vMoksha eyes acquisitions
Mumbai: VMoksha Technologies is looking at acquisitions in the product engineering and e-business segment.

The Bangalore-based company, which acquired two companies in the US last year, is looking for more firms in the product engineering and e-business segment.

The company, which commenced operations in May 2001 with an angel-funding of $10 million from the US for a period of three years, has so far invested $5 million in acquisitions and infrastructure.

vMoksha acquired the US-based Challenger Systems and X Media in October 2000 for $4.1 million. While Challenger Systems specialises in product engineering, X Media is engaged in e-business.
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Shyam Tele plans software foray
New Delhi: Shyam Telecom Limited, the basic and cellular service provider in Rajasthan, plans to diversify into the software sector. It has set up a separate software company for its proposed software products and services.

The new company, CinShyam, will be targeting the international market with its billing product software, Telecompass. The company is targeting telecom service players in the US, Africa and the Asia-Pacific.

The company is setting up an application service provider (ASP) service model in the US. In an ASP model, the subscribers will not have to buy licences for using the product. Instead, they can pay as per usage.
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Sail to invite fresh bids for Bhilai unit
Kolkata: Steel Authority of India Ltd (Sail) has renewed efforts to sell its oxygen plant at Bhilai.

Sail had expected to garner around Rs 250 crore but the prospective buyers including BOC, Praxair, Inox Air Products and Messers Germany were ready to pay only a fraction of the reserve price.

In fact, BOC and Praxair pulled out from the race after they felt that the floor price set by Sail at Rs 403 crore was too high.

Sail has formed a fully owned subsidiary, Bhilai Oxygen, for the purposes of the sale.
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Arvind Mills to issue 1.3 m debentures
Mumbai: Arvind Mills has decided to issue up to 1.30 million debentures in place of the earlier proposed 1 million debentures. Shareholder approval for this will be sought at the forthcoming annual general meeting.

The textile major will also issue up to 4 crore convertible warrants to certain lenders. It will also issue 13 lakh secured optionally partly-convertible debentures of Rs 500 each, aggregating Rs 65 crore, to select lenders.

Of this, part A of Rs 100 each will be optionally convertible into equity shares at a later date. Part B of Rs 400 each will be non-convertible and Part C will comprise 5 detachable warrants, which will be converted into equity at a later date.
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Unique Pharma discovers 20 new molecules
Mumbai: Unique Pharmaceuticals claims to have achieved a breakthrough in its research & development initiatives by discovering 20 new molecules in the anti-inflammatory segment.

Unique, which is looking for collaborations for these molecules, has shortlisted three of the 20 molecules and will start toxicology and trials soon.

The company has filed patents in the US and South Africa and is expecting to get its notice of allowance from the US patent office soon. The patent office has already accepted the claim, a company press release said.
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Sequence, QualCore launch centre
Hyderabad: Sequence Design, the US-based electronic design automation company, has opened a system-on-chip technology centre here in association with the city-based QualCore Logic.

The centre will develop matrices on incremental improvement of software quality of Sequence's design automation tools. It will also conduct detailed quality assurance tests. According to the agreement, the US company will provide the software while QualCore will provide logical and physical design expertise.

Sequence had raised a $10 million Series-E round of funds three weeks ago from General Motors.
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Jardine sells Vysya stake to local promoters
Kolkata: Jardine Fleming has offloaded its entire stake, close to four per cent in Vysya Bank Ltd (VBL), to the bank's Indian promoters, the Bangalore-based GMR group, which now holds 28.07 per cent.

The higher shareholding in the hands of GMR is expected to facilitate the transfer of equity to Bank Brussels Lambert (BBL), which is interested in getting management control of the bank.
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MTNL to spend Rs 125 cr on Dolphin expansion
New Delhi: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam is undertaking a large-scale infrastructure expansion for its cellular service Dolphin.

MTNL has chalked out a Rs 125 crore expansion plan which includes adding 1.5 lakh lines each in the two cities in addition to the existing 1 lakh lines in each metro as the present network was fast reaching the capacity utilisation.

