Grasim to sell off Gwalior unit for Rs 15 Cr
Mumbai:  Grasim Industries has decided to divest its loss-making fabric manufacturing operations at Gwalior to Melodeon Exports Ltd and its associate Swastik group of Bhilwara for a consideration of Rs 15 crore.

The unit has suffered a loss of Rs 21 crore last year.

Following the sale of this manufacturing unit, the company would now manufacture its brands Grasim and Graviera at a single location at Bhiwani.

Both Grasim and Graviera, along with their entire range such as Uncrushables, Acqusoft, Finesses, Safari, Coolers, E-strech and All Seasons will continue to be manufactured from Bhiwani. 
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Jay Shree Tea approve merger
Kolkata: The shareholders of Jay Shree Tea & Industries have approved the merger proposal of its real estate subsidiary, Shiva Group's Ltd, into it.

The shareholders agreed to merge this wholly-owned subsidiary at an extra ordinary general meeting held on 26 February.

The resolution was passed without a single vote against it. 
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Hexaware,Valtech tie up for development centre
Chennai: Hexaware Technologies, part of the Aptech group, has signed a three-year contract, worth around $25 million, with the French firm, Valtech, to set up a worldwide development centre here.

The offshore development centre would focus on enterprise application integration and e-business technologies.

The $125-million French firm is an e-business consultancy group specialising in new information technologies. The city-based Hexaware, an IT services company, specialises in application management, e-commerce, ERP and embedded systems.

The development centre will start with 100 people and grow to 250 in three years. 
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M&M to launch Scorpio from overseas plants
Hyderabad: Mahindra & Mahindra is set to launch its Scorpio range of multi-utility vehicles for the overseas markets from its manufacturing facility in Georgia and the Russian automotive assembly line.

The Scorpio project has been the company's major initiative where a team of over 200 top guns worked over a three-year period. The company has tied up with some of the leading manufacturers in the world to roll out the latest vehicles which are totally developed indigenously.

The company is in an advanced stage for launching Bolero in Georgia. By leveraging the Lada manufacturing base in Georgia, the company plans to roll out Bolero for the CIS countries. 
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Mahindra unveils 15-seater mini-bus
Hyderabad: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has launched Tourister, a 15-seater mini-bus, at its Zaheerabad plant located about 100 km from here.

The mini-bus is aimed at specialised needs of diverse segments such as maxi cabs, schools and hotels.

The vehicle features a fuel- efficient 2,523 cc engine. It is priced at Rs 4 lakh, about a lakh lower than its competing range of vehicles.

The company plans to launch its CNG version of Tourister for metros.

M&M is in the process of launching two more vehicles in the 25-seater and 30-seater category. 
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Alembic launches Isovon in South
Bangalore: Alembic has launched Isovon, a soy isoflavone-based oestrogen supplement, in the South.

The new drug,  a major foray into women's healthcare, is expected to fetch a turnover of Rs 4 crore in the first year.

Alembic is now reworking its focus and trying to consolidate itself in the cardiovascular, anti-diabetic and anti-arthritic segments.

It plans to come out with a cardiovascular division and a formulation in the next three months. There are also plans to acquire some brands in these segments. 
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Intelligroup implements SAP
Hyderabad: Intelligroup Asia has announced the launch of its SAP R/3 for Fuchs Lubricants, an Indian subsidiary of the Germany-based Fuchs Petrolub.

In a press release, Intelligroup said the three-month implementation of SAP R/3 version 4.6C with Country India Version (CIN) 4.0A was reportedly one of the fastest of its kind in India.

According to the company, its solution addressed Fuchs' stringent excise compliance requirements without utilising third party products normally used in such implementations.

The fully integrated implementation captured core business processes including financial accounting, controlling, material management, sales and distribution, production planning and quality management. 
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Beverly to outsource projects to Majoris
Bangalore: TheUS-based healthcare services provider, Beverly Enterprises Inc, has entered into a strategic alliance with Bangalore-based Majoris Systems to outsource its IT requirements.

Majoris will provide a range of IT services, which include offshore mainframe maintenance, application development, support, enhancement and maintenance of corporate IT requirements.

Initially a team of 20 professionals would be set up for Beverly, which could be scaled up later.

Beverly is a leader in long-term elderly healthcare.
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InfoTech signs pact with Pratt & Whitney
Hyderabad: InfoTech Enterprises Ltd, specialising in the area of geographical information systems (GIS), has announced a strategic business alliance with Pratt & Whitney, division of the United Technologies Corporation, a Fortune-100 company.

The agreement would extend the current relationship between the companies to focus on value-added engineering services over the next five years. Pratt & Whitney, which is participating in the equity of InfoTech to the tune of 18.4 per cent, has decided to appoint its finance director Charles Ayer on the InfoTech board. 
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Network is IBM's business partner
Bangalore: IBM India has appointed Network Solutions Ltd as its business partner (system integrators) for IBM's complete range of storage products.

Network Solutions will adopt IBM's total storage strategy, which gives a holistic approach of delivering technology, support, consulting, services, and education throughout the entire storage networking solution life cycle.

Networks Solutions will appoint a separate business unit head with a dedicated team of about 25 certified storage professionals who will drive the IBM storage business across the country. 
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Datacons joins PASS group
Bangalore: Datacons Private Ltd, specialising in banking and finance, has joined the PASS Global Consulting Alliance, the first international alliance of IT and consulting.

