Tata Fin seeks investments from HDFC, IFC
Mumbai: Tata group is in talks with at Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Washington, and an unknown financial entity for acquisition of a stake in Tata Finance.

Tata Finance is looking at potential partners who could infuse some much-needed capital into the company while also bringing in the necessary expertise required for the financial services business.
Both HDFC and IFC, who are in talks with Tata Finance, are promoters of IL&FS. IFC Washington also has a 19 per cent stake in Tata Home Finance.
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ASC Enterprises to acquire Procall
New Delhi: ASC Entrerprises is likely to acquire Delhi-based mobile radio trunking company Procall shortly for an undisclosed amount.

Procall is a 51:49 joint venture between Punwire and Motorola, and has been facing severe resource crunch since Punwire went into liquidation last year.
ASC had earlier taken over Mumbai-based Quickcalls, a Motorola-Bhilwara JV.

Procall, which posted Rs 10-crore sale turnover last fiscal and has a paid-up capital of Rs 11 crore, will help ASC consolidate its market position in radio trunking.
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Bajaj plans bike for world market
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are collaborating on a new 125 cc bike for the world and domestic markets.

The new bike is expected to be marketed in India by Bajaj and in other countries by Kawasaki.
The bike is slated for launch in India by late 2003.
Bajaj and Kawasaki have enjoyed a successful partnership since they joined hands in 1984 to sell bikes in India, the world's second-largest motorcycle market.
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Shaw Wallace signs pact with Kyndal International
Mumbai: Shaw Wallace has inked a pact with Glasgow-based Kyndal International to launch major liquor brands in India. It would set up a special team to handle the premium segments brands in the country.

"This tie-up will provide Shaw Wallace access to Kyndal's manufacturing facilities for producing and distributing SW brands in global market," M R Chhabria, chairman of Shaw Wallace group of companies told reporters here after signing the memorandum of understanding.

Kyndal would also assist SW in reviewing manufacturing and blending processes as well as training personnel for improving overall quality, he said, adding this move was a step towards becoming a truly global company.
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Wipro, Geometric in software deal
Bangalore: Wipro has tied up with Geometric Software Solutions to jointly provide technology services to manufacturing sectors in the United States, Japan and Europe.

Wipro will combine its expertise in enterprise IT solutions and database management with Geometric's strengths in computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing software.
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BPL Mobile, ICICI Bank launch credit card
New Delhi: ICICI Bank and BPL Mobile Cellular have launched a co-branded credit card in Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala circles.

The co-branded credit card would offer BPL Mobile's existing customer base benefits like flexible and convenient payment facility, national roaming facility without additional deposit and mobile phone insurance.
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Bank Muscat eyeing tie-up with Indian Bank
New Delhi: Bank Muscat is exploring a strategic tie-up with an Indian Bank for expansion in the country.

Initial discussions were held with a bank in India while the other option was to maintain status quo and undertake growth plans on its own, a release said.
Apart from India, the bank was going ahead with its plans to purchase a branch of ABN Amro Bank in Bahrain.

Bank Muscat had also announced plans to merge with the Industrial Bank of Oman which would strengthen capital base of the bank to $520 million.
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Birlas not to pursue DPC investment
Mumbai: The Aditya Vikram Birla group has decided not to pursue equity investment opportunities in Dabhol Power Company (DPC).

A statement issued by the AV Birla group on Monday said: Our Group is continuously looking at opportunities to enhance our shareholder value. We have looked at the Dabhol Project and are not interested in pursuing equity investment opportunities in Dabhol Power Company.

The group had earlier held initial discussions with the financial institutions to pursue the matter.
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Tata Tea to launch new brands
Kochi: Tata Tea plans to launch a new brand once in two months. Till recently a new offering was made only once in two to three years.

The company has 23 tea estates in and around Munnar, making a total of 28 tea and one coffee estates in South India. With the export prospects for Orthodox tea on the rise, the company would be producing additional 7 million kgs of Orthodox tea this year in South India.
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Essar Oil to start drilling in Saurashtra offshore
Mumbai: Essar Oil and Petrom SA consortium will begin drilling an offshore exploratory well in south Saurashtra offshore.This will be the first offshore exploratory drilling effort by the consortium. The block BB-OS-5 is located in Mumbai offshore basin and lies in the west of Tapti gas fields. The exploratory well will cost about $8 million to the consortium. The company has spent $1 million till now.
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Dominos offers 3% stake to investors
New Delhi: Dominos Pizza is shelling out 3 per cent stake in its Indian arm to existing foreign investors and foreign collaborators for Rs 5.28 crore. This will put the valuation of Dominos India Pizza at around Rs 180 crore.

The pizza chain is increasing its foreign equity stake in the Indian company from 25 to 28 per cent, by issuing 3.5 million shares of Rs 10 each to foreign investors.

