NEW DELHI: the Mahindra Group willrestructure its top management by inducting several fresh faces into its keydecision-making body to reflect the $6.7-billion conglomerate’s expandingbusiness interests.

as part of the restructuring process, it willdismantle its Group Management Board (GMB), which comprised sector presidentsand group vice-chairman Anand Mahindra, the group has announced internally. Itwill be replaced by a Group Executive Board (GEB) from the next financial year.Under the new structure, 15 new faces will be added to the top managementbody.

the new structure coincides with the retirement of two topexecutives of the group — Arun Nanda, who heads the infrastructurevertical, and Anjanikumar Choudhari, who heads the tractor vertical. the choiceof the new names gives an indication of the businesses that are likely to be thegrowth drivers for the group such as retail, infrastructure and hospitality,apart from automobiles, IT and tractors.

the GEB will have a bunch of40-something senior managers who have been groomed since 2004 to take the topjobs across the group’s nine business verticals. In an internal notecirculated on Monday, M&M vice-chairman Anand Mahindra explained the logicbehind what he called “the clean sheetredesign”.

“Since 1997 (when the GMB was set up), thegroup has grown exponentially so that a strong need was felt to enhance andupdate the GMB concept. with wider participation in this board, we will set inmotion a process more suited to creating alignment and exploiting synergies atboth strategic and operational levels, thus creating business value in a vastlyexpanded set of businesses,” he said.

the new names in the GEBroster include VS Parthasarathy, executive vice-president, finance, M&a andcorporate IT; Zhooben Bhiwandiwala, executive vice-president and managingpartner of Mahindra Partners; Anita Arjundas, CEO & MD of Mahindra LifespaceDevelopers and CEO real estate sector; Ramesh Ramanathan, MD, Mahindra Holidaysand CEO hospitality sector; Sanjay Kalra, CEO of Tech Mahindra; Harsh Kumar, MD,Mahindra Intertrade; CP Gurnani, CEO, Mahindra Satyam and Ramesh Iyer, MD,Mahindra Financial Services.

these young stars of the group will joinsector presidents who were earlier part of the GEB such as group CFO BharatDoshi, president of auto and tractor sectors Pawan Goenka, HR president RajeevDubey, Anoop Mathur, president, two-wheeler sector, Systech president HemantLuthra, IT sector president Ulhas Yargop and Uday Phadke, president, finance,legal and financial services.

the overall restructuring process alsoincludes several top level changes within the group. according to anotherinternal note, the business of two sectors — auto and tractors — isbeing reorganised into three profit centres and two integrated keyprocesses.

Each of these is headed by a CEO. the profit centres arethe Swaraj division of the farm equipment sector headed by current CEOBishwambhar Mishra, the tractor division headed by newly minted CEO GautamNagwekar and the auto division headed by also newly appointed CEO RajeshJejurikar. both mr Jejurikar and Nagwekar are currently COOs of their respectiveverticals.

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Talks were on with Chinese vendors, said Anoop Mathur, president of M&M’s two-wheeler division. China is the largest two-wheeler market in the world; India is next. M&M has three 125-cc scooters —two power scooters, Mahindra Rodeo and Duro, and Mahindra Flyte. It plans to launch a motorcycle next year.

The three scooters are priced between Rs 38,300 and Rs 41,300 (ex-showroom, Ahmedabad). Though priced in the same range as Hero Honda Pleasure and TVS Scooty Pep, these are 5-6 per cent cheaper than market leader Honda Activa and have an engine that is 12-18 per cent larger. These are also 8-12 per cent cheaper than Suzuki Access. The company feels the pricing is strategic and sustainable. While Mathur declined to give details, he said sourcing components from China could give M&M an advantage in pricing.

As for the existing Kinetic models that Mahindra now markets, including Nova, Kine and 4S, the company is yet to take a decision on whether to phase out these in the long run. Mahindra had acquired assets of Kinetic Motors in 2008. Kinetic had launched Flyte, with a 125-cc engine, in 2007.

