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Oriental
Insurance goes online
Indore:
The Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) has started online insurance
facility, through which a subscriber can get desired policy by
applying for it through his personal computer.
The information technology department of the company has prepared
a software through which the dealer can issue policies to the
customer by obtaining online clearance from the company.
Even individuals can get insurance cover by using the online
facility.
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Hindustan
Zinc profits down
New Delhi:
Hindustan Zincs profit for the quarter ending December 2001 has
gone down by as much as 95 per cent from Rs 68 crore to Rs 3.7
crore.
The total income has also fallen by 17 per cent and is now down to
Rs 353 crore as compared to Rs 425 crore in the same period a year
ago.
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Satyam
Q 3 profits up
New Delhi:
Satyam Computers net profits went up by 36 per cent in the
third quarter ended December 2001 compared to the same quarter in
the year 2000. It has touched Rs 119 crore.
Total income too has gone up significantly touching Rs 446 crore.
Satyam added 27 new clients in the last quarter.
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Airtel,
Essar to slash pre-paid card rates
New Delhi:
Pre-paid cellular subscribers of Airtel and Hutchison Essar in
Delhi will have to pay less for the services as the two service
providers are set to lower their rates.
Both Airtel and Essar filed their new tariff plans with the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India late last week. New rates
are expected to be announced within the next two-three days after
the regulator approves their respective plans.
Their new tariffs are likely to be very close to MTNL's rates.
MTNL, the third cellular service provider in Delhi and Mumbai,
launched its pre-paid service Trump on 14 January and priced it 50
per cent cheaper than the existing operators.
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TPC,
BSES to sign confidentiality pact for DPC sale
Mumbai:
Tata Power Company and BSES Ltd will sign the confidentiality
agreement with Enron's Dabhol Power Company on 22 January in the
presence of both Indian and foreign lenders to the project
following which the final bid will be placed on 15 April.
Tatas and BSES would sign the agreement first as they have emerged
as the most serious bidders for the plant. Other companies like
Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), Royal Dutch Shell, Totalfina
and Gaz de France are expected to sign the agreement next week.
DPC had demanded $100,000 as non-refundable earnest amount from
each of the interested parties.
The actual due diligence would begin in London on 31 January with
the bidders being given a three-day period to examine DPC's data
room and thereafter four days to complete the process.
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HDFC
cover for home loans
New Delhi:
Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has launched home
loan insurance cover from HDFC Standard Life for its customers.
A customer taking a home loan from HDFC will now be given an
option to buy this policy for the loan sanctioned by the housing
finance major.
Under the scheme, in the eventuality of any mishap, and if the
customer opts for this policy, the surviving family members do not
have to repay the loan amount.
HDFC also has an option to finance the custmer's acquisition of
the insurance package. There are two options before the consumer:
pay the premium in one go, or in 10 or 15 instalments. Customers
paying annual premium for 10 or 15 years will get full benefits if
they die during the cover period.
HDFC expects 70 per cent of its 800,000 existing home loan
customers to opt for this new scheme.
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Fiat
cuts Uno production
New Delhi:
Fiat has discontinued its station-wagon Siena Weekend and
restricted production of its once-popular small car Uno.
Instead, the production capacities at its Kurla unit in Mumbai is
being ramped up to meet the growing demand for Palio.
The company plans to replace Siena Weekend with the Palio
station-wagon and the Adventure, which will be launched in March
in the Rs 6 lakh price bracket.
Meanwhile, has begun a market survey to launch a twin-cab pick-up
truck in the country, possibly in 2003.
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Balaji
Q3 net at Rs 8.51 crore
Mumbai:
Balaji Telefilms reported a net profit of Rs 8.51 crore in the
quarter ending December 2001, as against Rs 3.46 crore in the same
period in 2000.
Net sales in the third quarter has gone up to Rs 30.1 crore from
Rs 17.8 crore in the same period a year earlier.
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Satyam to
open China office
Hyderabad:
Satyam Computer Services will open an office in China within days
to serve Chinese and neighbouring markets.
Infosys Technologies, India's second-largest software service
exporter, last week too said it was considering opening a branch
in China to tap its huge market and pool of talented manpower.
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Eveready
reports Rs 5.73 cr net loss in Q3
Kolkata:
BM Khaitan controlled Eveready Industries India Ltd registered a
net loss of Rs 5.73 crore during the third quarter ended December,
2001 compared with a net profit of Rs 10.47 crore in the
corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.
