ONGC on its own won both the shallow offshore blocks on offer in Cauvery basin besides taking the offshore blocks of KK-OSN-2000/1 in Kerala-Konkan basin and MNOSN-2000/1 in Mahanadi Basin.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA, approved the award of 23 blocks offered under NELP-II.
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Swiss Reinsurance to take 1 percent stake in HDFC
New Delhi—The second largest re-insurance company in the world, Swiss Reinsurance Company, is acquiring a one per cent stake in HDFC.
Sources say that Swiss Re will acquire the stake in HDFC from CDC Financial Services, Mauritius, the Mauritius-based arm of Commonwealth Development Corporation.
Sources say the stake is being bought at a premium to the current market price of HDFC.

HDFC scrip closed at 672 a share on the bourses on Wednesday.
According to the deal between Swiss Re and CDC, the Swiss major will acquire 11,911,40 shares accounting for one per cent of HDFC’s paid-up capital of Rs 119 crore which at the current market price will cost the Swiss re-insurance major a little over Rs 80 crore.
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DPC willing to prune internal rate of return
Mumbai—In a final ditch effort to continue with the power projects at Dabhol, the Dabhol Power Company has given a set of proposals to the IDBI-led domestic lenders.
FI sources said DPC is willing to bring down the internal rate of return from the existing rate, put at more than 30 percent, as well as the dollar return of equity.
This comes in the wake of the MSEB, the state and the central governments demanding a reduction in the rate of interest.

The domestic lenders to the controversial project have agreed to consider a reduction in rate of interest.
They have, however, shot down a proposal regarding delaying the phase II construction till the first delivery of LNG starts by 2001-end.
As part of the proposals, DPC has demanded that the lenders allow it to complete the project with some time and cost overrun.
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Sony to enter into banking
Tokyo—Sony, the Japanese electronics giant, said on Wednesday it had applied for a banking licence and aimed to open its new online bank in mid-June.
The online banking unit known as the Sony Bank, would be capitalised at 37.5 billion yen ($322.9 million) and operate in co-operation with Sakura Bank and JP Morgan Chase, and would mainly target individual online shoppers.
Under the business plan, Sakura Bank will take a 16 per cent stake and JP Morgan Chase 4 per cent, with Sony owning the remaining 80 per cent.

The bank aims for deposits of 600 billion yen ($5.2 billion) within three years, Sony said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that a banking licence application had been filed with Japan’s Financial Services Agency.
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Russell Credit hikes VST offer price to Rs 125
New Delhi--Russell Credit, the ITC subsidiary, has hiked its offer price by Rs 5 to Rs 125 for acquiring 20 per cent stake in tobacco major VST Industries.
The hike follows a similar hike earlier this month, when the company announced a Rs 5 hike to Rs 120, thus taking the offer Rs 2 higher than what Brightstar Investments was offering for a similar stake in VST.

The move comes even as the Delhi High Court restrained Russell Credit from giving effect to its counter offer.

According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) regulations, an open offer has to be completed - meaning the shares transferred in the name of the one offering payment which is to be disbursed - within one month of closure of the open offer.

Russell Credit sources said, it has time till July 13, June 13 being the scheduled closure of the counter-offer, to vacate the injunction.

Russell Credit has already acquired close to eight per cent of the share capital of VST Industries by way of subscription to the counter offer. In addition, it has acquired about 50,000 shares from the open market.

The competing bid by Bright Star Investments, a Mumbai-based firm owned by the Damanis, is priced at Rs 118.

The Damanis hold over 15.5 per cent of VST Industries, while UK-based BAT plc holds 32.16 per cent.

