Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of the Videocon group, told The Financial Express that the temporary hitch in Videocon's plan to acquire Philips India's unit in Calcutta will not pose as a hindrance to the proposed joint venture between Akai. He added that the Akai products would now be manufactured from the group's facilities in Ahmedabad and Aurangabad. "Both the units have excess capacity, and in the first year we can easily manufacture proposed models from the two units. As demand for the Akai products pick up, may be from the second year onwards, we can begin manufacturing from the Salt Lake unit," Dhoot said.Dhoot added that the whole purpose of acquiring the Salt Lake unit from Philips was to add to Videocon's capacity, in view of the increasing demand particularly from the eastern region. "The Salt Lake unit can produce around 3.5 lakh colour television sets per annum," he added. The group also plans to set up a greenfield unit in West Bengal to manufacture refrigerators, washing machines and otherappliances.
Philips India, on the other, did not react on how it will proceed with the sale of the Salt Lake unit now that the Calcutta high court has ordered against going ahead with the deal. A Philips spokesperson said: "We are not in a position to react now. We cannot react before next week."
It is understood Philips will seek legal opinion now that the court ruling has gone against its strategic plans. The options now left with the company is either to renegotiate with the Videocon group or appeal against the high court order.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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