Telco to start unit in China
New Delhi: Automobile major Tata Engineering is considering setting up a plant in China in alliance with a local manufacturer to make cars and utility vehicles, according to Telcos passenger car unit commercial general manager Rajiv Dube.

"Many Chinese companies have approached us. We have decided that the only way to address the Chinese market is to manufacture locally," he said adding a final decision on any joint venture would be taken by the end of this fiscal.

Telco makes the premium small car Indica as well as multi-utility vehicles Safari and Sumo.

Total car sales in China jumped 13 percent in 2000 to 2.07 million vehicles.
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Suzuki parts ways with TVS
New Delhi: Japanese major Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) is parting company with Chennai-based Sundaram group-- TVS-Suzuki Ltd.

Suzuki has already communicated its intention of divesting its entire 26 per cent holding in the joint venture to TVS.

The board of TVS-Suzuki is meeting Thursday to consider the developments regarding the possible amicable settlement of its differences with SMC, including the possibility of Suzuki's exit both as a shareholder and a licensor.

However, the firm is yet to decide whether it would allow the TVS group to retain the Suzuki brand on its vehicles.

The Sundaram group controls 32.47 per cent stake in the venture while the remaining is held by public and FIs.

Earlier, Honda (another Japanese firm) had sold off its entire holding in Kinetic Honda Motors while Piaggio (Italy) had walked out of LML Ltd following a prolonged legal battle.

TVS-Suzuki Ltd was incorporated in 1982 as Indian Motorcycles Pvt Ltd and went on to become the second largest two-wheeler maker in India.
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ITI to increase SIM card production
New Delhi: Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) has announced a major increase in the production of SIM cards. ITI's plant at Palakkad in Kerala is being upgraded to a capacity of over 5 million SIMs per year from the current levels of 1.5 million. This is being done in view of the projected demand from MTNL and the 1.5 million subscribers who are expected to obtain cellular services from BSNL.
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Bharti Televenture IPO put on hold
New Delhi: Telecom company Bharti Televentures has put its proposed initial public offering (IPO) on hold following uncertain conditions in the market in the wake of the recent terrorist attack in the US. The company says it will be closely observing the events in the coming few weeks to assess the market conditions.
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Tatas set to sell 14.5% stake in Forbes Gokak
Mumbai: The Tatas are in talks with Mr Pallonji Mistry to sell 18 lakh shares, or 14.5 per cent, of Forbes Gokak to the latter at around Rs 75-80 a share. The Tatas hold 24 per cent in the company.

The transaction is being brokered by JM Morgan Stanley.

The Tatas holding in Forbes Gokak is routed through Tata Sons, Tata Investment Corporation and Ewart Investments. Financial institutions hold 24.76 per cent.

Mr Mistry currently holds around 10 per cent in the company. He wants to merge Forbes Gokak with his beleaguered South India Viscose.

Forbes Campbell and Company was amalgamated with Gokak Patel Volkart and renamed as Forbes Gokak. The company is into textiles - cotton yarn, cycle tyre cord and a dyeing unit.
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Morgan Stanley recasts portfolio
New Delhi: Indias largest private mutual fund Morgan Stanley, with a corpus of over Rs 600 crore, has effected major portfolio restructuring to consolidate its holdings.

Morgan Stanley has reduced its exposure to technology, fast moving consumer goods, healthcare and automobile sectors and added stocks from defensive sectors like financial services, cement, telecom and power over the past five months.

It has divested stocks in Infosys from 8.35 per cent 6.3 per cent. The fund has also cut its exposure to leading stocks like Reliance Industries, Hindustan Petroleum, Asian Paints, Dabur and Britannia.

The funds exposure to financial sector stocks has gone up from 12.38 per cent in March 2001 to 15 per cent in August, but has come down substantially in technology sector from 15,47 per cent to 13 per cent and from 13.46 per cent to 12 per cent in FMCG sector.
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NTPC to float global tender of LNG
New Delhi: National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has decided to invite international competitive bids to procure LNG for its gas-based projects.