A steady decline in sales and a hefty increase in net interest
charges were largely responsible for the setback even as other
income increased to Rs 25.80 crore from Rs 3.35 crore last year.
Net sales during the quarter came down to Rs 226.06 crore from Rs
263.38 crore while net interest charges shot up to Rs 30.12 crore
from Rs 19.59 crore in the third quarter of 2000-01.
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Dr
Reddys to prune staff
Mumbai:
Drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories has offered an employee
separation scheme for all permanent workmen over the age of 40 or
those who have completed 10 years of service. The scheme will be
in operation from January 21 to 31.
About 200 of the 800 workmen employed at 11 manufacturing sites
qualify for this scheme.
The company expected an average payout of Rs 400,000 per workman.
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BG
to bid again for Enron's stake
New Delhi:
The UK-based BG Group Plc will finalise a new bid shortly for
acquiring 30 per cent stake of bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp
in Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields.
BG had in October struck a $388 million deal with Enron Oil and
Gas India Ltd to buy its 30 per cent stake in three-way joint
venture Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields and 62.64 per
cent interest in the SB-OS/1 exploration block.
The deal expired after negotiations were delayed by the bankruptcy
filing by Enron Corp, the parent company of EOGIL, in US and Oil
and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance Industries too staking
claim for the operatorship.
BG's offer to buy Enron's stake in the fields was conditional on
being granted the operatorship and management control of the
fields.
ONGC has 40 per cent interest in the fields, which are estimated
to have recoverable reserves of 184 million barrels of oil and
96.3 million cubic meters of gas, while RIL has the remaining 30
per cent.
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PNB
Privilege Card launched
New Delhi:
Punjab National Bank has launched 'PNB Privilege Card', a
pre-approved personal loan. The card, which would be automatically
issued to all its eligible customers, would entitle holders a
maximum loan of upto Rs 1 lakh.
The card is expected to benefit army officers, educational
institutions, government employees and PSUs.
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Sanmar
group enters life insurance
Chennai:
The Sanmar group has launched 'AMP Sanmar Assurance Company', its
life insurance joint venture with AMP International, a leading
Australia based financial services company.
The company will be coming out with five life insurance products
initially and is planning multi-channel distribution network,
inclusive of corporate agencies, alliances with banks and other
financial institutions and the internet.
The new company has a capital base of Rs 125 crore with the AMP
holding 26 per cent of the equity and the rest by Sanmar.
The products include endowment, child protection and money back
policies.
Australian cricket
captain Steve Waugh has been engaged as the brand ambassador for
the company in India.
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AMD
launches new processor
Bangalore:
AMD has launched a new desktop processor, 1.3GHz AMD, for the
mainstream PC market.
The new processor offers best-in-class performance on digital
photo, audio and internet applications, according to a company
release.
The 1.3GHz AMD Duron processor is optimised for the Microsoft
Windows XP home and professsional operating systems and supports
double data rate, or DDR, memory.
AMD's integrated circuits for the personal and networked computer
and communications markets are manufactured in its facilities in
the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia.
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Batata-BPL
to raise $100 m through pvt placement
Mumbai: The
Birla-AT&T-Tata-BPL (Batata-BPL) combine plans to raise $100
million through a 10 per cent private placement of equity, with at
least two strategic investors. DSP Merrill Lynch has been
appointed as the merchant banker to the deal.
The proceeds from the
deal will be used for acquisition of circles in the North.
The formation of
Batata-BPL created the largest cellular telephony player in the
country last year. It will have 1.3 million subscribers and a 24
per cent market share. Its geographical contiguity will run
through South and Central India.
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Pallonji,
Sanwarmal bury hatchet
Mumbai: Peace
talks are on between the Pallonji Mistry and Pawan Kumar Sanwarmal
groups to resolve their dispute over who should control Forbes
Gokak (FGL). In all likelihood, Sanwarmal will sell his 19 lakh
shares in FGL to the Pallonji group at a premium of Rs 5 over the
last quote of Rs 89 per share.
Meanwhile, Sterling
Investment Corporation Pvt Ltd part of the Mistry group informed
BSE that it had purchased 5,41,500 shares or approximately 4.35
per cent of FGL through open market transaction at Rs 89.90
per share.
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IOC
puts Paradip refinery on back burner
Bhubaneswar: The
Paradip Oil Refinery Project is likely to be shelved for the time
being. The project implementation will be deferred till 2004.