Domino India Pizza's initial foreign shareholding was around 25 per cent, amounting to Rs 4.6 crore in the paid up capital of the company. The foreign equity holders in Dominos India Pizza Ltd are India Private Equity Fund, Mauritius, which held 16 per cent and Indocean Pizza Holding, with 9 per cent.
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Gail offers to buy 50% stake in GSPL
Ahmedabad: Gail has offered to pick up 50 per cent equity stake in Gujarat State Petronet for a consideration of $50 million. GSPL is the nodal agency for setting up a Rs 2345-crore, 1507-km gas grid project in Gujarat.

Krishak Bharati Cooperative too has evinced interest in parking its funds in GSPL by picking up a 20 per cent equity stake. As of now GSPL has offered Kribhco a 11 per cent stake in the company.
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Burnol looks out for a buyer
New Delhi: Burnol, the over-the-counter (OTC) antiseptic cream from Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd (RBIL), is looking for a potential buyer.

Burnol, which Reckitt Piramal Ltd (RPL) bought from Knoll Pharmaceuticals, returned to the RBIL stable following the RPL's restructuring. RBIL has pegged the price of Burnol at Rs 6 crore.

Burnol has a goodwill of about Rs 9 crore and a potential of about Rs 12 crore.
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About 5,000 Palios sold
Mumbai: Fiat India Ltd, which has sold about 5,000 units of the Palio so far, has received orders for a further 5,000-6,000 units.

``We have ramped up production at the Kurla plant to 120-130 cars per day in two shifts,'' Vijay Chandorikar, director (commercial), said on the sidelines of a press briefing in connection with the launch of insurance products for Fiat customers.

The Kurla plant can produce altogether 60,000 cars over three shifts. Fiat India targets to sell 50,000 Palios in 2002.
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Maruti debt doubles to Rs 1,112.1 crore
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog Ltds market borrowing reached an all-time high of Rs 1,112.1 crore in the 2000-01 financial year, more than double the figure of Rs 546.1-crore in the previous year.

This consisted of Rs 439.9-crore of long-term borrowing and Rs 672.2-crore of short-term borrowing, all of which contributed to making the joint venture company a loss-maker for the first time, according to the annual report of the company.
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Thermax disposes electronics arm
Pune: Thermax Ltd has sold off its subsidiary Thermax Electronics to Thakor Electronics Ltd for an unspecified sum. The deal was recently finalised with land, building, plant and machinery.

The company had announced the sale of the 100 per cent subsidiary in April 2001 as part of its restructuring exercise. Thakore Electronics has already planned new investments to increase capacities and expand the product portfolio.
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Binny begins VRS payments
Chennai: Binny Ltd has commenced payment to the workers who had opted for the voluntary retirement scheme and who were yet to receive any compensation.

Under the scheme, the company will pay Rs 3.95 crore to 1,131 workers at the B&C Mills as a part of the Rs 67.75-crore VRS finalised in 1998. The company has time till January 31, to fully pay the workers the VRS compensation, which includes Rs 1.25 lakh in addition to the statutory payments.
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Chhabria plans delisting of group firms
New Delhi: Manu Chhabria plans to delist group companies from the stock exchanges with a view to making it a closely held group.

The companies controlled by Chhabria include Shaw Wallace, Dunlop India, Falcon Tyres, Mather & Platt and Hindustan Dorr-Oliver. The combined turnover of these companies is in excess of Rs 5,000 crore.

According to the rules laid down by the Securities & Exchange Board of India, if the promoters shareholding in a company crosses 90 per cent, the promoter can get the company delisted from the bourses.

With low share prices, Chhabria can delist his companies for less than Rs 100 crore at current prices.
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Piramal recasts OTC business
Mumbai: The Nicholas Piramal group is reorganising its over-the-counter (OTC) business to make Boots Piramal into an OTC powerhouse.

All brands from Nicholas Piramals now-dissolved joint venture with Reckitt Benckiser and Reckitt Piramal will be transferred to Boots Piramal. These include Saridon, Aspro, Lacto Calamine and Polycrol. Saridon.

The group is hiking its stake in Boots Piramal to 49 per cent.
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Coca-Cola to relaunch Rimzim
New Delhi: Coca-Cola India will launch 'Peortello', a black currant flavoured drink which is very popular in Sri Lanka and 'Rimzim', the masala soda brand of the erstwhile Parle group coming December.

Both Peortello and Rimzim will have local flavours, with the former being targeted especially at the southern markets, and the latter in the western markets where Rimzim took birth and emerged as a bestseller in the 1980s under Parle.

Coca-Cola's strategy to relaunch Rimzim is aimed essentially to address the rural market. Rimzim was an extremely popular brand in Maharashtra before it was withdrawn in the early 1990s following the acquisition of Parle's brands by Coca-Cola.
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GNFC declares 27 per cent dividend
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company Ltd (GNFC) has declared a dividend of 27 per cent for fiscal 2000-01 on the back of an all-round performance.

The company clocked a turnover of Rs. 1422.25 crore, a gross profit of Rs 268.33 crore against Rs 219.64 crore in the previous year.

Net Profit stood at Rs 105.55 crore against Rs 66.11 crore in the previous fiscal.
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