India Cements seeking to hive off Sri Vishnu
Mumbai: India Cements is understood to be looking for a buyer for its group company, Sri Vishnu Cements, which came as part of its aggressive take over of Raasi Cements. It is estimated by investment bankers that Sri Vishnu could fetch India Cements anywhere between Rs. 650-700 crore.

It is understood that N Srinivasan, chairman of India Cements, has been in talks with a number of foreign players, with Italcementi being in the lead. The company, however, denies that it is in talks with Italcementi.

One of the reasons that India Cements, despite its earlier stated plans of retaining Sri Vishnu as part of its strategic plan to increase its presence in the cement industry, is now planning to sell of the company, is its high interest burden, which have been proving o be a drag of profitability.
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Eli Lilly sues Dr Reddy's
Mumbai: India’s leading pharma company, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, was today sued for patent infringement by US pharma major, Eli Lilly. The suit was filed against Dr. Reddy’s in an Indiana court in the United States.

The suit pertains to a patent on olanzapine, a key ingredient in Lilly's antidepressant drug Zyprexa. Dr. Reddy’s had filed for approval to market olanzapine 15 mg and 20 mg dosages earlier this year, saying that it did not infringe existing patents or considered some patents on the drug invalid.

According to senior officials of the company, the main Lilly patent on olanzapine expires in 2011. Dr. Reddy's is hopeful of launching its generic version of the drug in late 2003 or early 2004 if its patent challenge is successful. The litigation means Dr Reddy's cannot launch the product for the next 30 months or till the case is settled, whichever is earlier.

Dr Reddy's, which recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is also currently involved in legal battles with Eli Lilly on its generic form of anti-depressant Prozac and with AstraZeneca on its anti-ulcerant, Prilosec.
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ONGC Videsh may strike gold in Sakhalin
New Delhi: The international arm of India’s oil and gas prospecting company, ONGC Videsh, is struck paydirt. The Russian government has allowed it to take a 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin oilfield. This would allow ONGCV to have its representatives on the board of the Russian company.

According to company officials, the Sakhalin I oilfield is estimated to have oil and gas in place which is equivalent to Bombay High and Bassein put together. The discovered oilfield which is expected to be highly potential has already registered a growth in its oil reserves by 12 to 14 per cent from the time that the agreement was signed.
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Nagarjuna group in revamp mode
Hyderabad: In a bid to put itself back on track, the Nagarjuna Group is embarking on a major business and financial restructuring exercise. It has commissioned international consulting firm, Deloitte, Haskins & Sells and JM Morgan Stanley for the two respective restructuring exercises.

According to Mr. KS Raju, chairman of the group, the exercise is aimed at consolidating existing businesses and cutting down on some of the activities that are taking up too much energy. This is also an exercise that will bring about rightsizing of the group’s operations.

The move comes in the backdrop of the rough patch the group has gone through over the past few years. While some of its attempts at diversification have yet to bear fruit, the period has also seen the exit of some of its top executives leaving gaping holes in the management.

In a top-level management change, the former managing director of Kribco, PP Singh has taken over as the director operations while the search is on for a new director finance.
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Andhra Bank to restructure controlling offices
Hyderabad: In an effort to facilitate faster decision making, state-owned Andhra Bank is embarking on a restructuring spree that will be in line with the recommendations made by the National Institute of Bank Management and management consultants from the Administrative Staff Collage of India.

This move would see its controlling offices being restructured from 27 to 19, with a further plan to bring this number further down to 16 during the current year.

In addition to this de-layering, the bank has also empowered its employees at all levels with a lot of decision-making powers. The bank further plans to bring down the response time across the counter, and has initiated empowering the staff at the counter.

To improve operations efficiency, the bank has decided to review the internal control systems on an on-going basis and to tune the controlling offices with the changing needs.
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L&T compulsorily retires senior staff in the cement division
Mumbai: With its proposed divestment of a 37.5 per cent stake in its cement activities, leading conglomerate, Larsen & Toubro, is understood to be in the process of pushing through a manpower rationalisation strategy. The company is understood to have floated a Compulsory Retirement Scheme (CRS) for select employees.

While company officials refused to react to newspaper reports, it is understood that the CRS is targeted at higher officials and managers of the company. This is a total internal restructuring process and confidentiality will be maintained.

With the scheme already being implemented in its Powai unit, the company is now seeking to implement this across other locations.
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Blue Star Infotech revamps sales and delivery functions
Mumbai: Blue Star Infotech, part of the Rs 750 crore Blue Star Group, has installed a management council at the helm of its operations as part of its revamp process. This change is aimed at facilitating a change in the delivery organisation of the company and aligning BSIL’s services by customer segment. It is believed that this change would help the company to proactively address the rapidly changing needs of the market.

The delivery organisation has now been restructured to address customer segments across all geographies. The delivery group has been restructured into three lines of business - global R&D (GRD), business applications practice (BAP) and professional services practice (PSP).

Each line of business is working towards building "best-of-breed" core competencies in identified areas.

In terms of customer focus, the company has aligned the delivery capabilities along two broad customer segments, namely hi-technology product companies and end-user companies.

The management council is responsible for managing and ensuring effective coordination between the sales & delivery organisations, as well as the support functions, namely human resources, infrastructure, quality, finance and sales support/marketing.
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Intel slashes microprocessor prices
Santa Clara: The world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, Intel Corporation, announced that it was cutting its microprocessor prices by as much as 37 per cent. This price cut comes in the wake of a bitter price war with rival Advanced Micro Devices as both companies face a weak PC market.

Intel cut the price of its 1 gigahertz Pentium III chip 37 per cent to $401 from $637. It also slashed its 900 megahertz Pentium III chip 37 per cent to $268 from $423.

The 850 MHz Pentium III chip was reduced 31 per cent to $241 from $348, its 800 MHz Pentium III was cut 26 per cent to $198 from $268 and its 750 MHz Pentium III fell 18 per cent to $198 from $241.
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