NIIT ranked 13th-largest global IT training firm
New Delhi: An IDC survey has ranked NIIT as the 13th largest IT-training company in the world, and the first Asian to obtain such ranking, for the year 2000. The top 15 are usually made up of blue-chip US companies such as IBM, Oracle and SAP. This year's top 15 list includes only two non-US companies, NIIT and German IT major Siemens.

IBM Global Services, with training revenues at 551 million dollars, tops the list, followed by Oracle University, Oracle’s education arm, two independent IT training companies, New Horizons Worldwide and Global Knowledge Network coming third and fourth, and SAP’s education arm, SAP Education, coming fifth.

Nit's revenue of 139 million dollars and a 30 per cent growth rate gave it its hallowed position in the top 15.
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Bharti rules the cellular licence map
New Delhi: Bharti Enterprises now tops the list of cellular operators with 11 circles in its pocket after the latest round of bidding, where it bagged five out of the 15 that were bid for. It also bagged Mumbai, pipping Reliance group company, Reliance Internet, which was the only other bidder for the circle, besides getting operating licences for Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Kerala and UP (West). It had won the Madhya Pradesh licence in the earlier round as the sole bidder.

Since Bharti already has Chennai and Delhi, and recently bought over B K Modi's licence in Kolkata, it also has the distinction of having licences in all the four metros of the country.

It also plans to be a major player in the third round of bidding where eight circles, Delhi, Chennai, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, UP (East) and Rajasthan come up for bidding, due on July 19.
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SpiceCell bought by Bharti
New Delhi: Bharti Telecom has bought over mobile phone company, Spice Cell for an estimated all-cash deal of 90 million dollars from Modicorp. Spice Cell was a 51:49 joint venture between Modicorp and Hong Kong-based Distacom.

The reason given for the buy out is that Bharti would prefer to take over a running unit rather than build a new one in order to speed up operations, while Modicorp wanted to come out of the metro scene. Spice Cell Ltd has a base of over 100,000 subscribers.

The acquisition has been made through Bharti Cellular a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Televentures. With this, Bharti would not be in the race for acquiring fourth cellular slot in Kolkata, where Reliance would remain the sole bidder
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Pentamedia floats GDR, gets 19 million dollars
Chennai: Pentamedia Graphics has finally completed its long-pending global depository receipts issue, raising 19.05 million dollars, issuing 12.7 million GDRs at the rate of 1.50 dollars per GDR.

The entire issue was picked up by a group of investors whose names have not been disclosed. Pentamedia was advised by Investment banking arm of Amas Bank of Geneva, while the listing agent was Deutchse Bank, Luxembourg, and the legal counsel, Jones Day of London. The GDRs, new and existing, will be traded on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Pentamedia obtained its shareholders’ nod for an overseas equity offering (of 16 million shares) in December 15, 2000. Later it issued 3.3 million shares to Improvision Corporation of USA.
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TVS-Suzuki rolls out new product investment plan
New Delhi: TVS Suzuki has kick-started its "three-year, Rs 100 crore a year, new product investment plan" this fiscal. First to bask in the intensive focus will be the newly introduced 110 cc four stroke motorcycle Victor, and its planned three variants, as well a variant for the Fiero.

Following this, the company plans to bring in some licensed products at the top end of the range, besides a range of all-indigenous four stroke mopeds and scooties at the bottom-end of the spectrum.

TVS Suzuki, however, has no immediate plans for CBU imports, nor for bikes in the 400 cc plus segment.
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Reliance shelves plans for entertainment complex
Mumbai: Reliance is reported to have dropped plans to build an entertainment centre in the Bandra-Kurla complex in Mumbai, where it was awarded the 2.5 acre plot last December.

The 10,000 sq meter plot with a floor space index of 2.0 allowed construction rights of over two lakh sq ft. The entertainment complex was to be designed to hold a multiplex of six screens besides a gaming and shopping arcade.

It has been reported that Reliance had initially requested for an extension of two months time to set up a special purpose vehicle for the project, but ultimately backed out at the last minute. Since it has failed to conform to the payment terms, it now also stands to lose its earnest money deposit.

The project is now in limbo, since the tendering process would have to be started all over again.
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ABB subsidiaries to be merged
Mumbai: Asea Brown Boveri is planning to merge its four Indian subsidiaries with itself. These include ABB Instrumentation, Introl (India), ABB Lenzhom Service and ABB Analytical, for which the company would seek board approval on July 24.

ABB Instrumentation deals with process control products and solutions; Introl, with manufacture of control valves; ABB Lenzohm Service, with repairs and maintenance of large motors, alternatives and transformers; and ABB Analytical , analytical instruments and system solutions.
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Satyam, Healthaxis in expanded ties
Hyderabad: Satyam Computer Services announced an expanded partnership with the US-based Healthaxis, a leading supplier of technology solutions for the healthcare industry.

Accordingly, Satyam will be a principal development partner for Healthaxis for its latest generation 'Insur-Enroll' solution and other related technologies.

Insur-Enroll is Healthaxis' benefit enrollment solution for large groups. It provides a Web-based self-service environment for members/employees as well as for enrolment administrators, and supports a wide range of benefit plans such as medical, dental, life, vision medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts, and accident and disability. Enrolment features also include demographic information, online plan documents, and administrative support tools.

Healthaxis has been deploying enrollment solutions since 1998, supporting groups ranging from 1,400 to over 40,000 employees.
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York International to buy back from Blue Star
Mumbai: The Rs 510-crore Blue Star has entered into a buyback arrangement with York International Corporation for airconditioning equipment production. The deal is expected to improve capacity utilisation at Blue Star’s Thane unit by almost 30 per cent.

Under the arrangement, York plans to source reciprocating compressors of up to 80 tons capacity for the European market. Supplies are expected to commence by September 2001. Blue Star also has a similar buyback deal with Kolpak of the US for cooling units and panels for cold rooms.
Blue Star, which recently announced a corporate restructuring programme as part of an effort to increase operational efficiencies, is also examining the option of sourcing components from China.
Blue Star has revamped its operations into six strategic business units based on the nature of project, values, customer segments and distribution channels. The company has also rationalised some split airconditioners, re-engineered its water cooler models, and introduced five new models of window airconditioners. It also plans to introduce packaged airconditioners for the telecom industry.
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Cholamandalam for third party distribution of insurance products
Chennai: Cholamandalam Distribution Services Limited (CDS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited (CIFCL), plans to get into third party distribution of non-life insurance products once the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority’s (IRDA) finalises the guidelines.

It has already opened talks with a few newly-floated insurance companies such as Royal Sundaram, Bajaj Alliance and Reliance to market their products. CDS is already a corporate agent for HDFC Standard Life, and may have to choose between the broking licence and corporate agent status to take up this distribution business.
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Ranbaxy proceeds to plan on Ciprofloxacin
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories is going ahead with fine tuning its 1,000 mg (one gm) once-a-day dosage form of anti-infective drug Ciprofloxacin for Bayer AG of Germany, as part of its licensing agreement, despite reports that a German firm is also developing a similar drug for Bayer.

This includes conducting certain pharmacology tests including the tolerance test for the 1,000 mg dosage form -- to be completed in the next two to three months -- after which it will enter phase III clinical trials. Ranbaxy has already successfully taken the 500 mg once-a-day dosage form into the phase-III clinical trial stage.

Ranbaxy had licensed once-a-day Ciprofloxacin to Bayer for a fee of 65 million in 1999.
The 1000 mg drug dosage accounts for 55 per cent of the 1.3 billion dollar Ciprofloxacin drug market.
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