IBP for IOC, VSNL for Tatas
New Delhi: The Indian Oil Corporation is set to acquire the governments stake in IBP while the Tata group is expected to bag telecom giant Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL).

The government is expected to mop up Rs 2,500 crore from the sale of its 25 per cent stake in VSNL and 33.58 per cent stake in IBP Ltd. The cabinet committee on disinvestment is slated finalise the sale on 5 February.

Indian Oil Corporations bid of Rs 1,300 per share for the 33.58 per cent government stake in IBP and Tata groups Rs 205 per share bid for 25 per cent stake in VSNL are said to be far more than the offers made by others in the race.

The shares of both companies shot up on the Bombay Stock Exchange on 4 February following the reports about their sale. IBP closed at an all-time high of Rs 718, up 17 per cent, while VSNL rose almost 8 per cent to close at Rs 168.

While the government will garner Rs 1,460 crore by selling stake in VSNL to Tatas, it will mobilise Rs 966.93 crore from IBP stake sale.

The paid up equity capital of VSNL is Rs 285 crore and IBP is Rs 22.15 crore.
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Fiat to slash Uno prices
New Delhi: Fiat India Ltd is all set to slash the price of its small car Uno to below Rs 300,000 to reposition it opposite the Maruti 800.

Already the company is offering Rs 15,000 discount on the petrol Uno which is now available at Rs 3.05 lakh.

This is the second time when Fiat is looking at a lower price tag to perk Uno sales. Prior to this, Fiat India had in 1999 introduced the Trend version of Uno, with a price tag of Rs 2.7 lakh.
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Max India to exit Hutchison Max
Mumbai: Analjit Singh of Max India group is considering an exit from Hutchison Max Telecom by selling his 10 per cent stake.

Max Telecom Ventures has appointed JM Morgan Stanley to undertake the valuation of its stake in the Mumbai circle.

Max India has decided to sell its stake since the 5-year lock-in period for Indian promoters will expire by 2002.
In 1998, Analjit Singh had sold his 41 per cent stake to Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong for around Rs 490 crore.
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Epcos shifts unit to India
Bangalore: German electronic component maker Epcos is in the process of relocating one of its manufacturing bases to India.

The production line of dry core power capacitors is being relocated from Germany to the capacitor plant owned by Epcos India Private in Nashik.

The manufacturing costs in India could be as low as a tenth of what it cost in Germany but the reason for the relocation was also driven by expectations on India and its strategic location for Asian markets.

The company is also expanding its ferrite core facility in Kalyani, West Bengal, run by International Ferrites Ltd, in which Epcos owns 60 per cent and India's Associated Cement Companies 35 per cent.
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Think Harbor launched in Bangalore
Bangalore: Think Harbor, a new generation business consulting company, was launched here on 4 February to help US companies tie up with Indian firms for business process outsourcing.

Think Harbor has entered into a strategic alliance with BenchmarkPortal Inc which has access to about 6,000 call centres across the globe whose performance and efficiency data points are fixed into a matrix.
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Royal Dutch seeks extension of Hazira pact
New Delhi: The Royal Dutch Shell group of companies has sought the Foreign Investment Promotion Board's (FIPB) nod for the extension of its foreign collaboration agreement regarding implementation of the Rs 893-crore LNG import and regassification terminal at Hazira in Gujarat,.

The company's current agreement with the Government expired in January.

In its application to FIPB, the company requested extension of the validity of the existing foreign collaboration agreement for two more years.

The company has spent $30 million on the project so far.
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Reliance hikes polymer prices
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd has increased the prices of polymer with effect from 1 February.

Polyethylene prices are up by Re 1 to cost Rs 39 per kg, polypropylene is up Rs 1.50 per kg to Rs 37.75 per kg while polyvinyl chloride is up Re 1 per kg to Rs 32.05 per kg.

Of fibre intermediate products, polyethylene terephthalate prices are down Rs 3.50 per kg to Rs 23.60 per kg while mono ethylene glycol prices are lower by Rs 1.50 per kg to Rs 23.75 per kg.