“We want to be present as an end-to-end player in the two-wheeler space and will take a call on these Kinetic models depending on the market feedback. We are looking at positioning our products uniquely,” Mathur said. Currently, it is targeting the adult stylish male for the Rodeo, while the Duro is targeted at the entire family. The Flyte is for the woman commuter.

“In the 40 days since our launch, we have sold around 7,000 units on an average per month”, said Sanjay Mittal, vice-president, sales and customer care, Mahindra two-wheelers. The company has an annual manufacturing capacity of 500,000 two-wheelers at Pithampur, near Indore, in Madhya Pradesh.

Mahindra’s two-wheelers have 325 dealers. The plan is to take this to 375 by the end of the financial year. “Around 200 Kinetic dealers came in and the rest are our existing tractor and utility vehicle dealers,” Mittal said.

The two-wheeler market has been clocking a 15 per cent growth this financial year. The scooters segment is dominated by Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India, which have a 53 per cent share, followed by TVS & Hero Honda with 21 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, and Suzuki with 8 per cent.

the larger model of the DSi, the Nintendo DSi LL, launched in Japan today, Saturday 21st November, and from the lengthy queues being formed to pick up the fancy new model, it looks like it could well be a far greater success than Sony’s PSP-Go.

The Nintendo DSi LL has two whopping 4.2-inch screens and has the following dimensions: 161.0mm / 91.4mm / 21.2mm (comparatively the DS is 148.7mm/84.7mm/28.9mm, the DS Lite is 133.0mm/73.9mm/21.5mm and the standard DSi is 137.0mm/74.9mm/18.9mm). the Japanese model comes in three colours, Wine Red, Dark Brown, Natural White, and also has applications like ‘A little Bit of Brain Training’ and ‘Flipnote Studio’ pre-installed.

According to sources in Japan, the initial shipment is 150,000 units, the same amount that Sony shipped for the PSP-Go. the difference is that Sony is currently struggling to sell more than a third of that shipment so far, whilst Nintendo could be looking at a first weekend sell-out, despite the system selling for 20,000, the equivalent of a Wii in Japan!

Some comparison screens can be seen here.

MUMBAI:Indices were on a firm foot on Wednesday as buying activity resumed across theboard ahead of November series expiry. However volatility later in the daycan’t be ruled out.

At 12:29 pm, Bombay StockExchange’s Sensex was at 17269.62, up 138.54 points or 0.81 per cent. The30-share index hit an intra-day high of 17284.30 and low of 17124.15.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5123.25, up 32.05 points or0.70 per cent.

“Nifty depicted signs of weakness on shortterm charts with formation of distributive patterns. Short term oscillators havebeen depicting sign of weakness for some time. Despite the divergence the indexso far continued to form higher peaks and troughs. Failure to rally past 5110would lead to increasing weakness in the index. Short term supports are placedat 5050 and below that at 5020 while 5110 remain crucial supply zone. Trenddecider level remains at 4900 and 5185 which may lead for unfolding of a biggermove,” said Edelweiss report.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.77 percent and BSE Smallcap Index gained 0.93 per cent.

amongst thesectoral indices, BSE Oil&gas Index was up 1.76 per cent, BSE Metal Indexmoved 1.33 per cent higher and BSE Auto Index gained 1.10 per cent. BSE RealtyIndex was down 0.22 per cent.

Reliance Industries (1.90%), Mahindra& Mahindra (1.75%), Hero Honda (1.66%), Maruti Suzuki (1.61%) and ITC(1.46%) were amongst the top Sensex gainers.

DLF (-0.86%), NTPC(-0.46%), ICICI Bank (-0.42%), Tata Power (-0.34%) and Wipro (-0.14%) wereamongst the top losers.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with1608 advances and 913 declines.

Heavy rainfall in southern Scotland has put the area on course for its wettest year since records began.

