BSES signs Rs 5.58cr contract with Nepal
Mumbai: BSES has signed a Rs 5.58 crore turnkey contract with Nepal Electricity Authority for supply, installation and commissioning of four 132 kv electrical sub-stations.

The substations are Hetanda, Dhalkebar, Butwal and Bardaghat.

The scope of work includes design, manufacture, erection, installation and commissioning of all the equipment necessary for completing operations of each substation.
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Reliance to import $3.933 bn worth crude oil
New Delhi: Reliance Petroleum is likely to import 29.659 million tonnes of crude oil worth $3.933 billion during 2002-03.

RPL operates India's largest oil refinery of 27 million tonnes at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Country's crude oil import bill for 2002-03 has been pegged at $11.478 billion (for 86.552 million tonnes of oil at an average cost of $18.09 per barrel).

RPL would import 7.395 million tonnes of crude oil worth $981 million in April-June, 7.475 million tonnes worth $991 million each in July-September and October-December and 7.314 million tonnes of crude oil worth $970 million in January-March.
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Alto to enter European market
New Delhi: Marutis Alto is all geared-up to make an European debut. The week-long Geneva Motor Show, which gets underway on 5 March, will mark the launch of Alto in the western European market.

The car will be marketed in Europe under the Suzuki Alto brand.

Western Europe will be the third market, after Japan and India, where the new Suzuki Alto will be sold.

The new Suzuki Alto has a 1061cc, four-cylinder 16-valve engine and multipoint injection.
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Bharti launches Touchtel in Delhi
New Delhi: Bharti Tele-Ventures has launched its fixed line service Touchtel in the capital. The service will be immediately available in many areas of south and central Delhi.

Bharti is aiming for Rs 100 crore revenue from Delhi operation within a year. The company has set itself an aggressive target of signing up 1 lakh customers during this period.

The tariffs have been fixed at the same level as those of MTNL Rs 250 per month rental and Rs 1.20 per three-minute pulse.

Tatas and Reliance too are expected to launch their basic service over next one year and more competition should definitely bring about a cut in rates.
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Reliance gets tax waiver in West Bengal
Kolkata: The West Bengal government has decided to exempt Reliance Infocom from shelling out some Rs 100-crore plus consumption taxes that was payable by it vis-a-vis its Rs 995-crore broadband venture.

The state government has now waived the payment of the consumption tax in consideration of the fact that the Reliance group is anyway investing bigtime in the state.

Reliance Infocom is slated to bring in project equipment worth over Rs 900 crore in multiple stages.

Reliance Infocom has received a three-year entry tax exemption from the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat.

Reliance Infocom had also sought exemptions on sales tax and works contract tax from the West Bengal government. It has also sought a 100 per cent waiver on stamp duty registration charges applicable to the first sale of land in case of mega infrastructure projects.
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Bharti to push for submarine cable
New Delhi: Network i2i, the 50:50 submarine cable joint venture between Bharti Global and Singapore Telecom, is likely to become operational by April-end this year.

Bharti Global, an offshore arm of Bharti Enterprises, has already got commitment of approximately $80 million from the potential customers in pre-sales.

It plans to tie up the remainder $85 million in debt and $85 million in equity. Bharti and Singtel executives are slated to meet later this month to finalise the details.

The contract to lay the pipe is currently being executed by Alcatel which had won the $250-million contract for the 3,200 km first phase.

The total project comprises a 10,800-km ring network that links Singapore, Chennai and Mumbai and expected to cost around $650 million.

The company is aiming to offer Internet bandwidth and voice and data carriage at rates much cheaper than those existing.
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Acer to re-organise subsidiaries
Mumbai: Acer Inc is undergoing a regrouping exercise that will result in all its global companies being realigned on a geographical basis.

Acer India which functions as a 100 per cent subsidiary of Acer Inc worldwide, will also be a part of the regrouping exercise and now form a part of the Asia Pacific region instead of being a part of the Middle East group.

