Britannia's Wadia: In a tangle with Danone

Nusli Wadia is not new to corporate battles. His run-in with Dhirubhai Ambani in the 80s is still among the most famous battles ever. Now, he is in the midst of another one, this time with Groupe Danone. The issue: Danone's decision to acquire a 5 per cent stake in Bangalore-based bio-technology and bio-informatics company, Avestha Gengraine Technologies in November this year.

The Wadias challenged this in the Bombay High Court on the grounds that Danone's decision was a violation of the non-compete clause between the two groups. Back in 1994, the Wadias and Danone had set up a company called Wadia BSN India to launch packaged foods from Danone's international range. The Bombay High Court has restrained Daninvest.com (the Danone subsidiary through which it was investing in Avestha) from going ahead with the deal. The case will come up for hearing on January 10.

The Wadias and Danone are partners and equal shareholders in Britannia-the two groups together hold 51 per cent of the company's equity. The first sign of discord was apparent a few weeks ago when Danone's financial results for the third quarter of 2006 did not include Britannia's numbers. In an official statement, it said Britannia did not give out the numbers on the grounds that it was "price-sensitive information". Wadia was not available for comment.

Over the last year now, Wadia had been involved in a messy battle over the Mumbai mill land issue, which finally went in favour of the mill owners. Now, in the current dispute relating to Britannia, he will have to use all his skills to ensure that he wins this battle as well.

-Krishna Gopalan

NUMBERS OF NOTE

11: The number of hours a week, on average, that surfers spend on the net in Europe 18 million tonnes: The annual consumption of sugar in India

15.6 per cent: The annual growth rate of the media and entertainment industry in India, according to CRISIL

Rs 2,00,000 crore: India's oil import bill in the last financial year

2 million: The estimated number of non-governmantal organisations (NGOs) in India

24 per cent: The growth in Indian client PC market in the third quarter of 2006

$320 billion (Rs 14,40,000 crore): The investment needed over five-to-seven years to meet the demands of India's construction sector

Rs 27,450 crore: The present size of the Indian food industry

162 per cent: The growth in India's life insurance industry's new premium income in the first half of 2006-07 to Rs 29,664 crore, compared to Rs 11,323 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Rs 2,258 crore: The worth of foreign exchange India could save by March 31, 2007 if 10 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol is allowed all over India

4.1 per cent: The rate at which agriculture must grow for five years to push the GDP growth rate to 10 per cent

70,000: Estimated number of weblogs created globally every day on the internet

$48.7 billion: Private equity investment in Asia so far this year

Rs 7,875 crore: The value of India's film industry in 2006. The figure is projected to double to Rs 15,300 crore by 2010

NOTED

PLANNED: By Airbus Industrie, investments of $1 billion (Rs 4,500 crore) in India over 10 years. This includes the cost of setting up a training centre for crew (investment: $300 million), an aero-structure design and building centre ($300 million) and an engineering centre ($250 million).

RECORDED: By the Indian automobile sector, total production of 10 million vehicles during the January to November, 2006 period, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the first time that India has crossed the 10 million mark in a year. About 1.1 million passenger cars were produced during this period.

CROSSED: By GSM mobile operators in India, the 100-million subscriber mark in November, making it the country with the third-largest base of GSM subscribers after China and Russia. Add the 36 million CDMA subscribers to this figure, and India's overall mobile base touches 136 million. By comparison, Russia had 152 million mobile subscribers in November-a lead of only 16 million.

PLANNED: By Cisco, a pilot project to make internet protocol phones in Chennai by March next year. Cisco Chief Executive John Chambers said the internet phone manufacturing facility is just a start and that the company will gradually make its entire product range in India.

ANNOUNCED: By the Aditya Birla Group, an Employee Stock Option Scheme, for the first time, across four of its group companies-Grasim Industries, Hindalco Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo and UltraTech Cement.

LAUNCHED: By Google, its online advertising product Click-to-Call in India. The product will allow users to directly call advertisers on Google search pages. Click-to-Call ads will allow users to speak directly to any advertiser they find on a Google search results page over the phone and for free.

RAISED: By RBI, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) from 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent. This will draw out Rs 13,000 crore from the banking system, leaving it with less liquidity. Result: home and other personal loans will become more expensive.

BEEB CHANGES TACK IN INDIA

BBC world has withdrawn television programmes tailormade for Indian audiences. Shows like Question Time India and Mastermind India have been pulled off air. Says Jane Gorard, Director, Marketing and Communications, BBC World: "Our target viewer is an international traveler or someone interested in international events."

As a result, viewers of BBC World in India get to watch the same programming (barring the advertising feeds) as viewers in Paris or Hong Kong. Internationally, BBC World is viewed by nearly 65 million people across 200 countries every week, making it the largest channel in the BBC network. In India, BBC World reaches out to 16.5 million homes. But the explosive growth in the number of Indian news channels has slowly eaten away at BBC World's reach in India. (See table)

But unlike its rival, CNN, which joined hands with a local partner, TV18, to launch CNN-IBN, BBC has no such plans. "We have been in the market for a long time. We have our own set-up. I do not see a local channel being launched. BBC World is an English channel and will continue to remain so," she adds.

-T.V. Mahalingam