Partially-oriented yarn, polyethylene terephthalate and linear alkyl benzene prices remain unchanged at Rs 53.55 per kg, Rs 55 per kg and Rs 53.90 per kg respectively.

Polyester staple fibre prices are down by Re 1.00 per kg to Rs 42.75.
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Versa super deluxe version released
Chennai: Maruti Udyog (MUL) has launched the super deluxe version of the multi-purpose vehicle Versa. The new Versa SDX will be launched all over the country shortly. In addition to the twin air- conditioner and flip folding back seat, the SDX is equipped with new features such as bucket seats, which are both reclining and sliding, adjustable tilt steering for comfortable driving, alloy wheels, rear spoiler with stop lamp, silver finish instrument panel, rear wiper and washer and leather steering wheel cover.

The new Versa SDX also comes with an overhead box to keep small items and a special spectacle-holder for sunglasses. The new Versa has been priced at Rs 5.8 lakh.

With three rows of seats, twin air conditioner option and flexi-seating for enhanced luggage space, MUL has been projecting the Versa as "two luxury cars in one".
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Best Western plans more hotels in India
New Delhi: Best Western International plans to have at least 30 mid-budget hotels in India by 2003.

The group is focusing on joining hands with existing four-star hotels, low-level five-star hotels or with upper level three-star hotels at various locations in India.

The average price per night for a Best Western hotel room in India works out to Rs 2,000.
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L&T plans IT ventures in Gulf
Abu Dhabi: Larsen and Toubro has opened an office at the Hamriyah Free Zone in Sharjah that will serve as a hub storage area for its operations in the Gulf.

L&T is looking at expanding its operations from the power sector where it had undertaken major projects to the information technology and civil construction areas in the region.

The company is showcasing its new range of products and services at the Middle East Electricity 2002 expo, which opened on 3 February in Dubai.
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Tata cellular extends ops to 4 more AP towns
Hyderabad: Tata Cellular has launched its mobile phone services in Bhadrachalam, Buchireddipalem, Naidupeta and Samalkota, thereby extending coverage to 92 towns in Andhra Pradesh.

The company has registered a 143 per cent growth in subscribers in 2001. The growth is largely attributed to rural AP, which has been growing cellular.
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Sun Micro bags PNB order
Bangalore: Sun Microsystems has won a major order from Punjab National Bank.

Sun will provide 15 of its Sun Fire range of mid-frame servers within the Ultrasparc III processors to power PNB's data centre.

Sun's technologies would enable PNB to create a centralised IT infrastructure for smooth running of its vast retail banking operations and also provide a comprehensive test, development and production environment for its banking applications.
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Fortune Info, NRG sign mktg pact
Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Fortune Informatics Ltd, specialising in the document management space, has entered into a marketing arrangement with the 1.3-billion euro global hardware major, NRG International Ltd.

Under the agreement, NRG would have the marketing rights to Fortune range of software products in Europe, Africa, West Asia, Russian Federation and Hong Kong.

NRG currently operates through 174 distributors in more than 90 countries across the globe.

FIL has offered an equity holding of 7.29 per cent to NRG.
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IPCL wants Rs 49 crore as exit price
Ahmedabad: Indian Petrochemicals Corporation has set Rs 49.03 crore as the exit price from GE Plastics India (GEPI), its 50:50 joint venture with GEPE, Netherlands.

IPCL had invested Rs 25 crore in 1992 for its 50 per cent stake in GEPI and had contributed Rs 16 crore towards the construction of the plant building at Vadodara. IPCL has sought the cabinet committee approval for the sale of its stake in the loss-making joint venture with the Dutch company.
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Hal bags Boeing contract
Bangalore: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has won contracts from Boeing for the manufacture of doors for Airbus and Boeing aircraft and uplock boxes for the undercarriage of Boeing aircraft.

HAL has also bagged the contract for manufacture of conversion kits for Boeing, which the aircraft company will then hand over to other companies for conversion of airline companies' passenger aircraft to freighter aircraft.

Conversion of a passenger aircraft requires the refurbishing or changing of several parts of the plane.

