Hindujas pull out from A-I race
New DelhiThe Hindujas have withdrawn from Air-India divestment race leaving only the Tata-Singapore Airlines consortium in the race.
The chairman of Hinduja groups flagship company Ashok Leyland, R J Shahaney said, "The government is pre-judging the issue even without waiting for the law ministrys comments on our reply to show cause notice issued by department of disinvestment... We have been given unjust treatment whereas we expected a more fair deal," he said.
A day earlier, on Thursday, the law ministry cleared the file disqualifying the London-based group from bidding for Air-India.
Though this development augurs well for Tatas bid to take charge of the carrier, the disinvestment exercise continues to be cursed as new reports of the bad financial health of Air-India seems to be putting off Singapore Airlines now.
Back to News Review index page  

Eveready prepares to exit all Bengal tea estates
Kolkata--Eveready Industries, owned by the BM Khaitan group, is exiting from the tea estates business in West Bengal altogether.
Deepak Khaitan, vice-chairman and managing director said at the company's annual general meeting today, "As a policy we will exit from Dooars."
Early this year Eveready sold its four estates in Darjeeling.
Eveready has five tea estates in Dooars---Bhatpara, Central Dooars, Chuapara, Jainti/Chuniajhora, Mathura/Jaibirpara with an annual crop size of around 5.6 million kg.
Once, the largest bulk tea producer, with 65 million kg, the group's total production under Eveready, today, is around 38 million kg.
Officials at Eveready said, the company has already garnered around Rs 110 crore from the sale of non-remunerative tea gardens.

Eveready plans to export around 80-lakh kg tea this year and has appointed Greenfield Trading Company Limited, Dartford, UK, as the selling agent in all countries outside India except Nepal and Bhutan.

The move to exit from unprofitable tea gardens is part of Eveready's restructuring plan, drafted by lead lenders, ICICI.
Back to News Review index page  

Finally a big player is set to offer net-over-cable
MumbaiAfter countless small timers who try to offer net over cable services, Siticable, the cable distribution arm of the Zee group, now plans to formally launch internet-over-cable service in September.
Bangalore would be first city where the service would be on offer, followed by a launch in Delhi and two other cities.
Siticable runs the largest cable distribution network in the country estimated to reach around 5 million households across the country.
Senior Siticable executives said that Siticable had been running a pilot project of cable Internet service in Bangalore for a few months and has also been testing the service in Delhi.
Zee officials said it had over 12,000 subscribers for its cable internet service with most of them accessing the net through PCs.
Zee is in the process of laying out a hybrid fibre optic network in four cities across the country.
Other multiservice operators like Hathway and Hinduja are also setting up broadand network across several cities.
Back to News Review index page  

Oberois show no interest in ITDC hotels
New DelhiThe Oberoi group has not shown any interest in any of the Indian Tourism Development Corporation properties comprising Ashok Calcutta Airport, Ashok in Bangalore, Ashok, Samrat, Kanishka, Qutab and Lodhi Hotel in New Delhi, Lalitha Mahal Palace in Mysore, Kovalam Ashok in Trivandrum and Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur.
on the block.
Sources said barring the Oberoi group, all major domestic and international hotel chains have shown interest in key ITDC properties. Sources said the Oberoi group was probably not interested in ITDC hotels as it already had hotels in most of these locations, either in the form of a luxury hotel, a business hotel or a budget Trident hotel.
Back to News Review index page  

Ford to develop vehicle for Asia
New Delhi--Ford Motor Company has started comprehensive research for designing and developing a personal use vehicle for the Asian market, including India. The primary objective of this five-year program is to develop user-friendly, computer-based models to help countries such as India plan their transportation systems' infrastructure more effectively. The US automobile giant also intends to develop mobility, environmental and city planning models for Indian cities, where vehicular growth is becoming a hazard.
Ford has engaged the Harvard University as well as the University of California, Riverside, for undertaking the research. Other participants in the study include the Central Institute of Road Transport, the Automobile Research Association of India, the ministry of surface transportation, the Tata Energy Research Institute, the Delhi Central Pollution Control Board, the Central Institute for Road Transport, the Delhi Transport Corporation, the Delhi School of Economics, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
Back to News Review index page  