The public 29.55 per cent as of March 31, but this has substantially diminished on account of active buying from the market by both Russell Credit and Bright Star Investments.
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FIs to review Spic projects
Chennai—IDBI has convened a high level lenders meeting in Mumbai tomorrow to review the status of the long pending PTA and PFY projects of Spic Petrochemicals.
taking into account the fact that the FIs and banks are meeting after a gap of nearly three years the meeting assumes special significance.
The meeting has raised hopes of reviving SPC’s mega ventures with new partners after the Union Cabinet allowed CPCL to pull out from the JV, Arochem, floated with Spic.
The consultant, PCI group, which had recently re-appraised the projects at the behest of SPC, is said to have found them intrinsically viable. It has also found the equipment at the site in good shape.
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L&T identifies defence as growth area
Mumbai—Larsen & Toubro, seems to have identified the defence equipment sector as a thrust area for growth.
Senior officials say that supplies to the defence sectors contributed around Rs 200 crore to turnover in last fiscal, and the company plans to drive up revenues from this business to Rs 1,500 crore over 3-4 years.
The company is now planning to source technology from the international majors and carry out joint supplies to the defence establishment said an L&T official adding that the company’s cost of manufacturing of defence equipments is superior and cheaper than the government agencies. With this competitive edge, L&T would like to strengthen its presence in this field.
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GIC, New India Assurance splurges Rs 34 cr on realty
Mumbai—General Insurance Corporation and its subsidiary New India Assurance together have bought as many as 27 residential apartments for a consideration of Rs 34 crore.
The realty pool created by the two companies comprises of flats in the upscale Kalpataru Heights, reserved for the chairman and managing director of GIC as well as other senior managers.
It is learnt that the rate negotiated by New India Assurance and GIC are in the Rs 6,800-7,800-per-square-foot range against the normal Rs 10,000 per sq ft (with an appreciation of Rs 50 per sq ft per floor as one goes higher) normally quoted by Kalpataru Developers for the multi-storey building.
The GIC-New India Assurance acquisitions have been done in two parts. New India Assurance purchased 16 flats from Kalpataru front company Caprihans for Rs 19.6 crore in two configurations of 1481 and 1919 sq ft each.
Subsequently, GIC picked up 11 flats in the same building from Hindoostan Spinning and Weaving Mills for a consideration of Rs 14.4 crore.
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Konka of China to scale down operations in India
New Delhi-- Chinese consumer electronics major Konka Electronics is scaling down its Indian operations.
Following its inability to achieve sales targets last year the company has initiated a major restructuring exercise.

Thus it is substantially reducing its direct presence in the country and at the same time is looking for distribution arrangements.
Konka India managing director Liao Ruoji said the restructuring exercise involves taking corrective measures, a reshuffling and reform job in the organisation.
Company sources said a massive cost-cutting drive was on due to which the number of branch offices all over the country would be shut down all over the country. The company was also considering entering into distribution tie-ups in India for which it had approached several companies, including Baron Electronics and Symphony Comfort Systems, the makers of the popular ‘Symphony’ brand of air-coolers.
The company has revised its sales target for the current year downwards to 1.5 lakh CTVs, from last year’s two lakh sets. Mr Liao Ruoji, admitted that the company could only achieve 50 per cent of its sales task last year.’’
The China-based Konka Group holds 70 per cent equity in the company, while Wittis of Hong Kong has 30 per cent in KEIL.
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Disinvestment dept calls IPCL, IOC top brass for meet
Mumbai— To resolve the issue of transfer of Indian Petrochemicals, (IPCL) Vadodara plant to Indian Oil Corp,(IOC) the department of disinvestment (DoD) has called for a meeting with two companies.
According to company sources the bone of contention in the takeover is the price of the plant.

Both the companies have completed independent evaluations of the plant. Deloitte Haskins carried out the evaluation for IPCL while Kemps Systems did it for IOC.
While company sources refused to quote the price IPCL had indicated independent sources said that IPCL has sought Rs 3,425 crore for the plant while IOC has pegged for a much lower price as it claims that the plant was loss-making and over-utilised.
On its joint venture partner, GE Plastics India Ltd expressing its desire to purchase the equity held by IPCL in the venture, company sources said that GE Plastics will have to seek approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and has applied for it.
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Deepak Nitrite; marginal decline in net profit
Pune-- Deepak Nitrite Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 10.23 crore, marginally lower than the previous year’s net profit of Rs 11.30 crore.

