Deals In TroubleIran, which was beginning to look eastwards during the crisis over US hostages, may now again turn west, jeopardising in the process the future of a number of profitable deals with Indian companies. Mahindra & Mahindra, the jeep firm of Bombay, was to set up a joint project for the assembly of jeeps. Negotiations were also in progress with Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co and Ashok Leyland for the supply of over 4,000 buses to be followed eventually by a collaboration agreement for local manufacture. Talks have also been going on for the setting up of a bicycle manufacturing plant (initial capacity: 20,000 units per year) in collaboration with a company from Ludhiana. It is feared that some of these projects may now fall through.Unfruitful Plants .preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Once bitten, twice shy, New Delhi's experience with coal-based fertiliser plants - one at Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh, another at Talcher in Orissa - has been so bad that the Government is said to have decided not to go ahead with a third such project that was earlier to be set up at Korba in Madhya Pradesh. The Ramagundam plant, with an installed capacity of 950 tonnes of ammonia a day, was commissioned last year but it has never really worked satisfactorily and has now been closed down for major repairs. The Talcher plant is also facing difficulties and chugging along at a third of its installed capacity. Coal-based ammonia plants are not viable unless they are able to work at over 80 per cent of capacity and there are rumours that the two plants may have to be eventually abandoned as incurable white elephants.A New Venture Indian Oxygen, the largest manufacturer of welding gases and equipment, is setting up a joint sector company with the State Industrial and Investment Corporation of Maharashtra, to undertake the manufacture of welding equipment and accessories including transformers and plasma cutting machines. These are being currently produced by Indian Oxygen in its plants in Calcutta. as also by other companies like Kirloskar Electric, Advani Oerlikon and Peico Electronics. The plant is likely to be located at Kolhapur. Indian Oxygen was a subsidiary of British Oxygen until it reduced its equity of 40 per cent under FERA, and the Kolhapur plant will be its first venture in the joint sector.Hard (To Get) Loans The ghost of Thai-Vaishet is beginning to haunt other projects involving foreign finance and technology. Contrary to earlier expectations, the 680-million-dollar loan in the euro market for the Orissa aluminium project is not going too smoothly, with the lead banks finding it difficult to sell down the loan to other banks. The proposed Rs 2,000-crore steel project at Paradip is likely to be delayed by at least a year as New Delhi has asked for fresh bids. Surprisingly, because of Thal-Vaishet or otherwise, American firms are keeping away from all these multimillion dollar deals with the sole exception of offshore exploration bids.The Cheerless Cup The tea bonanza is over. Tea prices have been falling steadily for the last three years since 1977 when they touched a high of nearly 121 pence per pound (about Rs 48 a kg). Tea is apparently falling from grace as the most favourite beverage of even such tea-drinking people as Englishmen. John Biffen, British trade minister, who was visiting India last month, said that the beverage industry in his country was passing through a crisis, with a growing proportion of consumers shifting to soft drinks and fruit juices.New Thrust From Diesel The motor car fever is catching on. Stimulated by the success of their diesel engine fitted in a jeep, Kirloskar is jumping into the fray with plans for the design of a diesel motor car without foreign collaboration. If these plans go through, there might be four new passenger car models in the market in three to four years time, with at least three of them - Premier, Hindustan, and Kirloskar - with diesel engines. The fourth likely model, Maruti, is in something of a limbo as talks with foreign collaborators have not yet started and may not do so, until the future of one of the likely collaborators, British Leyland, is decided. British Leyland has submitted a corporate plan to the British Government but the company, which recently introduced a new car, Metro, is still not out of the woods and cannot talk business until the corporate plan is cleared. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Premier Automobiles is satisfied with its new model but the company is still beset with labour trouble.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 28, 2013--- ENDS ---
