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Infosys to
open office in Shanghai
Bangalore:
Chinese prime minister Zhu Rongji on 17 January gave the go-ahead
to software major Infosys Technologies for setting up an office in
Shanghai.
"Right now I am giving my approval", Zhu said as he
announced his instantaneous decision to loud applause while
delivering an address at the Infosys campus on the outskirts of
Bangalore.
In his speech, Zhu made laudatory references to India's strides in
the software sector and proposed that both countries join hands in
this area.
"You are number one in the world in terms of software, we are
number one in terms of hardware. We together will make world
number one," he said.
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MUL
declared car maker of the year
New Delhi:
Maruti Udyog has been adjudged the 'Car Maker of the Year' by
automobile magazine Overdrive.
The company's premium small car 'Alto' has also bagged the 'Car of
the Year' award from the magazine.
Maruti Managing Director Jagdish Khattar received the awards at a
function held here on 16 January.
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GM
to introduce new models
New Delhi:
General Motors is planning to introduce a host of new models in
India through the CBU route. In the pipeline are Vectra, Zafira,
and several types of multi utility vehicles.
GM India also announced launch of two new variants of its
mid-segment models Opel Corsa and Opel Astra. Priced at Rs 5.48
lakh, 1.4GL Corsa is slated to take on Esteem 1.3Vx and Ford Ikon
1.3Clxi. The new variant of Opel Astra is pegged at Rs 7.63 lakh.
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Kinetic
to launch cruiser bikes
New Delhi:
Kinetic is planning to launch a 250cc motorcycle in the next 18-24
months and two cruiser motorcycles by this year end.
The company plans to launch a 150cc and a 175cc cruiser
motorcycles, besides a 100cc 'Boss', 150cc 'GF 150' and a 115cc
four-stroke scooter 'Nova'.
'Boss', which will be priced at Rs 32,000 and a fuel economy of 75
kmpl, is slated to be launched next week, while 'Nova' and 'GF
150' will be rolled out in March.
With the launch of new models this year, the company would have as
many as 14 models covering the entire spectrum of two wheelers.
Kinetic manufactures 'GF 125' in technical collaboration with
South Korea's Hyosung apart from producing in-house developed 10cc
motorcycle 'Challenger'.
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Leyland
unveils new LCV
New Delhi: Ashok
Leyland Ltd has exhibited a new light commercial vehicle at the
Auto Expo here.Labelled Logix 509V, the vehicle marks a possible
foray by Leyland into the sub-six tonne LCV segment.
The Logix 509 V is a
typical last-mile' vehicle that combines easy manoeuvrability for
city driving conditions and load carrying capacity. The vehicle is
powered by Hino WO4D engine which satisfies Bharat Stage I
emission norms and is already used in Leyland's other vehicles.
It would have a
semi-forward driver cabin, which is perceived to be safer in the
event of a head-on collision. It would have a loading space of 12
cubic metres and a floor-to-roof clearance of 1.7 metres.
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Voltas
launches new range of ACs
Pune:
Voltas has launched a new range of air conditioners under the
brand name Vertis. Vertis is a product of a manufacturing only
joint venture between Voltas and Fedders International Inc of USA.
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HP
showcases Concept PC
New Delhi:
Hewlett-Packard has developed a new futuristic design for the
personal computer and is currently showcasing this Concept PC II
in India.
HP has developed only
four units of this Concept PC to showcase in the worldwide market
and to gather the feedback of end-users, customers and channel
partners. The new design is Bluetooth enabled and does not need
wires to connect monitor, keyboard, mouse and console to each
other. This enables the console to be separated from the rest of
the components and kept at a distance from the end user. The PC
has a flat screen monitor unit, which also houses a camera, a
speaker and CD-ROM drive.
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Herbal
asthma drug developed
New Delhi:
Kolkata-based Herbicure India and the department of pharmaceutical
technology of Jadavpur University have developed an ayurvedic
medicine called Asmakure aimed at providing permanent relief
from asthma.
