P&G, Colgate, Henkel Fined by France for Detergent Cartel

PARIS Procter & Gamble Co, Colgate- Palmolive Co and Henkel were fined €361.3 million ($464 million) by French antitrust regulators for fixing the price of laundry soap. P&G, the maker of Ariel washing powder, was fined €233.6 million and Colgate must pay €35.4 million for colluding with others to set prices for detergent from 1997- 2004, the French regulator said in a statement on its website. Henkel, the German maker of Persil, was fined €92.3 million. Unilever wasn't fined because it was the first company to supply evidence to the French regulators. The fine is the largest imposed by the French competition authority this year in light of “the particular seriousness” and the “undoubted” harm to the economy, the regulator said. The French directors for the manufacturers, known by code names like Hugues, Pierre, Louis and Christian, met as many as four times a year at Paris-area hotels and restaurants to agree on the prices and promotions they would offer retailers, it said.

Videocon to Set Up Mobile Phone Facility Next Year

NEW DELHI Diversified business group Videocon plans to set up its first mobile phone manufacturing plant in India, which could entail an investment of up to . 75 crore in the initial phase. The company, which is looking to sell around 2.5 million mobile handsets next year, is scouting for locations for the new plant across the country, particularly in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. “Videocon is ready to put up a mobile phone manufacturing plant in India next year. At present, we source it OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) here. Now we are going to start on our own,” Videocon Industries Director Anirudh Dhoot said. “We have been invited by Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Chhattisgarh. We have not yet finalised the location. A decision on the same would be taken next year in February or March,” he said.

Coke Creates Independent Unit for Non-fizzy Drinks

In a global first, Coca-Cola India is creating an independent business channel to innovate, sell and distribute its juices, energy drinks, powder drinks and niche products like mixers to increase its stake in the soaring market for non-fizzy drinks.
“This will help fortify our existing business and execute the distribution and sales of new products for Coca-Cola India through a viable alternate sales and distribution system,” said T Krishnakumar, CEO of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, which will run the new vertical, Minute Maid & Alternative Beverages division.
Minute Maid juices, Burn energy drink, Schweppes mixers like tonics and soda, Nestea ice tea and powder drink Fanta Fun Taste will be brought under the new division. It will also manage all non-fizzy beverages that Coca-Cola will launch in the future.
“This is first of its kind investment in sales and distribution for the Coca-Cola system worldwide, where an entire alternate system is being set up within a country for a selective set of beverage offerings,” a Coca-Cola spokesman said. The vertical will build new and nascent channels such as office complexes, gyms and spas, food courts, shopping malls and petrol stations for different products under its fold, besides using Coca-Cola’s existing network and accelerating its presence in grocery and convenience stores. “Specialised distributors will be appointed for specific channels,” the spokesperson said.
Fizzy drinks Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca and Sprite will continue to be distributed through the firm’s existing sales and distribution network that covers more than 1.5 million retail outlets, out of an estimated 8 million potential outlets it can reach in the country.
Analysts say the move is aimed at getting a first-mover advantage in fortified drinks, which though small, are growing in high double digits.
Senior VP Milind Pingle, who was earlier operations VP for the central region, will head the new vertical that will have 200 employees to start with.
It will leverage the firm’s existing supply chain infrastructure, manufacturing plants, depots and other backend infrastructure to source its supplies and service the markets.
The division will be set up in phases across different markets in the country over the next three years.
The move comes a month after Coca-Cola India announced that its Atlantabased parent and bottling partners will invest $2 billion (. 10,000 crore) in the country over the next five years beginning 2012 — the single largest investment in one phase for the firm since it reentered the country 18 years ago.
Announcing the investment, Ahmet C Bozer, Coca-Cola’s president, Eurasia and Africa group, had said that India could become one of the top five markets for the company globally by the end of this decade.
India now ranks among Coca-Cola’s top 10 markets in volume globally, and is the largest market in the Eurasia and Africa Group.