Indian Rayon net down 36%
Mumbai: Indian Rayon has posted a 36.57 per cent drop in its net profit at Rs 43.46 crore for the financial year ended 31 March 2002 compared to Rs 68.52 crore in 2000-01.

The board of directors have recommended 33 per cent dividend for the financial year 2001-02 (30 per cent in last fiscal), entailing outgo of Rs 19.76 crore, the company said in a release here.

The sales for the period under review were up marginally at Rs 1,551.55 crore as against Rs 1,525.95 crore in 2001-01, it said.

The losses due to "illegal" strike in Rayon division had neutralised the improved performance in the various other divisions, it added.

The company has provided Rs 25.61 crore for the deferred tax.
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STC's PBT zooms 300%
Mumbai: State Trading Corporation (STC) has registered more than 300% increase in its profit before tax to Rs 8.74 crore in 2001-02 when compared with the corresponding period last year.

The company's total turnover rose 47% to Rs 1524 crore from Rs 1040 crore, a company release said.

Its total exports increased 54% to Rs 672 crore while wheat exports touched Rs 450 crore.

The company also expects a 21% rise in turnover for the current fiscal at Rs 1850 crore.
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TCS to invest $30 mn in Uruguay
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services has inaugurated a global software development centre in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo.

TCS said in a statement it planned to invest $30 million in that centre and reach an employee strength of 500 in the next five years.

TCS said the new centre would handle systems development, maintenance and outsourcing, apart from testing and certification of software produced by third parties, especially Microsoft.

Among the TCS clients the new centre will serve are Compaq Computer Corp, Eli Lilly and American International Group.

The global development centre at Uruguay is the ninth such overseas centre set up by TCS. The others are in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hungary, Canada and Australia.
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M&M to sell tractors in Europe
New Delhi: Mahindra and Mahindra is all set to market its tractors in Europe by June this year through a sister trading firm after rescheduling plans to set up a subsidiary in the region.

The company will also launch 85 horse power and 100 HP models within the next 18 months to meet the specific demand for high-powered tractors in the European and US markets.

The company would sell its tractors imported as completely-built-units from India and also those sourced from a Korean firm 'Tong Yang' which would be sold under the 'Mahindra' brandname.
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TCS bags $15-m Racal deal
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the countrys largest software exporter, has bagged a $15 million (Rs 75 crore) contract from UK-based Racal Instruments to set up a dedicated software development centre in Delhi.

Initially, a team of 60-70 people is expected to work in the dedicated development centre which will be housed in one of TCS Delhi offices.

Racal Instruments is a $120 million company which sells testing and measuring equipment. The company has an active wireless solutions group which sells test and measuring equipment for protocol testing of mobiles and base stations. Its equipment is also used in network design, installation, and repair.
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Goodyear plans to source rubber needs from India
New Delhi: Goodyear, the largest automotive tyre manufacturer in the world, is planning to develop India as a source for rubber.

Considering that Goodyear consumes around 1.2 million tonnes of natural rubber every year, almost double Indias production of 6.5 lakh tonnes, the proposed tie-up could be a boon for natural rubber producers and processors here.

Indian natural rubber is yet to open its account in the global market though the country is the third largest producer in the world.

A high-level delegation headed by Goodyears vice president in charge of global procurement operations is here and disucssions are on to forge a link between Indian natural rubber industry and the Ohio-based multinational.

The delegation visited Kottayam in Kerala, which produces almost 6 lakh tonnes of rubber per annum, and interacted with the rubber processing industry there.
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IFC to invest $2 mn in Webdunia
New Delhi: World Bank's private sector lending arm, International Finance Corporation, will invest $2 million in media content provider Webdunia India.

Of the $3 million capital requirement, $1 million would be brought in by Walden International and Times Internet Limited, a unit of Bennett, Coleman & Company, an IFC release said.

Webdunia, launched in 2000, provides Internet-based media content and operates portals in four major Indian languages-- Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.
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Bhel bags Rs 267cr project order in Oman
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals has bagged a Rs 267 crore order for setting up a 140 mw gas turbine power plant in Oman.

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) accorded the project to Bhel with completion scheduled for June 2004, a Bhel release said.

Bhel will supply, install and execute civil construction works of two 70 mw gas turbine for PDOs project at Qarn Alam, located about 500 km away from Muscat.

Bhel won the contract through on-line bidding process.
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TN Petro reports Rs 50.15 cr net profit
Chennai: Tamil Nadu petroproducts has reported a marginal drop in net profit at Rs 50.15 crore during the year ended 31 March 2002 after a provision of Rs 3 crore for an extraordinary item towards the diminution in the value of certain investments. In 2000-01, TPL reported a net profit of Rs 51.41 crore.

Last year, the company clocked a 9 per cent rise in turnover at Rs 776.39 crore (Rs 715.17 crore). Profit before tax moved up by eight per cent to Rs 79.83 crore (Rs 73.91 crore). The board has proposed to maintain equity dividend at 25 per cent.

