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Tag: Harish Chawla

  • After corporate excellence awards, CNBC zeroes in on auto industry

    After corporate excellence awards, CNBC zeroes in on auto industry

    CNBC India has instituted the equivalent of the Oscars for the Indian automotive industry.

    The annual awards will reward excellence in car manufacturing in India and provide vital car buying information to the Indian consumer. The awards ceremony will be held in New Delhi on 14 January 2002. While the awards in the first year will focus on passenger cars, the scope will be widened in the coming years. The awards are being jointly given along with Autocar, the magazine for the auto industry.

    A jury of 17 experts with a vast experience in the field of evaluating cars, including car designer Dilip Chhabria, leading auto historian Manvendra Singh, India’s leading female driver Navaz Bhathena, Indian National Rally champion N Leelakrishnan, Autocar editor Hormazd Sorabjee, associate editor Shapur Kotwal and Rajeev Khanna. The jury will be helped in its analysis by Autocar’s database on car performances aggregated from car tests through the year. They will then assess the vehicles and rank them in relation to their rivals. A Car of The Year award is also scheduled to be given away, among the different categories.

    CNBC CEO Harish Chawla surmises the importance of the awards thus: “For CNBC, the launch of the auto awards has special significance. Historically, the fortunes of world economies have been closely intertwined with those of the automotive industry. This industry has served as the quintessential barometer of industrial production and consumption – two drivers of economic growth. These awards underline CNBC’s commitment to providing essential business insights and supporting the establishment of standards in leading industrial sectors.”

    While the Mercedes Benz C Class, Opel Corsa Swing, Hyundai Sonata and Honda Accord figure among the list of eligibles, stringent criteria have been laid down for the awards. These include – fitness, relevance to Indian market, value for money, design and styling, space, comfort and practicality, engine and performance, and overall safety.

    The chosen cars shortlisted for the awards will be driven over thousands of kilometers to evaluate these parameters, CNBC officials say.

  • ‘CNBC will ally with other broadcasters if it gets into DTH’

    ‘CNBC will ally with other broadcasters if it gets into DTH’

    MUMBAI: CNBC India will not get into direct-to-home services on its own but would be looking at allying with other broadcasters in setting up a platform, CEO Harish Chawla said on Monday.

     

    Chawla clarified that CNBC was still a long way away from concretising plans on how to go forward because they were yet to identify possible partners in the project.

     

    “We hope to enter the DTH market at some point but I can’t say when exactly because there are a number of issues which need looking into,” Chawla said.

     

    The principal issue that is exercising the industry is the 20 per cent sectoral and foreign equity cap on DTH operations that the government is demanding. Information and broadfcasting minister Sushma Swaraj has repeatedly said there will be no change in the guidelines issued in November 2000 despite strong lobbying from the industry for its increase.

     

    Swaraj has said DTH guidelines will be issued sometime this week and it is only then that there will be a clear fix on who is likely to finally get into DTH operations.