Government asks ten PSUs to offer more dividend
New Delhi: The finance ministry has asked ten public sector undertakings to explore the possibility of paying more than the prescribed dividend level so that the companies don't sit on idle cash. The companies include Steel Authority of India, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Nalco, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, GAIL (India), Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Neyveli Lignite, National Mineral Development Corporation and Coal India.

The government has also asked the PSUs to determine how much profits they could share with the govt. by way of special dividend even though it has not set any target for raising of resources from the exercise.
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Shasun to acquire unit of French company
Chennai: The Chennai-based Shasun Chemicals and Drugs, which manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), will acquire the pharmaceutical customs synthesis business of Rhodia Pharma Solutions of the Rhodia group of France. The company did not disclose the cost of the acquisition.

In a press release, Shasun chief executive officer N Govindarajan said, "The proposed acquisition is in line with Shasun's strategy for enhancing its global presence in the APIs, custom synthesis and contract manufacturing."

Shasun expects to fund the acquisition through a combination of equity and debt.

Both the companies expect the final sale and purchase agreement to be completed before March-end, subject to satisfactory due diligence and regulatory approvals.

Shasun shares today closed at Rs102.55 on the BSE, up Rs1.05 from yesterday's close.
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SemIndia considers chips making facility in south
Indore: SemIndia, a consortium of non-resident Indians, is planning to set up a semiconductor manufacturing facility in South India with an investment of US$3bn.

According to Vinod Agarwal, founder president and chief executive officer SemIndia, "There is no modern unit in the country at present for manufacturing semiconductor chips."

Agarwal said "Logistics is the biggest issue for setting up a capital-intensive semiconductor plant, in which government needs to become a partner," he said.

On the present state of affairs in his home state Madhya Pradesh, he said the state has not seen much industrial development-taking place. It is difficult to invest in MP owing to lack of international airport.
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Novatium to launch PC for Rs.7000
Hyderabad: Novatium, which was developed by the Telecom and Networks (TeNeT) Group of IIT Madras, plans to introduce the multimedia NetPC next month that would cost as low as Rs7,000 (Rs3,500 plus monitor).

The PC, consisting of a monitor and a keyboard, will work in the same way as a mobile phone and could be used in offices and schools where a group of 25 PCs could interconnected through a server and a digital subscriber line (DSL).

Ashok Jhunjhunwala, professor of electrical engineering at the IIT Madras and a member of the TeNeT Group, said, "The PC can work on Windows or Linux operating systems with no virus or backup issues."
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30mn telephone subscribers added in 2005
New Delhi: According to numbers released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, more than 30 million new users were added during 2005, making it the highest addition in any single year. With this, tele-density in the country touched 11.43 per cent against 8.6 per cent in December 2004.

The telephone subscriber base rose by 5 million users in December, taking the total to nearly 125 million. Fixed lines grew 9 per cent from 44.87 million at the end of 2004 to 48.93 million by December 2005, mobile connections went up by 58 per cent from 48 million to 75 million, For the mobile segment, 4.46 million subscribers were added during December 2005, against 3.51 million in November.

The mobile additions consist of 3.19 million GSM subscribers and 1.27 million CDMA subscribers. In the fixed segment, a total of 0.46 million subscribers were added during December, which were predominantly WLL (F). During 2005, about 4 million fixed subscribers were added, against 2.67 million during 2004.

During the year the Internet subscriber base crossed the broadband policy target of 60 lakh users. However, broadband connections fell short of the target. At the end of 2005, total broadband connections crossed 8.35 lakh only, against a target of 30 lakh set by the Broadband Policy-2004.
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RIL, ITC to start agri-marketing
Bangalore: Reliance Industries and ITC are considering setting up big box agri-marketing complexes, to be positioned as terminal market complexes (TMC), according to sources.

The Jaipur-based National Institute of Agriculture Marketing recently floated the expression of interest (EoI) for the TMCs.

Though India's annual output of horticulture produce is over 125m tonnes, a large portion of it is wasted due to lack of adequate processing and storage facilities.

Each TMC will handle fruits, vegetables, flowers, aromatics and herbs, besides poultry and meat, and may cost anywhere between Rs60 crore to Rs120 crore.
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