Infosys launches BPM venture
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies Ltd has announced the launch of its Business Process Management (BPM) venture, called Progeon Limited, a company in which it would hold a majority stake.

Infosys has also acquired additional funding of $ 20 million from Citigroup investments for Progeon.

Infosys plans to start a BPM initiative with an investment of $ 5 million.

Progeon would be headquartered in Bangalore and is incorporated in India.

Progeon and Infosys would offer their clients a complete cost-effective solution based on service and technology outsourcing.
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ONGC-IOC to jointly bid for IPCL
New Delhi: Indian Oil and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation have decided to bid jointly for government equity in IPCL.

The combined might of the two national oil companies would be vying with petrochemical giant Reliance Industries for wresting control of IPCL.

IOC and ONGC currently are working on a proposal to form a 50:50 joint venture for bidding for government's 26 per cent stake in IPCL.
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Wipro ventures into biotechnology
Bangalore: Wipro is entering the biotechnology sector by launching a new firm, Wipro Healthcare and Life Science.

Wipro Healthcare and Life Science will address the requirements of bio-IT market where information technology converges with life sciences. This business will offer solutions to hospitals and health insurance companies.

Wipro already deals in the healthcare business segment under its Wipro Infotech umbrella and has two other firms Wipro GE Medical Systems and Wipro Biomed.

Wipro Biomed will be transferred to Wipro Healthcare and Life Science while the new firm will also leverage the customer relationship with hospitals of Wipro GE Medical Systems, a joint venture between General Electric and Wipro.
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Toyota to set up auto-part units
Bangalore: Japan's Toyota Motor Corp plans to invest $73.5 million for setting up two export-oriented units in Karnataka to make automobile components for its worldwide needs.

Company officials told a news conference that the projects would be executed by a joint venture in which Toyota Motor will hold 64 percent, Toyota Industries Corporation 26 percent and India's Kirloskar Systems 10 percent.

"Toyota will invest 3.6 billion rupees for setting up two EOUs, which will have a production capacity of 160,000 units of automotive transmission systems. The plants, expected to go on stream by June 2004 will meet requirements in Toyota's worldwide plants," it said in a statement.
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SAP to push software R&D in India
Mumbai: SAP AG plans to increase software development in India for global use, expanding research and development work in the country.

The Bangalore-based SAP Labs India, which now develops products for India and the South Asian region, will soon be involved in the bulk of SAP's development work, SAP India's chief said.

"We believe that India is a place where a lot of our development can and should take place," the newly appointed managing director and president of SAP India, Alan Sedghi, told a news conference.

The 500-strong SAP Labs India is already building a new facility at Bangalore, which should be ready by the end of the year.

The Indian developers will start working on the mySAP.com suite -- web-enabled products for customer relationship and supply chain management.
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Reliance, L&T, Sun in race for pipeline project
New Delhi: Reliance Industries is vying with cement and construction company Larsen & Toubro and Russian consortium of Sun Securities-OAO Stroytransgaz-Gazprom for the Rs 2,450 crore Central India pipeline project, final bids for which are expected by month end.

RIL, L&T and Sun have been shortlisted from among the half-a-dozen bidders for the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) contract of the 1,760-km long west-to-east pipeline project.

The Central India Pipeline would evacuate petroleum products from refineries in Gujarat to consumption centres in Central and North India.
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Coca Cola posts Q1 net loss
Atlanta: Coca-Cola has posted a first-quarter net loss after the impact of an accounting change and other special items outweighed a 5 per cent surge in soft drink case sales in most of its main markets.

The world's No 1 soft-drink company reported net income of $801 million, or 40 cents a share before non-recurring items, compared with $863 million, or 35 cents a share, a year before.

But after the items, which included a $926 million non-cash after-tax charge due to the application of a new accounting standard related to the writing down of goodwill, Coca-Cola posted a net loss of $125 million, or 5 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2002.

Currency fluctuations, including a weakening of the Japanese yen and Argentine peso, also stripped 3 cents from Coke's earnings per share in the period.
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Accent in notchback version
Bangalore: Hyundai Motor plans a new sporty notchback Accent this July, followed by a 1.5 litre CRDi diesel engine-powered Accent in October.