Ashok Leyland to introduce new products
New Delhi--Ashok Leyland is introducing a new tractor-trailer by the end of the year.
R Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok Leyland, said, "Among the new products will be a 44-tonne tractor trailer with a 210 horsepower machine which will be launched before the end of the year." He added that
in mutli-axles, we would introduce two versions. One, which will be turbocharged and another depending on the application."
The company has just introduced the 22.14 in two variants and will continue to look at tweaking the configuration for different applications.
The company is also investing Rs 145 crore in a new press shop to be commissioned before the year-end. The project will be funded through internal accruals.
Ashok Leylands proposed joint venture however has fallen through.
Back to News Review index page  

Ranbaxy gets USFDA approval for Lorazepam
New Delhi-- Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc (RPI), the US-based wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (RLL), today announced that it has received USFDA approval for manufacturing Lorazepam tablets. Lorazepam tablets of 0.5 mg, 1 mg and 2 mg are used for the management of anxiety disorders, for short-term relief of the symptoms of anxiety and anxiety associated with depressive symptoms, a company release said here.
Sales for Lorazepam last year totalled $336.5 million, with sales of the tablet alone totalling $270.4 million.
Back to News Review index page  

Arvind Mills gets DuPont accreditation for Lycra programme
Ahmedabad--Arvind Mills Limited, one of the countrys leading denim exporters and suppliers, has attained DuPonts accreditation for its Lycra Assured programme.
Arvind would now work closely with DuPont Apparel & Textile Sciences on the latest Lycra innovations present in the fashion scene worldwide.
A company release said the accreditation gives Arvind Mills preferential access to DuPonts innovations and new products. The agreement also allows the company to use Lycra Assured trademark logo on a royalty-free basis for trade purposes.
It may be mentioned that Arvind Mills is Indias largest manufacturer of premium stretch fabrics using DuPonts Lycra technology. The company has been manufacturing 8 million metres per annum of stretch products in denim, and plans to dedicate over 12 per cent of its capacities for stretch fabrics.
Arvind Shirtings business currently manufactures 1.5 million metres p.a and is looking at doubling its capacity in stretch varieties. While Arvind recorded total sales of Rs 1,197 crore for 2000-01, of which exports sales constituted Rs 565 crore, the company is expected to achieve an additional turnover of Rs 150 crore with Lycra-blended fabrics in the first year of its working with Dupont.
Lycra DuPont and Arvind Mills are planning a series of presentations of the newly developed fabrics in Lycra blends in denims, trousers and shirting fabrics, and also an impressive range in knits.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata keen on A-I despite uncertainties, problems
Mumbai--The Tata group says it is interested in Air-India despite the current uncertainty over its divestment.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Indian Hotels annual general meeting (AGM) in Mumbai, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata said, "We are very much there as far as Air India is concerned."
He also said Indian Hotels will play a role in Air-India. The hotels major, along with other Tata group companies will hold a minority stake in the Tata-Singapore Airlines consortium.
Meanwhile, Indian Hotels shareholders approved the company's resolution to increase the authorised share capital from Rs 50 crore to Rs 200 crore. "The increase in authorised capital is to meet the company's acquisition and modernisation plans," said Ratan Tata. The company plans to spend around Rs 66 crore on capital expenditure.
As part of its new initiative, Indian Hotels is entering into a 51:49 joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS), a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines.
Back to News Review index page  

RIL's mega gas pipeline project cleared
New DelhiThe government has given clearance to Reliance Industries' two mega multi-source gas pipeline projects, connecting Jamnagar in Gujarat with Cuttack in Orissa and linking Goa with Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.
Unlike the present gas pipeline infrastructure in the country, which has only one source of gas supply, Reliance's natural gas pipeline would have multi-sources, government sources said.
The Jamnagar-Cuttack pipeline would connect Reliance's proposed LNG import terminal at Jamnagar in Gujarat to its Nec-25 offshore exploration block in Cuttack.
Top company sources said that Reliance is planning to import gas from Iran at its LNG import terminal at Jamnagar. The pipeline would market the gas across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other neighbouring states," he said. The Cuttack end of the pipeline would be fed with gas obtained from the exploration block in Orissa.
Reliance expects to obtain around 20 million cubic meters of gas per day from the Nec-25 block.
Back to News Review index page  