Dolphin has 83,000 subscribers in Mumbai and 60,000 in Delhi where it added 9,475 new customers in January alone. Another 5,000 have been already added in the first 10 days this month. In Mumbai, it added 7.011 new customers in January.
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Tatas open to strategic ally for telecoms
New Delhi: The Tata group is open to roping in a foreign partner for its telecom businesses.

"If there's a possibility of a strategic partner, I don't think we'll be averse to that," Kishore Chaukar, managing director of Tata Industries told reporters here.

The Tata group's plans to become an integrated telecoms player received a major boost last week after it won the race to acquire a 25 per cent strategic stake in state-run Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL).

The acquisition, which could cost up to Rs 25.90 billion including an open offer to buy a further 20 per cent from VSNL's public shareholders, will put it in the league of the Bharti and Reliance groups.
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Ashok Leyland hikes prices
Mumbai: India's second-biggest truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland has raised prices of its vehicles by up to 1.5 per cent.

The price increase is across the board and is effective from 11 February.
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Promoters of Visesh to hike stake
New Delhi: Promoters of infotech firm Visesh Infosystems want to hike their stake to 51 per cent from 43 per cent at present and may announce an equity buyback for the purpose.

The company expects to generate cash in excess of the requirements. The company is interested in buying back shares as it is the most tax efficient way to surplus cash for its shareholders.
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ITDC cuts liquor prices
New Delhi: The Indian Tourism Development Corporation has cut prices of liquor at its duty-free shops by 7-10 per cent.

Cut in prices of foreign liquor being sold at duty-free shops at international airports in the coutry follows the corporation's estimates of a Rs 10-crore fall in current fiscal's revenue from duty-free business to about Rs 75 crore.

The price of a bottle of Johnny Walker whiskey was slashed by $2 to $26, and similar cost revision could be effected in other products soon.
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Indal holding in Annapurna Foils at 90.50%
Mumbai: Indian Aluminimum Company's (Indal) stake in Annapurna Foils (AFL) has increased to 90.50 per cent after converting the payment of dues made to financial institutions/banks on behalf of AFL.

In line with the order of Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (AAIFR) sanctioning the rehabiliation scheme for revival of AFL, Indal converted a part of the amount (Rs 10.38 crore) into 5.19 crore equity shares of Rs two each of Annapurna Foils.

Indal has also converted an amount of Rs 6.12 crore into 3.06 crore equity shares of Rs two each of AFL. Consequent to these conversions, Indal's holding in AFL now stands at 90.50.
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Essar launches regional roaming service
New Delhi: Hutchison Essar, cellular service provider in Delhi, has launched a unique regional roaming service, EasyRoam.

The service offers post-paid subscribers roaming facility in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himchal Pradesh and Punjab at no additional deposit and a monthly rental of Rs 49.

The service will allow Hutchison Essar's post-paid subscribers with or without STD/ISD connections to avail the benefits of roaming and stay connected while travelling in these five states.
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ACC gets RBI nod for 50% in Eternit
Mumbai: Associated Cement Companies has received the Reserve Bank of India's approval for acquisition of Etex Group's 50 per cent stake in Eternit Everest.

With the requisite nod, ACC has completed the acquisition of 50 per cent stake in Eternit Everest, the cement company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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Wockhardt FY'01 net up 42.7%
Mumbai: Pharma major Wockhardt has posted a 42.7 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 102.2 crore for the financial year ended December 2001 compared to Rs 71.6 crore during the previous year.

The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 7 per share on equity and Rs 0.69 per share on redeemable preference shares subject to shareholders approval.

The company's total sales stood at Rs 649.4 crore for the FY'01 as against Rs 558.5 crore in the previous year.
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Leela to dispose of Goa hotel
Mumbai: Hotel Leela Venture has decided to dispose of the Leela Palace Goa situated at Mabor.

The sale will be as a going concern as part of the efforts to achieve financial revamping and enhancement of credit worthiness of the company, to the promoter company Leela Scottish Lace or any other interested party.
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Mittals to buy Telia stake for $60 mn
Mumbai: The Mittals, promoters of the Bharti group, are close to clinching a deal with Telia of Sweden to acquire the latter's 26 per cent stake in Bharti Mobile for a consideration of $ 60 million.

