Britney Spears: Thanks to the tie-up with Zomba, Saregama has her on its roster

Saregama India, the new face of The Gramophone Company of India, is still in search of the elusive right notes. The music industry has hit a rough patch, with almost no major hits to boast, and Saregama hasn't been spared. For FY 2001-02, the company posted a net loss of Rs 25.76 crore (against a net profit of Rs 5.05 crore in the corresponding period last year).

Saregama's plans of opening up new revenue streams have not worked out either. The audio software division, aimed at providing content to private radio stations, folded up months ago. Reason: The major fm players, already saddled with license fees, went in for in-house production. The fm operations, in which the company had invested Rs 6 crore thus, had to be hived off. The movie production venture, under the Gramco Films banner, lasted five films, including Godmother, Bara Din, and Sapnay (remember them?).

The company is now banking on music and home videos to bail it out. Its enviable catalogue, acquired over decades, is something competitors like Tips Industries can never rival. "Along with acquisition of new film soundtracks, we are also getting the catalogue working," explains CEO Abhik Mitra. Apart from soundtracks, the company is rolling out branded compilations and stand-alone, theme-based products.

After EMI, the erstwhile international partner of Saregama, decided to enter the Indian market on its own, Saregama has now tied up with Zomba Records, which has in its stable teen favourites like Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, both hugely popular in India. The company continues to produce three serials for Sun TV and its Hamara CD project, where customised CDs from the Saregama catalogue can be ordered, notches up volumes of 2,000 CDs a month. The latest move, a tie-up with Warner Home Video, to approach the fast-growing home video market, is based on the recommendations of McKinsey, which was hired to help Saregama leverage its core strengths. Now it remains to be seen whether any or all of these steps can bring the hills alive with the sound of cash register rings.

-Subhajit Banerjee

RED HAT INDIA
Anybody for Linux?
Can the operating system make a breakthrough in a Unix-dominated market?

Javed Tapia: Laying on the cost benefit for customers

In 2001, according to IDC, the Linux operating system drew in roughly $1.7 billion, in the process grabbing a 27 per cent share of the global market. But why are Indian customers chary of shifting to Linux? After all, it's a lower cost system, which assumes added significance in recessionary times, and unlike a Unix or the Windows-based OS, Linux comes gratis.

Javed Tapia, Director, Red Hat India, the leading seller of Linux-based server products, has an explanation: ''Though licence is free, which is a major plus in a price-sensitive market like India, if something goes wrong with the software, there is no support to be had. This is the main reason why people were reluctant to switch to Linux.''

A good enough reason, if any. To tackle this issue head-on, Red Hat recently launched, what Tapia claims, is the first enterprise-class Linux advanced server in the country. ''This server will be supported by the world's top enterprise software and hardware vendors, offering enterprise customers a new series of infrastructure solutions, good price, performance and total cost ownership benefits for organisations migrating to it.''

Prominent players like IBM, hp, Oracle, and Intel have started supporting the Linux architecture in a major way. Until now, Linux held the greatest potential in replacing low-end workstation software (IDC estimates put India's workstation market at around 18,000 units worth around Rs 320 crore) and did not have penetration in the mid-end and high-end server ranges. Says M. Ganesh, Vice President, Enterprise Systems Group, IBM India: "India has been a traditional UNIX market. Though currently the market for Linux as server OS is small, it is growing at a very fast pace. We already have Shyam Telelinks and Times Internet using Linux OS as our customers.'' Tapia of Red Hat adds that the Linux market is at an inflection point and ready for take-off. But can the penguin survive the heat?

-Venkatesha Babu

C-SNIPS

CAN WORLDCOM CLEAR VSNL'S DUES?
American long-distance telecom service provider WorldCom, which was hurtling towards bankruptcy last fortnight, has promised to pay up the Rs 500-odd crore it owes VSNL. But for WorldCom to manage that, analysts point out that it will have to tie up some $5 billion in new financing-needed for sheer survival.

UTI TO BAIL OUT OF ITC?
ITC was in the spotlight on the bourses last fortnight, but not for the best reasons. Reports indicate that the Unit Trust of India (UTI) is keen to sell the 13.59 per cent holding it has in the tobacco major. Analysts expect UTI to rake in roughly Rs 750 per share from the sales. UTI could do with that money.

TATA FINANCE'S WOES CONTINUE
The Tatas may be getting their act together in most of their mainline companies, but the woes of Tata Finance continue. For the nine-months-ended March 2002, the company showed a net loss of Rs 117 crore; Rs 44 crore of this was registered in the last quarter. However, analysts expect the company to stage a recovery once it completes its restructuring exercise, the first phase of which involves selling its stake in Tata Amex.

NO TAKERS FOR CENTURION BANK
Centurion Bank, which is expected to end the year ended March 2002 in the red, has succeeded in getting RBI approval to postpone the announcement of its financial results. However Centurion, which was actively scouting for a suitor, is finding few takers with both HDFC Bank and UTI Bank reportedly not interested in acquiring it.

ONE-TIME CHARGE PUSHES STANCHART INTO RED
Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank found itself in a sea of red for the year-ended March 31, 2002, courtesy a huge one-time charge of Rs 507 crore the bank had to make as a result of an out-of-court settlement with the National Housing Bank. Expenses on a retirement scheme also played their part in Stanchart Grindlays clocking a Rs 393 crore loss last year.

HPCL SUBSIDIARY TO PUT UP REFINERY
A subsidiary company of HPCL, Guru Gobind Singh Refineries, plans to set up a refinery in Punjab. Land for the project has been acquired and the company has already spent Rs 230 crore on the project. Reports peg the total project cost at Rs 700 crore.

PFIZER-PARKE DAVIS GET MERGER GO-AHEAD
Parke Davis' merger into Pfizer has been formally approved by the Pfizer board. The proposal, subject to shareholder and high court approval, provides for the allotment of four Pfizer shares for every nine of Parke Davis. The merger, when approved, will be effective retrospectively from December 1, 2001.

TVS MOTOR IN HIGH GEAR
Fuelled by demand for the Victor, TVS Motor posted a huge 95 per cent increase in sales in June over last year's same period. Victor was launched last August.

M&M
Work At Leisure?
Heard of an industrial park where you can go fishing and golfing, spot cranes and wild squirrels...?

M&M makes waves: India's first private industrial par in the works

Even as Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) makes waves with the recently-launched utility vehicle Scorpio, down South, the auto and tractor major has embarked on a slightly different adventure. With Tidco and ILFS in tow, M&M has set up the country's first private multi-industrial park, spread across 1,400 acres and calling for a total investment of Rs 220 crore, Rs 100 crore of which has already been sunk.

If your first reaction is, "Yawn, another industrial park," read on. True, like any other park, this one too has space reserved for various industries (only environment-friendly ones of course), ranging from it and gems and jewellery to leather accessories and garments. For some strange reason there's also an MNC zone (all of 45 acres), and 130 acres has been earmarked for housing.

Now for the exciting part. The park has seven water bodies surrounding it, a hill and a forest. Roughly 140 acres will be left wild while a considerable bit will be developed to encompass holiday and leisure activities like fishing, ballooning and golf, to name just three. That explains the park's marketing pitch: "45 minutes from Chennai, 5 minutes from Ford, 1 minute from cranes, egrets and wild squirrels...The only business park where you have a factory on your left and a forest on your right." CEO Rajiv Khanna also plans to put up an international school, healthcare centres, hypermarkets, and retail stores. Work is where leisure is!

-Nitya Varadarajan