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ICICI Bank
makes provision for Rs 3,780 crore
Mumbai:
ICICI Bank has written down assets of ICICI worth Rs 3,780 crore,
following the reverse merger of ICICI with the bank. This means
ICICI Bank has provided for Rs 3,780 crore in its balance sheet
for 2002-03, making the largest ever provisioning by any Indian
financial intermediary.
The writing down of the assets includes additional provisioning of
Rs 1,953 crore. This will cushion any future impairment of ICICI's
legacy assets.
The additional provisioning with regard to ICICI's non-performing
assets (NPAs) is to the extent of Rs 902 crore.
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ONGC
seeks nod for retailing
New Delhi:
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has applied for rights
to market petrol and diesel through a chain of retail outlets. In
the first phase, ONGC plans to set up 400-500 retail outlets in
Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
The petroleum ministry is likely to take a decision by the end of
this month.
ONGC chairman and managing director Subir Raha said though the
corporation had no immediate plans for selling automobile fuels,
the authorisation had been sought to beat the deadline.
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Bharti
Cellular to start services in Gujarat
Ahmedabad:
Bharti Cellular Ltd has drawn up plans to foray into Gujarat
before 30 June. The company had originally planned to launch its
services in the state in December 2001.
Bharti now has approximately 1,350,960 cellular customers and the
company is confident of becoming the main player in the Gujarat
market.
The company also claims to be far ahead of its rivals in Gujarat
in the technical aspect. It has 1,800 megahertz frequency sites
and is ready to cover all major cities and town in the state
including all highways from the day one.
The western region operations of Bharti Cellular consist of
telecom circles in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
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Century
Tex net down 78.28%
Mumbai:
Century Textiles has reported a 82.84 per cent fall in net profit
for the fourth quarter of 2001-02, which crashed to Rs 7.14 crore
against Rs 41.62 crore in the same period last year.
Net sales fell 8.23 per cent to Rs 476.81 crore from Rs 519.60
crore. Other income was, however, up 28.18 per cent to Rs 44.11
crore from Rs 34.41 crore. Interest costs during the period
declined by 34.84 per cent to Rs 32.08 crore.
The company's net profit for the full year has fallen 78.28 per
cent to Rs 11.72 crore against Rs 53.95 crore last fiscal. Gross
profit rose 7.69 per cent to Rs 159.01 crore from Rs 147.66 crore
in the same period.
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Cadbury
to make India global outsourcing base
Mumbai:
Cadbury Schweppes Plc plans to make its Indian arm, Cadbury India,
a global outsourcing base for its products.
The outsourcing from India for Cadbury Schweppes will be for
chocolates.
The company has three manufacturing facilities at Thane, Pune and
Madhya Pradesh and has three contract manufacturing arrangements.
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IA
registers Rs 159 crore loss in '00-01
New Delhi:
Indian Airlines has suffered a financial loss of over Rs 159 crore
in 2000-01, primarily due to "external factors" like a
hike in fuel prices and insurance premia and the imposition of
duty on aircraft imports.
The national carrier would have ended the year 2000-01 with
"good profits" it did not have to bear the additional
outgo of over Rs 300 crore on account of factors beyond its
control, the airline's annual report for 2000-01, tabled in
Parliament, said.
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Hindalco
Q4 net up 27 %
Mumbai:
Hindalco, the A V Birla group company, has reported a 26.5 per
cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended 31 March 2002 to Rs
192.2 crore against Rs 152.1 crore for corresponding quarter of
the previous year. Profit before deferred tax was up 36.6 per cent
to Rs 214.2 crore (Rs 156.9 crore).
Hindalco has declared a 135 per cent dividend resulting in a total
outgo of Rs 100.52 crore. Net sales increased 8.3 per cent to Rs
6,47.7 crore (Rs 5,98.3 crore).
The company's bottomline has been buoyed by a surge in other
income, which vaulted 180.41 per cent to Rs 80.2 crore from Rs
28.6 crore.
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Ernst
acquires Andersen India
Mumbai:
Ernst & Young is acquiring Andersen's professional services
practice in India. The combined entity will have around 2,100
employees and 60 partners.
Andersen's business consulting division, however, will continue to
exist independently.
Kashi Memani of Ernst & Young will continue as chairman and
country managing partner of the combined entity. Bobby Parikh, so
long the country managing partner at Andersen, will be the chief
executive officer of the new firm.
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Wockhardt
account goes to E&Y
Mumbai:
Ernst & Young has bagged the Wockhardt account, which was
earlier with Andersen.
Some of E&Y's existing clients in India are Coke, Whirlpool,
ABN Amro, Amul, Aurobindo Pharma, Hindustan Lever, Indal and Amex.
On the other hand, Andersen's existing clientele includes Colgate,
Alstrom, Blue Dart and WPP, among others.
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RBI
nod required to hike stake in Zee
Mumbai:
The Reserve Bank of India has said that foreign funds will have to
take its permission for buying any more shares in Zee Telefilms as
their combined stake had hit the ceiling of 28 per cent of the
company's paid-up equity.