Bharti Mobile, a subsidiary of Bharti Televentures, is the cellular licence company operating in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka with a subscriber base close to 4 lakh.

The enterprise value of Bharti Mobile is estimated at $ 260 million.

Telia is the largest cellular operator in Sweden with a turnover of over $ 5 billion.

The group has decided to make Bharti Cellular the operating company for all their cellular business by merging Bharti Mobile, Sky Cell and Bharti Telenet.

The group has also decided to have a single brand--AirTel--for all its cellular operations.
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PPL price bid to be decided on 14 Feb
New Delhi: The cabinet committee on disinvestment would decide on the sole price bid to divest government's 74 per cent holding in Paradeep Phosphates Ltd (PPL) on 14 February.

Zuari Fertilisers is the sole bidder for the loss-making state-owned fertiliser firm. It has offered about Rs 20-30 crore less than the reserve price of about Rs 180 crore.
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Tata plans fixed-line network in Maharashtra
New Delhi: Tata Teleservices plans to build a fixed-line phone network in Maharashtra on its own.

Unlisted Tata Teleservices, a unit of the Tata group, and Hughes Tele.com, a unit of US-based Hughes Network Systems, last month called off talks to merge their fixed-line businesses after they disagreed on valuations.

Tata operates a fixed-line network in Andhra Pradesh while Hughes runs a fixed-line phone service in Maharashtra, including Mumbai.

Tata Teleservices has rights to start fixed-line services in the states of Gujarat, Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The Tata group is among several Indian industrial groups eyeing the fixed-line phone business after it was thrown open to private competition last year.
The Tata group plans to spend up to Rs 100 billion over the next six years in the telecoms sector, a bulk of which would be spent in building up its fixed-line business.
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mySAP SRM launched in India
Bangalore: SAPMarkets, a leading e-business solutions provider, has announced the launch of mySAP supplier relationship management in India.

The new supplier relationship solution offers companies the ability to effectively reach-out and monitor its relationship across suppliers.
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Philips India 2001 net loss at Rs 21.15 cr
Mumbai: Philips India has posted a lower net loss of Rs 21.15 crore for the financial year ended December 2001 as compared to Rs 34.15 crore in the same period last year.

The total income for the year was at Rs 1544.55 crore as against Rs 1508.36 crore in the previous financial year.

The company has been able to reduce losses through cost control and rationalisation of operations and workforce in 2001.

The consumer electronics division has reported sales of Rs 622.9 crore in 2001 (Rs 561.6 crore in 2000).

Lighting business division's sales declined to Rs 685.03 crore in 2001 from Rs 699.8 crore in 2000.
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McDowell sacks executives
Bangalore: McDowell, the UB Groups flagship liquor company, is all set to issue pink-slips to 156 of its executives across all levels.

The company, whose management base has a head count of 820 recently identified 156 executives as "surplus." Of these about 34 people have already left.

People at even the vice president and general manager level could come under this.

McDowell is offering two schemes. Under one, the person identified as surplus can continue to work for up to one year at 50 per cent salary. This would help them to look for alternative jobs.

In the other scheme, the package being offered to the employee is linked to the number of years put in, and is targeted mainly at people who have been with the company for a long time.
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Govt, Suzuki discuss Maruti rights issue
New Delhi: The government has initiated talks with the representatives of Suzuki Motor Corporation for part-offloading its holding in Maruti Udyog Ltd through a Rs 400-crore rights issue.

The rights issue would trim the government's holding in the 50:50 joint venture car maker with SMC, thereby handing over majority control of the company to the Japanese partner.

Top officials from Suzuki discussed the details of the rights issue with senior officials from the ministries of disinvestment, heavy industries & public enterprises.

The price of the rights offer is expected to be pegged to the average of the three valuations carried out by KPMG, Ernst & Young and S.B. Billimoria & Co. All the three valuations are understood to be almost identical, without any wide variations.
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Rupee Co-op Bank board superseded
Pune: The board of directors of Rupee Co-operative Bank has been superseded and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed an administrator for the management of the bank.

