20 | Moser Baer: A Different Game

The year 2006-07 was significant for Moser Baer in at least two
ways. Fundamentally, it was the turnaround year for the company. Though the
company did register nominal profits of Rs 4.6 crore in the previous year, the
real turnaround happened in 06-07 with the company registering significant
profits of Rs 109.7 crore. The other notable event was its foray into the
entertainment industry with the launch of its home video business. It made a
splash by launching DVDs of movies in multiple Indian languages, at a starting
price of as low as Rs 34. It has already released more than 400 movies on DVDs
and acquired the rights of more than 7,000 movies.

Moser Baer also strengthened its photovoltaic business that it
had launched the previous year. Notable among them include investments in
start-ups such as Stion Corporation, SolFocus, and Solaria (all based in
California); and a partnership with Deutsche Solar, a leading global silicon
wafer manufacturer. The acquisition of OM&T (a subsidiary of Philips)gave
it strong R&D capability in both optical media and photovoltaic business.

It was also a year of many new product launches: the worlds
first commercial HD-DVDs and its USB flash drives, which, in conjunction with
Moser Baers new-found interest in entertainment, can open up new
possibilities. The company has also started manufacturing Blu-Ray disks.

Unlike some of its Indian hardware peers, Moser Baer had always
laid emphasis on R&D and FY 06-07 was no different. It inked an MoU with
IIT-BHU to work jointly in the frontier areas of fundamental and applied R&D
for optical storage media and the photovoltaic industry. The agreement, valid
for five years, entailed jointly working in the area of organic dye and
inorganic thin-film technologies. DQ