This alliance is a worldwide network of 16 IT companies in 15 countries on five continents to provide extensive experience and broad range of services to their clients all over the world. As the member of GCAAG, Datacons will build and share its expertise on a global scale. Datacons will offer both IT products and services to the members of the GCA and their customers. 
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Siemens launches HiPath 3000
Mumbai: Siemens Ltd has announced the launch of its latest range of communication servers HiPath 3000 range of EPABX/KTS.

The product will enable the implementation of new interactive convergence solutions such as VoIP, IP trunking, high speed Internet access, teleworking and multimedia based CRM initiatives.

``With this product, Siemens is positioning itself to take a leadership position in the Indian convergence market, especially after the Convergence Bill is passed in April 2002,'' said Peter Gartenberg, executive vice-president, information & communication networks enterprise networks (ICN EN) Siemens Ltd.

HiPath 300, he said, would map this market with its IP trunking capability, which allows 1000 users spread over 16 locations to communicate using VoIP over the existing IP infrastructure.
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Whirlpool launches new ACs
Kochi: Whirlpool has launched its new range of split and window air conditioners Whirlpool MagiCool in Kerala.

Available in three capacities, the state-of-the-art product has a host of intelligent features. The Whirlpool MagiCool is claimed to be the only air conditioner with the Quick Cool function. This feature has been designed for super quick cooling. 
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LIC, Apollo, ITC to provide old-age homes
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has plans for a home, hospitality, healthcare project for the senior citizens. LIC, the Apollo Hospitals group and ITC Hotels are coming together to set up old age homes. The project aims to provide hospitality and healthcare to old people in different locations across the country.

LIC Housing Finance Ltd is in advanced talks with Apollo Hospitals Ltd and ITC Hotels Ltd to take them aboard LIC HF Care Homes Ltd as strategic equity partners.

The parent is likely to offload less than 50 per cent of the holding, split equally in favour of Apollo Hospitals and ITC Hotels.

Apollo Hospitals is expected to provide health care and ITC Hotels hospitality services to customers of Care Homes.

Customers would have to pay half of the price of the unit in advance and the rest would be payable at the time of occupation. Residents would also be required to pay a fixed monthly sum thereafter. 
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Ashok Leyland plans LCV
Mumbai: Ashok Leyland has plans to make a foray into the light commercial vehicle segment. It is weighing the option of entering into a technical tie-up with overseas truck makers.

Among the options being explored are indigenous development of the vehicles, rolling out models from Ivecos international range, and technology collaboration with another overseas truck major for a new range of light and heavy commercial vehicles.

Currently, Ashok Leylands vehicles, which are mainly in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment, come with three different engine specifications.
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Vysya Bank launches VRS
Mumbai: Vysya Bank has launched a voluntary retirement scheme for its employees.

The scheme will be open between 2 and 26 March.

The VRS is seen as an attempt to rationalise the human resources in the bank, prior to the possible change in management control.

Bank Brussels Lambert, which has a 20 per cent holding in the bank, has stated that it intends to hike its equity holding in Vysya Bank and take management control from the existing promoters. 
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Coral Telecom launches 'IRIS'
Ahmedabad: Coral Telecom has launched 'IRIS', the integrated voice and data server of high-end EPABX systems.

IRIS is an indigenously designed switch capable of simultaneous switching of data and voice.

IRIS has been developed by using the latest chipsets and is designed to handle data as freely as it would handle voice traffic.
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Monsterindia.com ties up with Rediff.com
Mumbai: Monsterindia.com, a career website, has tied up with Rediff.com India, allowing it access to the latter's over 1.5-crore user-base.

Monsterindia.com would become the exclusive career-search gateway for Rediff.com users and offer access to its jobs database of over 10 lakh opportunities.

The two companies would create co-branded sites enabling members and visitors to search for jobs, apply online and utilise job search agents.
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ChevronTexaco plans to bid for BPCL, HPCL
Mumbai: ChevronTexaco is planning to bid for the governments stake in BPCL and HPCL, through its new business development unit based at Gurgaon in Haryana.

The company, which operates in India through Caltex India, currently has a presence in the lubricants, fuels and LPG segments. 
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Royal Enfield mulls leasing out Jaipur facility
Mumbai: Royal Enfield Motors is considering a proposal to lease out the production facility at its recently commissioned plant at Jaipur.

Royal Enfield's Jaipur plant, which was commissioned in 1999, has an installed capacity of around 9,000-12,000 bikes per year.

The company is paying a huge amount towards interest and depreciation charges at the Jaipur plant.

The proposal to lease out the capacity is aimed at raking in revenues from the idle capacity. 
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BSES arm gets Rs 150 crore bridge loan
Mumbai: A bridge loan by BSES Infrastructure Finance (BIFL) has enabled group company BSES Andhra Power (BAPL) to commission its 220 mw Samalkot power project.

BIFL gave a loan between Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore for the Samalkot project situated near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. 
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Network bags IDBI Principal ad account
Mumbai: Advertising agency, Publicis India, has lost the advertising account of IDBI-Principal Asset Management to a small-sized agency called Network.

While the size of the business was Rs 2-3 crore while with Publicis, IDBI Principal is likely to hike the advertising budget to Rs 5 crore.

Apart from Network, four other agencies -- TBWA Anthem, Saatchi & Saatchi, Horizons and Ad Factors had pitched for the account.
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