The action against the bank follows the presentation of a report by the RBI, which has been investigating charges of financial irregularities by the board of directors.

B. Yashod, additional commissioner of co-operation, took charge as the new administrator of the bank.

The 90-year-old Rupee Co-operative Bank is the third largest co-operative sector bank in the State. The bank has an 8.5-lakh-strong customer base and a 44,000-strong shareholder base.
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Tata Steel to export under brand name
Kolkata: Tata Steel is planning to export its products under its brand name to neighbouring countries.

Tisco, which exports its products all over the world, would restrict the branding exercise only to the neighbouring countries.

Tata's own exports would be around $95 million this year and both volumes and value were about 10 per cent lower than the previous year.
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MICO concludes buyback
Bangalore: Motor Industries Company Ltd (MICO) has concluded its third buyback programme for a total outlay of Rs 50 crore. With this Robert Bosch equity holding has gone up to 60.5 per cent in the company.

In the transaction, MICO received acceptances for over 289,000 shares against the target of 200,000 shares that it had offered to purchase.

At the buyback price of Rs 2,500 per share, the transaction offered to the MICO's shareholders an opportunity to accept at a premium of about 19 per cent over the market price prevailing on 28 November 2001.
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Konkan Railways to issue deep discount bonds
Margao: The Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation, appointed by the finance ministry to work out a debt-recast plan for Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd (KRCL), has suggested issuance of deep discount bonds by the Corporation.

The IDFC has mooted the issuance of these bonds with a 15-year tenure carrying a coupon rate of nine per cent.

The funds raised from this source will be used to redeem bonds worth over Rs 300 crore which will mature in the next fiscal.

The objective of this exercise is to replace the high-cost debt with cheaper loans.
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AOL-Time Warner to revamp local biz
New Delhi: The AOL-Time Warner Group is restructuring its educational, music and video products business in India.

The group has approached the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for permission to set up a 100-per cent subsidiary to undertake wholesale trading through ex-bonded warehouse sales of home education and home entertainment products.

Time Life Asia, one of the three AOL-Time Warner brands, has been marketing products in the country for the last 25 years, with an annual sale of $1 million.

The proposed Indian company will now undertake wholesale trading of educational, music and video products through mandatory bonded warehouse sales.
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Rashtriya Chem eyes 74% stake in Sail unit
Mumbai: Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) plans to buy 74 per cent stake in Steel Authority of India's Rourkela Fertiliser Plant.

RCF has completed due diligence of the plant and is in final stages of negotiations with Sail and its advisors, IDBI.

RCF may pick up 74 per cent as a strategic alliance partner in the proposed joint venture company, which will manage RKFP after the buy. The naphtha-based plant has an installed capacity of 360,000 tonnes per annum.

The proposed joint venture may need an investment of approximately Rs 100-crore for upgradation, with a debt equity ratio of 2:1.
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New IBP board on 19 Feb
Kolkata: IBP & Co Ltd, now in the process of becoming a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will have a new board on 19 February.

The size of the new board will be larger than the present board. Currently, the IBP board comprises five directors, two representing the Government and three from the company.
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Gujarat Positra inks deal for water project
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Positra Port Company Ltd (GPPCL), which is setting up the Rs 5,652-crore Special Economic Zone at Positra, has inked an agreement with Woest Alpine, Austria, for the execution of a Rs 700-crore water engineering and distribution project.

The Austrian company is to put up the project on a BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis while GPPCL would reserve the right to pick up 50 per cent equity.

The company has set September as the deadline for commencement of the project and will have an implementation period of 30 months.

Woest Alpine would provide drinking water on tap at less than five paise per litre.
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Pentamedia GDR allotments
Chennai: The board of directors of Pentamedia Graphics Ltd hasapproved the allotment of 14.5 million global depository receipts at the rate of $1.40 per GDR for cash to investors from Europe including institutional investors such as Numero Uno Investment and Beigh Holdings.