Acer Inc has globally regrouped itself into America, Asia Pacific, Europe and China against the earlier division of regions within a geography.
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LIC relaunches new Jeevan Shree plan
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation of India has relaunched its New Jeevan Shree scheme from 5 March with guaranteed additions pegged at Rs 70 per thousand sum assured per annum at the end of each policy year.

The guaranteed additions for Jeevan Shree, which was withdrawn in January, have been scaled down from Rs 75 per thousand sum assured per annum.

There is also a provision for loyalty addition for policies, which were in force on the date of death or on maturity. However, no loyalty addition would be payable during first four policy years.

The new plan targets non-resident Indians, film stars, self-employed individuals, business partners and estate owners among others.
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Tata Power announces 50% interim dividend
Mumbai: The board of Tata Power announced an interim dividend of 50 per cent (Rs five per share) for 2001-02 at its meeting on 4 March, a company statement said.

The record date for payment is scheduled for 23 March.
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Reliance Industries enters Fortune 500 club
Mumbai: Reliance Industries has entered the Fortune 500 club of the worlds largest companies. This follows approvals from the respective boards of directors of RIL and Reliance Petroleum to merge.

As a result of the merger, Reliance Petroleum will cease to exist and its shareholders will receive one share of RIL for every 11 shares held.

The merger has created Indias largest private sector company with sales of Rs 58,000 crore or almost $12 billion, total assets worth Rs 55,000 crore and a networth of over Rs 28,000 crore.

The amalgamation will catapult Reliance to number 425 on the Fortune 500 list.
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Astra makes open offer for Indian unit
Mumbai: Sweden's AstraZeneca along with its unit Astra Pharmaceuticals has made an open offer for 2.18 million shares in India's AstraZeneca representing 43.5 per cent of its equity. The offer was at Rs 375 a share, a premium of 14 per cent to the current market price.

Sweden's Astra owns 56.5 per cent in India's AstraZeneca.
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Pechiney may join hands with Nalco
New Delhi: French aluminium major Aluminium Pechiney is contemplating a joint venture with National Aluminium Company for setting up an integrated aluminium facility in the country.

The proposed joint venture will seek to establish an integrated aluminium unit comprising mining and smelting facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 5000 crore.

The two partners are expected to hold equal stakes in the project.

The government has decided to offload 30 per cent stake in Nalco through an ADR\GDR issue along with domestic float.
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GlaxoSmithkline net down to Rs 43cr
Mumbai: The GlaxoSmithKline Pharaceuticals has posted a 56 per cent drop in net profit at Rs 43.98 crore for the year ended December 2001 compared to Rs 101.01 crore in 2000.

The board of directors has recommended a 55 dividend for the year ended December 2001 with an approximate outgo of Rs 42 crore.

The net sales for the period under review declined by 11 per cent at Rs 1,097.37 crore as against Rs 1,233.69 crore in year 2000.
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Bhel gets Rs 510 mn order from Bhutan
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) has won a Rs 510 million order to supply transformers for a hydel power project in Bhutan.

Bhel received the order from the Tata Hydro Electric Project Authority which is setting up a 6x170 MW power project in Bhutan.

The project is being set up with financial assistance from the government, which owns 67.72 per cent of Bhel.

The order involves the manufacture and erection of 400 KV class, 70 MVA generator transformers, dry type transformers and 400 KV shunt reactors, besides spares.

The power generated by the project will be transmitted to the Indian electricity grid.
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Modi Holdings rechristened
New Delhi: After renaming ModiCorp as SpiceCorp, Modi Holdings, the holding company of the SpiceCorp shares, has been renamed MCorp. The MCorp logo is similar to the old ModiCorp logo.

SpiceCorp is owned 72 per cent by the B K Modi family, while STT of Singapore holds 20 per cent and the remaining eight per cent shares are held by the employees.
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Birlas, Ambanis keen on joint venture in Singapore
Mumbai: The A V Birla group and the Ambani group are keen to have tie-ups in Singapore.

The two groups held talks with Teo Ming Kian, chairman, Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore who was here on 4 March in this regard.

