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UTI Bank to
branch out abroad
Mumbai:
UTI Bank is looking at setting up a representative office in Dubai
by the second half of this year.
UTI Bank P J Nayak chairman and managing director said, "We
are looking at setting up a representative office in Dubai by the
second half of this financial year once we get the clearance from
the regulators in both countries."
UTI Bank will shortly be approaching the RBI for regulatory
approval.
ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are also looking at setting up their
representative offices in Dubai, while Bank of Punjab has already
opened a representative office in Toronto, Canada.
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BPCL
to offer VRS
New Delhi:
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has sought the
government's permission to offer a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS)
to its employees.
The ministry of petroleum and natural gas had prepared a cabinet
note on the VRS package proposed by the company. The VRS package
involved paying one-and-a-half months' salary for each year of
service completed or number of years remaining, whichever was
less.
The package also included payment of a percentage of the salary of
the employee till his or her notional age of retirement in
addition to benefits like gratuity and provident fund.
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UK's
Portia to hold 26% in Vizag Sea Ports
Visakhapatnam:
The UK-based Portia Management Services, an arm of Mercey Docks
and Harbour Co, will hold a 26 per cent stake in the Indian joint
venture, Vizag Sea Ports Ltd (VSPL), set up to construct and
operate two cargo berths in the Visakhapatnam Port on a build,
operate and transfer (BOT) basis.
Mercey Docks owns and operates major British ports such as
Liverpool, Sheerness and Chatham.
The Indian partner in VSPL, Gammon India Ltd, an infrastructure
construction company, will have a 25 per cent stake in the joint
venture.
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GE,
Bechtel favour DPC divestment
Mumbai:
General Electric (GE) and Bechtel have favoured sale of 85 per
cent foreign equity in Enron's Dabhol Power Company (DPC) even as
its lenders decided to appoint advisors for an asset or equity
sale of the idle 2,814 MW power plant.
Both GE and Bechtel who hold 10 per cent stake each have formally
communicated to the steering committee of the lenders that they
prefer an equity sale over an asset sale.
The equity sale of DPC has been constantly delayed as Enron which
holds a majority 65 per cent stake in the company has not been
cooperating for such a move by demanding a reserve price of $ 550
million for the $ 3-billion project.
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Coca-Cola
wants mandatory IPO deferred
New Delhi:
Coca-Cola has petitioned the government for a five-year moratorium
on the mandatory divestment of 49 per cent equity through public
offer after about six months of rejection of its earlier request.
As per the foreign investment norms, Coke was to dilute equity in
the Indian venture before July 2002, but decided to approach
government for a waiver till 2007 on the grounds that its massive
accumulated losses would hamper the prospects of a public offer at
this point of time.
Coca-Cola India broke even only in 2001 despite its second entry
into India in the early 1990s.
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Infosys
net up
Bangalore:
Infosys Technologies has announced a net profit of Rs 807.96 crore
for 2001-2002, reflecting an increase of 28.49 per cent, but
projected a cautious outlook for the current fiscal.
Announcing the results here, Infosys president and managing
director Nandan Nilakeni said the income from software development
services and products was Rs 2,603.59 crore for the year as
compared to Rs 1,900.56 crore in the previous year, a 37 per cent
rise.
He said as part of its new initiatives for the coming year, it had
decided to make forays into business process management (BPM) and
IT outsourcing for which a subsidiary has been formed and the
company's board had approved investment up to $ five million.
The board of directors has also recommended that the foreign
institutional investment limits in the company be raised from 49
per cent to 100 per cent.
The projected income for the quarter ending June 30, 2002, was
likely to be between Rs 684 crore and Rs 694 crores, he said.
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2003, the company projected
income to range between Rs 3,085 crore and Rs 3,170 crore.
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Mastek
Q3 net rises to Rs 7.52 crore
Mumbai:
Mastek has posted a net profit at Rs 7.52 crore for the third
quarter ended 31 March 2002 when compared with Rs 3 lakh for the
quarter ended 31 March 2001.