UTI Bank to finalize stake sale by month-end
New Delhi--UTI Bank plans to dilute about a third of its paid-up capital of Rs 131 crore by placing shares with private equity investors by the end of September as a result of which Unit Trust of India's (UTI) stake would fall to around 40 per cent from 60 per cent.
Sources said that the bank is talking to multiple investors and could bring in more than one private equity partner.
Back to News Review index page  

Fascels cellular service CelForce crashes in Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad--The cellular service of Fascel Ltd, which operates under under the CellForce brandname in Gujurat, crashed in Ahmedabad in the early hours of Friday. Further, it remained paralysed throughout the day, resulting in a lot of inconvenience to subscribers.
Reliable sources said that Fascels mobile exchange crashed due to heavy traffic while the companys technical personnel were trying to upgrade the capacity of the network with 12 additional Pulse Cord Modulation (PCM) links released by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
Apparently Fascel was recently allocated 12 PCM connectivity.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) senior director Sunil R Parekh said, "Todays complete crash of service of Fascel indicates the inability of the company to cope up with its expanding customer base and mitigate the problems of its customers. We urge the company to redress the problem urgently on a top priority basis."
Back to News Review index page  

Piaggio to make India global manufacturing hub
MumbaiPiaggio, the Italian two-wheeler company, is planning to make the Baramati plant of the erstwhile Piaggio Greaves Vehicles Ltd (PGVL) its only three-wheeler manufacturing facility in the world, its global manufacturing hub.
But all will depend on how Piaggio is able to bolster capacity at the Baramati plant. Piaggio is in the process of pumping in another Rs 80 crore to ramp up capacity at Baramati from the current level of 25,000 units per annum to 50,000 units by the end of next year.
Currently, Piaggio has another three-wheeler manufacturing plant in Italy, which caters to the European market.
PGVL has been renamed Piaggio Vehicles Ltd (PVL) after Piaggio brought the LM Thapar-promoted Greaves Ltds 49 per cent stake in the joint venture for a consideration of Rs 31.5 crore.
Top company sources said that there would be no change in the management structure following the acquisition of the Greaves stake.
The total investment in the capacity expansion works out to Rs 150 crore, including the Rs 80 crore which has been funded by the Italian parent.
The range of Piaggio commercial vehicles would be technologically supported by Lombardini, another Italian company, which had acquired the Greaves factory in Aurangabad to produce diesel 422-cc engines for the new product range from PVL under licence from Piaggio. PVL, which currently manufactures the p501 model will be introducing the p601 model subsequently, Mr Datta added. The company is also in the process of introducing CNG engines for both its passenger and cargo range of three-wheelers.
Back to News Review index page  

BSES Telecom to offer broadband service to more cities
Mumbai--BSES Telecom Limited, the completely owned subsidiary of BSES, may launch its broadband services in other parts of India as well. BSES possible destinations could include Orissa, Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad where BSES is present in some form or will soon be.
In Orissa, for instance, BSES is into power distribution. Likewise in Delhi, the company is looking for a foothold.
Reliance, which is wiring up commercial buildings in Mumbai, is unlikely to cut BTLs way though. Actually, BTLs indirect association with Reliance may turn out to be a boon for the latter. "BTLs best trigger could be Reliance, provided its own business plan could be dovetailed into the latters (Reliance Infocom). Reliance may also enhance BTLs selling might," said an analyst.
BTL has about 1,000 retail broadband customers and 55 corporate customers in Mumbai. By March 2003, the company hopes to have a customer base of 35,000. The total capex envisaged during the period is Rs 100 crore.
Back to News Review index page  

UTI Bank in pact with department of post
New Delhi-- UTI Bank has entered into an agreement with the department of posts, which will allow it to use the huge network of post offices to operate its services.
The postal department has the largest retail reach in India with its 154,000-plus branches which service 11 million account holders of small savings schemes, 3.1 million postal life insurance policies and an array of other products and services.
In a statement UTI Bank said the agreement would allow it to set up automated teller machines in post offices, use the postal network for its cash management services, remit and collect drafts and cross-sell each other's financial products.
UTI Bank's top officials said in return the bank would offer its superior technology and the advantage of modern banking to the postal department,
and the complementary strengths of the two organisations would create synergies, which would benefit customers of both the organizations.
Back to News Review index page