium-to-long term there will be ample employment opportunities in the sector and there should not be any uncertainty that it will be a hire and fire policy types," Ram said.

The Indian auto component industry currently has 50 percent of its employees as permanent and the other half on a consultant basis.

"We want this 50 percent permanent number to be maintained and even grow as we spend a lot of money on training our manpower but there is a need of flexibility here," Arvind Kapur, ACMA vice president said.

Commenting on the recent labour troubles in the auto sector, Kapur said there is a need for better understanding and cooperation between the management and the labour.

"We have a very young and aspiring workforce. There needs to be better understanding between both the sides," Kapur added.

General Motors to source 95 per cent of components locally

FARIDABAD: General Motors said on Tuesday it plans to source about 95 percent of its components from local manufacturers for its newer models.

"The percentage of locally sourced parts and components in new vehicles can be as high as 95 percent," Ashwani Muppasani, vice president, global purchasing and supply chain, General Motors India said at a Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) event here.

According to Muppasani, the company expects the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) suppliers to adhere to the strict global quality and be certified for technical specification (TS certified) which is meant for engineering industries.

The company plans to double its current production capacity from 150,000 units to 300,000 units by 2014 and envisages a big role for small and medium enterprises.

Meanwhile, the SMEs industry raised concerns on the rising number of auto component imports.

"While there is a positive medium-to-long term outlook for demand in the Indian auto sector, there are concerns about rising imports of auto parts and components," a FISME research brief said.

Data furnished by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India ( ACMA) showed that auto component imports grew by 8.5 percent at $30.2 billion in 2010-11.

Skoda Auto India sales up 20% in August at 1,812 units

NEW DELHI: Skoda Auto India on Thursday reported 20 per cent increase in sales to 1,812 units in August this year over the same month last year.

The company had reported sales of 1,512 units in August 2010.

Commenting on the sales performance, Skoda Auto India Board Member, Sales and Marketing, Thomas Kuehl said: "We are extremely positive about Skoda Auto's growth trajectory in India. Our endeavour is to consistently provide consumers with value products and services is one of the key factors contributing to our growth."

The entry level sedan scheduled to launch at the end of the year will also help us reach to a whole new set of audiences, he added.

Why Apple just might be the first $1 trillion co

Could Apple be worth $1 trillion? It's conceivable. The $342 billion iPhone and iPad maker became -- if only briefly -- the most valuable company in the United States when it surpassedExxon Mobil on August 9.

Yet its sales have been surging 80 per cent a year, and profit faster. And Apple trades roughly in line with the growing US market -- and at less than half the price-to-earnings multiple it fetched in 2006, when revenue growth was much slower.

Apple now trades at about 11 times estimated earnings for the fiscal year ending September 2012. The S&P 500 index is valued at about 10 times next year's earnings. But Apple's sales growth is not far off 10 times faster than that of the average company. The gadget producer also sits on $76 billion of cash and investments.

To get at this dissonance another way, consider Apple's PEG ratio. This hints at the price of growth by dividing a company's PE ratio by its projected percentage earnings growth. A smaller figure suggests a company is cheaper. Apple's is 0.2.

That's low compared to growth darlings. Burrito purveyor Chipotle Mexican Grill, for instance, comes in at 2.1, and Salesforce.com at 13.2. Pandora and LinkedIn aren't even expected to make money.

Alternatively, put Apple on the same PE multiple it traded on in 2006, and it would be worth almost $900 billion. A premium for today's faster growth could get it to $1 trillion. Apple can't be so cheap just because Steve Jobs is in precarious health.

True, Apple already sells more per quarter than it did in all of fiscal 2007, and it takes more and more success to move the needle. Growth could easily slow. Yet the smartphone and tablet markets are young, the company's customers show remarkable fidelity, and areas such as television are ripe for new gadgets. Moreover, Apple's return on equity is almost twice what it was in 2006, suggesting it has pricing power.

Maybe investors simply can't fathom so large a company. A $1 trillion Apple would mean adding all of Microsoft, Google, Intel and Amazon -- and more -- to the firm's current market capitalization. Perhaps Apple is correctly priced, the market too expensive, and growth stocks grotesquely so. But something doesn't add up. In relative terms, Apple should be worth far more.

