Patent protection
Psyllium husk producers are afraid that MNCs will soon patent exclusive overseas marketing rights for the product. Value-added formulations of psyllium husk are being developed by MNCs and, once patented, Indian companies will lose the right to market such products.
Look before leaping
The coalition government seems to be extraordinarily inept at managing its own internal politics. Consider the entirely unnecessary crisis thrown up as a result of yet another round of sparring with Jayalalitha, a crisis which has taken the toll of yet another minister. The irony is that this time, Jayalalitha is right, at least so far as principles are concerned.
The Index
Grasim Industries -- The acquisition of Dharani Cement by Grasim for a consideration of Rs 53 crore (capacity:0.73 million tpa) is strange. The cost/tonne at Rs 726 works out to be the cheapest acquisition in industry so far. Dharani has limestone reserves of 92 million tonne. It also was in the process of setting up O.9 million tonne cement capacity at a reported cost of Rs 237 crore.
Vikas WSP: Expectation-driven
The volatility in the commodities markets does not take very long to translate into a corresponding price movement in the stock markets. This eventuality is manifesting itself in the case of Vikas WSP. The company is a manufacturer of guar gum polymers, which is an extract from guar seeds.
BJP and foreign direct investment
That the new government is not opposed to liberalisation is evident from the appointment of Yashwant Sinha as finance minister being second best choice of Atal Bihari Vajpayee after he had agreed to drop Jaswant Singh yielding to the pressures from his party. He assigned the defence portfolio to George Fernandes, whose outburst against MNCs were sending wrong signals to the world about economic policy of the BJP led government.
Direct-selling companies offer housewives a slice of the pie
Having built a $79-billion world-wide empire by using housewives to sell premium personal and health-care products, the direct-selling industry has now turned to India - a market with huge promise and potential. Based on the premise of appointing housewives as distributors for directly selling their products, offering them about 20-30 per cent commission, several direct-selling companies have set shop.
