Voices

``Hindustan Lever is experimenting and piloting home shopping. I cannot tell you what it is but I can tell you what it is not -- it is not about bringing the corner store retail shop home. That is unlikely to happen as there is no benefit.'' -- Mr M. S. Banga, Chairman, Hindustan Lever.

``The Mahindra Realty-Sheths alliance is in the interest of Gesco Corp and the real-estate industry and its customers. The consolidation of two formidable players would result in acceleration of professionalism of industry practices.'' -- Mr Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC, on the move to bankroll the counter offer of the Sheths-Mahindra combine.

``We plan to close or sell unprofitable overseas subsidiaries and gradually reduce production in Poland, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and India.'' -- Mr Lee Jong-Dae, Chairman, Daewoo Motors.

``London has more funds under management than any other city and the LSE, at its heart, has more international listings than other stock markets, including the Nasdaq and the NYSE.'' -- Mr Ian Salter, Vice Chairman, London Stock Exchange.

``Daewoo Motor is expected to apply for receivership and it will take a couple of days because of procedural delays. We will not give up hope until the last minute and do our best to avoid a catastrophe.'' -- Mr Uhm Rakyong, Korea Development Bank on Daewoo Motors, which went bankrupt a few days ago.

``Indian software exports grew at a record level of 63 per cent in the first half of 2000-01 as against a growth rate of 58.3 per cent last year. With this encouraging trend, the Nasscom survey indicates that the industry this year would gross $8.6 billion.'' -- Mr Dewang Mehta, Chairman, National Association of Software and Service Companies.

``Traditional telecom firms will be bypassed when it comes to wiring Asia into the broadband future. We believe that cable and satellite platforms will be totally dominant in Asian homes as far as connectivity is concerned.'' -- Mr James Murdoch, Chairman and CEO, Star TV.

``Ikon is a global platform and Ford India would be the source for the Ikon worldwide.'' -- Mr Philip. G. Spender, Chairman & CEO, Ford India.