The product has received approval from the directorate of drug
control, West Bengal.
Herbicure has filed a product and process patent and launched the
product in the eastern states. It is shortly planning to launch it
in the northern and the western regions of the country.
With a daily intake of 1 to 2 teaspoonfuls of the medicine, based
on the degree of acuteness of the asthmatic condition, Asmakure is
said to gradually scale down the severity of the disease and wean
away patients from the use of steroids and other anti-asthmatic
measures.
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SAIL
unveils corrosion-resistant steel
Mumbai: Steel
Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has announced the launch of its
newly developed high corrosion- resistant structural steel.
The high
corrosion-resistant structural steel developed by SAIL's Bhilai
steel plant is marketed in the form of beams/joists, channels and
angles. The highlight of this product is its increased resistance
to corrosion as compared to conventional steel.
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LIC
to offer extra risk cover
Mumbai:
Life Insurance Corporation of India will provide an extra risk
cover, up to double the existing insurance cover under its whole
life, endowment and money-back plans to new policy holders.
This value added facility could be extended to existing policies
at later date, LIC said in a release here.
The extra cover, subject to an overall limit of Rs 25 lakh would
be offered at an extra premium to the policy holders between age
of 18-50 years with minimum life insurance of Rs one lakh.
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IDBI-Principal
ties up with banks
New Delhi:
The IDBI and Principal Financial Corporation joint venture, IDBI-Principal,
has tied up with HSBC Bank, Standard Chartered bank, Citi Bank and
Global Trust Bank to offer direct credit/debit facility in key
metro cities in India.
The direct credit facility would initially be available for the
Cash Management funds, taking the advantage of tax-free returns
through investments in this fund, an IDBI-Principal release said.
This facility would be available in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Channai,
Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ludhiana and Chandigarh.
The IDBI-Principal has also partnered with HDFC bank and IDBI Bank
to offer this facility in Mumbai.
Under this facility, existing investors having an account with the
respective bank could place a request for direct deposit or credit
facility in their account and get the redemption/subscription
amount directly transferred to their account.
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Bharat
Hotels plan luxury hotel in Kashmir
New Delhi:
Bharat Hotels is planning to open another five star hotel in
Gulmarg in the Kashmir Valley.
The group already has a luxury hotel, Grand Palace
Inter-Continental located in the heart of Srinagar.
Grand Palace, which was taken over from the Oberio's Group, was
completely renovated at an investment of Rs 85 crores.
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Batata
introduces roaming facility
Hyderabad:
Birla Tata AT&T , the largest cellular operator in Andhra
Pradesh, has launched roaming facility on its prepaid card.
The service has been extended in Tamil Nadu and Kerala immediately
while Karnataka will be connected by the end of this month.
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Singer
to increase authorised share capital
Mumbai:
Singer India will seek shareholders' approval to expand its
authorised capital base to raise Rs 20 crore and issue equity
shares on rights basis in 1:1 ratio.
The company has convened an extra-ordinary general meeting on 15
February to seek its shareholders' approval.
The company plans to increase its authorised share capital to Rs
20 crore divided into 20 million shares of Rs 10 each by creation
of 10 million shares of Rs.10 each and classifying the one million
unclassified shares as one million equity shares of Rs 10 each.
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Syndicate
Bank Q3 net up 15.62%
Mumbai:
Syndicate Bank has posted a 15.62 per cent increase in net profit
at Rs 99.99 crore for the third quarter ended 31 December,
compared to Rs 86.48 crore for the same period last year.
Total income for the reporting quarter stood lower at Rs 756.06
crore as against Rs 770.84 crore for the qaurter ended 31 December
2000.
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PowerGrid
invites bids for investment
New Delhi:
PowerGrid has invited bids from shortlisted private parties to
submit their techno-commercial and tariff proposals for
establishing projects on 'Build-Own-Operate-Transfer' basis.