To convert a passenger aircraft into a freighter aircraft, the seats and floor need to be ripped out to create more space for cargo.
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Samsung plans new product range
New Delhi: Samsung India Electronics Ltd proposes to introduce new models in each of the home appliance product categories as well as in refrigerators, washing machines, ACs, microwave ovens and colour televisions.

Its fully-automatic washing machines will have memory back-up facility to meet the power failures.

In its microwave ovens the company has incorporated a facility of pre-programmed `one-touch Indian menu' concept.

Samsung India is targeting sales of Rs 1,520 crore from its consumer electronics and home appliances business in the year 2002. Home appliances are expected to contribute Rs 668 crore in 2002 up 19 per cent from the home appliances turnover of Rs 560 crore in 2001.

In the year 2001, Samsung cornered a marketshare of 23.5 per cent in microwave ovens and over 12 per cent in ACs.
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Pepsi signs on Adnan Sami
New Delhi: Pepsi Foods has signed Indian pop singer Adnan Sami as its latest brand ambassador in India.

Sami will host a series of live music concerts across 10 cities, beginning April 2002. The singing sensation is also expected to feature in ads for products under the Pepsi banner.
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ICICI to issue safety bonds from 8 Feb
Mumbai: ICICI is coming up with a Rs 600-crore offering of its safety bonds from 8 February to 4 March.

ICICI has added an option to its tax saving bond and also introduced a new bond called monthly income bond. It has offered a quarter percentage point higher return under the new, six-year option.

The other options under the tax saving bond are in the nature of deep discount bonds. IDBI too had hiked the rates of interest on its bonds by about 25 basis points.

However, the yields offered by both the institutions are almost the same. ICICI has reduced the options in its money multiplier bond to one and reduced the rate of interest by about 30 basis points.

Interest rates have also been slashed on regular income bonds. The peak rate offered on the bond has come down from 10 per cent to 9.5 per cent.
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JK Insurance, Birla Sun Life ink pact
New Delhi: JK Insurance Services Ltd has forayed into the insurance distribution business by tying up with Birla Sun Life Insurance Company.

It is also planning to tie up with a non-life insurance company. Tata AIG General Insurance could be a possible choice. JK Insurance is also looking at entering the insurance broking business once the regulator starts issuing licences for the same.

The company has commenced operations in Delhi and Chennai and would expand its operations across the country.
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GM to infuse Rs 600cr into Indian arm
Mumbai: General Motors is planning to infuse an additional Rs 600 crore into the Indian subsidiary. The company has made an application to the FIPB to enhance its authorised capital by Rs 600 crore.

The fresh capital will be used for introduction of new products. The company is planning to launch a range of new products including a multi-utility vehicle, Isuzu Panther and also plans to assemble some models in CBU form in the next 2-3 years.

The Panther, to be powered by a 2,499cc engine, is likely to be launched sometime this year. It will be priced around Rs 8 lakh.

As part of the CBU programme the company is planning to launch the Opel Vectra.
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Sail to slash 16,000 jobs
Mumbai: Steel Authority of India is planning reduce its workforce by over 16,000 by the end of March 2003.

Sail has about 1.48 lakh employees at its four manufacturing units of Bhilai, Bokaro, Durgapur and Rourkela and in other plants across the country.

Sail launched a new VRS scheme on 15 January with a target of 6,500 reductions. The new scheme is expected to close in May.

All the previous VRS schemes were on a deferred payment basis, with the benefits paid on a quarterly basis till the date of super annuation.
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HLL to dilute stake in fertiliser unit
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever is weighing the option of a possible induction of strategic partner and dilution of Levers stake to less than 51 per cent in its cement ventures.

Lever has already initiated talks with Coromandel Fertilisers of the Chennai-based Murugappa group on a possible partnership.

Lever, which markets a range of products from soaps to tea, owns and sells a well-known fertiliser brand called Paras in the eastern part of the country. It operates from Haldia in West Bengal and is a leading player in di-ammonium phosphate with a 70 per cent market share in eastern India.
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BPL offers 50% in home appliances group to Sanyo
Bangalore: The BPL group has offered to sell 50 per cent stake in its home appliances business to Sanyo.