The five-door notchback Accent is expected to be rolled out as a World-Cup special, in diesel and petrol engine variants.

The notchback Accent will have a 5-10 per cent higher price tag than the existing four-door car.
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Asian Paints promoters offload 1.54% to FIIs
Mumbai: The promoters of Asian Paints have offloaded a 1.54 per cent stake in the company to foreign institutional investors for Rs 20-25 crore.

As a result, the promoters stake in the company has come down to around 42.61 per cent from 44.15 per cent on March 2001.

The current FII shareholding in Asian Paints is the highest among all fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies.
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Indo Rama net profit jumps 120%
New Delhi: Indo Rama reported a 120 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 41.28 crore even as sales dipped 4 per cent to Rs 1,909.55 crore for the 12-month period ended 31 March 2002.

Despite the substantial jump in net profit, the company's accumulated losses stand at about Rs 200 crore. The board of directors has recommended 10 per cent dividend for 2001-02.

Indo Rama has earmarked Rs 600 crore investment over the next three years, 50 per cent of which would be financed via internal accruals.
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Unichem Labs sets up JV in UK
Mumbai: Unichem Laboratories has set up a joint venture, Niche Generics, in the United Kingdom with the erstwhile executive directors of Bioglan Generics.

Unichem, which would hold 60 per cent stake in the JV with foreign promoters having the balance, has agreed to invest 3 million in Niche Generics, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The primary business of Niche Generics would be to develop, manufacture, market and sell generic pharmaceutical products in European Union countries, it said.

Unichem chairman and managing director Prakash Mody would be the chairman of the JV with the executive team being led by Lynda Foster, former chairman of British Generics Association, the company said.
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Air-India invites bids for Centaur Hotel
New Delhi: Air-India has invited initial bids for sale of its subsidiary Hotel Corporation's Centaur Hotel and Chefair Flight Kitchen properties.

The carrier has put on the block the Delhi-based 367-room luxury hotel along with Delhi Chefair Flight kitchen for which there were no bidders in the first round of disinvestment.

The company has stipulated a minimum net worth criteria of Rs 25 crore for the Centaur hotel property while the same has been pegged at Rs 2 crore for kitchen properties.

JP Morgan India has been retained as global advisor for the sale.

Interested parties would have to submit expression of interest by April 30.
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Wartsila makes open offer at Rs 120 per share
Mumbai: Wartsila Corporation along with Wartsila Technology is making an open offer to acquire the balance 15.24 per cent stake in Wartsila India at Rs 120 per share and delist the Indian subsidiary from the stock exchanges.

The offer, the second by the company, would open on 27 May and close on 25 June, 2002.

Wartlisa India's foreign promoters are making the open offer to acquire upto 18,34,258 shares (Rs 10 each) representing 15.24 per cent stake, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Both Wartsila Corp and Wartsila Technology jointly hold 84.76 per cent stake in the Indian subsidiary.

On completion of the offer, Wartsila Corp would request Wartsila India to approach the stock exchanges where the shares are listed for delisting.
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Tatas hike 6.6% stake in Telco
Mumbai: The Tata Group, the countrys second largest conglomerate, has upped its stake in Telco by 6.6 per cent during the January-March period by picking up the shares renounced by German automaker DaimlerChrysler and the ones not subscribed to by other shareholders.

The Tata Group picked up DaimlerChryslers 2 per cent and other unsubscribed shares, equivalent to a 4.5 per cent stake, from GDR holders.

The shareholding of the Tata Group, which holds the Telco stake through Tata Sons, Tata Steel and a few trusts, aggregated to 25.35 per cent as of 31 March 2001.
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TCIL Bell talking to MTNL to sell software
New Delhi: TCIL Bell South, a joint venture between Telecom Consultants India and Canada-based Bell South, is talking to Mahanagar Telephone Nigam and Bharat Sanchar Nigam for selling indigenously-developed telecom software.

TCIL holds 45 per cent in TBL, Bell South holds 40 per cent and the remaining 15 per cent is held by DSS. TBL is one of the few domestic software companies which develop telecom software products in the country.