Bidders would be required to quote yearly transmission service
charges for the licence term of 30 years. The licences would be
issued by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission upon
approval of the PowerGrid.
As a part of two stage
bidding process, request for qualification document on
international competitive bidding basis was issued to interested
parties for their participation. Six parties submitted their
qualification statements.
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Mascot
gets Aussie customers
Bangalore:
Software services company, Mascot Systems, acquired several
high-potential customers in Australia.
They include developing an integrated water management system for
a leading Australian water services provider and a plant budgeting
system for one of Australia's largest contract-mining groups.
The contracts have an aggregate value of 1.1 million AUS dollars
and represent Mascot's foray into the high potential Australian
market.
Mascot has won four assignments in Australia over the last two
months.
Asia Pacific contributed Rs 42 crore to Mascot's revenues in the
first half of the current financial year, representing 19 per cent
of its business.
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UTI
declares 3% quarterly dividend
Mumbai:
Unit Trust of India has declared three per cent dividend per unit
(face value Rs 10) for its bond fund for the quarter ended 31
December 2001.
The dividend would be tax free in hands of the investors and
distributed to those who had opted for the income option.
The asset base under management of the income option and growth
option stood at Rs 1,296 crore and Rs 93 crore respectively.
The net asset value of the debt fund stood at Rs 15.44 per unit.
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L&T
bags Chennai Petroleum contract
Mumbai:
Larsen & Toubro has bagged a Rs 445 crore turnkey order from
Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
The order is for CPCL's refinery expansion project at Manali near
Chennai to increase the capacity by three million tonnes.
The contract consists of a hydrogen generation unit, naphtha hydro
treater unit and a catalytic reforming unit. To execute the fast
track project, the company is to deploy its state-of-the-art IT
systems and VSAT facilities.
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Siemens
India buys back 23.55 lakh shares
Mumbai:
Siemens India Ltd bought 23.55 lakh shares (of Rs 10 each) at Rs
46.52 crore under the buy back programme from the open market.
The company has bought back 23,55,794 equity shares at an average
price of Rs 197.49 per share, Chairman F Mehta told shareholders
at the annual general meeting here on 17 January.
As a result, Siemens AG's, the German parent's stake in Indian
subsidiary stood at 54.63 per cent of the equity capital and the
rest 45.37 per cent holding was with Indian shareholders.
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Fabmart
to make offline foray
Bangalore:
Leading e-tailer Fabmart Pvt Ltd, in which the Reliance group
holds a significant stake, plans to set up physical stores in
order to tap a new consumer segment.
The company plans to set up seven to 10 stores through franchisees
in five Indian cities by the end of the year.
The company will initially start off with groceries, from which it
gets the main revenues, but later plan to sell other items.
Reliance and venture capital firm Chrysalis Capital together have
a majority stake in the portal.
Fabmart.com delivers goods ranging from groceries to computers to
850 locations across India.
Fabmart expects to clock revenues of Rs 100 million by the end of
March and aims to boost this to Rs 350 million by March 2003.
The portal employs only about 40 people and outsources most of its
requirements, including delivery of goods.
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HMT
to be privatized
New Delhi: The
government has begun the process of disinvestments in the
Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT). While it is selling 74 per cent of
government equity in the tractor business to a joint venture
partner, it is also offloading majority stake in other businesses
of the machine tools major.
Even though the
government has decided to privatise the entire HMT, it is yet to
finalise the percentage of shares it would offer to the strategic
partners in HMT International, Bangalore; HMT Bearings, Hyderabad;
HMT Machine Tools, Bangalore; HMT Watches, Bangalore; and HMT
Chinar Watches in Jammu.
At present, the
government holds 91.56 per cent shares in HMT. HMT has been
incurring losses for quite some time. The company lost Rs 23.94
crore in 1997-98, which went up to Rs 36.57 crore in the next
fiscal, and mounted to Rs 296.91 crore in 1999-2000.
