Pentamedia Graphics sacks staff
Chennai: Animation software company Pentamedia Graphics has issued pink slip to 107 of its employees on the ground of underperformance. Fifty-one of the sacked employees have resigned while 45 others have lodged a protest.
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Bharti Televentures' IPO put on hold
New Delhi: Bharti Televentures has deferred the proposed initial public offering (IPO) because of the present uncertain conditions in the market following the recent terrorist attack in the US.

The company said it will closely observe the events in the coming few weeks to assess the market conditions before deciding on the issue.
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MRTPC clears Colgate Palmolive
New Delhi: The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has absolved Colgate Palmolive from the charge of manufacturing and hoarding 200-gram packs of its toothpaste to compel the consumers spend more money on smaller packs.
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Toshiba to make more cell phone LCDs
Tokyo: Toshiba Corp will produce more colour liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for mobile phones to meet increasing demand for the high resolution panels.

The company will increase the production by over 230 per cent from 1.5 million panels to five million units during the current fiscal.

Growing popularity of Internet-enabled mobile phones and camera phones have increased the demand for the high-resolution displays.

Toshiba provides screens for their own handsets as well as for those made by Fujitsu Ltd.
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LIC to finance national highways
New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is tapping the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to part finance its Rs 13,800-crore market borrowing target for funding the National Highway Development Project (NHDP).

The move is in line with the government policy of mobilizing funds from the state-owned insurers for funding development of roads, ports and railways.
LIC had reported investible surpluses of Rs 1,46,363.65 crore in 1999-2000. Its infrastructure funding alone had shown a growth of a 16.3 per cent.
It had put in Rs 1,39,032 crore into public sector infrastructure projects, accounting for a 84.2 per cent share in its overall investments in the core sector.
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LG to make India its global hub for home appliances
New Delhi: Korean electronics major LG Electronics will make Indian subsidiary the global export hub for home appliances. The marketing of home appliances to Singapore, Gulf countries and Africa will be handled from India.
The Indian subsidiarys contribution to the parents revenue is expected to increase to around 10 per cent by the year 2005 following the decision.
LG India is manufacturing frost-free refrigerators locally. The $20 million plant has an annual capacity of 3.5 lakh units.
LG India has launched seven eco-friendly models of frost-free refrigerators in the domestic market ranging from Rs 16,500 to Rs 25,400 having features like door cooling, Z4 airflow, FIR lamp, cell fresh crisper, moisture controller and Z-de-odorizer.
The company plans to invest $80 million over the next three years in the Indian subsidiary to set up manufacturing facilities for fully automatic washing machines and a compressor facility. The washing machine unit is expected to begin production by May 2002.After the capacity expansion is complete by the year 2005, LG Electronics India will have a capacity of one million refrigerators, 3 lakh air conditioners, 5 lakh washing machines and 2 lakh microwave ovens.
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GACL receives Rs 200-cr foreign investment
Mumbai: Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd (GACL) has received Rs 200 crore from foreign equity investor, Warburg Pincus.
This includes Rs 180 crore towards eight million shares picked up by Warburg and Rs 20 crore on account of conversion of warrants. Debts, which stood at Rs 1,600 crore as of December 31, 2000, were felt to be too high by the company management and hence it decided to go in for equity dilution.
The cement industry is depending on the governments 6,000-km golden quadrilateral project and the 7,300-km north-south and east-west corridors for giving a substantial boost to cement demand.
While the former is likely to generate an incremental demand of 4-5 million tonne, the latter is expected to generate demand to the extent of 5-6 million tonne (on the basis of 25 per cent concretisation).
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Microland to focus on tech services
Bangalore: Microland group has decided to consolidate its technology development and management services, according to its chairman and managing director Pradeep Kar.

Talking to newsmen on the eve of the India Internet World (IIW) 2001, Mr. Kar claimed the company would double revenues to $40 million this year up from $23 million last year.

The company, which had promoted Indya.com, Media2India.net and ITSpace.com, had recently sold its interests in Indya and Media2India.com.

It is now left with three subsidiaries: Planet Asia, an Internet and e-commerce consulting company; NetBrahma, a telecom software and services company and ITSpace which will now take up marketing services as its core business.
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Titan targets Rs 25 crore from steel watch collection
Bangalore: Titan Industries is targeting a turnover of Rs 25 crore in the current financial year from its recently launched steel collection watches.

The company plans to spend around Rs 2 crore on advertisement campaign to launched in October.

Titans steel collection has 90 designs priced between Rs 1,250 and Rs 6,000 and is targeted at a young upwardly mobile professional, who aspires to own the international look. Initially the company is planning to target only 25 cities in the country through 500 dealer outlets.

The company is also exploring the possibility of entering other markets such as writing instruments, leather accessories and sunglasses.
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Kesoram to upgrade cement, tyre units
Kolkata: Kesoram Industries, a part of the Rs 5,000 crore B K Birla group, will invest Rs 40 crore for modernisation and upgradation of its two cement plants and a tyre unit.

The Birla group plans to set aside an annual investment corpus that will be made available to group companies putting forward the best modernisation proposals.

Kesoram has two cement units- Vasavadatta and Kesoram which together produced 46 lakh tonnes last year. Birla Tyres recorded sales of Rs 614 crore last year.

The investment of Rs 40 is being generated from the company's reserves which went up to Rs 84 crore after registering a net profit of Rs 46 crore last year.

Faced with labour problems, the company is contemplating closure of Kesoram Rayon, its viscose filament making division.
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Raymond to relaunch Parx
Mumbai: Raymond plans a relaunch of its mens casualwear brand Parx, roping in Hong Kong-based designer, Katie Padget who is credited with the creation of such international brands as Armani, Tommy Hilfiger and Polo.

The new international look Parx will carry a different logo to differentiate it from the existing designs.

The company is also changing the logo of the brand. The Parx brand was launched just one and a half years ago.

Raymond will be expanding the product portfolio of Parx by introducing printed shirts, shorts and denim jackets.

The Rs 75 crore Parx brand is sold through 25 exclusive retail outlets, besides the multi-brand outlets. The company exports Parx range to Middle East, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
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