These GDRs along with the existing GDRs of Pentamedia Graphics Ltd, will be traded at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

With the latest allotment, the equity of Pentamedia Graphics has risen to 74.5 million.
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Infosys announces ESOP
Bangalore: The board of directors of Infosys Technologies Ltd has allocated an aggregate of 26,700 stock options exercisable for equity shares of par value of Rs 5 per share to employees of the company.

An aggregate number of 68 employees who joined the company between 7 January, 2002 and 4 February 2002 were granted the said stock options.
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Brocade to focus on Indian market
Bangalore: Brocade Communications Systems is focussing on the Indian market and expects double-digit growth in the near future.

Brocade believes the Asia -Pacific region will be one of the fastest growing areas for storage area networks and it is expanding its presence to provide direct support to customers and partners to promote this growth.

The company is in talks with premier educational institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science, and the IITs to set up storage area network labs to increase awareness, deployment and user familiarity.

Brocade is also targeting the government, educational institutions, medical imaging and telecommunication segments, apart from the traditional banking, finance and retail segments for increased deployment.

Brocade, which earned $513 million in revenues last year and has a 65 per cent market share in the overall storage area network space, expects the 17-per cent growth in Asia-Pacific region to continue.
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HCL Insys, Sun form alliance
New Delhi: HCL Infosystems Ltd (HCL Insys) and Sun Microsystems India have formed a partnership under which HCL Insys will provide end-to-end business solutions based on Sun's products and technologies.

HCL Insys would provide complete solutions to customers with sizeable components from Sun. While Sun would provide technology and products under this alliance, HCL Insys would build applications and solutions around them for the clients.

The partnership will target industry verticals such as finance and banking, government and manufacturing and also the emerging areas of broadband and media.
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GTB e-payment pact with Rediff.com
Hyderabad: Global Trust Bank (GTB) has tied up with Rediff.com for providing e-payment facility to its customers for online shopping.

GTB customers, registered for the Internet banking facility, will now be able to make their payments towards purchases on the Rediff online store.

GTB has also tied up with other leading online shopping portals for a similar e-payment facility. Rediff.com hosts online stores of various merchants who offer their merchandise for sale to customers on the Internet.
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US order for Hinduja TMT
Bangalore: Hinduja TMT Ltd has procured an additional order from one of the large health insurers from the US for processing insurance claims. HTMT has 180 agents for processing insurance claims on behalf of above customer. The business from the client is likely to more than double during 2002-2003 as compared to the current fiscal.

With the recently reported order for call centre business and the additional business now secured for insurance claim processing, the staff strength of HTMT's IT division, Bangalore, will reach 840 by March 2002 and cross 1,200 by June 2002
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Acer launches new PCs
Bangalore: Acer India has announced the launch of its latest P4 processor-based PCs with Double Data Rate (DDR) support. DDR doubles the rate of speed at which standard SDRAM can process data. DDR works with P4 system based on the Intel 845 D chipset.

The new option will be available on Veriton 7200D and AcerPower Sd range of PCs. Veriton 7200D is targeted mainly at corporates and AcerPower Sd is targeted at the SME segment. These models will be marketed through the extensive network of Acer in the country.
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ABN Amro to enter housing finance
New Delhi: ABN Amro Bank is planning to get into housing finance by the second-half of this year.

The bank, which has a presence in the car finance business, will enter the mortgage business soon. The home loans would be issued by the bank directly.
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Reliance to bid for Shipping Corp
Mumbai: Reliance is eyeing Shipping Corporation of India, currently up for grabs. It may submit its expression of interest before the 18 February 18 deadline.

Reliance was exploring various options, including a joint venture with foreign participation up to 25 per cent.

Reliance already owns a fleet of 20 small vessels, including three gas carriers and one old chemical tanker that is used for storage purposes and limited transportation between Mumbai, Hazira and Kandla. Most of its other vessels are tugs and barges.
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UB in production, mkting tie up with Macleod
Mumbai: United Breweries Group, the countrys largest beer and liquor maker, is close to striking a joint production and marketing tie-up with Scotlands Ian Macleod Group.

The objective of the tie up is to import bulk spirits from Ian Macleod, which will be blended and marketed under both the brandnames in the country.