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DMIL
to continue customer service
New Delhi:
Daewoo Motors India has said it will continue to get vehicle kits,
parts and necessary technical assistance from its parent company
in South Korea.
The company also said it
was confident of reaching an agreement with domestic financial
institutions and banks on its huge debt portfolio amounting to
about Rs 1,000 crore.
"The customers in
India will continue to get spares and service for the Daewoo
products - Matiz, Cielo and Nexia. As of today, DMIL has enough
quantities of spare parts and it will continue to replenish,"
DMIL Deputy Managing Director D W Kim said in a statement.
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Jindal
strips net profit dips
New Delhi:
Jindal Strips reported a 16.48 per cent dip in its net profit of
Rs 44.48 crore in 2001-02 as against Rs 53.25 crore in the
previous year.
Net sales was up 5.57 per
cent to Rs 1,359.99 crore in 2001-02 when compared to Rs 1,288.22
crore the previous year, a company statement said here.
Production of molten
stainless steel was 326,405 tonnes.
Jindal Strips improved
its market share to 43 per cent while also recording increase in
its stainless steel exports from 22,363 tonnes in 2000-01 to
83,329 tonnes in the 2001-02.
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Infinity
to raise Rs 400cr
New Delhi:
Infinity Ventures has drawn up plans to raise up to Rs 400 crore
for its second fund.
Infinity's first fund
that had a corpus of Rs 150 crore has so far invested Rs 75 crore
in 18 start-ups.
The venture capital has
identified four companies and will invest between Rs two to four
crore in them in the next three months. These companies are in
IT-enabled services and IT services business.
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PowerGrid
to invest in telecom
Bangalore:
The PowerGrid Corporation of India has proposed to invest Rs
55,000 crore in transmission and telecom sectors during the 10th
and 11th plan.
The company recorded Rs
2,850 crore in turnover and notching a net profit of Rs 760 crore
during 2001-02, compared with Rs 2,683 Crore and Rs 742 crore
profit last year.
The corporation is
diversifying into the telecom sector in a big way and has proposed
to expand optical fibre network to about 14,000 km connecting 56
major cities by next year.
Capacity agreements
valued at Rs 7.5 crore have already been signed with major telecom
service providers.
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Suzuki
to pay Rs 2,200 a share premium for Maruti Udyog
New Delhi:
Suzuki Motors has agreed to acquire the governments portion of
Maruti Udyogs rights offer at a premium of Rs 2,200 per share.
This is in addition to the Suzuki Motors agreement to pay Rs
1,000 crore to the government as control premium for MUL.
The government has
decided to sell its rights entitlement for 66,000 shares in MUL to
the highest bidder in the market.
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Suzuki plans
assembly plant in Sri Lanka
Colombo:
Suzuki Motor is looking at setting up Sri Lankas first
car-assembly plant with an investment of up to $25 m.
The Japanese auto-maker
plans to invest in stages, initially using the facility to
recondition used cars and eventually moving to a full assembly
plant.
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Gruh
to market HDFC Standard product
Ahmedabad:
Housing finance company Gruh Finance has decided to focus on
marketing the loan cover term assurance product of HDFC
Standard Life in Gujarat and Maharashtra during the current
financial year.
Gruh Finance has a tie up
with HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd (HSLICL) for
marketing its life insurance and pension products. As part of its
strategy, the company has decided to initially market this product
in eight cities of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
These include Ahmedabad,
Baroda, Rajkot and Surat in Gujarat and Thane, Pune, Amaravati and
Nagpur in Maharshtra.
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Tencel
in tie-up with Wearit Global
New Delhi:
Tencel has entered into a strategic alliance with a women western
wear company Wearit Global.
Under the terms of
agreement Tencel will source their fabrics from Indian or overseas
manufacturers for the Wearit label.
Launched in March 2002,
Wearit is an exclusive women western wear brand from the Kolkata-based
Wearit Global.
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Usha
Intl to enter small genset mkt
Chandigarh:
Usha International has decided to enter the medium range 15-125
kva diesel generator market.
Till now, the company was
it was marketing small generators ranging between 2 and 15 kva.
The company has also
started marketing of silent gensets from 7.5 kva to 15 kva. These
gensets are housed in the state-of-the-art enclosure which reduced
the noise level to 75 decibles meeting the norms set by the
Central Pollution Control Board.
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HP
launches new inkjet printer
Bangalore:
Hewlett-Packard (HP) India is attempting to target children with a
multi-colour inkjet printer.
Called HP deskjet 656c
the customised printer comes with add ons like Walt Disney
magic artist deluxe software to appeal to the target segment.
The printer comes in a
package that has Walt Disney cartoon images and a multi-colour
body a bright green top, red print button and blue and yellow
panels.
Around 300 retail outlets
across the country will display the product and celebrate a just
for kids theme.
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TCS
eyes Latin America
New Delhi:
Tata Consultancy Services is setting up a software development
centre in a Latin American country.
This would be the first
development centre any Indian IT company would be setting up in
the South American continent.
TCS already has three
development centres outside India in Hungary, Toronto and
Tokyo.
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Spectrum,
Tata Info form alliance
New Delhi:
Spectrum Software of US and Tata Infotech have signed agreement
for working together as service partners in marketing Spectrum's
products.