The Indian Oil
Corporation is not keen on investing a huge amount in a greenfield
project at a time when the market is not favourable. Instead, the
corporation proposes to concentrate on expansion of its Panipath
and Barauni facilities. The IOC is planning to set up a Rs
600-crore crude pumping station at Paradip in order to assuage the
hurt feeling of the Orissa people.
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Cadila
Pharma readies cardiovascular drug
Ahmedabad: Cadila
Pharmaceuticals Ltd (CPL) is all set for the launch of its new
cardiovascular drug Fovas.
Unlike other ACE
inhibitors, Fosinopril has a compensatory dual route of
elimination and is cleared both through the liver and the kidney.
Thus, in patients with diminished renal function increased hepatic
clearance of Fosinopril is noted and in patients with diminished
hepatic function increased renal clearance occurs. Due to this
compensatory elimination, fosinopril therapy does not require
dosage adjustments unlike other ACE inhibitors.
Fosinopril is also a very
useful alternative for treating patients with essential
hypertension and is equally effective in elderly, especially with
renal compromise that is common in these patients.
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Indal
Q3 net down to Rs 30.12 crore
Kolkata: Aditya
Vikram Birla group company Indian Aluminium Company, Limited (Indal)
has reported a marginal decline of Rs 0.56 crore in its third
quarter net profit at Rs 30.12 crore against Rs. 30.68 crore in
the same quarter of 2000-2001.
The profit was down
despite over Rs 7 crore increase in net sales to Rs 330.82 crore
from Rs 323.77 crore in the last fiscals third quarter.
Indals nine-month net
profit this fiscal now stood at Rs 89.52 crore against Rs 84.78
crore last fiscal.
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Cisco
to set up networking institutes
Bangalore:
Cisco Systems has proposed to set up academy centres for training
in networking technologies all over India.
Cisco has decided to
assist Indian companies by setting up network academy centres in
all the states.
Cisco recently made a
multi-million dollar investment in Bangalore to create a separate
network logistics centre, which will help companies with Ciscos
expertise in this domain.
The company will hold
talks with colleges and educational institutions in the country to
allow Cisco to train students in courses on networking
technologies and its allied business prospects.
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Tata
group consolidates media buying
Mumbai:
The Tata Group has begun its media consolidation operations from
the first week of January. In the first phase, the group is
consolidating its media buying processes in select companies of
the Group which include, Tata Tea Ltd, Titan Ltd, Trent Ltd (Westside)
and Tata Sons Ltd.
The other companies
involved in this project include, Indian Hotels Company Ltd (Taj),
Tata Infotech Ltd (education division), Tata Infomedia Ltd, Tata
Internet Sevices Ltd (Tata Nova), Tata Finance Ltd, Tata
Consultancy Services, Tata Chemicals Ltd, Voltas Ltd, Tata AIG,
Tata Sons, Tata Housing, Tata Honeywell and Tata Elxsi.
The consolidation move is
aimed at enhanced synergy, economies of scale and enhanced media
clout. For its centralised media-buying, the Tata Group has
appointed Media Edge, Rediffusion DY&Rs media-buying arm as
its (AOR) and the account is pegged at Rs 200 crore.
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Metros
to have Amul restaurants
Mumbai: The
Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation is planning to launch a host of
Amul restaurants in Mumbai, Delhi and other metros in the
near future.
The GCMMF has also
embarked on manufacturing and marketing fine coffee powder under
the umbrella brand Amul. Amul coffee powder brand will be
available in small refill consumer packs and bottles at every Amul
pizza outlet wherein the company plans to set up tea and coffee
vending machines.
The company plans to
supply around 25,000 tea and coffee vending machines at the
outlets where Amul cheese pizza is currently available. The
company is not investing any amount on setting up vending machines
at the pizza outlets, but would be procuring the amount from the
owners of outlets on the amount of tea and coffee sold.
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Pepsi
gets Golden Peacock award
Mumbai:
Soft drink major Pepsis Madurai bottling plant has been awarded
the prestigious Golden Peacock National Quality Award for the year
2001. The award, set up by the Institute of Directors (IOD) in
1991, was presented to Pepsi at the inaugural session of the 12th
World Congress on Total Quality here recently.
The Golden Peacock
National Quality Award is presented to organisations that have
made the most significant improvement in various business and
industry sectors.
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ConnectCapital
to close India fund
Mumbai:
ConnectCapital, Insight Capitals investment vehicle in India,
is likely to announce closure of its India-specific fund soon. The
company is in the final stages of closing the fund.
ConnectCapital was
founded in India by Ramanan Raghavendran and Abhay Havaldar.