Total income has increased 39.08% to Rs 26.62 crore from Rs 19.14
crore.
The net profit for the group for the period under review stood at
Rs 10.53 crore as against Rs 11 lakh in the corresponding period
of the last fiscal.
Total income has increased from Rs 60.35 crore to Rs 71.58 crore.
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Ranbaxy
being probed in UK for overpricing
London:
Ranbaxy and five other drug companies are being investigated by
the UK serious fraud office for allegedly defrauding the national
health service by over pricing penicillin-based antibiotics
between 1996-2000.
The other companies being investigated include Generics UK, Kent
Pharmaceuticals, Regent-GM Labs, Goldshield Group and Norton
Healthcare.
According to an official statement issued by the agency, "No
arrests have been made and no charges are likely to be framed
soon. The investigation, however, is expected to continue for some
time."
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ONGC
selling crude at $ 21-22 per barrel
New Delhi:
ONGC is charging a provisonal price of $21-22 per barrel for its
crude oil sold to refineries.
"We have started charging a provisional price of $21-22 a
barrel for our crude from 1 April when the petroleum sector was
deregulated," CMD Subir Raha said.
Prior to 1 April, ONGC was getting a capped price of close to $16
a barrel. "The dismantling of APM has given us the freedom to
market our crude at a market-determined price. Provisonally, we
have started charging $21-22 per barrel till such time that
pricing agreements are finalised with the refining
companies," Raha said.
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LIC
to promote profit sharing schemes
Mumbai:
Life Insurance Corporation of India will come up with more
profit-sharing schemes rather than alluring customers with assured
return products. This means policyholders will be entitled to
higher returns only if LIC's profits go up in the coming years.
LIC will bring in more bonus-oriented (or with-profit) policies
rather than assured return schemes, according to A Ramamurthy,
acting chairman and managing director of LIC.
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Global
Asset set to pick 10% stake in Shyam Intl
New Delhi:
Global Asset is set to pick up 10 per cent stake in Shyam
International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shyam Telecom, for a
consideration of $15 million.
The investment is being routed through a Mauritius-based
subsidiary of Global Asset, India Communicational Global Partners
Plc.
Shyam International is the holding company for its subsidiaries
offering various telecom services including cellular, basic and
sat-phones.
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Infosys to
launch BPO arm
New Delhi:
Infosys has decided to set up a subsidiary to cater to business
process outsourcing (BPO) contracts.
Stating this, Infosys Technologies deputy managing director and
chief operating officer S Gopalakrishnan said the company had
decided to address the business process outsourcing needs of its
customers through a separate arm.
The yet-to-be-named arm will be headed by Phaneesh Murthy as its
non-executive chairman. Murthy has been with Infosys since 1992
and is also Infosys' senior vice president and head worldwide
sales.
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Movenpick
plans acquisitions in India
Singapore:
The Swiss hotels and ice cream major Movenpick Foods International
is keen to acquire Indian firms and set up joint ventures in the
ice-cream and coffee businesses.
The acquisitions and JVs would be carried out through a
wholly-owned subsidiary that the firm is currently in the process
of setting up in India.
The wholly-owned venture and its subsidiaries would focus only on
expanding its ice-cream and coffee businesses in India.
The firm has already approached the FIPB with an application to
set up a downstream venture in India.
Currently, the company imports ice-creams through Frozen Natural
Imports and Exports, while its distribution logistics are being
handled by Kauser India Ltd.
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Nalco
mulls entry into nickel sector
New Delhi:
National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is considering a foray into
nickel sector by buying out Hindustan Zinc's (HZL) nickel plant in
Orissa.
Nalco is also in the process of roping in National Mineral
Development Corporation (NMDC) as a partner for the project.
The move to take over HZLs facility comes in the wake of the
government's decision to divest 26 per cent stake in the company
to Sterlite Industries.
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Tata
Tele to offer SMS on WLL
New Delhi:
Tata Teleservices is planning to start short messaging service (SMS)
on the WLL-operated limited mobility phones.
SMS, which is one of the fastest growing services, could make a
big dent on the viability of cellular operations.
