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Journalism of Courage
After the demise of liquor doyen L.P. Jaiswal, control at Jagatjit Industries JIL has shifted towards the elder son Jagatjit. Hitherto operating under two divisions 8212; JIL One and JIL Two 8212; the sense is that competition in the liquor market calls for a more focused operation. Punnu Karamjit Jaiswal, therefore, seems to be on a drastic restructuring path and has decided to shut his second division and consolidate all his operations under one flagship, JIL One. Some of the employees of JIL Two have been accommodated in JIL One, which now has all the leading Jagatjit brands. However, the fate of several brands that were under JIL Two, has not been decided as yet. The move to consolidate operations appears to have been dictated both by market condition and by financial reasons. JIL8217;s net sales have dropped from Rs 352 crore in 2004 to Rs 336 crore. Grapevine has it that Jaiswal is looking to merge Jagatjit with a larger spirits conglomerate or effect a JV through a substantial equity dilution.
Big push
Funny Money
Ronnie Screwvala8217;s UTV has entered into a joint venture with Malaysia-based Astro, a DTH and pay TV operator to launch two new channels targeted at the age group between 4-14 years in South East Asia region. Ronnie8217;s successful format for Hungama TV, the leading innovative kid8217;s channel, is what appears to have caught the eye of the Malaysian company. Specifically targeted to kids, the channels will be a mixture of animation and live action content incorporating Asian cultural values and entertaining educational elements. Ronnie, of course, will be charging royalty from Astro for taking the formats from UTV and Hungama TV over and above the annual fee of 1 million that he is to receive under the agreement.
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