Ramanan is Insight Capital Partners special limited partner,
Asia.
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VSNL
to offer OFC route to TV channels
Mumbai:
VSNL will offer broadcasters a fibre optic path for transmission
of television channels from India to New York. This will be much
cheaper than the normal satellite mode.
The company will use the
undersea cable medium to provide this service. Till now
broadcasters from India have been using the satellite mode to
enter the US.
Broadcasters will have to
pay Rs 12 lakh per channel per month for the transmission service.
This will be far lower than the amount they would have paid for
using transponder space.
VSNL will transmit the TV
channels to New York, where broadcasters will have to make their
own arrangements to distribute to other territories in the US,
either through cable or direct-to-home. VSNL will be installing
line terminal equipment at the two ends.
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HDFC teams
up with Chubb
Mumbai: Housing
Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has finalised its foray
into the non-life insurance sector along with collaborator Chubb
Corporations of the US.
The joint venture between
Chubb and HDFC will be the seventh non-life company in the country
where only Reliance Industries has gone solo for the business.
Chubb will have a maximum
26 per cent stake while the remaining 74 per cent will be held by
HDFC with a minimum capital of Rs 100 crore.
However, for all
practical purposes, both the partners will have equal say in the
running of the joint venture.
Mr Deepak Parekh,
chairman of HDFC, will be chairman of the company while the chief
executive officer of the company will be from Chubb Corporations.
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Essar
to acquire 30% of Hutch Max
New Delhi:
The Essar Group is close to acquiring 30 per cent stake each in
Hutchison-controlled cellular ventures in Kolkata and Mumbai
circles.
While Essar group and Hutch are learnt to have arrived at a
valuation of about Rs 170 crore for the 30 per cent stake in Usha
Martin Telekom, the two are still in the process of thrashing out
the valuation issue for the Mumbai circle.
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Sony
launches Playstation
Mumbai:
Sony is launching its most famous video game product, the iconic
Playstation-2 (PS2), in India this week.
Sony has sold about 8 million units of the PS2 in North America
during the 14 months since launch. The total worldwide shipments
have exceeded 20 million units.
A team from Sony headed by Tim Stokes, who is with Sony Europe,
will be in Mumbai for the launch. Sony will also be tying up with
Indian software company Milestone Software to develop local titles
for the Playstation.
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Indal to take
35% in Utkal Alumina
Mumbai:
Indal will soon have management control of the Orissa-based
$1-billion Utkal Alumina International project.
In its third quarter results, the company posted a lower net
profit of Rs 30.1 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2001,
compared to the Rs 30.7 crore it had reported in the same quarter
last year.
The move to acquire management control comes close on the heels of
the move by Norweigian major Norsk Hydro to sell its entire 45 per
cent stake in UAIL to the other two promoters, Indal and Alcan for
$6 million.
UAIL plans to set up a 3-million tonne alumina refinery in
Baphlimali, Orissa. It will be a 100 per cent export-oriented
alumina project at an estimated cost of about $ 1 billion.
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Jindal
Strips explores African shores
New Delhi:
Jindal Strips is in talks with Columbus Stainless of South Africa
for a possible technical collaboration for producing value-added
stainless steel products.
Columbus Stainless is eyeing the technology used by Jindal Strips
for producing stainless steel used in utensils, called the 200
series, and in turn would be giving them technical knowledge for
producing steel used in bridges, railways and construction
activities.
Jindal Strips is keen on setting up a downstream manufacturing
unit in South Africa, which would export value-added products to
the advanced countries. The company is currently exporting the
stainless steel used in utensils to China, Hongkong, Indonesia,
Malaysia and Pakistan.
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Hong
Kong firm to take charge of Gujarat power co
New Delhi:
Hong Kong-based CLP Power International will take over next week
the management of Gujarat PowerGen Energy Corporation, which owns
the 655 MW power project at Paguthan in Gujarat.
CLP had last year acquired GPEC from PowerGen Plc of UK. The
acquisition was made through a joint venture between CLP (80 per
cent) and PowerGen (20 per cent).
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ICI
profits up, sales dip
Kolkata:
ICI India has registered an impressive 34.77 per cent jump in
profit after tax to Rs 10.31 crore during the third quarter of
current fiscal against Rs 7.65 crore in the corresponding quarter
last fiscal.
Increased PAT was achieved despite a 10.90 per cent decline in
sales during the quarter to Rs 193.16 crore from Rs 216.79 crore
last year and was possible due to largescale cost cutting in
certain areas and 100 per cent increase in other income.