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Microsoft,
Akamai tie up for .NET platform
New Orleans:
Microsoft Corp and Akamai Technologies Inc have agreed to develop
a service to offer Akamai customers delivery of Microsoft .NET Web
services and applications.
Microsoft said that the service, which would also be available to
all .NET developers, will integrate the Akamai EdgeSuite services
with Microsoft .NET technologies.
Akamai rents space on its computers around the world to websites.
Surfers then access the closest machines, bypassing potential
Internet choke points.
.NET is Microsoft's technology for automated exchange of
information between websites and users.
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IBM
to work with Indian software vendors
Chennai:
IBM India plans to focus on web services in the country, working
closely with Indian software vendors to easily create, deploy and
maintain web-based applications.
The company will enable its business partners with requisite
skills to help them efficiently deploy applications for IBM's
customers in India.
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Danone
mulls buying Himalaya brand
New Delhi:
Groupe Danone is in advanced stages of negotiations to acquire
natural water brand Himalayan, which originally belonged to Dadi
Balsara.
Balsara sold it to a consortium of Mauritius-based NRIs last year.
Danones technical team has already conducted tests at Himalayans
Solan plant
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DVB
bids get poor response
New Delhi:
Delhi Vidyut Board has managed to get only two bids for its
distribution zones from Tata Power and BSES. The highest bid is
for reduction in transmission and distribution losses at just 13
per cent for the first year, against the governments benchmark
of 20 per cent.
While both Tata Power and BSES have bid for north and north-west
and south and west zones, the central and east zones have got a
single bid from BSES.
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Sterlite
to gain HZL control
New Delhi:
The government will hand over management control of Hindustan Zinc
to Sterlite Industries on 11 April. The Sterlite Group has made an
announcement of the open offer to acquire 20 per cent shares.
Sterlite is scheduled to hand over the Rs 445 crore cheque for 26
per cent stake in HZL.
The reconstituted board of the company is set to meet immediately
after the money is handed over to the mines ministry, the
administrative ministry for HZL.
Mines secretary AK Kundra is expected to take over as the chairman
of reconstituted board. The government will have five members on
the board including the chairman, while Sterlite will have six
nominees including the managing director.
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FIs
for restructuring of Lloyds group
Mumbai:
Financial institutions led by ICICI have proposed consolidating
various businesses of the Lloyds group into two companies.
The groups core businesses of manufacturing steel and sponge
iron would be undertaken by one company, while the second would
acquire the groups non-core businesses such as real estate and
engineering procurement and construction.
Banks and FI together have an outstanding loan of Rs 2,800 crore
which is at stake with Lloyds group showing financial losses over
the few years. The proposal has also sought for additional working
capital of Rs 100 crore and term loan of Rs 30 crore.
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ANZ,
ING form A$3.75-b funds venture
Sydney:
ANZ Banking group has formed a funds and life insurance venture
with Dutch-based ING valued at A$3.75 billion.
The ANZ-ING deal comes at a time of increasing consolidation in
the Australasian funds management and life insurance industry, and
would prevent ANZ from being marginalised in the face of expansion
by global players.
The venture, to be named ING Australia Ltd, will be 51 per cent
owned by ING, which has contributed businesses worth A$2.87
billion, but ING and ANZ will have an equal say in all major
decisions and equal board representation.
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BTAL
nets 65% revenue growth
Mumbai:
Birla Tata AT&T has reported net revenues of Rs 600 crore for
the period ended 31 March 2002. The company has chalked up a 65
per cent revenue growth during 2001-02 and has started earning
cash profits in the second half of the year.
The company has reported gross revenues of Rs 695 crore which
includes the pass through charges. Cellular operators have to
collect these charges, which are passed on to fixed line operators
MTNL and BSNL.
For the period ended 31 March 2001, BTAL had reported sales and
other income of Rs 328 crore (Rs 167.4 crore in the previous year)
and a loss after tax of Rs 241.9 crore (Rs 119 crore). The total
equity capital of the company as of March 31, 2001 stood at Rs
894.5 crore while the reserves and accumulated deficit was about
Rs 114.6 crore (Rs 660.5 crore).