Total income for the year 2000-2001 increased to Rs 212.02 crore from Rs 177.68 crore. However, this includes profit of Rs 7.46 crore from the sale of commercial premises of the company in Mumbai. Profits went up to Rs 11.05 crore compared to Rs 9.78 crore during the previous year. The management has declared a 25 per cent dividend for year ended March 31, 2001.
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Maharashtra to get two coal-based power plants from NTPC
Mumbai—The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is planning to set up two 1,000 mw plus coal-based power plants in Vidarbha and Konkan areas of Maharashtra with an investment of more than Rs 4,000 crore each.
RD Gupta, NTPC executive director (western region) said that NTPC did not have a power plant in the state, so in order to make its presence, it has shortlisted Mauda near Nagpur for setting up a power station with two units of 500 mw each.
Apart from this the location in the Konkan region will be finalised soon as suitable land is selected for the project, he added.
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ICICI Bank to limit exposure to the stock market
New Delhi—Given the inherent volatility of the Indian stock markets and the propensity to get into scams, ICICI Bank has decided to limit its exposure to capital market activities including broker funding, clearing and settlement facilities to brokers and instead will stress on international banking and forex business this fiscal.
During 2000-01, ICICI Bank lent Rs 204.22 crore to the capital market sector, Rs 178.13 crore to the real estate sector and Rs 132.15 crore to the commodities sector.
The bank’s total advances grew by almost 100 per cent to Rs 7,031 crore last fiscal from Rs 3,657 crore in 1999-2000.
ICICI bank, listed on the NYSE, bank is planning to open a representative office in New York, the sources said, adding that it has received approval from domestic authorities to this effect.
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Ranbaxy overseas operations break-even
New Delhi--Ranbaxy Laboratories’ overseas subsidiaries and affiliates have managed to break-even.

Together, the 19 subsidiaries and 2 affiliates posted a gross profit of $6.8 million on a turnover of $158.8 million during 2000, against a loss of $2.9 million on a turnover of $118.2 million clocked during 1999 according to sources. The overseas affiliates and subsidiaries have also cut their net loss from $6.9 million in 1999 to $1.2 million in 2000.

Interestingly, the net loss of $1.2 million for 2000 is less than the net loss of $2.1 million—comprising largely interest charges -- reported by Ranbaxy Netherlands BV, a 100 per cent Ranbaxy subsidiary.

According to sources, the overseas companies are collectively expected to post their first profit after tax during the current financial year.

Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc, the largest Ranbaxy subsidiary owned 100 per cent by the parent, did a turnaround in 2000 and reported a net profit of $0.6 million as against a loss of $0.9 million during 1999.

The three subsidiaries in the US -- Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, Ohm Laboratories and Ranbaxy Schein -- recorded an aggregate profit of $1.6 million during 2000 as against a net loss of $3.3 million during 1999.

Amongst Ranbaxy's overseas subsidiaries, Ohm Laboratories returned the highest net profit of $0.7 million.

During the year, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals acquired all manufacturing, packaging and proprietary rights of the "Proctosol" brand in the US.
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BPL Innovision draws up huge investment plan
Bangalore--BPL Innovision, is planning to invest around Rs 1,500 crore in its new broadband and Internet venture, BPL Internetworks Ltd.

The group plans to offload up to 49 per cent stake in the new business to a foreign partner. To make a beginning, the group has decided to bid for an IP2 (infrastructure licence-lit fibre) license, which will allow it to sell capacities. Later it will move one step further by seeking a license to become a national long distance operator (NLDO).

