Infosys fifth in market capitalisation
Mumbai: Infosys Technologies now ranks fifth in the list of top market cap companies in India with Rs 17,819.34 crore, ahead of Reliance Industries, the country's largest private sector enterprise in terms of sales and assets.

Ahead of Infosys Technologies are Hindustan Lever, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, ITC and Wipro.

A study shows that the two infotech companies -- Infosys and Wipro -- figuring in the list of top five have a combined market capitalisation of Rs 41,000 crore, representing about 6.80 per cent of the Bombay Stock Exchange's aggregate market capitalisation of around Rs 6,00,000 crore.

The study revealed that Infosys Technologies' market cap surpassed that of Reliance a few weeks ago, when its shares touched an all-time high of Rs 5,960. At its peak, Infosys' market cap was at Rs 19,703.76 crore, much ahead of Reliance's Rs 17,314.38 crore.
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Johnson & Johnson sells adhesives unit
Mumbai: Johnson & Johnson  -- the 75 per cent subsidiary of the US healthcare major -- is selling its Permacel adhesives unit in Mumbai to the Premchand group. The group has a 25 per cent stake in the company.

It is understood that the Permacel business contributed nearly Rs 50 crore to Johnson & Johnson's estimated turnover of Rs 500 crore.
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Wockhardt to gain from price revision
New Delhi: Wockhardt will gain from the new prices announced by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority. The authority has increased prices of rifampicin-based formulations used in the treatment of tuberculosis and Wockhardt manufactures commonly prescribed Proxyvon and Spasmoproxyvon. The increase in prices allowed will be 26.53 per cent in the case of Proxyvon and 24.47 per cent in the case of Spasmoproxyvon.

The authority has revised the prices of 32 formulations including rifampicin-based drugs. None of the formulations are imported.
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Taj to market branded food, beverages
Mumbai: The Taj group is planning to sell its branded food and beverages at retail outlets. The group will also set up cafes and entertainment plazas, shopping malls and departmental stores.

The Economic Times in a report said the group will utilise its airline catering infrastructure to tap the retail market for food and beverages.

The Taj already has a cafe -- Caf West -- at the Westside chain of stores set up by Trent, formerly Lakme Ltd..
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Kirloskar depositors in panic
Bangalore: Investors and depositors in the Bangalore-based Kirloskar Investments & Finance are queuing up seeking repayment of their deposits following rumours in the market that the Kirloskar group -- led by Vijay Kirloskar and his associates -- has sold its stake in the company. The company, besides being unable to repay matured deposits, is also not in a position to pay the interest on the deposits.

The company management was not available for comments.
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Reliance aims to be partner in consortium
New Delhi: Reliance Petroleum is said to have discussed with the government its plans become part of a pipeline consortium led by Unocal, the US oil major. The consortium plans to take up exploration and transportation of gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan.

Reliance Petroleum is planning to extend this pipeline from Multan in Pakistan to India.

This is part of Reliance Petroleum's long term energy strategy for Asia - although this strategy may have received a temporary setback following the Kargil conflicts.
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Tatas apply for ISP licence
Bangalore: The Tatas, after entering the telecommunications sector through their basic and cellular services, have now applied for a licence to be an internet service provider.

Tata Industries managing director K.A. Chaukar confirmed that an application has been made. "We are in the process of building up a business plan. We initially intend to offer services to the corporate sector and we will think about expansion as we progress, " he said.
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L&T postpones cement capacity expansion
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has temporarily put on hold its plan to expand the capacity of the Tadapatri cement plant in Andhra Pradesh.

"All our capital expansion plans are put on hold as we have decided to consolidate operations in the most optimum manner. A decision on expansion will be taken at an appropriate time," Mohan Karnani, president, operations (cement) of the company, said.

The company had plans to expand the capacity of the plant from two million tonnes per annum to four million tonnes per annum.
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Kale Consultants, Microsoft in alliance
Pune: Kale Consultants will have an alliance with Microsoft Corporation India for development of software products for the banking and financial sector.

Microsoft has said the company has chosen Kale Consultants as a strategic partner for its competitive technology edge and experience in the sector.
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IOC, HPCL to lay pipelines
Hyderabad: Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation are building pipelines to transport motor spirit, naphtha and white oil from the LPG berth at Visakhaptnam port to their respective facilities in Hyderabad.

The pipelines, for which the Oil Coordination Committee has given sanction, are expected to speed up the discharge of tankers.

The two public sector oil majors will build two pipelines each. In the first phase, IOC will build two pipelines from the LPG jetty to Malkapuram, which will extended later to Hyderabad. HPCL will lay two pipelines, connecting the LPG jetty to its refinery in Hyderabad.
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UBS plans website
Calcutta: UBS Publishers and Distributors is planning a website, which the company claims will rival Amazon.com. When the site is launched on 14 August, some 15,000 Indian titles from 700 publishers will be available at the click of a button.

Only English titles printed and published in India will be available initially. However, at a later date the company intends to provide other Indian language books.
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Sierra Atlantic to increase stake in Indian venture
Mumbai: Sierra Atlantic of the US is increasing its stake in Sierra Optima of Hyderabad to 25 per cent from the current 4.50 per cent. The stake is being increased through an internal exchange of holdings between the Indian and foreign promoters.

With the transfer, the stake of the Indian promoters will come down to 7-8 per cent.
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Thomas Publishing to set up Indian unit
Mumbai: Thomas Publishing Company will set up a 100 per cent subsidiary in India, Thomas International Publishing Company India. The company will cater to the needs of the Indian business community for comprehensive information on industrial products and services.
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Arthur Andersen plans infotech JV
Mumbai: Following a similar move by a rival consulting firm, Arthur Andersen is planning a joint venture company that will offer complete solutions for strategic information technology project implementation.