The company sells and installs software in African and Asian countries. It has recently completed a big project in Zimbabwe where it provided and installed its software for the billing of the government-owned basic telecom service provider.
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Nortel, Nokia to build mmO2 networks
London: Britain-based mmO2 Plc, Europes fifth-largest mobile phone operator, has chosen Nortel Networks and Nokia to be the main suppliers for its next-generation networks.

MmO2 plans to outsource all its Dutch network operations to Ericsson and the total of all the equipment spending would be 2.2 billion euros ($1.9 billion).

Nortel will supply a GPRS network, seen as the stepping stone to even faster 3G networks, across all the territories.
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Tata Ind, Taco to buy 29.5% in JBM
Mumbai: Tata Industries and Tata AutoComp Systems are acquiring 29.46 per cent in JBM Tools at Rs 24.87 per share by way of inter-se transfer among promoters.

Post acquisition, Taco will hold a 79.5 per cent and the remaining 20.5 per cent will be held by the public.

Taco acquired the 29.46 per cent stake from the SK Arya group, which together with Tatas promoted the company. With Taco buying out SK Aryas entire stake, the management control now lies with Taco.

JBM Tools is a Delhi-based company, manufacturing sheet metal components for automobiles. It has three units, two in Pune and one in Baroda manufacturing sheet metal components.
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Hero Honda launches Dawn
Bangalore: Hero Honda has launched its four-stroke 100 cc motorcycle called Dawn, priced at Rs 37,855.

The company expects to sell about 10,000 vehicles within six months of the launch. The company is also likely to launch a 100 cc plus two-wheeler in mid 2002.

Dawn, which comes in four colours, is targeted at customers looking for a combination of ruggedness, riding comfort and fuel efficiency at a competitive price.

It also has adjustable shock absorbers and wide rear tyres, and a 10.5-litre fuel tank. Hero Honda also provides a standard two-year warranty for this vehicle.
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RPG Life, Ivax Pharma tie up
Mumbai: RPG Life Sciences, the RPG groups pharma arm, has partnered with Ivax Pharmaceuticals, a UK-based off-patent drugs company, to develop, manufacture and market drugs that will come off patent starting this year in Europe.

The first product off the block in this partnership is the antibiotic, ciprofloxacin, shipments of which started last month.
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IFS considers JV with Escorts arm
New Delhi: IFS is considering forming a joint venture with its Indian distributor Escosoft, a subsidiary of Escorts Group.

Escosoft had entered into a distributor partnership with IFS Asia Pacific to sell and implement IFS applications in India. IFS is now considering formation of a joint venture, where it would hold a minority stake to start with.

IFS, which operates in India through its distributor Escosoft, has also recently announced IFS Applications 2002, the latest version of its business applications suite expected to be launched in India sometime in May.
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Intel slashes Pentium 4 price
San Francisco: Intel cut prices of some of its microprocessors over the weekend, including the Pentium 4 chip.

Intel said it cut the price on its Pentium 4 chip with a clock speed of 2.2 billion cycles per second by 25 per cent to $423 each from $562. It also cut prices on its Pentium 4 chips running at 1.9 gigahertz and 2.0 gigahertz by 7 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.

The price cuts on the 2.2 gigahertz Pentium 4 follow on the heels of Intel's introduction earlier this month of its 2.4 gigahertz chip.

Intel also cut prices on its Pentium III chips designed for notebook computers. It cut the price of its 866 megahertz Pentium III chips by 24 per cent to $241 from $316, the 850 megahertz mobile Pentium III by 24 per cent to $241 from $316 and on its 800 megahertz Pentium III by 18 per cent to $198 from $241.
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Tasty Bite plans to enter UK, S Africa
Chennai: Tasty Bite Eatables Limited (TBEL) is planning a foray into the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa markets with its Tasty Bite range of ready-to-serve vegetarian Indian snacks

The company is looking at a 40 to 50 per cent growth in its exports this fiscal and will take the route of expansion to new markets as well as consolidation in the existing markets to achieve this target.

The Tasty Bite brand of the company is already present in 10 countries across the globe - United States, Canada, Switzerland, Holland, Dubai, Australia, Singapore, Belgium, France and Japan.