The manufacturing arms of the home appliances business group will be merged into the joint venture that is expected to be finalised soon.

The Rs 3,760 crore BPL group has streamlined itself to focus on four business lines: entertainment electronics, home appliances, soft energy (batteries) and medical systems.

Andersen Consulting had completed the valuation of each of the businesses and based on this, Sanyo had been offered the stake.

BPL is active in each of the major categories of home appliances which include refrigerators, washing machines, kitchen appliances and vacuum cleaners.
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Videocon to exit JV with Matsushita
New Delhi: Videocon group has decided to offload its existing 30 per cent shareholding in Matsushita Air-Conditioning India Ltd, its airconditioner (ACs) manufacturing joint venture with Matsushita of Japan.

Matsushita, which has 70 per cent shareholding in the Chennai-based joint venture, has already approached the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) to increase its stake to 100 per cent by acquiring the shares held by Videocon.

Videocon is demanding a price between Rs 80 crore and Rs 90 crore for the deal, based on a book value of Rs 30.
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Apollo Tyres plans Rs 100 crore expansion
New Delhi: Tyre major Apollo Tyres plans to invest over Rs 100 crore in brownfield expansion at its existing facility at Vadodara in Gujarat.

The new facility will be meeting the growing demand for truck and bus tyres.

The project is expected to be completed by the next year.
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LIC to invest Rs 2,000cr in equity market
Kolkata: Life Insurance Corporation of India would invest 8 per cent of its estimated Rs 50,000 crore investment surplus this fiscal in equity market.

"We had always been providing strength to equity market and even when BSE index touched a low of 2586 points, LIC was net buyer in the equity market and will continue to do so," LIC chairman G N Bajpai said at a meeting organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

The chairman said in the last fiscal ended March, 2001, the corporation had invested about 6 per cent of total investment surplus of Rs 32,000 crore or Rs 1,920 crore in the equity market.

He said LIC had already invested close to Rs 2,000 crore in equity market this fiscal.
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Fortune Informatics ties-up with Ricoh arm
Bangalore: Fortune Informatics has finalised a marketing tie-up with UK-based NRG International, a fully-owned subsidiary of Japanese office machine maker Ricoh.

Fortune Informatics, based in the southern city of Hyderabad, caters to clients such as Siemens and Nike.

In a statement, the company said NRG International will hold the marketing rights to its range of software products in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
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Palio Sport pegged at Rs 4.38 lakh
Mumbai: Fiat India Private has fixed a price tag of Rs 4.38 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for its 'Palio Sport'.

The commercial launch of 'Palio Sport' is scheduled for third week of this month and deliveries would commence from 18 February.
The sports version of this B segment car is powered by new 1.2 FIRE engine and modelled on feedback received from customers.
Palio Sport would be available in vibrant colour range.
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IndusInd Bank Q3 net at Rs 16.50cr
Kochi: IndusInd Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 16.50 crore for the third quarter ended December 2001.
The profit in the corresponding period the previous year was Rs 16.33 crore.

The operating profit during the current quarter stands at Rs 39.34 crore as against Rs 33.96 crore for the same period the previous year, showing an increase of 15.84 per cent.

The total income during this current quarter was Rs 187.48 crore, as against Rs 201.57 crore in the corresponding quarter ended December 2000.
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Haldia Petrochemicals resumes operations
Kolkata: Haldia Petrochemicals, shut for three days last week because of a technical fault in the 466,000-tonnes-a-year naptha cracker, resumed operations on 4 February.

The HPL plant was also shut down for three days last December because of a technical fault in the naptha cracker unit.

The HPL plant can produce 700,000 tonnes of polymers and 500,000 tonnes of chemicals annually but depressed polymer prices, lower exports after the 11 September attack in the United States and reduced domestic demand has hurt sales.
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Hyundai India posts record sales in Jan
Chennai: Hyundai Motor India posted record sales of 10,010 cars in January 2002, representing a 10.4 per cent growth over the corresponding period last year, when it sold 9,066 units.

This is the second time since March 2001 that monthly sales of the company have crossed the 10,000 unit mark.