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Niryat-Sam
to make Pierre Cardin apparel
New Delhi:
The fashion house of Pierre Cardin has signed an exclusive licence
with an Indian company, Niryat-Sam Apparels, for manufacturing and
distribution of Pierre Cardin apparels in India. The agreement
also permits the Indian company to supply Pierre Cardin apparels
to other licencees of the haute couture brand worldover.
The brand licence agreement covers both mens as well as ladies
apparels.The first set of Pierre Cardin apparels manufactured by
the company would be launched in 2002 winter. This will be
followed by a non-woollen range in 2003 summer.
Niryat-Sam will manufacture the Pierre Cardin range according to
the designs and patents provided by the Fresh fashion house.
Technical supervision of Pierre Cardin would also be involved to
ensure high quality standards.
The India-made Pierre Cardin apparels would be sold in exclusive
showrooms and renowned stores in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore
and Calcutta. Initially, Niryat-Sam may import some shirts and
ties from Pierre Cardin licencees in other countries to complete
its range. Pierre Cardin suits are likely to carry a price tag of
Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 per unit. Trousers would be sold at around Rs
1,200 to Rs 1,800 per piece while blazers and jackets would cost
around Rs 4,500 to Rs 6,500 per piece.
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Reliance
Petro, Jet in talks over ATF supply deal
Mumbai:
Reliance Petroleum has begun negotiating with Jet Airways to
supply aviation turbine fuel for aircraft at the latters base
in Mumbai.
RPL faces tough competition from the public sector oil companies
Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum who have a virtual duopoly over
the countrys aviation fuel business.
Reliance has a 15 year deferred sales tax arrangement with the
Gujarat government, which it could pass on to the customers.
Jet Airways currently has a fleet of 30 aircraft and buys about
10,000 kl of ATF per month in Mumbai.
Airlines can technically buy the fuel from the Jamnagar refinery
gate in Gujarat and have it delivered at Mumbai airport by paying
a 4 per cent CST and save on the Maharashtra levies.
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Biocon,
Shantha float JV for human insulin
Bangalore:
Biocon India and Shantha Biotechnics have floated a 50:50 joint
venture company to manufacture and market recombinant human
insulin.
The joint venture company aims to maximise the research and
development, manufacturing and regulatory capabilities of the two
companies with a view to expeditiously bring recombinant human
insulin into the Indian market.
Both the companies will invest close to Rs 25 crore initially,
utilising their existing facilities to bring the product to
market.
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Kinetic
set to export Nova
Bangalore:
Kinetic Engineering plans to take its newly launched four-stroke
scooter Nova to north and south America and east-Europe under its
own brand name.
The company is targeting sales of around 8,000 units of the
four-stroke Nova. In the past, Kinetic has exported two-stroke
scooters jointly branded with Japanese auto giant Honda, and a
scooterette called Milano.
Kinetic is aiming at selling at least 50,000 units of Nova in
India this fiscal, which should put the scooter sales at 1,20,000
units plus, while the scooterette numbers are expected to move up
from about 18,000 to 40,000 this year.
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Baidyanath
to increase US presence
Kolkat:
Baidyanath plans to increase presence in the US markets with
multi-level marketing or direct sales. It plans to open a few
ayurvedic centres in America.
The companys team will be based at Florida, from where the
initial chain will be created.
A company will be formed which will be registered in the US and
then this new company will do direct sales for Baidyanath
products.
Plans are afoot to set up a chain of Panch Karma centres in
several cities in the US, which will offer a complete range of
holistic medicines along with Yoga to customers.
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Cadila
lines up 4 anti-HIV launches
Ahmedabad:
Cadila Pharmaceuticals is planning to launch four products in the
anti-HIV segment by April-end.
CPL will launch its antiretrovirals in two phase. In the first
phase, the company will launch Lamda (Lamivudine), Zilion (Zidovudine),
Neve (Nevirapine) and Lamda-Z (Lamivudine and Zidovudine).
