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Hutchison, HDFC Bank in
tie-up
Mumbai: Cellular telephone company Hutchison Max India and HDFC Bank are
into a technological tie-up to provide mobile banking services in the country. This will
be the first such collaboration. The service will
enable an HDFC Bank account holder to access his or her accounts at any time in over 250
cities in India and 60 countries, and get details like balance, last three transactions,
request for a cheque book, and account statements over the cellphone. The service will be
provided free of charge to begin with. Services like bill payments and funds transfer will
be introduced later.
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MTNL plans tie-up with
Zee
New Delhi: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd is talking to Zee Telefilms for
a cooperative venture to provide Internet service over the cable TV network. The public
sector MTNL has already signed an agreement with Sun TV in the south to provide Internet
via cable. The memorandum of agreement with Sun TV covers the whole of Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The proposed deal with Zee is for the western and
northern regions, where Zee's cable network Siticable has a significant presence.
MTNL says the two sides will stand to benefit as MTNL can
provide infrastructural support through its leased lines, while Sun TV and Zee can make
use of their cable networks to offer the services.
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Maruti sales up in
December
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog says it has sold 30,052 vehicles in December
1999, which represents a 79 per cent increase over November 1999 sales. Its entry-level
800-cc car showed a 53 per cent sales growth. During April-December, the company raised
sales 28 per cent by selling 2,82,181 units, compared to 2,20,964 units in the
corresponding period last year.
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Hyundai crosses sales
target
Chennai: Hyundai Motor India has sold 60,321 vehicles in the calendar
year 1999 up to 22 December. Of these, 58,632 were Santros and 1,689 Accents. The company
had earlier set a target of 52,000 vehicles during the year. It now has an order backlog
of nearly 7,000 cars.
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MIDC gets into webmode
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Industrial
Development Corporation, the apex authority for the state’s industrial activities, is
planning a website, which it hopes will handle the entire process of allotment of land to
prospective entrepreneurs. Once implemented, the website will enable customers to conclude
the entire transaction on the net – right from applying for a plot of land, getting
it allotted.
The corporation has appointed Tata Consultancy Services to
advise it on a total revamp of its operations, which include the setting up of the
website, changes in its mode of operations and a plan to effectively make use of its large
workforce.
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Apollo Hospitals plans
insurance firm
Chennai: Apollo Hospitals Enterprises is planning to enter the health
insurance sector, and is in talks with Metlife and Sun Life Insurance for a tie-up and
marketing arrangements. The company has set aside Rs 20 crore for a possible joint
venture. The venture will be through an existing 100 per cent subsidiary, Family Health
Plan. The subsidiary is now marketing medical group policies of the Oriental Insurance
Company in metropolitan cities.
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IDBI releases Rs 425
crore to Reliance
Mumbai: The Industrial Development Bank of India has cleared Rs 425-crore
in loans to Reliance Industries’ Patalganga power project in Maharashtra. With this
allocation, Reliance Industries is hopeful the project will be implemented on schedule.
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Vodafone plans India
entry
Calcutta: International telecom company Vodafone is planning to enter
India with projected investments up to $4 billion. The company says it is interested in
acquiring a national licence so that it can operate at a national level instead of any
specific region. A Vodafone official says the company intends to enter mobile phone,
mobile banking and Internet-related services in India.
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Bajaj Auto in tie-up
with Cagiva
New Delhi: Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto has tied up with Italy’s
Cagiva for four-stroke motorcycle and scooter technology. The company will continue to
have its technological alliances with Kawasaki and Tokyo R&D of Japan. The vehicles
with Cagiva technology are yet to tested. These vehicles will be made at the
company’s new plant at Chakan near Pune.
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Venture capital norms
changed
Mumbai: The finance ministry has removed the 40 per cent investment cap
for venture capital funds in start-up ventures. The relaxation in the rules will mean that
a venture capital fund can take up as much as 100 per cent equity in a new company.
Finance ministry officials feel this will help the growth of venture capital funding in
the country as the earlier restriction has proved to be a demotivating factor.
The ministry has, however, put a restriction that a
venture capital fund cannot invest more than 25 per cent of its own fund base in one
company.
The government has also given tax breaks on dividends and
capital gains to all venture capital funds, including those based abroad.
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Hindustan Lever is
best, says Forbes
New York: Forbes magazine has identified Hindustan Lever as the
top company among the best consumer household products companies worldwide. The magazine
said Hindustan Lever’s sales, estimated at $2.6 billion for the year 1999 and profits
at $234 million, were less than a tenth of the size of its parent Unilever, but it had a
first class operation that "some say is better managed than its Anglo-Dutch
parent".
The Indian company’s five-year annual return on
equity of 46 per cent puts it well ahead of Unilever’s 35 per cent, the magazine
said.
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A missed payment halts
Hotmail
Los Angeles: The $600-billion Microsoft did not pay a $35 bill, as a
result of which a part of its free e-mail service, Hotmail, got disabled. The company
acknowledged the service was partially crippled on 29 December because it failed to pay
$35 to registration company Network Solutions for rights to the Internet domain name,
passport.com, which verifies user names and passwords for Hotmail and other services.
Hotmail has more than 52 million users all over the world,
but Microsoft could not immediately ascertain how many were affected. Adding drama to this
oversight, a programmer working with Microsoft’s competitor Linux, Michael Chaney,
discovered the error and immediately made the payment through his credit card over the
Net. Microsoft soon realised the lapse and rang up Mr Chaney to thank him. He says his
action in bailing out the world’s largest software maker is worth much more than the
$35, which Microsoft has promised to make good.
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Viacom, CBS merger
okayed
New York: Shareholders of Viacom and CBS have
voted in favour of Viacom acquiring CBS in a stock deal worth $47 billion. The merger will
create the world’s largest pure-play media company. CBS owns the CBS television
network and large radio and outdoor advertising properties. Viacom owns MTV, Paramount
Pictures, and other cable and programming properties. Viacom is 68 per cent controlled by
National Amusements, owned by Sumner Redstone, chairman and chief executive of Viacom. CBS
shareholders will have a 55 per cent economic holding in the company, although National
Amusements will retain control of 68 per cent of the voting shares.
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TotalFina will have
to compensate
Paris: TotalFina will be asked to pay outstanding clean-up costs
following an oil spillage from one of its tankers off the west coast of France, French
environment ministry officials have said. The total cost of pumping the fuel oil from the
sea and scraping it off the beaches would exceed FFr1.2 billion. Oil ministry compensation
fund Fipol has for the time being met the costs, the ministry said.
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Gucci scouting for
takeovers
Milan: Luxury goods company Gucci is on the lookout for companies that
make watches or leather goods, for acquisition. It has nearly $2 billion earmarked for
this purpose, chief executive Domenico De Sole said in an interview. In November 1999
Gucci bought France's Sanofi, owner of Yves Saint-Laurent, for $1 billion.
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Mazda plans European
operations
Tokyo: Mazda Motor Corporation is considering
making cars in Europe from 2002. A Japanese newspaper said the company, Japan’s fifth
largest automaker, will use Ford Motor Company’s European facilities and PSA Peugeot
Citroen diesel engines for the proposed cars. Ford has a 33.3 per cent holding in Mazda
Motor.
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