TNT India plans logistics foray
Mumbai: Courier firm TNT India is eyeing the supply chain management business of the domestic firms.
The company is currently formulating an India-specific, medium term strategy. As a part of this strategy the company will start logistics as one of the new products for the Indian market. The company is already present with the express and the mail business segments here.
Logistics would include the entire gamut of services for efficient supply chain management. That would include trucking, warehousing and all other related services including cash collection.
Back to News Review index page  Currency converter

LIC mops up Rs 10,680 crore 1st year premiums
Mumbai: The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has mopped up Rs 10,679.74 crore in first year premium in the nine and half months of the current fiscal.

The increase in mobilisation of premium till 15 January 2002 reflects a growth of 279.52 per cent over the corresponding period last fiscal when LIC mopped up a little under Rs 2,814 crore.

The growth in LIC's performance is a result of the high returns that were being offered by LIC on several of its schemes, and the rush to avail of the high returns before withdrawal of the plans.

The growth has been maximum in individual pension plans, with LIC mopping up over Rs 2,558.61 crore in first premium income, reflecting a growth rate of 1,067 per cent. It sold more than 6.87 lakh policies during the period ended 15 January 2002.
Back to News Review index page  Currency converter

GE seeks to buy out HDFC
New Delhi: GE Capital has sought the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for buying out HDFC's 25 per cent stake in the consumer financing firm, GE Countrywide.

GE Countrywide will become a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Capital Services India, if it gets the FIPB nod.

HDFC had made an equity investment of around Rs 8.3 crore in the venture, which is engaged in consumer financing in areas such as consumer durables finance, personal loan, car finance, travel, healthcare and education.

While GE Caps has invested $97 million through GE Capital Services India, its equity investment in GE Countrywide is around Rs 25 crore.
Back to News Review index page  Currency converter

UTI NPA at 8.28% of total assets
Mumbai: The Unit Trust of India (UTI) had non performing assets (NPA) of Rs 3,485 core at the end of December 2001, or 8.28 per cent of the total assets of Rs 42,105 crore. The current NPAs are spread across 38 schemes which have investments in 8,481 securities.
UTI's flagship scheme, US-64, has the largest NPA of Rs 650 crore, accounting for 4.69 per cent of the total corpus of Rs 13,863 crore. US 71 has the second largest with NPAs of Rs 513 crore, or 12.10 per cent of the corpus of Rs 4,234 crore.
Back to News Review index page  Currency converter

US-64 redemptions top sales in January
Mumbai: Continuing an earlier trend, more people dumped units of the Unit Trust of India's (UTI) flagship US-64 scheme than those who bought it in January.

In January 2002, the gap between sales and repurchases was around Rs 180 crore. UTI's total repurchases stood at Rs 230.71 crore and fresh sales at Rs 50.98 crore.

UTI saw a total outflow of around Rs 450 crore in the five months between August and December 2001, representing an average monthly repurchase of Rs 90 crore. Since there were no fresh sales in the period, the US-64 scheme had only outflows in the period.
Back to News Review index page  Currency converter

Siemens seeks partner for software development
Mumbai: Siemens Information Systems Ltd, the software development and consultancy arm of the German conglomerate Siemens, is scouting for a strategic partner to develop software for the banking and financial services.
At present, SISL does not have a presence in the banking and financial services software development space although it has a significant presence in other areas including telecom, healthcare, software engineering and scientific applications.

The company is also aggressively pursuing the business processes outsourcing (BPO) route as another mode of expansion and has already started work in this area through one of its group division, Siemens Shared Services, in Bangalore.
Back to News Review index page  Currency converter

Ingersoll Rand net up 175.5%
Mumbai: Shares of Ingersoll Rand sprang up almost 12 per cent to close at Rs 132.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today following its strong results for the quarter ended December 2001.

The company announced a 175.5 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 13.39 crore. Total income increased 36.5 per cent to Rs 123.28 crore. The net profit figure has been arrived at after considering extraordinary items of Rs 24.8 crore comprising VRS expenditure and write offs during the December 2001 quarter.
Back to News Review index page  Currency converter

Dr Reddy's takes FDA to court over Omeprazole
Hyderabad: Dr Reddy's has filed a case against US FDA in New Jersy District Court on seeking reinstatement of its 180-day market exclusivity for Omeprazole 40 mg capsules.

In February 1999, Dr Reddy's filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) with a Paragraph IV certification, which provides a 180-day market exclusivity on successful establishment, with US FDA for Omeprazole 40 mg capsule, the generic version of AstraZeneca's Prilosec. Subsequently, AstraZeneca sued Dr Reddy's and other such applicants for patent infringement.

However, the US FDA denied Dr Reddy's the grant of exclusivity on the ground that patent No 4,255, 431, which Dr Reddy's was the first to file, had expired during the pendency of the suit and Andrx, a US company, was the first to file with respect to other patents.
Back to News Review index page   Currency converter