The Birla group is reportedly keen on joint ventures in the media industry while the Ambanis are keen on joint ventures with some Singapore companies, according to a release issued by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci).

Kian is one of the high level officers of the Singapore government and EDB is planning to make the city state a global hub for business and investment. He is scheduled to visit IIT Powai.

EDB and Ficci also agreed to work together for joint ventures with companies in Singapore or set up 100 per cent subsidiaries in Singapore or vice versa.
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APC enters into DC power segment
New Delhi: American Power Conversion (APC) has announced its entry into the DC power systems in India.

The company will offer a range of DC power products for wireline, wireless, broadband, voice and data services.

Globally, APC's entry into the DC power segment started when it acquired UK-based DC power vendor Advance Power, in 2000.

Two main products of the DC range, rectifiers and controllers, will initially be imported in completely built units form and APC India will explore the possibility of their manufacturing at a later stage if demand picks up.

The company is expecting the demand to come from telecom service providers from both the basic and mobile telephony companies and has already started talks with BSNL and MTNL among others.
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DSP Merrill Lynch net profit up 85.16%
Mumbai: DSP Merrill Lynch has posted a 85.16 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 91.36 crore for the financial year ended December 2001 as against Rs 49.34 crore in the previous year.

The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 24 per equity share for the year, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The total income was at Rs 283.32 crore whereas in the last fiscal it stood at Rs 179.88 crore.

The results of the current year were for a period of 12 months and hence are not comparable with the results of the previous period, which are for nine months.
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HLL, Godrej & P&G slash prices
Mumbai: Leading consumer goods companies HLL, Godrej, P&G have cut prices across all product categories as well as pack sizes with immediate effect following the removal of 16 per cent special excise duty on toiletries and cosmetics.

HLL has revised downwards prices across all brands including Sunsilk, Clinic, Fair & Lovely, Rexona, Denim, Lakme and Elle. Godrej has cut prices of Godrej Hair Dye, Cinthol talc, fairness cream and shampoos.

P&G has effected price revisions of Pantene, Head & Shoulders and Old Spice shaving cream. The price cuts are in the range of Rs 1-12.
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Dreamland sets up hotel in Puri
Kolkata: Hotel Dreamland has set up its second star hotel on the Puri sea beach in Orissa with a capital outlay of nearly Rs 2 crore.

The hotel, which had its soft launch recently with 26 deluxe rooms, will eventually have 48-50 rooms, including a family suite with a terrace on the top floor and four exclusively decorated cottages in another couple of years.

Hotel Dreamland has also tied up with Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) for organising conducted tours and day-long excursions for its guests to other places of interest in the locality.
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Jet starts maintenance base at Santa Cruz
Mumbai: Jet Airways is setting up a maintenance base at Mumbais Santa Cruz airport.

The airline, which currently has a fleet of 30 aircraft, will spend about Rs 60 crore for the construction of a maintenance hangar and supporting workshops.

The maintenance base is expected to allow Jet Airways to carry out C and `D checks on its aircraft at a significantly lower cost. It is currently using a hangar in Bangalore leased from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for its `C checks. C and D checks are major maintenance checks in which the aircraft is completely taken apart and overhauled.
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APTRANSCO to float Rs 300 crore issue
Kolkata: The Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd (APTRANSCO) has decided to hit the debt market with around a Rs 300 crore issue.

The fund mobilised through issuance of redeemable, transferable, non-convertible bonds will be employed to support and augment the resources for its ongoing operation and retire high cost borrowings.

The issue, which has received an A (SO) rating from Crisil, will have three different coupons. For the seven-year bond, the coupon is going to be 10.9 per cent, for the 10-year bond it is 11.3 per cent and for the 12-year bond the rate is going to be 11.6 per cent.

The payment of interest would be disbursed semi-annually and the bond would be listed on the National Stock Exchange. The issue will open on 1 March and remain open till 23 March.
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Online lottery goes online
Mumbai: Playwin Infrawest, Indias first on-line lottery, is goes online from 5 March.

