Comsat Max gets Net telephony licence
Mumbai: Network service provider Comsat Max has secured a licence for providing Internet telephony services.

The company will tap the corporate customer base for internet telephony service. It will be a value-added service on top of our corporate network management service.

Comsat Max uses very small aperture terminals, leased lines and data centres to support the IT network of corporations.

Internet telephony service will allow corporates to make voice calls to their local and foreign locations through the net thus helping them cut down their phone bills substantially.

Comsat Max is also relaunching its network management services to position it better, as a complete IT and network management service. The company is looking at managing the complete IT requirement of a corporate ranging from application management, desktop support, hosting , security, network infrastructure and delivery.
Back to News Review index page  

Tisco, SAIL increase prices
Kolkata: Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India hiked steel prices for the second time in the current fiscal.

SAIL and Tata Steel, which together control over 50 per cent of the domestic steel sales, raised prices of both flat and long steel products.

Price of hot rolled (HR) coil has been increased by around Rs 700-1,000 per tonne with effect from the first week of May, 2002. Long product prices too have been hiked by an average increase of Rs 300-400 per tonne in the latest round.

With the April, 2002, price hike of around Rs 700-1,200 per tonne in flat products well absorbed by the market, the latest dose of price hike takes up the total increase prices of flat products to an average of Rs 1,500-2,000 per tonne for HR coils. The average price increase of cold rolled products is around Rs 2,000-2,500 per tonne plus since April.
Back to News Review index page  

Blue Dart net dips 22%
Mumbai: Blue Dart Express has reported a 21.80 per cent drop in net profit at Rs 18.01 crore for the financial year ended 31 March 2002, compared to Rs 23.03 crore in the previous fiscal.

The board has recommended a 22.50 per cent dividend on the enhanced share capital after the issue of bonus shares, which is equivalent to 45 per cent in comparison to 35 per cent in previous year, the company said in a release here.

Net sales/income from operations in the reporting year was higher at Rs 286.67 crore as against Rs 256.17 crore in the fiscal 2001, it said.
Back to News Review index page  

Metdist vying for HCL stake
Mumbai: The London Metal Exchange (LME) chairmans company Metdist has joined the race to buy the governments stake in Hindustan Copper.

Metdist submitted its expression of interest in the disinvestment of HCL just before the deadline of 30 April.

The government intends to sell its entire 98.95 per cent stake in HCL and appointed AF Ferguson and Co as the advisor. Metdist is a UK-based metal trading firm and is controlled by the London-based Lord Bagri.
Back to News Review index page  

BE to invest Rs 100 cr in vaccine unit
Hyderabad: Biological Evans (BE) has drawn plans to set up a Rs 100 crore vaccine manufacturing facility at the Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park.

BE has acquired 50 acres of land, thereby becoming the largest client for the Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park which is located on a sprawling 100 acres of land near Hyderabad.

BE had recently appointed McKinsey for providing consultancy services. McKinsey has asked BE to focus more on manufacturing of vaccines as the companys strength lies in the production of the same.

Nearly 30 per cent of BEs turnover, which is presently about Rs 190 crore, comes from the production of vaccines. The 5-decades old company offers therapeutic remedies ranging from vitamins to vaccines.

BE is presently operating through four of its customer culture units catering to specific healthcare specialists.
Back to News Review index page  

GE expands John Welch Centre
Bangalore: The John F Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC), General Electrics (GE)s global multi-disciplinary research and development facility in Bangalore, has been expanded with the commissioning of Phase-III of the centre.

JFWTC, an integral part of the GEs global research organisation, is collaborating with the companys other technology centres, including the GE Global Research Centre in Niskayuna, New York, and GE Global Research, Shanghai, China.

Phase-III is a 21 lakh square feet facility which will initially house 800 scientists and engineers. With this, the centre can now accommodate over 1,500 scientists and engineers across its 11 multi-disciplinary labs and co-located GE businesses.
Back to News Review index page  

HLL to cut inventories
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever has decided to provide Internet connectivity to stockists in its foods and beverages businesses.

This is aimed at reducing inventories and improving efficiencies across the extended supply chain.

In the first quarter this year, HLLs gross margins in foods improved by 4 per cent, while its beverages segment recorded a growth of 13.9 per cent. The objective of connecting stockists was to obtain information on secondary sales and to monitor offtake.

