Business Line twenty years ago today: Coromandel Engg opts out of Murugappa group

In a significant change in the affairs of the Rs. 1,500-crore Murugappa group, one of the family members, Mr. M. A. Murugappan, who now heads Coromandel Engineering Ltd., has expressed a desire to run the company “on his own”. According to Mr. M. V. Arunachalam, Chairman of Tube Investments of India Ltd., the Murugappa group, “as part of its restructuring, has decided to focus on its core businesses having regard to both size and market share.”

KPMG-Ferguson alliance in offing

KPMG Peat Marwick, a global leader in the auditing and consultancy business, is close to forging an alliance with India’s biggest audit firm, A. F. Ferguson (AFF) after the two snapped ties early last year. As a follow up to the talks which were renewed between the two majors recently, draft agreements towards making A. F. Ferguson a member firm of KPMG were exchanged last week, according to management consultancy sources here. A formal agreement on the investment which KPMG would have to make in AFF, the number of partners on either firms and on profit sharing is expected to be clinched shortly.

Govt. undecided on MUL’s third plant

Even as the Chairman of Suzuki Motor Corp, Mr. O. Suzuki, is flying down from Japan to attend the board meeting of Maruti Udyog and ‘decide on the joint venture’s project proposal for its third plant, indications are that the groundwork for the capacity expansion is likely to be put on hold for some more time. This is because the government has yet to take a view on the need for a further addition of one lakh vehicles to MUL’s installed capacity of over two lakh vehicles and the fresh investments involved in the third plant for maintaining its equity stake.