8 companies adopt CII's corporate governance code
New Delhi: Eight companies -- Bajaj Auto, ICICI, BSES, Nicholas Piramal, Hindalco, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Housing Development Finance Corporation and Infosys Technologies -- have adopted the Confederation of Indian Industries' code on corporate governance. The code has been accepted by the World Bank as one of the best in the world. The eight companies have given a detailed report in their annual accounts of having implemented the code and made most of the disclosures required under it.

The CII has  an advisory service on corporate governance for the benefit of its members.
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No shift in focus for Maruti
New Delhi: The new managing director of Maruti Udyog, Jagdish Khattar, said the company will not initiate any major shift in the way it is managed. However, greater emphasis will be placed on customer satisfaction.

Mr Khattar who replaces R.S.S.L.N. Bhaskarudu, said, "We have our plans, and they will be implemented.
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Honda plans India 2-wheeler unit to be hub
New Delhi: Honda Motor Company, which has just received the Foreign Investments Promotion Board's approval to have a wholly-owned subsidiary in India to manufacture two-wheelers, says it will make India a hub for its two-wheeler business.

The company prefers India to China. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has projected that it will launch its export programmes in the third year of operation. The manufacturing unit of the company is expected to be ready by 2001. The product range of the company will be scooters, motorcycles and their components, four-stroke engines for two-wheelers and their components, three-wheelers and their components, and after-sales services.

The company cannot manufacture motorcycles before 2004 under an agreement with Hero Honda Motor with which it has joint venture collaboration.
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Aircraft purchase procedures put on hold
New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has frozen all the procedures initiated by Indian Airlines and Air India for  purchase of aircraft.

The ministry has put on hold all policy decisions in view of the prevailing model code of conduct during elections announced by the Election Commission. The freeze applies to public sector enterprises too, the ministry said in a statement.
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New corporate concepts under study
Mumbai: The ministry of law, justice and company affairs is contemplating introducing Western concepts like limited liability companies, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships in India. The ministry feels that initiation of such corporate changes will facilitate the flow of foreign investments.

A report in The Economic Times says the ministry is studying the concepts and is collecting data. There have been representations from various sectors, especially the electronics sector, for the country to move in line with the Western concepts as these will help bring in funds from established groups in the developed countries.
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New norms for loans
New Delhi: The department of company affairs has warned companies against approving inter-corporate investments and loans exceeding their net worth. It has also warned companies against seeking blanket approval for inter-corporate investments and loans to be made.

Companies will have to specify the securities in which they propose to invest, and the amount to be invested. The new norms also call for shareholder approval for such investments beyond a prescribed threshold.
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VNU hikes stake in ORG-Marg
New Delhi: Dutch media company VNU plans to hike its stake in ORG-Marg from 74 per cent to 79 per cent by acquiring 11,355 shares of Rs 100 each from a shareholder.

ORG-Marg has been an Ashok Advani-Business India group company, and VNU's participation in its equity had the approval of the Foreign Investments Promotion Board. Mr Advani and another shareholder, K.M.S. Ahluwalia, had sold considerable portion of their equity to VNU. The Marg Eemployees Welfare Trust holds 4 per cent of the company.
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Cairn to manage Sanchor oil well
Mumbai: Cairn Energy of the UK will operate the Sanchor basin in Rajasthan, where Shell India has struck oil. Though Shell is the operator for the current well, Cairn will take over all future activities. Shell had handed over the rights six months ago, after failing to find oil despite two years of exploration.

Shell allowed Cairn to take a 50 per cent stake after drilling one dry well and investing about $20 million in the exploration. Cairn is to share 50 per cent of the crude with Shell with a shorter involvement.
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Marathon seeks waiver on Essar interest dues
Mumbai: Marathon, which has purchased Essar Power, has sought waiver of penal rates on the interest dues of Essar Power. The penal rate is 23 per cent compared to the normal rate of 19 per cent.

Marathon has also sought reduction in interest rates on existing loans on the ground that it has better fundamentals than Essar. Essar Power had interest dues of Rs 101.8 crore and lease instalment overdues of Rs 23.9 crore on 31 December 1998. It also owed Rs 55 crore in principal dues.
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Amazon.com to market Satyajit Ray movies
Calcutta: Amazon.com will market 12 Satyajit Ray titles in the US and Canada. The titles include Pather Panchali, Aparajito, the Apu trilogy, Charulata, Devi, Jalsaghar, Mahanagar and Jana Aranya.
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Scooters India plans 3-wheeler
Mumbai: Scooters India, the public sector undertaking, plans to launch a compressed natural gas-based three-wheeler.

The vehicle, Vikram PG, is now undergoing final tests. The company has introduced an electric-three-wheeler recently.
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BancAmerica fund to buy stake in IndiaWorld
Mumbai: BancAmerica Private Equity Partners is planning to acquire a 21 per cent stake in the internet company IndiaWorld Communications. The BancAmerica fund will focus on the growth of IndiaWorld's websites like khel.com, khoj.com and samachar.com.

