HM hikes Lancer prices
Mumbai: Hindustan Motors has revised upwards the price of its mid-size car Lancer in the range of Rs 11,000 to Rs 20,000. The ex-showroom price of GLX (petrol) variant will be Rs 8,63,426 and the diesel variant will cost Rs 9,77,096, up Rs 11,500.

The price of the SLX (petrol) variant has increased by Rs 13,940 to Rs 9,32,145 and diesel variant to Rs 10,44,175. The SFX variant has been increased to Rs 9,58,861, up by Rs 19,680. The last price increase was in July 2000.

The hike in prices follows mounting input cost pressures and general downtrend in the market. HM has logged a sale of 7,993 Lancers in calendar 2000 as compared to 7,621 in 1999.
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Ranbaxy board clears Gufic Pharma buyout
New Delhi: The Ranbaxy is all set to for formal takeover of Gufic Pharma. A decision on the to this effect was approved by the company board, which met here on Friday. Ranbaxy had acquired about 17 brands from Gufic in March 1999.

The legal formalities of this ownership handover will be now completed, with the acquisition of 3,600 shares of Rs 100 each, representing the entire paid-up capital of Gufic Pharma. The brand acquisition, done at a cost of about Rs 70-crore, included products in dermatology, antibiotic, gastro enteritis segments, besides a couple of nutritional products. Ranbaxy has been marketing all these products under its own brand since then.
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Enron brings down its tariff below Rs 4/unit
Mumbai: Enron, the US power major has informed the Maharashtra state government that it was willing to lower its tariff for state electricity board to below Rs four per unit, with a plant load factor rate up to 90 per cent from the current Rs 6.91 per unit from February.

Mr. K Wade Kline, chief of Enron India met Mr. Arun Bongirwar, state chief secretary and discussed the proposed reduction of tariff from February 2001 onwards.

In the wake of a sharp 60 per cent fall in naphtha prices in international markets, Dabhol Power Company, Enron’s wholly owned subsidiary now proposes to buy the fuel at around $170 per tonne from the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation. This was almost half of its last import consignment from international supplier Glencore, bought at $310 per tonne.

With naphtha being procured at $170 per tonne and the foreign exchange rates remaining constant, Enron would be able to charge a tariff below Rs four per unit at 90 per cent PLF or below Rs five per unit with PLF being 60 per cent.
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Petronet to take 5 per cent stake in Rasgas-Mobil's LNG project
New Delhi: Petronet LNG has sought 5 per cent equity participation in Rasgas-Mobil's $2.5-billion LNG terminal project in Qatar. In turn, Rasgas will pick up 10 per cent stake each in Petronet’s two terminals at Dahej and Kochi. Rasgas is believed to be willing to accommodate Petronet by giving five per cent in the five million tonnes per annum LNG liquificiation phase two plant at Qatar. The negotiations for picking up five per cent stake in the Qatar project is set to start early next month.

Rasgas is a consortium of Qatar Gas and Petroleum Corporation and Mobil having 70 per cent and 30 per cent stake respectively. Rasgas, with which Petronet LNG has entered into a 25 year contract for import of 7.5 million tonnes LNG, would pick 10 per cent equity in Rs 2,500 crore Dahej terminal project.

Petronet LNG would be drawing the entire LNG from phase-II of Qatar. While the Dahej terminal would require five million tonnes of LNG, the Kochi terminal would have a capacity to accommodate 2.5 million tonnes of LNG annually. Apart from Rasgas, French multinational Gaz de France, the strategic partner of Petronet LNG, is also seeking a 10 per cent stake in the two terminals.
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