In the next phase, the company is planning to launch around six
products to be spread over the next two years. These drugs will
include protean inhibitors like Indinavir and Nelfinavir, besides
Efavirenz and triple drug combinations.
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HC
dismisses Pfizer's suit to protect 'Viagra'
New Delhi:
The Delhi high court has dismissed US multinational Pfizer's suit
to restrain Indian pharmaceutical companies from maufacturing and
marketing anti-impotency drug similar to its product 'Viagra'.
Pfizer had filed the suit against Cadilla Healthcare, Cipla, Sun
Pharmaceuticals, Ajanta Pharmaceuticals and Yogi Herbs which were
manufacturing their product by adopting allegedly deceptively
similar name for their products.
Refusing to grant injunction in favour of the US pharmaceutical
major, Justice A K Sikri allowed Indian companies to manufacture
their product saying there was no chance of misrepresentation.
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Tatas
to lease Spectranet lines
New Delhi:
Tata Teleservices plans to launch basic services in its existing
four licencing areas - Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka -
by second half of this year. It has already leased optical fibre
cable capacity from Spectranet in Delhi. It has also purchased its
OFC network in some parts of the city.
Tata Teleservices will soon acquire licence for providing basic
telecom services in Maharashtra. The company has applied to the
department of telecommunications for extending the deadline for
signing the licence agreement by five days.
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Nihar
Infoway to foray into back-office processing
Hyderabad:
Nihar Infoway is looking to spread its business focus into the
IT-enabled services sector, particularly back-office processing,
to shore up revenues.
The company plans to adopt inorganic growth by going for
acquisitions or partnerships with global firms.
The company is also looking at stepping up its activities in Web
technologies and e-learning solution offerings. The company is
scouting for potential overseas acquisitions or partnering with
strong players.
Nihar Infoway is one of the dotcom firms that quickly shifted to a
revenue-based business model. The company acquired a 51 per cent
stake in San Jose-based Winquest Consultants in March last year.
Nihar Infoway has achieved a turnover of Rs 10 crore for the year
ended 31 March 2002, including that of its subsidiaries in the US
and UAE.
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Thai
Carbon to start ops in China
Mumbai: The
AV Birla group company, Thai Carbon Black, will spearhead the
groups foray into China for setting up its carbon black
business.
Former Birla-Tata-AT&T
chief Sanjeev Aga has taken charge to oversee the companys
overseas expansion programme.
The group is already
present in 18 countries spanning Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Egypt, Canada, Britain, and the US among others,
and is now looking at further expansions.
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Dr
Reddys unveils new asthma drug
Hyderabad: Dr
Reddys Laboratories has announced the launch of Montelukast,
a non-steroidal drug indicated for prohysaxis and treatment of
asthma.
The company will market
the drug under the brand name "Emlucast", which is
available as tablets in three strengths: 10 mg tablets for adults,
4 and 5 mg tablets for children.
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Essel
Propack opens fourth plant in China
Mumbai: Essel
Propack Guangzhou Ltd (EPGL), the China-based subsidiary of Essel
Propack, has inaugurated its fourth new plant at Guangzhou
province in the Peoples Republic of China to produce 45 million
square meters of special laminates and 550 million laminated tubes
annually.
The laminated tubes
produced by this fourth plant in China will not only be consumed
by the Chinese markets but also be supplied to the global markets.
Essel Propack has four factories in Guangzhou and Shanghai with an
investment of $40 million.
Essel had set up its
first overseas venture in Egypt.
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Tisco
signs pact with Nippon, Arcelor
Kolkata: Nippon
Steel Corporation of Japan, Arcelor of Europe and Tata Steel of
India have signed an agreement to work jointly on technical
developments keeping in view the needs of the Indian automotive
steel market.
The automotive steel
technology cooperation agreement aims at providing the Indian
automotive industry with effective total steel solutions and in
the process improving the efficiency and the performance of these
three steel companies, a Tisco release here said.