The Rs 300 crore lottery venture, promoted by Subhash Chandra and Essel group, is set to go live with Sikkim state lottery's Super Lotto.

The inaugural draw of Super Lotto will be held on 29 March at Gangtok in Sikkim and the result will be telecast live on Zee TV.

The company has already installed 300 on-line playing terminals at retail centres across all the 14 lottery playing states.

Through the playing terminals the participants get to choose their own six numbers and generate tickets for themselves at Rs 10.

Under the scheme, customers get to generate a ticket by choosing six number of their choices unlike the conventional system where they buy tickets with pre-defined numbers.
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RPL, RIL prepay all term loans
Mumbai: The Reliance group of industries has prepaid all term loans to banks and institutions, ahead of the decision on the Reliance Industries-Reliance Petroleum merger.

RPLs March 2001 balance sheet showed a term loan of Rs 1,127.07 crore and this was pre-paid ahead of the merger decision.

RPL had taken the term loans in 1997 at rates ranging from 15 to 17 per cent to finance the Jamnagar complex. The loans had a maturity period of 10 years, including the moratorium period.

In December 2001, Reliance Capital the groups non-banking finance arm pre-paid around Rs 600 crore of debt, 18 months ahead of schedule.

Earlier, in November 2001, RIL paid back a $125 million worth syndicated foreign loan one year ahead of schedule.
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ABB India to develop business in SAARC region
New Delhi: ABB India will develop the companys business in India as well as in SAARC countries of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.

An operating unit within ABB India has been set up for this purpose. This follows a series of steps taken by ABB worldwide to upgrade its Indian operations and integrate it with the companys global operations.

Dinesh Paliwal, the India-born EC member responsible for process industries, and Peter Smits, the head of power technology products, have joined Eric Drewery, the head of group processes, on the ABB India board.

Apart from Paliwal and Smits, Nasser Munjee, the managing director and chief executive of the Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd, and N S Raghavan, formerly of Infosys and now with the Nurugappa Chettiar group, too have been co-opted on the ABB India board.
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Electrosteel picks majority stake in Lanco
Hyderabad: The Kolkata-based Electrosteel Castings is all set to acquire substantial stakes and management control of two companies of the Hyderabad-based Lanco group.

The deal involves an investment/payment of over Rs 40 crore by Electrosteel Castings.

Electrosteel Castings will pick up a 51 per cent stake in Lanco Industries, a listed company, by subscribing to the equity shares of the latter through a preferential offer to be made at par.

The deal will fetch the company, which recorded a loss of Rs 4.49 crore on a turnover of Rs 62 crore for the nine months ended December 2001, Rs 22 crore.

Lanco Industries is involved in the manufacturing of pig iron, the basic raw material for cast iron and ductile iron, and cement at its plants located near Tirupati.

Electrosteel Castings has nominated three directors on the board of Lanco, including Gowri Shankar Tekriwal as managing director in the place of L Madhusudan Rao who has just resigned.

Electrosteel Castings is also acquiring a 48.89 per cent stake in Lanco Kalahasti Castings, a closely held company, which produces cast iron and ductile iron spun pipes, at a premium.
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Capital bags Escotels ad account
New Delhi: Escotel, the Escorts group-promoted cellular service provider, has moved its entire product advertising account from Enterprise Nexus to Capital Advertising, Delhi.

The agency, which was earlier handling the post-paid (cellular) business account, will now work on the pre-paid business as well.

Capital Advertising is also handling the companys post-paid business account. The account is worth Rs 10-12 crore.

Escotel operates in Kerala, West Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

The Escotel brand is also poised to enter Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
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FCB Ulka loses Rs 20 crore Frito Lays a/c to HTA
New Delhi: Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA) has bagged the advertising account of Frito-Lay India, the snack foods arm of Pepsi in India.

The account, estimated at Rs 18-20 crore, was being handled by FCB Ulka till now.

The account comprises brands such as Cheetos, Lays, Uncle Chipps and Lehar Namkeen.
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Gail offered equity stake in Haldia Petro
New Delhi:  The Chatterjee Group (TCG) is planning to rope in Gas Authority of India Limited (Gail) as a strategic partner in the Rs 5,300 crore Haldia Petrochemicals Limited.