These products will be out in the market in a few weeks time. Ian Macleods brands are Isle of Skye, Hedges & Butler etc.

UBs own blend from the bulk spirit of Macleod will be christened McDowel Scottish Crown. This will be available in the Mumbai market soon at Rs 700 a bottle.
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Kyndal to set up 100% arm for importing spirits
New Delhi: The Scotland-based whisky producer, Kyndal Spirits is setting up a 100 per cent subsidiary in India to facilitate bulk imports of spirits at cheaper cost.

This would be Kyndals second venture in India. Kyndal has already entered into a marketing alliance with Shaw Wallace to sell brands like Dalmore and Isle of Jura in India.

The new subsidiary will engage in bulk imports of spirits, wines, liqueurs and other alcoholic products and store them in bonded warehouses.
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NPIL forging tie-ups for biotech venture
New Delhi: Nicholas Piramal India is busy forging several strategic tie-ups with some of the leading foreign biotech companies for launching a series of top-of-the-line products in this segment.

While NPIL has already tied up with Gilead Sciences and Amjen, both US-based companies, and Chiesi of Italy, it is in talks with more foreign biotech companies for its proposed launch plans in the biotech arena.

NPIL is targeting an initial turnover of Rs 50-60 crore from its biotech business, which is estimated to reach the Rs 100-crore mark within one year of the launch.
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Birlas, PowerGen to dilute stakes in Rosa
New Delhi: The government has allowed the Aditya Birla Group and PowerGen Holdings of the Netherlands to dilute their equity stakes in the 500 mw Rosa thermal power project in Uttar Pradesh. The equity structure will be changed only after the project achieves financial closure.

The shareholding of Aditya Birla group in the project will get diluted from 51 per cent to 14.86 per cent while that of PowerGen will come down from 49 per cent to 26 per cent.

Post-dilution, PowerGens equity will be worth $64.27 million while that of the Birla group will be worth $36.75 million. Another partner in the project is Indo Bharat Industrial Holding Corporation of Mauritius with 12.14 per cent stake valued at $30 million.
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Indo-Kazakh pact on IT and hydro carbon sectors
New Delhi : India and Kazakhstan have decided to join hands in hydro carbon and information technology sectors.

Both countries have agreed that concrete projects in these sectors will be worked out with a view of early implementation.

According to a joint declaration issued in New Delhi, the two will be taking action to finalise agreements in educational, tourism sectors besides military and technical cooperation as well as for extradition treaty.
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Padamsee to promote DCBs image
Mumbai: The Development Credit Bank (DCB) has hired Alyque Padamsee to advise the bank in its media, image and advertising related activities.

McKinsey & Co had done a study of the bank in April 2000 and recommended certain changes which the bank is undertaking at the moment. DCG is setting up a new team out of which some have already joined the bank while the rest are expected to join soon.

The bank will also be tying up shortly with mutual funds and insurance companies as a third-party distributor. The bank has a retail customer base of about 4,00,000 accounts.

DCB is also in talks with banks for use of their ATM network.
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HECL venture cleared
New Delhi: The government has cleared Hughes Escorts Communications Ltds (HECL) proposal to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to manufacture telecom-related products and to provide e-commerce services with a condition that foreign equity in the new entity should not exceed 49 per cent.

The government has also made it conditional that the import, marketing, selling and licensing of high-tech systems should be limited to satellite and V-SAT equipment excluding antennas.

Permission has, however, been granted to import antennas for test marketing for a period of two years on a condition that the company will make investments in setting up a manufacturing base in India. HECL has proposed to invest Rs 10 crore in the subsidiary within a period of three-five years.
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FCB-Ulka form new division
Mumbai: The Rs 868-crore FCB-Ulka Advertising has integrated its database, direct and interactive operations to form a new division FCB-Ulka Interactive.

The revamped division now has a team of thirty comprising database specialists, web technology people, account planners and dedicated creative and servicing people. At present, FCB-Ulka Interactive has offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

The revamped interactive division will offer services ranging from database building, database enrichment to customer relationship programmes for varied clients in financial services, B2B, durables, technology products and pharma.
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ICI to expand dealer network
New Delhi:  ICI Autocolor, the automotive paint division of ICI Paints, will invest Rs 3 crore in research and training programmes this year. The company has already invested Rs 15 crore in setting up product training centres at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Mohali, near Chandigarh.

