Air-India to shed 2,000 jobs in revamp
New Delhi: Air-India is in the process of preparing a new business plan, which includes fleet expansion, opening new routes and announcing a VRS to trim excess flab.

As part of its cost-cutting exercise, the government on Saturday dismissed around 8 engineers, who were posted in the overseas offices of Air-India, resulting in a saving of around Rs 1.8 crore for the airline. In addition, it is also considering setting up a search committee to appoint full-time chairman-cum-managing director for Air-India, Indian Airlines and Airports Authority of India.

A meeting is being convened with senior Air-India (A-I) officials to formulate and discuss the new business plan, which will aim to increase the airlines profitability.

The new business plan will be presented to the civil aviation ministry within the next 10 days.
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Zee allowed to uplink from India
Mumbai: The government has granted permission to Zee Telefilms to uplink seven of its channels from India. The uplinking will be done through the Essel Shyam Teleport located at Noida, which came into existence nearly a year ago.

At present a majority of the TVchannels have to be uplinked from Singapore or Hong Kong.

The uplinking from India will result in direct savings of $2-3 million annually for the Zee operations.

The uplinking permission would enable Zee News to beam news in real time. Currently uplinking through Singapore results in a time lag.

Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee English, Zee MGM and the southern channels of Zee Bharathi and Kaveri would continue to be uplinked from Singapore.
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Videocon to bid for DPC stake
Mumbai: The Videocon group is likely to become the third bidder for the Dabhol Power Company amid reports that Enron might sell its stake in the company at a lesser value than the official price tag of $1.2 billion.
Videocon is reported to have initiated talks with the Industrial Development Bank of India led financial institutions and state energy secretary V M Lal over their interest in the distress sale of the $3 billion power project in Guhagar, Maharashtra.

Apart from Videocon, the two other serious bidders for the 2,184 MW project are city-based power utilities, the Tata Power Company and BSES.
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GAIL to pick up stake in ONGIO International
Mumbai: The Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) is keen on picking up equity in ONGIO International Pvt Ltd, the joint venture between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

GAIL has expressed its desire to join the consortium and there are synergies among the three oil companies. If GAIL joins the consortium, the hydrocarbon chain would be complete as GAIL is involved in distribution, while ONGC and IOC are involved in exploration and refining, respectively. The three companies are still discussing how much stake GAIL would pick up in the consortium. ONGIO is involved in taking up assignments in India and abroad in the areas of training, consultancy and services in both the upstream and downstream hydrocarbon sector.
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Royal Orchid Hotels expands ops
New Delhi: The Bangalore-based Royal Orchid Hotels has decided to open a new five-star hotel in Hyderabad and add 60 rooms to its existing property, Royal Orchid Park Plaza in Bangalore.

The company is in the process of identifying a location for another 150-room five-star hotel in Hyderabad. The Royal Park Plaza in Bangalore will be completed with an investment of Rs 32 crore.
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Enron, GE, Bechtel oppose Tata Power, BSES
Mumbai: Enron, GE and Bechtel have opposed the proposed due diligence to be carried out by Tata Power and BSES for picking up Enrons stake in the Dabhol Power project. The Dabhol Power Company (DPC) would officially send a communication in this regard to the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) early this week.
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JK taps Chinese firm for marketing
New Delhi: JK Industries is close on finalising a tie-up with a Chinese firm for sourcing of light commercial vehicle (LCV) tyres. The company is in negotiations with a Chinese company for a marketing tie-up for commercial vehicles. JK Industries may set up a marketing company in China which will manufacture commercial vehicle tyres with JK Tyres specifications and sell them under the JK brand.

The company is also looking at other south east Asian countries including Korea and Indonesia for sourcing of tyres.

The company has recently started sourcing LCV tyres from China and exporting them to Latin America and the US.
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Israeli firm to buy Excel agrochem stake
Mumbai: Excel Industries is close to selling a strategic stake in its agrochemical business to Israel-based Makhteshim-Agan Industries.

The companys agrochemical business has a turnover of Rs 65 crore which accounts for nearly 17 per cent of the total turnover of Rs 375 crore during 2000-01. Makhteshim-Agan, promoted by Koor Industries, is the largest manufacture of generic agrochemical products in the world.

The Israeli company is a leading producer of the insecticide, Endosulfan, which finds application in cotton, paddy and horticulture cultivation.
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Dabur buying Artrex from Bio Ved
Mumbai: Dabur India is buying out anti arthritis ayurveda formulation, Artrex TM, from Pune-based Bio-Ved Pharmaceuticals for an undisclosed amount.

Bio-Ved Pharma, a subsidiary of the US-based Ayurcore introduced Artrex in the country in 1998 which was marketed by Alembic Chemical.

With the inclusion of Artrex under its umbrella, Dabur will get an entry into osteo-arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis space.
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BPL, Sanyo to form joint venture deal
Bangalore: BPL's proposed 50:50 joint venture for home appliances with its technical collaborator Sanyo is at an advanced stage of negotiation.A high powered delegation from the Japanese major is visiting the BPL management shortly to conclude the alliance.

Sanyo holds 13.57 per cent in BPL's appliance business, which is handled by BS Refrigerators and BS Appliances.
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ABB to hike stake in Indian arm
Ahmedabad: Asea Brown Boveri is effecting a minor hike in the foreign equity of its Indian subsidiary, ABB Limited.

This follows the recent restructuring in the companys Indian operation which led to the merger of ABBs three group companies in India with ABB Limited. The three group companies which have merged with ABB India are ABB Lenzohm Services, ABB Instrumentation and ABB Analytical.

Post restructuring, ABBs stake will go up from 50.99 per cent to 52.11 per cent.
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Godrej Telecom to merge with holding firm
Mumbai: Godrej Telecom is merging with its holding company Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company as a part of the groups ongoing restructuring plan.

Godrej Telecom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Godrej & Boyce and sells TeleMate brand of telephone in the market.

Incorporated in 1995, Godrej Telecom had earlier entered into a joint venture with the Singapore-based Intraco group.

Godrej & Boyce, the holding company of the group, is primarily engaged in the business of consumer durables, industrial products and office equipment with a sizeable market share in home storewells and furniture, locks, office furniture and typewriters.
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