The name of the new merged entity is to be BPL Broadband Networks.
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Sahara acquires cricket team sponsorship rights
New Delhi--The Rs 5,000 crore Sahara Group has won the cricket team sponsorship rights for three years for approximately Rs 100 crore.

The other two companies in the neck-to-neck race were food majors Nestle and Britannia.

The Rs 100 crore price-tag is reportedly one of the highest paid by a company for sponsorship rights to a cricket team anywhere in the world.

Cricket industry sources say that a couple of years back Vodafone became the English cricket team’s sponsor for approximately 21 million (nearly Rs 140 crore), for a period of four years.

For the Rs 100 crore that Sahara will pay in the next three years, it will get to put its logo on the left chest pocket of all the players in the team.

The logo will also be displayed on the non-leading arm as well as on the uniforms for the practice sessions.

Among other benefits, the company can also use between three to six members of the team to advertise the sponsorship.
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Nagarjuna Fertilisers to be recast
Hyderabad—The beleaguered flagship of the Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna group, Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (NFCL), has embarked on a financial and business restructuring drive. For starters the company has appointed consultancy firms JM Morgan Stanley and Deloitte, Haskins & Sells to suggest restructuring of business and financial structures, respectively.

JM Morgan Stanley has been to look at the whole business of the company and suggest a road map and will also help NFCL get a strategic equity partner for its subsidiary Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd (NOCL).

NOCL, which took up a Rs 3,480-crore 6-million-tonne per annum refinery project at Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, is largely responsible for the current state of NFCL.

The latter was compelled to invest Rs 500 crore in the equity of NOCL, as it could not find a strategic partner to the project.

Of the total project cost, the equity component is Rs 1,160 crore and the debt component Rs 2,320 crore.

Though NFCL is in talks with Venezuelan and Omanese government oil companies, apart from the Indian Oil Corporation, for possible equity investment, nothing has been finalised as yet.

NFCL has already initiated cost-cutting measures, including downsizing of man-power. It is also planning to sell some unproductive assets, which may fetch around Rs 40-50 crore, it is learnt.

It will take some more measures on the financial front, based on the recommendations of Deloitte Haskins and Sells.
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L&T in talks with US companies for acquisition
Mumbai—With plans to make corporate acquisitions in the US, Larsen & Toubro, (L&T), has begun talks with some US-based process engineering companies.

The move is part of a blueprint being inked to evolve the company into a multinational engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) major.

K Venkataramanan, director L&T said, the company plans to establish a strong base in the global market. It is thus seriously looking out for process engineering companies in the US, which will provide a quick penetration into the US as well as European markets.

As part of the plan, L&T is also weighing its options on a possible listing overseas, may be at the New York Stock Exchange. But a decision on the US listing has yet to be finalised by its board.

A consultant to advice L&T on the overseas acquisition is likely to be appointed soon. The investment on such an acquisition would be around $50-60 million, Venkataramanan added.
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Now a low-priced insulin range from Cadila
Ahmedabad-- Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, in collaboration with Poland-based Polfa Tarchomin, has launched a new insulin range.

According to IA modi Cadila chairman, the new insulin range is of the highest quality and economical as compared to the products currently available in the Indian market.

The range comprises Rapisulin (short acting procine insulin) and Lentisulin (immediate acting procine insulin) available in two forms -- Rapisulin HPI/Lentisulin HPI and Rapisulin CPI/Lentisulin CPI.

Rapisulin HPI and Lentisulin HPI are priced at Rs 110.50, while Rapisulin CPI and Lentisulin CPI at Rs 78.52. These prices are quite cheap compared to conventional bovine insulin.

The low price of these drugs will undoubtedly be a boon as due to cost constraints a handful of the overall diabetic population in India could afford insulin therapy.

The insulin preparations currently available are priced on the basis of sources and purity levels. Bovine insulin is available in the price range of Rs 80-114, procine insulin between Rs 120 and Rs 150, and human insulin between Rs 180 and Rs 250.
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