Each training centre has a dedicated regional trainer and is equipped with the latest equipment, auto spray booths, colour testing kits and a colour lab with fifth generation spectrocolour eye.

ICI also plans to increase its dealer network from 200 to 300 across 120 towns. It will target the north-east, and upcountry areas like UP, Rajasthan & Bihar.
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Godrej & Boyce to make automatic currency counters
Mumbai: Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd has decided to manufacture SWIFT automatic currency counters under the brand name Godrej by April this year. By a process called vacuum method, ACC basically counts a bundle of hundred notes.

Godrej & Boyce has already test-marketed the ACC and plans to initially supply them to the branches of State Bank of India (SBI) in major cities across the nation.

ACC, which is priced at Rs 1.35 lakh, is being imported from international vendors at present.
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Tata Power redeems MFs to fund VSNL buy
Mumbai: Tata Power has commenced redeeming its investments in mutual funds to part-finance the acquisition of the governments 25 per stake in VSNL.

Tata Power, which holds 40 per cent stake in the special purchase vehicle Panatone Finvest , which will acquire the VSNL stake, is expected to raise around Rs 600 crore.

Tata Power is one of the largest investors in debt schemes of MFs with over Rs 1,000 crore worth of investments.
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Tality Corp to shut development centre
Mumbai: Tality Corporation, a subsidiary of the Nasdaq listed Cadence, is clsoing its development center in Noida, near Delhi.

The company cites a change in strategy as the reason for closing its development center in India.

Tality works as an outsourcing centre for engineering services to design complex electronic systems and integrated circuits in the networking arena.

Some of the areas that the company focuses on are optical components, optical networking, storage networks, wireless, medical, home media and broadband.

The Noida center of Tality employed close to 40 people.
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Tata Sons net rises to Rs 714 crore
Mumbai: Tata Sons reported a net profit of Rs 713.7 crore for the financial year ended March 2001, 7.72 per cent higher than the net profit of Rs 662.5 crore in 1999-2000. Tata Sons reported a total income of Rs 3,321.7 crore for the year ended March 2001, up from Rs 2,413.4 crore for the previous fiscal.

The combined value of share capital and reserves (excluding preference share capital) was Rs 2,642.6 crore on 31 March 2001, up from Rs 2,024.5 crore for the previous fiscal.

Tata Sons had an earnings per share of Rs 17,510, a return on net worth of 30.7 per cent and a book value per equity share of Rs 65,398.

The principal businesses of Tata Sons are investment holding, consultancy services in computer software, business operations and management, economic and market research, finance and quality services.
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Sebi indicts Reliance over L&T
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has prima facie found Reliance Industries guilty of violating the takeover code by breaching the 5 per cent shareholding limit in Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and not informing the company and exchanges concerned.

Reliance had sold a 10.5 per cent stake in L&T to Grasim Industries late last year.

Reliance had committed the technical violation of non-reporting, which was nonetheless, a violation.

In an earlier response to an allegation levelled by the Investors Grievances Forum, Reliance had, however, denied that it had violated the takeover code.

The investigation department of Sebi has referred the matter to its takeovers division, which has also held it to be a technical violation. The final verdict will be given by Sebi chairman D R Mehta later this week.
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Royal Palms looks at joint ventures
Mumbai: Royal Palms is looking to enter into joint ventures for some of its projects as a part of its repositioning strategy.

Royal Palms is seeking equity participation for it 3-star hotel, which has a convention centre adjacent to it. The company is in discussions with a few corporates that have evinced interest.

The company has roped in model-cum-actress Lisa Ray as its brand ambassador.

Post-repositioning, Royal Palms will have a three-star, a five-star and a seven-star deluxe hotel, a convention centre, serviced apartments, infotech park, entertainment software park, an aviary, a manmade beach, and an entertainment centre which will encompass indoor leisure facilities such as ice-skating rinks and bowling alleys to reality games and multiplexes.
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Lawrence and Mayo to spread wings
Bangalore: Lawrence and Mayo plans to take the franchisee route to expand its presence.

