IDBI to buy $42 mn IFCI preference shares
Mumbai: IFCI has approved placing Rs 200 crore worth preference shares with the Industrial Development Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange said Monday.

IDBI is the lead founder of IFCI and is funding a bailout package, approved by the government. The exchange said IFCI would place the shares with IDBI at par and subject to central bank approvals.
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Hetero Drugs gets FDA nod for five APIs
Mumbai: Hetero Drugs has received the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for five active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) omeprazole, tizanidine HCI, itraconazole, sertraline HCI and fosinopril sodium. The approval would enable the company to enter the regulated market in the US for the first time.

The company has tied up with generic manufacturers in the US and expects to commence exports shortly. Prices of these APIs in the US market vary between five to ten times of those prevailing in the Indian market.
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Ivax, Cipla in drug sourcing deal
Mumbai: Generic drug-maker Ivax Corp has signed agreements with four Indian pharmaceutical companies to jointly develop 17 generic drugs for the global market.

Ivax already has a deal to source seven generic drugs from leading Indian drugmaker Cipla Ltd.
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Sansui launches Flatotron, Core CTVs
Mumbai: Sansui Ltd has launched Flatotron and Core Series range of colour televisions (CTVs) in the 20-inch and 21-inch segment. The company has started importing the kit from the parent company, Sansui Japan and assembling them in India.

While Flatotron is an extension of Sansuis 29-inch flat CTV portfolio, Core Series CTV has features such as anti-glare filter glass which protects ones eyes from strain.

Sansuis Flatotron in the 21-inch bracket is priced Rs 19,000 onwards, whereas Sony Wega in the similar bracket is priced Rs 20,000 onwards
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VSNL to get OFC network from RIL
Mumbai: Videsh Sanchar Nigam will take on lease bandwidth for national long-distance services from Reliance Infocom.

Reliance has already laid a duct of 18,000 km out of which 7,000 km is already blown with optical fibre.

Initially, the contract will be for leasing the OFC network for connecting main cities. The total size of the contract is less than Rs 200 crore for the first phase of the project.
Later on, VSNL may lease more bandwidth from Reliance Infocom.

Bharti Tele-Ventures is the only other company which has announced plans for NLD services. BTVL The company has already laid a state-of-the-art optic fibre cable network of 12,000 km. It plans to lay 28,000 km of OFC network in the country.
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Infosys to explore Chinese market
Bangalore: Infosys has formed a group that is looking at possible Chinese initiatives as well as the potential of the Chinese market. The company may also decide on setting up development centres in China.

The company strongly feels that China will become a very serious competition for India in the software arena and wants the two countries to become close trading partners.
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Modis to sell online lottery
New Delhi: The K K Modi Group is investing Rs 500 crore to launch a national online lottery. Globally, the online lottery business is worth $128 billion, growing at between 1-4 per cent annually.

In India, the online lottery business is just beginning to attract corporate interest, with the Essel Group announcing plans in this area only a week ago and others like the Mittals, Ventures Infotech and M S Subba believed to be the potential players in the future.

Modi Enterprises has brought in Victor Chandler International of UK, and a South Korea-based company called Tiger Pools as equity partners in the online lottery venture which has been named MwC Market Services.

The company plans to launch the service next May through a network of over 8,600 online lottery retail terminals at various FMCG outlets in 166 cities across India.
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Kinetic to enter insurance business
Pune: Kinetic Engineering, the two-wheeler manufacturer, is all set to foray into the insurance segment with a possible tie-up with a national-level insurance company in the next quarter.

The company is planning to get into general and life insurance products distribution business and is in talks with at least three large companies in this regard.

The companys decision to foray into a new business area has been prompted by the fact that its fledgling direct marketing company, Kinetic Marketing & Services Ltd (KMSL) floated last year to market vehicles door-to-door has developed into a 650 strong field -force operating out of 105 locations across the country.

The Rs 1,100-crore group, also plans to leverage its large field-force and distribution network to market other products like appliances, branded vehicle accessories and personal computers among other things.
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Bajaj three-wheelers to hit Brazil roads
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto Ltd has begun production of three-wheelers at a new plant in Brazil for the local market and its neighbouring regions.