To begin with, the system is being implemented in Bangalore and Delhi, and will likely be in place across the rest of the country by the first quarter of 2003.
Back to News Review index page  

Safexpress ties up with IBM
New Delhi: Safexpress has entered into an agreement with IBM India for handling its distribution operations

According to the agreement Safexpress will provide its services and expertise in logistics and supply chain management to IBM India.

Under the terms of agreement, Safexpress will handle IBMs complete express distribution business ensuring on-time deliveries to customers and various other distribution channels, faster turnaround time, lower stock-in-transit; and better client servicing.
Back to News Review index page  

Hutchison Essar may enter AP
Hyderabad: Hutchison Essar South Ltd, which is in the process of establishing its telecom backbone and infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh, is set to ring in as the fourth mobile telephony operator in the state this quarter.

The company has already set up over 200 cell sites across the state and is looking at a simultaneous roll out of mobile services across the state.

The state is presently served by Bharti Mobile Ltd with its AirTel brand and Idea Cellular Ltd, (formerly Tata Cellular).
Back to News Review index page  

JK plans to enter insurance broking
New Delhi: JK Industries has drawn up elaborate plans to enter the insurance broking business with a proposed initial investment of about Rs 10 crore.

In the first phase, the company plans to launch its broking business in 10 cities. Besides Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, the other cities where the company plans to set up offices are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Ludhiana.

The JK group plans to go it alone initially in the broking business.

The JK Industries group has recently entered the insurance market in a big way with its insurance arm, JK Insurance Services Ltd, having tied up with two private insurance companies - Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd and Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Ltd - for marketing and distribution of their products across the country.
Back to News Review index page  

Friday Corp acquires VANS Info
New Delhi: Friday Corporation, a Delhi-based content aggregating company, has acquired the business information division of VANS Information Ltd in an all-stock deal.

VANS Information Ltd will get 10 per cent equity in Friday Corp as consideration for the deal. As part of the deal, Friday Corporation will add VANS Business Information Services to its suite of existing services and utilise the existing teams of VANS across the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore to continue servicing its 160 clients.

With the acquisition, the number of clients of Friday Corp has increased to 300, which include consultancies, educational institutes and corporates.
Back to News Review index page  

Compudyne to raise Rs 25 cr
Bangalore: Compudyne Winfosystems Ltd plans to raise Rs 25 crore through privately placing a part of its equity with financial institutions and overseas corporate bodies.

Accruals would be used to fund its new multi-media studio in Bangalore, which is likely to cater solely to domestic film market. The company plans to cater to the domestic market in a big way as big-ticket movies are still being produced here.

The company is in talks with several institutions and corporates and expects the deal to close in two months.
Back to News Review index page  

IFFCO plans joint bid for HPCL, BPCL
Kandla: IFFCO will bid for the two public sector oil companies HPCL and BPCL as part of its ambitious diversification drive.

Together with KRIBHCO, IFFCO is going to bid for HPCL and BPCL which are listed for disinvestment by the government. It will be their joint effort to acquire one of these companies.

The IFFCO-KRIBHCO combine would also be in the race for picking up the government stake in SCI, apart from certain fertiliser companies that come up for sale.
Back to News Review index page  

Leyland 2001-02 net remains flat
Chennai: Ashok Leyland has posted a flat growth in net profit during 2001-02 at Rs 92.26 crore over Rs 91.69 crore in the previous fiscal due to a higher provision for taxation.

The company, however, witnessed a 30 per cent growth in profit before tax at Rs 132.21 crore against Rs 101.94 crore a year ago, Ashok Leyland managing director R Seshasayee told a press conference here.

This was achieved on a marginal 1 per cent increase in turnover year-on-year at Rs 2630.43 crore against Rs 2607 crore, he said.

The company board proposed a dividend of 45 per cent for the review year against 40 per cent in 2000-01.
Back to News Review index page  

Aptech founders boost stake
Bangalore: Aptech Training Ltd said that its main founder and his associates had raised their stake in the company.

Aptech said in a statement that the company's promoters had raised the stake to 27.5 per cent in the last six months from 25.5 per cent. A company spokesman said that the stake hike was made through open market purchases by chairman Atul Nishar and his associates.

The spokesman said that the statement was also a response to media speculation that the education business was up for sale.

The statement said that the rise in stake indicated a "continued and strong commitment to the business" by the founders.
Back to News Review index page  

Eastman to expand work with Infosys
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies said that Eastman Chemical Company was expanding its business with the Indian firm.