TPL substantially increased the capacity utilisation of epichlorohydrin plant despite acute water shortage faced last year. It is in the final stage of commissioning the 18.6 mw captive power plant for chlor alkali plant so as to reduce the manufacturing cost of caustic soda and chlorine.

TPL hopes to achieve the financial closure by July for the N-Paraffin/LAB project in Saudi Arabia. Once completed, the project would place the company as one of the leading players in the global LAB market.
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BPL bids for Kovalam hotel
Mumbai: The BPL Group has put in a price bid for a hotel property owned by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) at Kovalam in Kerala.

The BPL bid is one among 25 bids received for the Kovalam property.

The bid for the ITDC Ashok is the second major diversification the BPL group has embarked upon within the last two months. In April this year, BPL had put in a bid for public sector major Shipping Corporation of India (SCI).

The Kovalam hotel, which operates under the Ashok brand, is among a clutch of ITDC hotels that have been put up for sale.
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Parke Davis, Pfizer merger by end 02
Mumbai: The merger of Pfizer and Parke-Davis India, which will create one of the countrys largest drug companies, will be completed by the end of 2002, the chairman of Pfizer told shareholders.

"Legal merger is under active consideration and deliberation and is expected to be completed by the end of this year," R A Shah, the chairman, informed.

Integration between the two companies began in 2000 after Pfizer Incs multi-billion dollar global merger with Warner-Lambert, the parent of Parke-Davis.

The operational integration resulted in Pfizers sales force swelling to about 1,000 due to the addition of 340 employees from Parke-Davis.

Pfizer is also trying to rationalise its manufacturing activities. Shah said that the company had stopped operations at its Ankleshwar plant. The tablet and capsules unit was set up in the late 1980s at a cost of over Rs 10 crore. The company had earlier shut down its plant in West Bengal.
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GM to launch Panther
New Delhi: General Motors India is developing the Isuzu Panther for the Indian market.

To be manufactured at its facility in Halol, the Panther will be heavily localised and compete in the volume utility vehicles segment against the Qualis and Sumo.

The Panther is slated for launch next calendar year and will debut with at least 70 per cent local content.

General Motors is looking at engine manufacturing as well and intends to make heavy investments in the body shop, paint shop and new assembly line for the Panther.
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SWC records highest sales of beer
Hyderabad: Maintaining its position as the state of beer guzzlers, Andhra Pradesh has recorded an 82 per cent jump in beer sales this summer, with volumes touching 18.3 lakh cases during April this year, compared to 10.03 lakh cases in the same month last year.

A major contribution came from Shaw Wallace, which for the second successive year recorded its highest sales of over one crore bottles during April this year - the highest ever by any company in a single month in India.

The company recorded a similar feat in May last year touching 20 lakh cases. Interestingly, about 48 per cent of the total sales in April have come from the Telangana region, which experienced a heat wave during this period.

Shaw Wallace recorded a market share of nearly 47 per cent compared to 41 per cent last year; while Kingfisher clocked a market share of 26 per cent; and Mysore Breweries accounted for a 13 per cent share.
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Gesco net profit at Rs 2.57cr
Mumbai: Gesco Corporation has posted a net profit of Rs 2.57 crore for the financial year ended 31 March 2002, compared to Rs 5.10 crore in the previous fiscal.

Income from operations in the period under review was Rs 169.96 crore as against Rs 219.05 crore in fiscal 2001, the company said in a release.

The scheme of arrangement between Mahindra Realty & Infrastructure Developers Ltd (MRIDL) and the company and their respective shareholders for demerger of Realty and Infrastructure undertakings of MRIDL (demerged undertaking) into the Company has been sanctioned by Mumbai High Court with the appointed date as 1 April 2001, it said.

Consequently, 108,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each, fully paid up, stand allotted to the shareholders of MRIDL. Pursuant to the scheme an option was given to equity shareholders to convert their shareholding into 10 per cent cumulative redeemable non-convertible preference shares of Rs 10 each, fully paid up.
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Toyota Kirloskar to set up EoU
New Delhi: Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts Private Ltd has filed an application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) seeking permission for setting up a 100 per cent export-oriented unit (EoU) near Bangalore at an estimated investment of Rs 230 crore for manufacture of automotive parts and transmissions for the global market.

To be set up as a joint venture unit with three partners, namely Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) and Kirloskar Systems Ltd (KSL), TKAPPL proposes to manufacture 1,68,000 units of R-type manual transmissions per annum for new multi-purpose vehicles to be introduced in the global market in 2004.

TKAPPL has been incorporated with a paid-up capital of Rs 10 lakh divided into one lakh shares of Rs 10 each.
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Loctite to set up technology centre
Bangalore: Loctite India Pvt Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dusseldorf-based adhesive major Loctite Corporation, a Henkel group company, is planning to set up a technical centre in Bangalore.

The company plans to showcase its products and technologies through the proposed technical centre for its customers in the Indian sub-continent.

The company plans to invest about Rs 1.3 crore in the technical centre, which would also be used for testing the components. The technical centre is expected to be operational by October this year.
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