The two parties are finalising the deal, which is valued at an estimated Rs 15 crore.
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Enkay Texofood to sell textile unit
Mumbai: The promoters of Enkay Texofood Industries, the Goyals, have decided to sell the company's loss-making textile business. The company makes and sells the Onjus brand of natural fruit juice. The textile division had a turnover of Rs 243 crore in 1996-97, which had dropped to Rs 153 crore in 1997-98.

IDBI Capital Markets has done an evaluation of the business, and company sources said the decision to sell the unit is a result of this evaluation.
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Ispat Profiles lines up funds
Calcutta: The M.L. Mittal-promoted Ispat Profiles has secured loans of Rs 250 crore from banks and financial institutions to service its capital requirements for expanding manufacturing activities.

The company has approached Industrial Finance Corporation of India, Industrial Development Bank of India, ICICI, State Bank of India, Bank of India and Indian Bank for the loans.

Ispat Profiles plans to continue its thrust on optimum utilisation of plant capacity and look at new product development and the export market.
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Imaje India to be export hub
New Delhi: Imaje India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imaje of France, will function as an export base for industrial marking and coding business of the group in Asia and Africa.

The company has set up an ink manufacturing plant in Bangalore, which will be commissioned in September 1999. The company is looking at potential markets in Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Male, Bangladesh and some African nations.

Imaje is part of the US-based Dover group. The coding and marking machines find applications in consumer products and pharmaceuticals.
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Wipro to market iPlanet software in India
Bangalore: Wipro Software and Services will launch the iPlanet brand of software products in partnership with Sun/Netscape.

The iPlanet range of software comes out of the acquisition of Netscape Communications by America Online and the strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems. The software finds applications in e-commerce.
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Paramount plans cable plant
New Delhi: Paramount Communications plans to invest Rs 20 crore to set up a production facility for fibre optic cables in Delhi.

The company, the first to get the National Entrepreneurship Award in Delhi, has received a Rs 70-crore order for jelly-filled cables from the department of telecommunications.
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Global Tele-Systems plans e-com payment venture
Mumbai: Global Tele-Systems is allying with Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Deutsche Bank to launch secured electronic payment services over the internet. The company will invest Rs 12 crore in setting up the gateway payment infrastructure.

This service, the first of its kind in India, will connect banks, merchants, retailers, credit card companies and portal sites wanting to settle e-commerce transactions over the internet.
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Fortune Informatics plans US foray
Hyderabad: Fortune Informatics is setting up operations in Chicago in order to exploit the $3.6-billion electronic document management system business in the US.

The company, a leader in electronic document management systems, has been talking to several US-based banks and corporations. The company will fund its expansion plans through a public issue of 2.1 million shares of Rs 10 each at par.
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Continental to buy cycle tyres from Metro
New Delhi: Continental of Germany has entered into an agreement with Metro Tyres for sourcing cycle tyres from the Indian company for international markets.

Continental will buy 1 million tyres and tubes from Metro in the first year. This quantity will go up to 4 million in the next three to four years. The tyres will be sold in overseas markets under the Continental brand name.
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Blue Bunny ice cream to expand marketshare
New Delhi: Blue Bunny, the US ice cream manufacturer, is launching its products in western and southern India.

Blue Bunny has a small presence in India at present, but it is targeting a market share of three to four per cent by 2000 and a turnover of Rs five to six crore.
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Daewoo to seek roll-over of foreign debt
Seoul: The Daewoo group is planning to seek a roll-over of its $9.9 billion foreign debt.

The group's officials are expected to meet its foreign creditors to ask for the roll-over. Foreign creditors hold nearly $50 billion in the group, now reeling under debt and dismantling.

A spokesman of the group said about 150 representatives of foreign creditors will attend a meeting on 18 August at the Hilton Hotel, which is one of the assets of the group that is up for sale. The group has some 70 foreign creditors.
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Coca-Cola, Hellenic to merge
London: Coca-Cola Beverages and Hellenic Bottling are about to merge, to create the world's second largest Coke bottling operation.

The Financial Times, London, said the terms of the deal have changed significantly since Coca Cola and Greece's Hellenic announced their merger talks in June.
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Aegon eyes Prudential Corporation
The Hague: Dutch insurance company Aegon NV declined to comment on reports that it is interested in taking over Prudential Corporation of the UK.

However, a company spokesperson said it had never made a secret of its plans to expand further in the UK. Aegon had announced last week it will buy the life insurance operations of Guardian Royal Exchange from Sun Life & Provincial.
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Compaq to sell computers online in Latin America
Mexico: Compaq Computer will sell computers over the internet throughout Latin America by September-end 1999. Compaq launched its virtual store in Mexico in April, followed by similar stores in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela.

By September Compaq will be selling on-line throughout Latin American region, guaranteeing delivery within 72 hours, a spokesperson of the company said.
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