Apple's market capitalization was $341.5 billion in midday trading on August 9. Exxon Mobil had a value of $341.4 billion.

In the last quarter, the firm's sales grew 82 per cent and earnings increased 125 per cent from the same period a year ago

MSN India launches MSN She targeting women

MSN India has launched MSN She targeting women to provide a discussion platform for women-related issues. The website content includes stories about urban as well as rural women and it will cover stories of success, of inspiring women and those who do things differently.

The website includes a news section which features top news stories from around the world, from feminist reporters and bloggers and feature articles, videos, images and polls, etc. Another section is the 'Trailblazers' section, which talks about inspiring women, from all walks of life. The section on 'Stripped' focuses on social, political and economic issues that have affected women and their role in society. It covers crimes, cases of violence, discrimination and other highly debated and controversial issues like rape, abortion, property rights, human rights, etc. There is a discussion platform as well, titled 'She Speaks', which features polls, besides allowing women to share their experiences.

Zuckerberg‘s Facebook helps small town entrepreneurs fuel ambitions

Mona Sandhu, a lecturer turned costume jewellery designer, set up a jewellery store in her home city of Karnal, Haryana, in 2006. The five-year-old store was doing well, selling about 70 pieces a week, but the limited pool of customers was stifling for the ambitious businesswoman.

On a whim, Sandhu set up a profile on Facebook at the end of last year with photographs of some of her products. To her surprise, she bagged an order the same day from a customer in California. Ten months on, Sandhu, whose social media page has been liked by 17000 visitors, is busy planning exhibitions in the US and UK.

As business on social media gains rapid acceptance, small-town entrepreneurs are securing customers from across the world. Sandhu gets over 100 orders a week mostly from customers in the US, Canada and the UK. On an average, individual customers order 5-10 pieces at a time, while a wholesale order starts at 40. "I have international recognition which has helped increase sales by 20 times since the launch of the page," says Sandhu for whom the Facebook page is the sole link with her customers.

For scores of entrepreneurs like Sandhu living in non-metros and towns with tight marketing budgets and no experience of running a commercial enterprise, Facebook has emerged as a significant marketing and sales tool. In fact, many of them are using their Facebook page as a substitute for a proprietary website. It costs nothing to set up a page, profile or group and it provides space for displaying photographs to boot.

Bihar uses least power, Delhi the most

NEW DELHI: The union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli tops the list on per capita power consumption in the country at 11,863.64 kWh while Bihar is at the bottom with just 122.11 kWh usage, as per information available with the power ministry.

Among the states, Delhi tops the list with 1,651.26 kWh, and Gujarat follows with 1,615.24 kWh. Maharashtra, in comparison, is well below these states with 1,028.22 kWh, while Punjab with 1,526.86 kWh and Himachal Pradesh with 1,379.99 kWh fare better.

Globally, India ranks 14th in per capita power consumption with 778.71 kWh, which is three times lower than that of China that is one notch higher on the list with 2,471 kWh. The world average is 2,782 kWh.

The top 10 positions are accounted for by Canada (17,053 kWh), the US (13,647 kWh), Australia (11,174 kWh), Japan (8,072 kWh), France (7,703 kWh), Germany (7,148 kWh), South Korea (8,853 KWh), the UK (6,067 kWh), Russia (6,443 kWh) and Italy (5,656 kWh).

According to the power ministry, among union territories, after Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu comes next with 7,118.23 kWh, Puducherry accounts for 1,743.37 kWh, and Chandigarh consumes 1,340.00 kWh.

Edcucomp ties up with Kanchi mutt to set up 100 schools

CHENNAI: Educomp Solutions, a leading education company, today announced its joint venture with Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam to set up a 100 schools across the country.

To be set up under the patronage of Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, the schools will be known as Sri Kanchi Sankara Universal Academy, a company release said.

Kanchi Mutt was interested in providing affordable education and has already set up over 50 schools, 10 colleges and a deemed university over the years.

This tie-up is a result of the common vision of both partners to aid capacity building in school education space and provide affordable value-based education to the masses. Under this tie-up, around 100 schools will come up across the country in the next few years.

The mutt would provide the land and philosophical learnings while Educomp will set-up and manage the schools.