Companies Government to suggest IPCL-IOC merger 
New Delhi: The government is likely to suggest the merger of IPCL with Indian Oil (IOC) as a complete sell off option. The disinvestment proposal has been stalled for the last two years as IPCL and IOC have not been able to come to an agreement over the valuation of IPCL's main plant in Vadodara, where IPCL wants a valuation of Rs 1200 crore and IOC is not willing to pay more than Rs 300 crore.
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HDFC results beat market expectations
New Delhi: Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has beaten market expectations by posting the net profit for the July-September 2001 quarter at Rs 138.5 crore, up by 14.3 per cent from Rs 121.2 crore in the same period last year.
Income from operations has also seen a marginally higher jump of 14.5 per cent, rising from Rs 586.3 crore to Rs 671.5 crore. The earnings per share (EPS) has moved up from Rs 9.85 to Rs 11.45.
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Merrill Lynch to cut work force
New York: Merrill Lynch is preparing itself for a big restructuring operation and is expected to cut about 15 per cent of its work force, which adds up to about 10,000 people out of a job world over, including Japan, Canada, Australia and India.
The firm is examining its operations in these countries to figure out whether it should reduce the scale of its businesses there.
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ITDC plans to demerge nine properties
New Delhi: ITDC is planning to demerge nine of its properties including the prestigious Madurai Ashok. The shareholders meeting will consider this proposal on October 29 and a separate creditors' meet will be held the next day to consider the Madurai Ashok proposal.
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Ranbaxy gets US nod for hypertension drug
Mumbai: Ranbaxy Laboratories has received tentative approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration to launch a generic copy of AstraZeneca's hypertension drug Zestril, when it goes off patent next year.

The company has received tentative approvals for the 2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg versions of the drug, lisinopril.
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MTNL reduces WLL rental
New Delhi: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam on Wednesday reduced the rental of its mobile service on wireless in local loop (WLL) to Rs 550 per month from Rs 600.

"Rental has been reduced in the wake of increase in the number of WLL connections," said K H Khan, chief general manager, MTNL (Delhi).

MTNL also reduced the call charges to Rs 1.20 for a three-minute outgoing call from Rs 1.40 earlier, on the WLL connections. However, security deposit of Rs 10,000 against a handset would continue.
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Satyam Infoway Q2 cash loss narrows
Mumbai: Satyam Infoway on Wednesday said its cash loss in July-September narrowed by 21.3 per cent from the previous quarter and by two per cent from a year earlier.

The company had a cash loss of $4.8 million in the second quarter compared with $6.1 million in April-June and $4.9 million in the same quarter last year.

It said total revenue for the quarter was $10.9 million, up 17.2 per cent from the previous quarter and up 21.1 per cent from a year earlier.
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Hero Honda Q2 net rises 63 per cent
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors reported that its July-September net profit surged 63.2 per cent from a year earlier, beating analysts' expectations by a wide margin.

The company would pay out Rs 99.844 crore as one-time dividend to shareholders, or 250 per cent on its Rs 2 face-value share, from its over Rs 3.0 billion cash hoard.

The firm said second-quarter net profit rose to Rs 98.34 crore or Rs 4.92 a share on a two-rupee face value share from Rs 60.27 crore or Rs 15.09 on a 10-rupee share in the year-earlier period. Net sales surged 40.4 per cent to Rs 1,038 crore from Rs 739 crore in the year-ago quarter.
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HDFC, ICICI Home Finance cut interest rates
Mumbai: The Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on Wednesday cut its lending rate by 25 basis points (bps) and 50 bps for its fixed-rate and floating-rate loans respectively. HDFCs retail prime lending rate has been reduced by 50 bps to 12 per cent from 12.5 per cent, while a 25 bps cut in deposit rates also been effected.

The ICICI Home Finance too reduced its interest rates on loans by 25 basis points (bps) across various maturities.
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Godrej exits Pillsbury JV
Mumbai: The Godrej Group is pulling out of Godrej Pillsbury Ltd, a joint venture with Selviac Nederland BV (Pillsbury), by divesting 43.5 per cent to the Pillsbury company. The company would then become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Pillsbury company.

The Godrej Group informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that an agreement to this effect was signed on Wednesday and the divestment would be subject to the necessary approvals like the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the Reserve Bank of India, among others.

Godrej Industries and Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. together hold 43.4 per cent in the joint venture. The balance 56.5 per cent stake is held by Pillsbury.
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Natco pharma introduces 34 formulations
Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma Ltd has entered into the formulations segment by recently introducing 34 products in the state. The branded formulations include anti-bacterial, gastro-intestinal, neuro-psychiatry and nutrition segments.
The company has also launched the products in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa, which are expected to boost the bottomline of the company.
Meanwhile, the company has reported a net profit of Rs 41 lakh for the half-year ended September 30, on a turnover of Rs 35.44 crore. For the same period during the last fiscal, the company incurred a loss of Rs 3.13 crore on a turnover of Rs 34 crore.
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JK Tyre launches Ultima XPS
New Delhi: J K Tyre has decided to move into the fast growing midsize passenger car segment with the launch of Ultima XPS. The launch would pit J K Tyre directly against Bridgestone, which claims leadership in the premium passenger car radials.

The tyre to be available in two sizes-175/70/R13 and 175/80/R13 has been priced at Rs 2500, which is 15-20 per cent premium over the branded tyres currently available in the market.

The company would go for a phased national launch with focus on 8 leading urban centres of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Chandigarh, Ludhiana. Jallandhar and Cochin. The product is targeted at high income class group customers with A1+, A1 and A2 SEC demographic classifications.
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Toyota Kirloskar begins exports of Qualis
Bangalore: Toyota Kirloskar Motor has begun exporting Qualis to Nepal. Qualis would be a tourist attraction in the mountain state.This would be the first step in introducing the Qualis to other Asia-Pacific countries.

TKM has sold 43,000 Qualis till date. Qualis which was launched in January 2000 hopes to sell 31,000 by the end of the current year.
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