The Met Office observatory at Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway has seen 404mm (about 16in) of rain in the month of November alone.

Figures for the year so far already make it one of the wettest on record.

Average December rainfall would almost certainly take this year past the previous highest levels which were recorded in 1928.

This November has already been the wettest month since records began in 1914.

Total rainfall

The previous record for the wettest month was February 1997 when 401.6mm (15.81in) of rain fell. The third wettest month was in January 1928 which saw 390.3mm (15.36in) fall.

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The previous record for November stood at 289.8mm (11.4in) in 1938.

The total annual rainfall for 2009 stood at 2,048mm (80.64in) by 1800 GMT on Tuesday.

The south west Scotland observatory has already seen a number of rainfall records broken.

Earlier this year it had the wettest August since records began.

A little more rainfall in November, combined with an average December, would take the total past the 2,223mm (87.52in) set more than 80 years ago.

MUMBAI:Indices were on a firm foot on Wednesday as buying activity resumed across theboard ahead of November series expiry. however volatility later in the daycan’t be ruled out.

At 12:29 pm, Bombay StockExchange’s Sensex was at 17269.62, up 138.54 points or 0.81 per cent. The30-share index hit an intra-day high of 17284.30 and low of 17124.15.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5123.25, up 32.05 points or0.70 per cent.

“Nifty depicted signs of weakness on shortterm charts with formation of distributive patterns. Short term oscillators havebeen depicting sign of weakness for some time. Despite the divergence the indexso far continued to form higher peaks and troughs. Failure to rally past 5110would lead to increasing weakness in the index. Short term supports are placedat 5050 and below that at 5020 while 5110 remain crucial supply zone. Trenddecider level remains at 4900 and 5185 which may lead for unfolding of a biggermove,” said Edelweiss report.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.77 percent and BSE Smallcap Index gained 0.93 per cent.

Amongst thesectoral indices, BSE Oil&gas Index was up 1.76 per cent, BSE Metal Indexmoved 1.33 per cent higher and BSE Auto Index gained 1.10 per cent. BSE RealtyIndex was down 0.22 per cent.

Reliance Industries (1.90%), Mahindra& Mahindra (1.75%), Hero Honda (1.66%), Maruti Suzuki (1.61%) and ITC(1.46%) were amongst the top Sensex gainers.

DLF (-0.86%), NTPC(-0.46%), ICICI Bank (-0.42%), Tata Power (-0.34%) and Wipro (-0.14%) wereamongst the top losers.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with1608 advances and 913 declines.

Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS), a unit of M&M will bid for defence projects in India worth $3.5 billion over the next seven years, said its chief executive yesterday.

Khutub Hai, head of MDS, a special division set up in New Delhi to oversee the requirements of the domestic defence sector told Reuters in an interview yesterday, ”Most of projects will come from artillery systems and armoured vehicles.”

Hai said that he hopes to increase revenues from the current $21.7 million to $430 million by 2016 through joint ventures.

In March 2009, M&M had sought shareholders’ approval to spin off two divisions of its defence unit into separate subsidiaries by transferring the land systems and naval systems divisions of MDS into separate companies. (See: M&M proposes to spin off land, sea defence units)

MDS is a current supplier of the entire range of light combat / armoured vehicles and their derivatives for defence / security forces. It also is the largest private sector company supplying bullet-proof vehicles and sea mines.

The company has been awarded industrial licenses by the government of India for Light Armoured Multi Role Vehicles, simulators for weapons and weapon systems, mobile surveillance platforms, sea mines, small arms and Up-armoured vehicles

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MUMBAI:Indices were on a firm foot on Wednesday as buying activity resumed across theboard ahead of November series expiry. however volatility later in the daycan’t be ruled out.

At 12:29 pm, Bombay StockExchange’s Sensex was at 17269.62, up 138.54 points or 0.81 per cent. The30-share index hit an intra-day high of 17284.30 and low of 17124.15.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5123.25, up 32.05 points or0.70 per cent.