Bajaj is exporting completely knocked and semi-knocked down kits to Manaus at Brazil for assembly and sale there. Bajajs dealer there has set up the plant. The plant has an installed capacity of making 15,000-20,000 three-wheelers annually. The company expects to sell 1.35 million vehicles, including two and three-wheelers, in 2001-02.
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L&T Capital ties up with Dubai Co
Mumbai: L&T Capital Company Ltd and the Emirates Intellectual Embryo of Dubai have entered into a strategic alliance in the area of venture capital and business incubation.

Accordingly, LTCC will generate and process the deal flows by working closely with Indian technical institutes, research institutions, universities and corporate entities that are engaged in technological research and product development for funding by EIE.

While EIE is seeking to fund new technology start ups, LTCC has been an active player in consulting, project advisory, debt replacement equity placement and money market and has plans to grow in the financial services arena.
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BPL explores settlement with CDC Finance
Mumbai: The BPL group is exploring an out-of-court settlement with CDC Financial Services, which has filed a case seeking to block the merger between BPL Communications and Birla-Tata-AT&T. CDC has the full backing of the other foreign investors in BPL Comm. These foreign investors together hold a 39.6 per cent stake in BPL Communications, and hence can block the mega merger.

The overseas investors in BPL Communications include AIG Asian Infrastructure Fund, Asian Infrastructure Development Company, CDC Financial Services, Nomura International, South Asia Regional Fund and TVG Asian Communications Fund.
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UTI to dilute stake in UTI Bank
Mumbai: The Unit Trust of India (UTI) has decided to bring down its stake in UTI Bank to 26 per cent from 44.9 per cent. The dilution will be done through expanding the equity base of the bank.

The plan to bring down UTI's stake to 26 per cent without losing management control has been discussed at the highest levels of the banks management.

The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) and the GIC subsidiaries collectively hold 9.31 per cent stake in UTI Bank.

UTI Bank is in talks with some foreign banks and also with Fortis, the Dutch-Belgian financial group, for inducting a strategic partner.
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GVK in biotech pact with US firm
Mumbai: The GVK group plans to strike an alliance with a US-based company to boost its presence in the biotechnology sector. GVK Biosciences, the 100 per cent arm of the Hyderabad-based GVK Industries, will tie up with the US company and would also set up centres of excellence in the US.

The group is looking at research in the anti-infectives segment with focus on some other specialty segments.

GVK Biosciences will focus on bioinformatics training and services such as datamining, protein modelling and genome servicing.

Other major players in the domestic biotech sector include Wockhardt, Shantha Biotech and Bharat Biotech.
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Bajaj, Kawasaki explore new alliance
New Delhi: Bajaj Auto Ltd has made a proposal to its technical partner Kawasaki Motor Company for a collaboration to manufacture Kawasaki's sub-200cc motorcycles in India and market them worldwide.

The company has made the proposal with the reasoning that sub-200cc bikes have a huge market in the country.

They can also be manufactured at lower costs due to low labour and other input costs. Bajaj has also established itself as a quality manufacturer of bikes indigenously using Kawasaki technology and the same can be applied to new bikes which have a market in several other countries. Manufacturing costs in Japan, as well as Europe, are extremely high.
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Nestle India to launch biscuits
New Delhi: Nestle India is all set to launch a whole range of biscuits and cookies in the market soon. The company is looking at the possibility of launching the new products under the "Milkmaid" brandname. The products are expected to be soft-launched in the last quarter of the financial year.

The company had acquired the biscuit manufacturing business from Dabur India Ltd more than a year ago.

Nestle is will also launch a specially brewed instant cold coffee and iced tea in the country through the newly set up joint venture company Beverage Partners Worldwide. Zurich-based BPW is a 50:50 joint venture between Nestle SA and Coca-Cola International.
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Shaw Wallace to make foray into lifestyle
Mumbai: The Shaw Wallace's flagship spirits brand Director's Special is planning to extend its brand to perfumes, toiletries, apparel and accessories.

Initially, the company plans to launch DSP brand of perfumes by the first week of January. The perfumes will be priced at Rs 200 for a 180 ml pack. The product would be outsourced from the Goa-based Feiminch India.

Feiminch India also has a manufacturing arrangement with the Vijaypat Singhania group company, JK Helene Curtis, for its Premium brand of men's accessories.

The officials said the DSP brand products were targetted at the high-end customer segment. The company will spend around Rs 15 crore on advertising and promotional activities of the DSP brand.
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