TCG, which holds 51 per cent equity in HPL, had recently made a written offer to Gail for an equity stake in HPL. Gail is looking at an equity stake of around 10-15 per cent in HPL and consultants will soon be appointed for conducting a due-diligence exercise.

Gail produces two grades of petrochemicals including high density polyethylene (HDP) and the linear low density polyethylene (LLDP). It supplies products to various markets in northern India and part of its production also goes to the eastern markets. Gail is currently producing one lakh tonne of HDP per annum from its plant at Kanpur.

Once Gail decides to pick up equity in HPL, it can get into a product swap arrangement with Haldia for supplying products in various markets.

The HPL plant can produce 700,000 tonne of polymers and 500,000 tonne of chemicals annually and is the leading polymer seller in eastern India with a market share of 63 per cent and the second largest player at the national level after Reliance Industries.
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Orange unveils VoiceXpress
Mumbai: Orange has announced the launch of VoiceXpress that allows voice messages to any phone in the US or Canada at Rs 5.95 per minute.

The service also allows users to send voice messages to subscribners of cellular services Celforce in Gujarat, Essar in Delhi and Command in Kolkata.

The service is available to both contract and prepaid subscribers and does not require an STD or ISD connection.
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DSM(I) to shift some production to India
Pune:  DSM Engineering Plastics (India) Pvt Ltd, the 100 per cent subsidiary of DSM Netherlands, is exploring possibilities of shifting production of some DSM products from its facilities in Europe and China to India.

Investments in the Indian company could be in the region of Rs 10 crore to Rs 30 crore.

The Indian company is setting up a computer aided design centre to support the global design and engineering requirements of the parent company.

DSM Netherlands entered the Indian market through the acquisition route in January 1999.

DSM is now introducing two new high performance plastics materials -- Stanyl and Arnitel in the Indian market.

Stanyl is a polymer suitable for high temperature applications and is half the weight of aluminium and one-fifth of steel.

Arnitel is a thermoplastic material that is being positioned as an alternative to rubber with more life than rubber.
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TAFE to launch Gajraj on 17 March
Chennai: Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE) is all set to launch its 60 HP tractor, Gajraj, in Punjab on 17 March.

The other tractor developed by it, the 44-HP Samrat will also be launched before the end of March.

Gajraj marks TAFE's entry into the higher horsepower segment of the tractor industry in India. TAFE will compete with HMT and L&T-John Deere in this segment.

The 60-HP tractor has greater multi-use applications in terms of haulage and compressor application, and is engineered for a different set of applications.
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Gail inks pact with Kolkata utility
Kolkata: Gas Authority of India Ltd has signed a memoramdum of understanding with Greater Calcutta Gas Supply Corporation Ltd for entering into a joint venture to undertake the development of a spur line and a pipeline network in various towns.

The joint venture will also be responsible for retail distribution of natural gas and coal-bed methane in the state. GCGSCL currently supplies coal gas in the city and its suburbs through its own network.
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TechSpan teams up with Fujitsu
New Delhi: TechSpan has entered into a strategic partnership with Fujitsu Software Corporation to co-market and deploy the latter's `Interstage' e-business platform.

TechSpan will join Fujitsu's partner programme, which provides value-added resellers and system integrators access to Fujitsu's technology, training and support services. The tie-up also qualifies TechSpan for joint marketing and sales opportunities.

TechSpan will also build a programme to deploy Fujitsu Software's Interstage e-business platform across multiple practices, including customer relationship management, enterprise application integration and B2B integration.
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Apollo plans franchisee clinics
Chennai: The Apollo Group of Hospitals plans to set up a chain of franchisee clinics across the country.

These clinics will offer specialist consultations, diagnostic services, a 24-hour pharmacy and tele-medicine. The investment in each of these clinics would be Rs 2 crore and will be funded on a 1:1 debt-equity ratio.
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