HAL delivers the first locally assembled Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft
Nashik: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF), the first two Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft assembled at its facility here. A third aircraft is at an advanced stage of assembly and will be delivered shortly.

The jets are being produced under a Rs30,000-crore programme for licensed manufacture, with HAL executing the major portion valued at Rs22,000 crore. Under the project, HAL's Nashik Division will produce a total of 140 Su-30 aircraft over 13 years (until 2018), with the indigenous content increasing progressively in phases, senior HAL officials said.

The two fighter aircraft delivered on Monday are adapted to the requirements of the IAF and bring together avionics sourced from Israel, France, the UK and South Africa on a Russian platform. These jets will join a fleet of 50 Russian-made Sukhoi-30 aircraft that the IAF has already received under an inter-Governmental agreement signed between Russia and India in 2000.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. P. Tyagi, said the Sukhoi aircraft, with a life of 25 years and 6,000 flying hours, would form the backbone of the IAF over the next three decades. He called on HAL to re-examine their quality control standards and to continuously update their systems.

Besides the Sukhoi fleet, the IAF will also acquire 66 Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft along with 126 multi-role combat aircraft, with the options under consideration being the F-16, the Swedish Grippen, the Mirage 2000 and the MiG-29.

According to the HAL, the public sector unit has an order book of around Rs24,000 crore. It has been engaged in a number of projects, such as the Hawk and the advanced light helicopter Dhruv. The light combat aircraft (LCA) project had progressed to the prototype stage and the production of eight aircraft under a limited series programme had begun last year. The first LCA is likely to be inducted in 2007.

HAL is also working on the development of the Cheetal helicopter, a more powerful variant of the Cheetah.

Similarly, HAL was engaged in the up-gradation of the navigation systems of the MiG-27 and the development of a new navigation attack system for the Jaguar. For the financial year 2003-2004, HAL has recorded a turnover of Rs3,799.78 crore and exports worth Rs215.34 crore.
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Tata Chemicals to pick up stake in Moroccan company
Mumbai: Tata Chemicals Ltd (TCL) will be the equal third partner in Indo Maroc Phosphore SA (IMACID), Morocco, an existing joint venture between state-owned Office Cherifien des Phosphates, Morocco (OCP) and Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd. TCL will buy the required shares from OCP and the K.K. Birla group-owned Chambal Fertilisers for a total consideration of Rs166 crore.

IMACID manufactures phosphoric acid, a raw material used for producing diammonium phosphate (DAP), a higher analysis fertiliser used extensively in India.

India imports 50 per cent of the global production of phosphoric acid and Morocco, the largest exporter of phosphatic rock and phosphoric acid, accounts for over 40 per cent of international trade in the acid. IMACID produced 3,73,895 tonnes of phosphoric acid in 2004 with a turnover of $144 million.

TCL has an annual requirement of 2,50,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid, which it buys from various parties. Now, this supply would come mostly from IMACID with any shortfall being bridged by OCP, said Homi Khusrokhan, Executive Director, TCL.

Driven by an upsurge in demand, phosphoric acid prices had been globally firming up and the trend is expected to remain so for some time. The equity participation assures the company security of supply of phosphoric acid, builds a bond with a company that is a leading player in phosphatic fertilisers and places a footprint in new geographies outside India.

In past quarters, TCL had cited the rising price of both phosphoric acid and ammonia as contributing to input cost increase.
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Maruti to launch Swift in coming months
Bangalore: Maruti Udyog's compact car, Swift, will make its bow in a few months in a petrol version and would be produced in its factory here with only 30 per cent import content, according to the company.

Officials said that the proposed diesel engine manufcturing plant would be ready by next year and would come up in Manesar near Gurgaon in Haryana. The civil work of the engine plant has commenced and production would start in 2006.

The facility would cater to the needs of Maruti in India and Suzuki's global requirements. The capacity of the plant is expected to be 1,00,000 engines with the capability to scale up to 3,00,000.
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International bandwidth prices: VSNL challenges TRAI order
New Delhi: The massive cut in international leased line tariffs announced by the telecom regulator may run into rough weather with the Tata-managed Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd challenging the order with the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

VSNL filed its appeal against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's tariff order on the ground that the move would harm the company's investments.

On March 11, TRAI effected a 70-per cent reduction in international private leased line circuits (IPLC). It has fixed a ceiling of Rs2.9 crore a year for a 155-mega-bits-per-second (mbps) line compared with the existing Rs10 crore.

TRAI had said the move would benefit Business Process Outsourcing units, IT-enabled services and Internet Services Providers who consume large amounts of international bandwidth. Industry associations, including Nasscom and the Internet Service Providers Association of India, had been demanding a reduction in tariffs.

However, VSNL in its appeal said the end-customer costs should be looked at in the totality of international, domestic and last mile access pieces. "The IPLC forms a very small percentage of the total cost structure of broadband, the IT and the ITeS industry. To focus on the smallest cost component and squeeze it will have marginal impact. Such a move will aid only BSNL as the broadband operator," VSNL sources said.