The company is planning to open around 25 company-owned showrooms in the next five years, while it will have franchisee showrooms in the B cities such as Mangalore, Indore, Nagpur and Baroda.

The company has recently completed 125 years and the change in its customer profile over the years is symbolic of the changing socio economic environment of the country.

The company is targeting a turnover of Rs 52 crore in the current financial year, up from Rs 47 crore in the last financial year.
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Alstom to consider merger of 3 arms
New Delhi: The board of Alstom Power India, the flagship of the France-based Alstom in the country, is meeting on 13 February to consider amalgamating three group companies with itself.

The three firms are Alstom Transport Ltd, Alstom Systems Ltd and Alstom Power Boilers Ltd. Alstom has 16 ventures in India. Of this, Alstom Power and Alstom India are listed, while the others are closely-held.

The parent holds 50.99 per cent in Alstom Power India and 67 per cent in Alstom India. The amalgamation is, however, set to impact the parent's stake in Alstom Power, though its holdings in the three companies could not be ascertained.

Alstom had appointed consultancy firm KPMG to consolidate its Indian operations, which is spread across power, transmission and distribution, and transport.

The turnover of the Alstom group in India is close to $400 million.
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Kirloskar Elec calls of JV with Singapore firm
Mumbai: Kirloskar Electric Company has called off its proposed joint venture with L J International, a Singapore-based automotive motor manufacturing company.

The joint venture proposal did not fructify because the foreign partner was not in a position to make investments in India considering the current recessionary trend. Besides, L J International had some other internal problems as well.

The Rs 350 crore Kirloskar Electric manufactures motors and generators, alternators, transformers, automotive motors and industrial electronic products.

Kirloskar Electric has recently launched a series of compact power gensets in the 2.5-15 kilovolt ampere range under the Denki brand name and is targeting an initial market share of 20 per cent.
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LML's new 110 cc mobike to hit roads next month
Kolkata: LML Ltd will roll another mobike in the 110 cc segment next month.

To be priced around Rs 30,000, the vehicle will be targeted at the mass market.

This will be the economy version of the existing FX series of mobikes that the company launched a couple of months back.
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Tata Steel seek ally for Gopalpur SEZ project
Kolkata: Tata Steel is looking out for a strategic partner for developing the proposed special economic zone (SEZ) project at Gopalpur in Orissa.

Tata Steel plans to develop the SEZ with all infrastructure facilities and then lease it out to potential investors. The SEZ will be built on a 3,800-acre land that it had purchased to set up a steel plant.

The Tatas had spent over Rs 150 crore for buying the land (for the steel project) and to rehabilitate the displaced owners.

The investment in developing the SEZ could go up to Rs 600 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, depending on the infrastructure that the company chooses to provide. This would also include cost of land and related civil works.
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Amul acquires ice cream plant
Nagpur: Amul has bought out an ice-cream plant belonging to the New Delhi-based Jaipuria group in the Hingna industrial area here.

The Jaipurias, who were franchisees for Kwality from 1989 and later represented Hindustan Lever Ltd, parted ways with HLL over a year ago.

The ice-cream manufacturing plant here has been lying idle since then. The Jaipurias, however, run a separate bottling plant for Pepsi at the site.
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Arvind Brands plans three new labels
Bangalore: Arvind Brands Ltd plans to launch three new labels.

The brands which are being planned for launch are Healthex & NBSP, Bay Island cotton shirts and AXS shirts which are made from export-sound surplus.

The company expects at least 40 per cent of its revenues to come from exports during the next few years compared with the current 20 per cent.

Arvind brand, which was valued around $100 million three years ago, has 10 brands under its fold. It sold around 3.4 million pieces in the domestic market last calendar year.

Based on the success of Lee and Wrangler jeans, VF Corporation offered the company the licence for their children's wear brand, Healthex. This will be the first foray of Arvind into the children's wear segment under the age group of 0-14 years.
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