The export turnover of the company for fiscal 2002 was around Rs 18 crore.

Within India, the company is looking at expansion of its distribution network to the eastern India and other markets where it is currently not present. It is also planning to enhance its product range from 15 to 20 by first quarter of the financial year 2002.
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Ma Foi to offload 10% to strategic partner
Chennai:  The promoters of the Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd is planning to divest five to ten per cent of their stake in favour of a strategic partner by June.

Ma Foi is looking at a strategic investor in order to scale-up its operations and gain easy entry into different parts of the world.

The prospective investor in the company is expected to be one of the top ten international HR services companies, which are looking at gaining an entry into the Indian market.
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Mazda launches minivan
Tokyo:  Mazda Motor Corp has unveiled a new minivan. The upgraded version of its MPV minivan is the first of four new products the automaker is due to unveil in the domestic market this year.

Previews of its new products, which include a new Atenza and Demio, have been well received, but Mazda will be unveiling its offerings at a time when the US and Japanese auto markets could be sluggish.

The MPV, to be priced from around 2.1 million yen to 2.95 million yen, will be Mazdas first vehicle in Japan to feature its I4 in-line 2,300 C.C. engine.
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Himalaya Drug to expand livercare portfolio
New Delhi: Himalaya Drug Company (HDC) plans to expand its livercare drug range by introducing a new herbal drug next year.

Clinical trials for the new herbal livercare drug are nearly complete and the launch is slotted towards the next financial year.

Interestingly, the new drug will not be an extension of HDCs flagship brand Liv-52 but will be launched as a separate brand.

HDC is also readying to enter the womens healthcare segment for the first time with the launch of two new drugs in July 2002.

HDCs womens healthcare products will include menopausal products, uterine tonics and topical applications among other things.
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Amtrex to launch 14 new models
New Delhi: Amtrex Hitachi Appliances Ltd., the Rs 370 crore joint venture between Hitachi and the Lalbhai Group, has launched 14 new models of air-conditioners (in both window and split variants) under the Amtrex brand. The prices of the new models will range from Rs 18,000 to Rs 70,000.

The launch will be supported by various marketing activities and initiatives. Both the company's logo and baseline have been changed. The baseline for Amtrex will now be My Lifetime AC.
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Toon mug offer from Cadbury
Mumbai: Cadbury India has signed a one-year promotional licence agreement with Cartoon Network to promote its brand Bournvita.

As part of this agreement, the first promotion to hit the market is the Toon Mug offer.

With every purchase of a 500 gm Bournvita pack, Cadbury offers a mug featuring cartoon characters such as Powerpuff Girls, Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Johnny Bravo, Dexter and Tom & Jerry. TV commercials and in-store advertising support the promotion.
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Reliance may pull out of IPCL race
New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd is likely to pull out of the race for Indian Petrochemicals Ltd (IPCL).

The government, which holds 59 per cent stake in IPCL, plans to sell 26 per cent stake. The financial bids will be invited on 29 April.

Reliances unwillingness to bid for IPCL was primarily because of the latters inability to conclude a pricing arrangement with ONGC on the purchase of feedstock.
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Kirloskars buy out Chatterji Group from Systems
Bangalore: Kirloskar Oil Engines has bought over the entire stake of the Chatterji Group in Kirloskar Systems for Rs 40 crore.

Kirloskar Systems had sold 90 per cent of its stake in the auto components division to the newly formed Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts Ltd for around Rs 104 crore.

Kirloskar Systems, which had developed a few properties in Bangalore, will entirely shift its focus to developing properties. Its 30-acre property in Bangalore will now be developed into a business park.
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LG sells stake in picture tube venture for $5 m
Mumbai: LG Electronics has divested its 50 per cent stake in the colour picture tube company LG Hotline CPT Ltd for $5 million to the Indian promoters. The company has been rechristened Hotline CPT.

LG, however, continues to be its major client for colour picture tubes despite exiting from the joint venture.

The company's colour picture tube manufacturing facility is located in Malanpur, near Gwalior, and has a capacity of 1.8 million.
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