Under the terms of the
agreement, Tata Infotech would market 'SpectrumSCM' platform
through its countrywide sales network. It will also provide
product support and training for SpectrumSCM as part of this
agreement, a company statement said here.
Further both companies
would work together to pursue telecom service opportunities and
execution of projects either onsite or offshore, from Tata
Infotech's facilities in India.
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Apollo
to mkt Srichakras 2-wheeler tyres
New Delhi:
Apollo Tyres is getting into the marketing of two-wheeler tyres,
courtesy TVS Srichakra.
The two tyre majors are
working on an agreement to distribute TVS tyres through Apollo
Tyres exclusive dealerships. The agreement would initially be for
North India.
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ACC
production up 25%
New Delhi:
ACC has reported a 24.95 per cent increase in production at 12.07
lakh tonne in April 2002 as compared to 9.66 lakh tonne during the
same month last year.
The company's cement
despatches rose 29.52 per cent at 12.46 lakh tonne in April 2002
compared to 9.62 lakh tonne in the corresponding month of previous
year, an ACC release said.
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NHPC
plans to invest Rs 4,000 cr on greenfield units
New Delhi: National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC)
has firmed up Rs 4,000 crore of funding for its greenfield
projects during the Tenth-Plan period.
Addressing a press
conference here, NHPC chairman and managing director Yogendra
Prasad said that the company had negotiated a Rs 2,500-crore loan
from Life Insurance Corporation.
NHPC has also obtained a
Rs 1,000-crore loan from ICICI for the Teesta V project. The
company is currently negotiating Rs 750 crore from Duesche Bank,
which is repayable over a 16-year period.
During fiscal 2001, the
company registered a turnover of Rs 1,289.32 crore and a profit of
Rs 469.09 crore.
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Daimler
launches training programme
Pune:
DaimlerChrysler India has announced a one-year comprehensive `DaimlerChrysler
India Automotive Mechatronics Programme'.
It is aimed at developing
technical competence in India for Mercedes-Benz cars-specific
automotive diagnostic skills and electronic and electrical
networking systems of various models of Mercedes.
The programme is targeted
at automobile degree and diploma holders from the Indian
educational institutions and is aimed at developing them as future
technicians for the company.
The programme would be
able to take in 16 people at one time and the cost would be close
to Rs 1.8 lakh per year for an individual.
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Kale
gets Canadian North contract
Mumbai: Kale
Consultants has won a contract for outsourced revenue accounting
services from the airline company Canadian North.
The company said this is
its third contract for its services. Its other customers are Qatar
Airways and Air Luxor. The company has its airline-processing
centre in Mumbai, which was commissioned a year ago. Its revenue
accounting solution is called Revera.
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Dragoco
India's new plant goes on stream
Chennai: A
Rs 18.5-crore plant of Dragoco India Ltd was inaugurated here on 3
May. The plant can produce 3,000 tonnes of fragrances and flavours.
The company is a joint
venture between a German company of the same name, and the Chennai-based
Sanmar group, which holds 49 per cent.
The products that are
made here find application in a variety of fast-moving consumer
goods (FMCG) goods such as cosmetics, shampoos, perfumes,
beverages, ice creams, bakery and savoury products.
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Maruti
launches new Alto variant
New Delhi:
Maruti Udyog Ltd is launching a new variant of the Alto's base
version by fitting it with power steering.
The Alto LXi will be
priced at Rs 3.19 lakh ex-showroom Delhi, according to a company
statement.
Launched in September
2000, sales of the Alto have already crossed 50,000 units in the
domestic market. Maruti makes the Alto in two engine platforms,
one powered by an 800-cc engine and another by a 1,100-cc engine.
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Estel
to launch Web telephony
Mumbai:
Estel Communications Pvt Ltd will launch Internet telephony
services in India this week, with calls priced at between Rs 7 and
Rs 9 per minute for calls to the US and to other developed
markets.
The company is a joint
venture between the Estel group in India and with the US-based
Fusion Telecom. Its IP telephony services will enable its
customers to make international calls from any personal computer
or IP telephone in India to any telephone anywhere in the world,
said a news release from the company.
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Wipro
launches high-speed bus
Bangalore:
Wipro Technologies announced the commercial availability of its
high-speed Universal Serial Bus 2.0 technology. USB 2.0 is driven
by the market need for high-speed data transfer between personal
computers and high performance peripherals and broadband Internet
services.
The technology is suited
to high bandwidth applications like digital cameras, DVDs, mass
storage devices, printers, scanners, and other peripheral devices.
Wipro has announced USB 2.0 technology enablers for the embedded
market including the USB 2.0 device controller, and USB 2.0
software stack.
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Nitco
to market imported sanitaryware
Mumbai:
Nitco Group is planning to introduce a range of imported
sanitaryware in the Indian market.
The group intends
importing the sanitaryware products from a company in China and
use its own brand to sell in India. Currently the group has five
divisions Ceramic, Mosaic, Marble, Paints and Real Estate
selling all its products under the Nitco brand.
The products would
include wash basins, WCs and bidets.
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