As a result of the
tripartite agreement, Nippon Steel and Arcelor will assist Tata
Steel in its efforts to cater to the requirement of high quality
steel sheets of the Indian automotive industry.
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Bijlee
for Bangalore
Bangalore:
Mahindra Eco Mobiles Ltd is planning to launch Bijlee, its
battery-operated, 10-seater electric auto in Bangalore as soon as
it gets permission. The eco-friendly vehicle will cost about Rs
2.75 lakh.
The company is targeting
autorickshaw owners and taxi operators in the urban market since
pollution is a serious concern in cities, according to the
company. Though priced three times as much as the autorickshaw, it
also seats thrice as many passengers while also having lower
running costs.
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Zee
launches online lottery show
Mumbai:
Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) is launching an online lottery show, Khelo
Number Khelo, to be hosted by television artiste Archana Puran
Singh.
ZTL has tied up with the
UK-based Chatterbox to design this show for Indian viewers.
It is a game show that
creates a link with the online draw of the Sikkim Superlotto. Khelo
Number Khelo will capitalise on the followers of big prize
money, big lotteries and big games.
The first show of Khelo
Number Khelo will be held on 11 April, at the end of which the
draw will be held.
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Suzuki
set to take control of Maruti
New Delhi:
Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) is set to take control of Maruti
Udyog Ltd with 56 per cent stake following a rights offering.
After the proposed rights
issue, the government holding in Maruti would be reduced to 44 per
cent.
The proposed rights issue
constitutes the first stage of the government's plan to divest its
holdings in Maruti, a 50-50 joint venture with Suzuki.
In the second stage, the
government will sell its residual equity in Maruti in the market
through an offer for sale.
Suzuki has given its
consent to subscribe to the entire portion of the government's
rights being renounced.
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P&G
launches new scheme
Chennai:
Procter and Gamble Home Products Ltd has launched an Ariel bar
refund offer along with its new advanced Ariel compact detergent
powder.
As per the offer,
consumers can exchange their detergent bar on purchase of advanced
Ariel compact's 1kg and 500 gm packs, and avail discounts worth Rs
15 and Rs 7 respectively.
The Ariel bar refund
offer provides an opportunity to housewives to shift from the
stressful activity of scrubbing with a bar and switch to advanced
Ariel compact.
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Tata Tele
unveils Rs 8,250-cr plan
New Delhi:
Tata Teleservices Ltd, the private basic telecom services
provider, plans an investment of Rs 8,250 crore with major portion
of funds sourced from its group companies.
The company's perspective
plan envisages the investment of Rs 8,250 crore over the next five
years in six telecom circles, including Andhra Pradesh. Of this Rs
4,000 crore would comprise equity and the group share will be in
the range of Rs 2,500 crore.
The expansion plan
includes roll-out of its basis services covering the limited
mobility in six circles in the State of Maharastra, for which it
is yet to sign up. The other circles in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Gujarat, New Delhi and Andhra Pradesh would be strengthened.
The company had already
invested about Rs 1,900 crore, which included Rs 1,400 crore in AP
and is set to firm up the required funds for the proposed growth
plans.
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Sify
to merge consumer businesses
Chennai:
Satyam Infoway Ltd has announced that its consumer businesses are
being merged into a single consumer business division starting May
this year.
Shrikant Joshi,
designated vice-president, access media, will be responsible for
running and enhancing subscription revenues in the dial-up ISP
business, the cybercafe business, fixed wireless broadband and
other access media.
V.V. Kannan, designated
vice-president, interactive services, will oversee all content,
including various Sify portals, e-commerce, brand marketing and
earning revenues out of all online properties.
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GE Shipping
forms JV to lease copters
Mumbai:
Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd has announced a joint venture
to carry out offshore air logistics business.
The joint venture between
GE Shipping, U.B. Air Private Ltd and Qatar General Petroleum
Corporation was to be called United Helicharters Private Ltd. It
would charter helicopters and lease them to offshore operators in
India.
Currently, both GE
Shipping and U.B. Air Private Ltd operate two and three
helicopters respectively, leased from QGPC.
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