“Nifty depicted signs of weakness on shortterm charts with formation of distributive patterns. Short term oscillators havebeen depicting sign of weakness for some time. Despite the divergence the indexso far continued to form higher peaks and troughs. Failure to rally past 5110would lead to increasing weakness in the index. Short term supports are placedat 5050 and below that at 5020 while 5110 remain crucial supply zone. Trenddecider level remains at 4900 and 5185 which may lead for unfolding of a biggermove,” said Edelweiss report.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.77 percent and BSE Smallcap Index gained 0.93 per cent.

Amongst thesectoral indices, BSE Oil&gas Index was up 1.76 per cent, BSE Metal Indexmoved 1.33 per cent higher and BSE Auto Index gained 1.10 per cent. BSE RealtyIndex was down 0.22 per cent.

Reliance Industries (1.90%), Mahindra& Mahindra (1.75%), Hero Honda (1.66%), Maruti Suzuki (1.61%) and ITC(1.46%) were amongst the top Sensex gainers.

DLF (-0.86%), NTPC(-0.46%), ICICI Bank (-0.42%), Tata Power (-0.34%) and Wipro (-0.14%) wereamongst the top losers.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with1608 advances and 913 declines.

Renault has no intentions of upsetting the applecart with Mahindra & Mahindra on the Logan project.

The Logan will continue to be developed with M&M, Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Renault-Nissan, told Business Line during his recent India visit.

However, it is still not clear if there will be any change in the retail strategy for the car. At present, it is showcased with M&Ms Scorpio sport-utility vehicle in the companys showrooms. Renault is clear, though, that it is working on an independent retail strategy for its future India products and it remains to be seen if the Logan will be part of this revised plan.

The only thing that has to be clarified for Renault is how to market and sell our products. this is not an issue with our partner, Nissan because its retail plan is in place. Renault is working on something and is clear about an exclusive identity in the form of showrooms, advertising campaigns and so on, Ghosn said.

M&M and Renault entered into a 51:49 partnership three years ago to manufacture the Logan sedan. The car promised plenty but monthly sales have been at the sub-500 unit level for sometime now and losses last fiscal totalled nearly Rs 500 crore. The Nashik plant has been planned with an installed capacity of 50,000 cars annually.

M&M believes that the way forward is to reduce the length of the Logan to four metres so that it qualifies as a small car in the Indian context and can avail of the lower eight per cent excise duty (instead of the current level of 20 per cent). this is applicable to any car up to four metres long whose engine capacities do not exceed 1.2 litres for petrol and 1.5 litres in the case of diesel.

The excise duty is an issue in India but we need to continue to work on the Logan to adapt it to local tastes. we also need to do it quickly and with a good knowledge of what customers want, Ghosn said.

According to him, the other solution lay in localisation of components which would play a key role in bringing down costs. It now remains to be seen which of these options would be exercised though he was categorical that both parties would work jointly on finding an answer.

We need to do it with M&M as they have shared responsibility on the car and also possess knowledge of the Indian market. we need to decide the solution together, Mr Ghosn said.

It now looks as if the partners are working overtime to get it right. Hopefully, before the Delhi Auto Show kick of in January next year, you could see many things becoming clear in these small, grey areas, he added. It will be interesting to see if some of these initiatives include a new product line-up for the Nashik plant.

Trimming the Logan will help reduce its price tag by at least Rs 50,000 but dealers are not entirely certain if that alone would suffice especially when substantial discounts are already being offered on the car to keep it moving off the shelves.

Ghosn said that the Indian customer is value-driven and wants everything in his car which seems to indicate that Renault may even work on some internal aspects of the Logan in terms of offering more goodies at the same price, or even lower if its length is also reduced. The car, he added, has been a huge success in Russia, Europe, North Africa and Brazil.

We are surprised that it could not be replicated in India. The Logan is important for Renaults future because it is the first product from us in this country, Ghosn said.

Taken from Business Line