Total expenditure came down to Rs 172.10 crore from Rs 199.36
crore in the third quarter of last fiscal and operating profit
stood higher by 26 per cent at Rs 23.24 crore from Rs 18.49 crore
last year.
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Hindustan
Zinc Q3 net down
Mumbai: Hindustan
Zinc has posted a net profit of Rs 3.690 crore for the quarter
ended December 2001 as compared to Rs 68.190 crore for the
corresponding period the previous year.
Total income has decreased from Rs 424.690 crore in 2000 to Rs
353.160 crore in the quarter ended December 2001.
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Tata Tea
Q3 net up
Mumbai: Tata
Tea Ltd has ended the third quarter with an increase in net profit
at Rs 20.67 crore as compared to Rs 16.45 crore in the year-ago
period.
During the quarter, the
company earned a profit of Rs 7.01 crore from sale of shares in
Tata NYK.
Income from operations
edged down to Rs 197.50 crore (Rs 201.63 crore). Other income was
Rs 1.40 crore (Rs 0.45 crore).
Production of tea for the
nine months ended December 2001 was lower by four per cent.
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eFunds
to assist in RBI project
Bangalore:
eFunds Corporation has been awarded a multi-million dollar
subcontract to assist Logica with implementation of a real time
gross settlement (RTGS) project at the Reserve Bank of India.
eFunds International
Private Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of eFunds, will assist
Logica in the implementation of a national RTGS system which will
allow all the banks in India to make secure inter-bank payments
throughout the country.
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Modicare
offers in sachets
Chennai:
Modicare has decided to market its home care and personal care
range of products in small, low-priced and easy-to-use sachets.
The sachets will be initially available in 15-gm and 12-gm packs.
Modicare also announced
its entry into a number of segments such as food supplements,
men's toiletries, educational toys and pesticides.
While the food
supplements brand will be called Fruit of the Earth, the men's
toiletries range will be called Velocity. Also to be launched is a
range of men's shaving equipment called Smooth.
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Electrolux
sets up exclusive outlet
New Delhi: Electrolux
India has launched its exclusive Electrolux Home, a one-stop-shop
for its products and services.
The store, the second of
its kind, offers home appliances from the company's portfolio of
brands which include Kelvinator, Allwyn, and Electrolux Maxclean.
On offer are
refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, microwave ovens
and so on. The store also provides a host of product-related
services and finance options.
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Sonali
Bendre to promote Limca
New Delhi:
Coca-Cola India is set to aggressively promote its nearly
three-decade-old Limca, the lemon flavoured soft drink brand.
Limca will be pushed
strongly in key regional markets such as Punjab and Andhra Pradesh
in the Summer of 2002, through local home drives and
consumer-and-trade-level promotions.
Coca-Cola India has
signed on Hindi film actress Sonali Bendre to endorse Limca. The
new advertising is expected to be a sequel to last year's `har
pyaas bujhaaye' campaign.
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Centaur
sale to Batra okayed
New Delhi: The
inter-ministerial group has cleared a proposal for the sale of the
Mumbai airport property of the Centaur group for a consideration
of around Rs 83 crore to the A.L. Batra group, the sole bidder in
the fray.
The Centaur group, which
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India, operates five hotels
including two in Mumbai and one each in Srinagar and Delhi,
besides the Rajgir hotel. The funds garnered from the
disinvestment of Centaur group would flow into the AI coffers.
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Modis
pare Godfrey Phillips holding
Kolkata:
The K K Modi group has reduced its holding by around 4.5 per cent
in Godfery Phillips India Ltd (GPIL) during the last three months
of 2001.
The group held 33.59 per
cent in the company till June 2001, enhanced it to 35.62 by
September, following which it reduced its stake.
Phillip Morris of the US,
the foreign promoter, holds around 36 per cent in the company.
Total foreign holding in the company, apart from the foreign
promoter's stake, has increased from 3.17 per cent to 4.06 per
cent in 2001.
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Tata trucks
may get hi-tech navigation tools
Mumbai:
Tata Engineering is planning to offer the global positioning
system (GPS) and GSM mobile facilities, considered as ultimate
navigational aids for road transport, on its new range of trucks.
GPS/GSM facilities allow
real-time communication between truck drivers and fleet operators,
in addition to sharing information relating to routes, truck
whereabouts, and identification and rectification of problems at
break-down time.
Tata Engineering will
initially offer the facilities as an option. The gadgets will cost
an additional Rs 50,000.
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