TDSAT will take up the case on Thursday even as the new rate announced by TRAI is scheduled to be implemented from April 1.
VSNL has questioned TRAI's motive in regulating the IPLC tariffs since "it has not addressed the critical issue of unbundling of local loop, which at present is controlled by government monopoly companies MTNL and BSNL," said a VSNL source.

VSNL pointed out that while the IPLC accounted for only 4-5 per cent of the total costs of Internet service providers, last mile access constitutes 35-50 per cent of the total cost structure. "If we need to encourage broadband penetration we need to look at rationalisation of all key cost components rather than IPLCs, which are the smallest components," VSNL said.
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Reliance spat heading for settlement
New Delhi: Rumours in the markets are rife that Reliance Infocomm management may undergo a change with Anil Ambani soon taking over Reliance Infocomm. Top management meetings of Reliance Infocomm at the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge Centre were also reportedly cancelled yesterday.

Reports suggest that though the two brothers have not yet met on the settlement issue, top officials from both the camps are working on the valuation report submitted last month by the ICICI Bank chief K V Kamath. He is understood to have suggested that while one brother could have a control of flagship company RIL, the other could have Infocomm along with some other group companies.

During the day, share prices of RIL, headed by Mukesh, shot up to Rs570.35 after opening at Rs541 a share on hopes of settlement but started declining after some time to close the day at Rs553. Likewise, prices of REL, headed by Anil, shares also shot up to Rs559.95 after opening at Rs532 but closed the day at Rs537.
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BSNL employees call off agitation on assurances
New Delhi: The BSNL employees have called off their seven-day agitation following an assurance by Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran to look into their demands.

"We have told them that their demands would be heard and asked them to call off their strike in the larger interest of the public," Maran told reporters. The main grievance of the employees was that they be given the promotions guaranteed to them in their appointment letters, which they said hasn't been honoured by the management.

Sources say Left leaders from West Bengal had a crucial role in persuading the BSNL union to call off the strike as the strike had hit communications in the East badly where BSNL has its strongest presence.
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Birla estate: Calcutta HC refuses to appoint administrator
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has turned down a plea by the Birlas for the appointment of an administrator for Priyamvada's estate. The court, in an interim ruling, said there were no grounds for such an appointment.

R S Lodha, Priyamvada's auditor, will be in charge of her estate, though he can neither sell shares nor assets of her companies.

This is the second victory for Lodha in the eight-month old Birla-Lodha war.

Last week, by an order of the Calcutta High Court, three members of the Birla family had been denied the right to contest Priyamvada's Will of 1999 in which she bequeathed her Rs5000 crore assets to her auditor, RS Lodha.
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Supreme Court orders REL to pay Rs.300 crore to Dahanu farmers
Mumbai: The Supreme Court has ordered Reliance Energy to pay Rs300 crore to farmers who grow the chikoo fruit in the Dahanu area outside Mumbai. The order comes after the chikoo growers petitioned the court against the pollution caused by Reliance's thermal power plant.

Dahanu, which is 150 km from Mumbai, was a self-sustaining agricultural and horticultural economy known for its fisheries and forests just over a decade ago, but was devastated in 1989 when a thermal power plant came into operation in the region. The next year, this fertile belt saw its first crop failure. Now, 70 per cent of the crop of what was once the fruit bowl of Maharashtra is gone. The fisheries have shut and the forest cover has thinned.

Farmers and environmentalists say that fly ash from the power plant entered ground water and polluted the entire eco-system. The Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority ordered the thermal station to set up a pollution control unit to reduce sulphur emissions, and in spite of a Supreme Court order backing the order the pollution control plant was not set up even by 2002. In 2003, Reliance acquired the thermal station and re-submitted a schedule for installation process in 2004.

As the pollution control plant is still not set up, the Dahanu Taluka Environmental Protection Authority asked Reliance for a bank guarantee of Rs300 crores.
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Matrix to acquire major holding in MCHEM
Hyderabad: Matrix Laboratories Ltd (MLL) has signed a revised memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the $35-million MCHEM Pharma (Group) Ltd of China, by way of acquiring a major holding in its business in China.

While the first MoU signed on February 6 this year broadly provides for a joint venture relationship between the two companies, the revised MoU would facilitate the Hyderabad-based Pharma major, Matrix Labs to acquire 60 per cent of the ownership interest in MCHEM Pharma Group and four other associate companies.

Based in Xiamen on the East coast of China, MCHEM Pharma Group manufactures pharmaceutical products ranging from basic chemicals, intermediates, active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosage forms, apart from interest in distribution of pharmaceutical product in China. It is currently a major supplier of finished dosage forms of anti-AIDS products to the Chinese Government.

The Medicines Control Council of South Africa approved the finished dosage forms facility of MCHEM Pharma. The Chinese company is currently focussing on therapeutic categories such as anti-AIDS, central nervous system, cardiovascular and oncology.
Matrix Labs said the decision to enter into China was part of its overall long-term strategy to become an end-to-end player and thus integrate both forward and backward.
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