The NTPC board has approved appointment of a reputed technical consultant, who would advise the corporation on procuring LNG through the cheapest route for its projects at Anta, Auraiya, Kawas, Gandhar and Kayamkulam.
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Cholamandalam joins hands with Swaraj Mazda
Chennai: Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company Ltd (CIFCL) and commercial vehicle major Swaraj Mazda Ltd (SML) have entered into an alliance for offering financial support to dealers and customers of Swaraj Mazda.

Addressing a press conference here, CIFCL managing director M Anandan said the alliance would enable Cholamandalam to extend quicker and customized services and products to its clientele. The tie-up would also improve the sales of Swaraj Mazdas vehicles as CIFCL would offer attractive packages to the customers, he said.

CIFCL is looking at a growth of about 20 per cent in its overall vehicle business through such arrangements.
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HCL Tech picks up 51% in Deutsche Soft
Bangalore: HCL Technologies Ltd has formed a joint venture with Deutsche Bank AG by acquiring 51 per cent stake in latters subsidiary, Deutsche Software India, in a cash deal.
HCL Technologies will hold 51 per cent stake in Deutsche Software while the balance 49 per cent will be acquired at the end of a three-year period through the issuance of HCL Technologies equity shares to Deutsche Bank.
The Bangalore-based Deutsche Software is providing integrated software solutions mainly to cater to the IT needs of Deutsche Bank.
HCL Technologies chairman and CEO Shiv Nadar said that this was part of HCLs thrust to tap the telecom and financial services market.
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Band-X set to launch Net exchange
New Delhi: Band-X India Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Band-X UK, is launching Indias first Internet exchange in a month. The exchange will provide Internet service providers (ISPs) a connection on a single platform.
The exchange will enable ISPs to cut down costs on transferring traffic to their destination and reduce latency time.
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TCS, PwC in race for e-governance study
Kolkata: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are competing to bag the contract for conducting a detailed system study and analysis of 54 departments of the West Bengal government with a view to enable e-governance.
They have submitted their bids to West Bengal Electronics Development Corp Ltd (Webel), the nodal IT agency.
A system study of the departments is required before any e-governance application is developed and implemented. The study is required to understand the exact work flow of the department with specific responsibility assigned to each of the employees.
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Bharti Teletech launches Walkphone
Mumbai: Bharti Teletech launched its latest cordless phone model Walkphone here today. More models are expected to be launched soon.

The company is outsourcing the technology from the UK-based Suncorp.

Bharti Teletech plans to bring in more models that would include caller identification and cordless phones that would supplement two phone lines.
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BPL adopts new pricing strategy
Bangalore: Consumer goods major BPL Ltd is set to embark on a price war to help BPL revive its audio product portfolio.
BPL has started manufacturing DVD players at its facilities. The DVD player market is currently seeing movement and BPL is looking at cashing in on the growth in the segment.
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Nabard to foray into life insurance
Mumbai: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) plans to enter life insurance within the next six to eight months in a bid to tap the potential insurable rural population of nearly 15 crore.

Nabard has begun the process of appointing a consualtant for firming up its plan in the insurance business. Leading consultancy firms such as Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, KPMG and McKinsey have made presentations to the bank which is expected to select one of them by next month.
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HLL open offer for Rossell stake
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd and Unilever Overseas Holdings BV in concert with Lipton India Exports Ltd will make an open tender offer for the balance 10.38 per cent Rossell Industries equity at a price of Rs 120 per share.

The balance equity is held by third parties.

The shares in this open offer will be acquired by Lipton India Exports Ltd. In the event the group is able to acquire more than 90 per cent of the issued and subscribed capital of Rossell Industries Ltd, the Company will be delisted, HLL informed BSE today.

Currently, Unilever Overseas Holdings BV of the Netherlands and Lipton India Exports Ltd hold 89.62 per cent of the issued and subscribed capital of Rossell Industries Ltd.
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