GENERAL INSTRUMENTS: GOING SOLO

Come the next cable and satellite television industry exhibition in Delhi in December, and General Instruments will be exhibiting its products as General Instruments India.

The company has severed relationships with its partner HCL and bought out its 50% stake in HCL-GI, the firm, which was marketing GI's cable TV products in India. The poor acceptance of GI's high-priced cable TV products in the Indian market forced HCL to pull out of the venture. Not just GI, but even other international cable equipment manufacturers such as Scientific Atlanta and Philips have managed to sell less than 3,000 amplifiers to India's 30,000 cable operators.

GI has also cut down on headcount to 18 employees from 26 earlier, courtesy the tough market conditions. HCL-GI, had earlier, deferred setting up its plant to manufacture cable TV equipment. Most of the equipment is therefore being imported.

Sales according to market estimates were a paltry Rs 20 million last year. The company, however, has an order book position standing at Rs 50 million this year and has supplied equipment to InCableNet for its fibre optic project.