The Economic Times quoted William Casey, head of IT implementation, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Arthur Andersen, as saying that the firm is in talks with several leading telecom and data communications companies.

The firm wants to take advantage of its strategic position as a management consulting firm and have an extra edge, especially in internet-dominated areas.
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Cabletron interested in investments in India
Bangalore: Cabletron Systems of US is exploring possibilities of making equity investments in networking and services start-ups in India.

Piyush Patel, the India-born president of the $1.4 billion network solutions provider, during a tele-conference with media persons, stated  that the company is looking at a couple of companies in India and China. Cabletron has already made equity investments to the tune of $80 million in start- up companies in the US. The company will be willing to be a partner with Indian information technology companies to penetrate into the country's market, he added.
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Faber Heatkraft to increase capacity
Pune: Faber Heatkraft Industries, joint venture between Faber Flaminia group of Italy and Heatkraft Industries will expand its manufacturing capacities in Pune. The joint venture, which  is engaged in the manufacture of decorative cookerhoods (chimneys) and built-in hobs, has recently added cooking ranges to its portfolio.

The expansion will be funded through additional equity.
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HCL Infosystems, Redhat in pact
Mumbai: HCL Infosytems announced that it has extended its "Linuxpertise" initiative by forming an alliance with Redhat Software, a US leader in Linux distribution.

HCL Infosystems will be become India's first authorised Linux Systems Builder.

The partnership enables HCL Infosytems to redistribute Redhat's Linux software in India.
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APA may bid for Reynolds
Paris: APA, the new entity formed after the merger of Alcan, Pechiney and Alusuisse-Lonza, on August 11, does not rule out a bid against world aluminium major Alcoa's attempt for acquiring Reynolds Metals Company.

"We must exclude nothing but we must also keep in mind that our shareholders want us to keep a cool head an remain reasonable" Jean Pierre Rodier, chairman of Pechiney, said in response to a question whether APA will bid for the world No 3 Reynolds.
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Sumitomo files damages claim against JP Morgan
Tokyo: Sumitomo has, nearly three years after the incident,  filed a $735 million damages suit against JP Morgan in New York. The suit alleges that the US bank should bear liability for the massive losses made by the Japanese company in illegal copper trading by a former employee.

The Japanese company believes that some responsibility for the $2.5 billion losses it made as a result of trading by its former star trader Yasuo Hamanaka must rest with JP Morgan.
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Merrill Lynch in talks with Chase, AIG?
New York: Merrill Lynch is speculated to be in talks with Chase Manhattan or American International Group for a possible merger.

The stock of the company flared up in the stock exchange on rumours of a possible merger.

However, spokesmen for Merrill, Chase and AIG declined to comment.
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KPMG to induct consultants with Cisco funds
New York: Consulting firm KPMG will make use of the $1 billion funds that is being infused into it by Cisco, for increasing its number of consultants and plans to enter the business of helping companies capitalise on the internet.

Stephen Butler, chairman of KPMG has confirmed this strategy by the firm. Cisco will now have a 19.9 per cent stake in KPMG's most profitable subsidiary, which will go public sometime later.
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Sun, Storage technology in pact
New York: Sun Microsystems and Storage Technology said they will enter into a long-term pact to resell one another's storage system products. The alliance will enable Sun Microsystems to enter the fast growing market of storage systems now led by EMC Corporation and IBM.

IBM had recently left a partnership with Storage Technology.
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Sprint plans wireless web connection
Chicago: Sprint Corporation said it is planning to offer wireless internet access in September.

The service called Sprint PCS Wireless Web, will be offered by Sprint's wireless communications unit, Sprint PCS Group. Mobile telephone consumers will have access to web content and will be able to download data from the internet sites.
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Super computer to study weather patterns
New York: IBM has launched a new super computer, RS/6000 Blackforest, which will be a powerful tool to understand the weather phenomena.

The computer will model global climate patterns at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research.

The system is 20 times more powerful that the Deep Blue of 1997, which is known for its victory over chess champion Garry Kasparov.

The computer is capable of analysing weather conditions such as droughts, microbursts and global warming. Its cost has been plugged at $6.2 million.
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Iridium defaults on loans
Washington: Iridium has said it has defaulted on loans totalling more than $1.5 billion. The $5 billion global satellite telecommunications company promoted by Motorola is thus one step closer to insolvency.

The defaults occurred after it failed to meet the customer and revenue growth targets under a $800-million loan. The third extension of the loan expired on 11 August. Motorola, which has backed Iridium on its loans, is also likely to be hurt with this default by Iridium.
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Daewoo will be a car company at last
Seoul: Daewoo group in all probability will retain only its car-related business in the long run.

This is the line of thought projected by the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Korean regulator, which is spearheading Daewoo's restructuring programme in association with its creditors.

The Commission and Daewoo's creditors want to spin off the group affiliates not linked with the car business by the end of the year.
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Elf plans to convince shareholders
Paris: Elf Aquitaine has evolved a plan to convince its shareholders that its counterbid for TotalFina offered a better value.

Elf chairman Philippe Jaffre made a 70-apge presentation to analysts, which outlines separate oil and chemicals businesses emerging from the merged entity. This is the major difference in the perceptions of Elf and TotalFina -- Elf wants to spin off the chemicals division into a separate company, while TotalFina is opposing it.
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