Set up in 1953, HMT has
15 manufacturing units in nine states.
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VSNL
to set up teleports
Mumbai:
VSNL is setting up a teleport each in Mumbai and Delhi for
uplinking of television channels. For this, VSNL is entering into
an agreement with Thailand-based Shin Satellite to uplink TV
channels from India to the Thaicom satellite. Till now, VSNL used
to provide uplinking facilities only via Intelsat and Insat.
While VSNL will put in
the resource for creating the uplinking facilities in the two
cities, Thaicom will provide access to the satellite.
VSNL is targeting the
Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi language channels.
Broadcasters have to pay
one months fee in advance and the rest in quarterly
installments. The uplinking fee is Rs 15 lakh per channel per
month.
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Virgin
Records to slash CD prices
Mumbai:
Virgin Records (India) Limited will slash prices on compact discs
across its catalogue during the last week of January.
Virgin has a catalogue
comprising international music, indipop and classical offerings.
The reduction on the international catalogue for the full price
category is almost 40 per cent. Virgins full price category
includes some of the biggest artists like The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones.
Worldwide, Virgins
catalogue has over 1,500 artists, which include some of the
biggest names in the music business. The company is a direct
subsidiary of EMI.
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P&O
Nedlloyd sets up IT services
Mumbai:
Britsh-Dutch Container Shipping lines giant, P&O Nedlloyd, has
set up a 100 per cent subsidiary, P&O Nedlloyd IT Services Pvt
Ltd in India.
P&O Nedlloyds IT
Services will be a global IT Support Centre and also act as a
back-office for P&Os worldwide business covering a variety
of shipping documentation and finance-related processes.
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IOC
eyes Nocils petro business
New Delhi:
The Indian Oil Corporation plans to reopen its dialogue with Nocil
to take over its petrochemical business.
Nocil was in talks with the Shell group to expand and modernise
its petrochemical business. However, since the discussions did not
fructify, Nocil has been looking for other partners.
IOC is already planning a mega petrochemical complex in Haryana
for which it has already got clearances.
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Barista
to sponsor music, sports
Mumbai:
Coffee chain Barista plans promote adventure sports, music, art,
and social marketing initiatives through its brand extension,
Barista Experience.
The company has tied-up
with a well-known US company for adventure sports and also with
the Himachal Pradesh government. It has also tied up with
Spic-Macay, the non-profit organisation which promotes Indian
classical music and culture.
And there are several
more tie-ups in the pipeline. Barista Coffee managing director
Ravi All Barista stores in India will be used for the brand
extension activities.
The company will also
support classical music concerts. Barista is also bringing out a
collection of CDs. For books, it has tied-up with Crossroads.
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Tata
Tele inks deal with IDBI
Mumbai:
Tata Teleservices has entered into a tri-partite agreement with
IDBI and the department of telecommunications for a package to
finance the rollout of its basic services in the Delhi, Gujarat,
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu circles.
The total loan amount may
be in the region of Rs 8,000 crore.
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Broadcast
Worldwide to raise Rs 25 cr thru pvt placement
New Delhi:
Broadcast Worldwide, which owns regional channels called TARA, is
raising Rs 25 crore through private placement. Talks are on with
three-four private parties for raising a total of Rs 25 crore.
The funds would be
required for running the existing Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, and
Punjabi channels.
Currently, Ratikant Basu
& Associates holds one third stake in the company which
include the five per cent stake held by Rupert Murdoch; Sterling
Infotech holds one third stake while the remaining is held jointly
by three FIs.
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Cartoon
Network plans cricket match
Chennai: Cartoon
Network is organising a cricket match for cartoon characters on 10
February at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai. This
initiative is a part of the channel's strategy to reach out to its
viewers across the country.
The channel has also
backed its programming with aggressive below-the-line promotions
featuring well-known cricketers and film stars.
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