HMIL had also crossed the landmark of 2.5 lakh car sales this month, within just 19 months of commencing commercial production in October 1998.

All three Hyundai brands in India -- the Santro, Accent and Sonata -- emerged leaders in their respective segments, with combined sales of 90,028 units for the calendar year 2001.
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Sahara offer for 20% in Livewell Home
Mumbai: Sahara India Investment Corporation, Sahara India Corporation and Sahara India Housing Corporation are making an open offer to acquire up to 12 lakh equity shares of Livewell Home Finance, representing 20 per cent stake at Rs 18 per share.

The offer, which opens on 12 March and closes on 10 April 2002, was not conditional on any minimum level of acceptances, the Sahara India consortium informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

SIICL, SICL and SIHCL had entered into an agreement on 31 January 2002, with Malka Komaraiah and Srimukha Investment and other shareholders of the company to acquire 40,14,400 (face value of Rs 10) fully paid-up equity shares representing approximately 67 per cent stake in LHFL at Rs 18 per share.
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Samsung, Daewoo sign sourcing pact
Mumbai: Samsung India Eletronics has entered into a strategic deal with Daewoo Anchor Electronics to source direct-cool refrigerators from the latter over three years. The refrigerators would be sold under the Samsung brand in India.

The deal is worth close to Rs 500 crore.
The arrangement helps both the Korean players as Samsung does not have a manufacturing facility in India.
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Nabard cuts refinance rate to 8.5 per cent
Ahmedabad: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has reduced the rate of interest on its refinance in respect of loans for purchase of tractors, rural godowns, agriclinics and agribusiness to 8.5 per cent from 10 per cent per annum with effect from 1 February 2002.
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Nestle may pick stake in Dynamix
Mumbai: Nestle India is in talks to pick up equity in the K M Goenka-promoted Dynamix Dairy Industries.

This comes in the heels of Britannia Industries offloading 11 per cent equity in Dynamix Dairy late last year in favour of the promoters.

Dynamix is a closely held firm supplying milk and cheese to the food majors. With Britannias exiting the venture, Goenkas have been exploring an equity participation from other food majors.
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HLL raises prices of Lux, Rexona
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever (HLL) has hiked prices of two of its most popular soap brands - Lux and Rexona.
The company has increased the price of Lux and Rexona (150 gm) by Re 1 each at Rs 16.50, while the price of a 100 gm Lux bath bar has gone up by 50 paise at Rs 11.50. The variant of Lux, Lux International (125gm), will now cost Rs 26 from the earlier Rs 24.50.
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Oswal Chemicals not to bid for NFL
New Delhi: Oswal Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd (OCFL) is reviewing its earlier intent of picking up an equity stake in the state-owned National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) and Paradeep Phosphates Ltd.

In the past, OCFL had sent an expression of interest to the government for both NFL as well as Paradeep Phosphates.

While NFL has a capacity to produce 3 million tonne per annum of urea, OCFL has a capacity to produce 850,000 tonne per annum of urea at its plant at Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
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United India to underwrite ONGC assets
Chennai: United India Insurance Company has bagged the mandate to underwrite the assets of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) during fiscal 2003-04. The cover would also include terrorist attacks, apart from covering natural calamities including earthquake.

United India would provide a comprehensive one-year insurance cover for a sum assured of $12 billion.
United India would admit a maximum claim of US$ 750 million on first loss basis. The first loss basis includes five sections -- offshore, onshore, expenses (well centers), liabilities and terrorist cover -- apart from natural calamities including earthquake.
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Rabo to buy partners out of NBFC
New Delhi: The three Indian partners of Dutch banking major Rabobank - Ashok Kapur, Rana Kapoor and Harkirat Singh - are set to exit Rabo India Finance Company.

The three resident partners, who together hold 25 per cent stake in the NBFC, have decided to pick 80 per cent shareholding in the proposed bank.

As a first step, Rabobank will bring in an additional $31.25 million into Rabo India Finance to ramp up the FDI in the JV to $50 million.

Subsequently - within 18 months - it will buy out the three finance professionals from the JV converting the NBFC into a wholly-owned subsidiary.
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