The US-based plastic bottle maker is ramping up work 18 months after Infosys completed for it projects to do business over the Internet, the Bangalore-based IT company said in a statement.

"Having realised significant benefits, including time-to-market, higher predictability and cost savings as a result of these projects, Eastman decided to enter into a larger, more value-added relationship," it said.
Back to News Review index page  

Hidesign goes for global expansion
New Delhi: Hidesign, the upmarket leather bags, briefcases and accessories brand, is going retail globally, with a chain of exclusive stores.

The stores will be set up by its newly floated sister concern, Hidesign Retail International.

With 80 per cent of Hidesigns sales coming from overseas, this Pondicherry-based premium leather bags maker, is going in for serious global presence. It will open exclusive retail outlets in South Africa, Shanghai, Beijing, Dubai and Moscow in the next nine months.

Hidesign is already present in many markets abroad, including south east Asia, UK, Dubai, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Sri Lanka through distributors. At the retail end, it has been stocked in departmental stores and other high-end shops.

With an initial investment of $300,000 planned for four stores in South Africa, Hidesign Retail International is expecting revenues of $1.2 million in the first year of operations.
Back to News Review index page  

Intel rolls out fastest Pentium 4
Santa Clara: Intel has rolled out three new microprocessors, including the speediest Pentium 4 to date.

In addition to a Pentium 4 chip running at 2.53 gigahertz, Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, also introduced a far faster bus, which connects the processor to memory chips in a personal computer. The faster bus moves bits at 533 megahertz compared with 400 megahertz previousl

In addition to improving the performance of PCs, the faster bus also makes more room for faster Pentium 4 chips. Intel executives have said its Pentium 4 chip, and the company will be selling a Pentium 4 chip running at 3 gigahertz in the fourth quarter.
Back to News Review index page  

Maruti value pegged at Rs 4,850cr
New Delhi: The value of Maruti Udyog Limited is now pegged at an enhanced Rs 4,850 crore, which is the average of the three valuations arrived at by the valuers appointed to assist in the divestment process.

This means the per share value actually works out to Rs 3,674 per Rs 100 share.

As against this, the government is proposing to sell off its stake at a minimum of Rs 2,200 crore. The government also now seems to be keen on retaining 25 per cent stake after the IPO.
Back to News Review index page  

Kirloskars to hold 10% in JV with Toyota
New Delhi: The Kirloskar Group will hold a 10 per cent stake in the Rs 260-crore auto parts joint venture with Toyota Motor Corporation.

The joint venture will manufacture auto transmissions and will come up at Bidadi near Bangalore. These transmission are for new multi-purpose vehicles to be introduced in the world market in the year 2004.

Vikram Kirloskar will be the Vice-Chairman of this company.

The two partners are also setting up another EOU at an investment of Rs 130 crore for auto parts.

The Toyota entities will pick up 90 per cent stake in the new company, while Kirloskar Systems will hold the remaining 10 per cent. The unit will manufacture 1.68 lakh transmission units every year and volume production will start in June 2004.
Back to News Review index page  

Bank Muscat to float Indian arm
Bangalore: Bank Muscat would soon float an Indian subsidiary, and also has plans to come out with a debit card besides setting up a call centre in the country, senior bank officials said.

Bank Muscats chief executive, India, Samit Ghosh, told reporters here that with the recent Union Budget allowing foreign banks to incorporate locally, his bank was awaiting detailed RBI guidelines in this regard, which was expected to come in the next two months.

Once the guidelines came, the bank would apply to the apex bank for setting up an Indian subsidiary.
Back to News Review index page  

Bajaj effects price cut
Pune: Bajaj Auto has put in place a price rationalisation programme for the executive segment of motorcycles.

The BAL offering in this segment is the Caliber family. The price rationalsiation has meant the introduction of a basic model, priced at Rs 38,999, just under the Rs 40,000 barrier. The Caliber Croma, with disc brakes is priced at about the same price as market leader Hero Hondas Passion while a Croma fitted with drum brakes is just under Rs 43,000.

BALs price rationalisation in this segment came into effect from 1 May and company officials admitted it would take at least another six months before they begin to see the fruits of this exercise.
Back to News Review index page  

Pepsi to introduce Pepsi Blue in US
New York: Pepsi-Cola has unveiled its latest new product, Pepsi Blue in the US market.

Pepsi-Cola, the soft drink arm of PepsiCo, called the bright blue drink, which is targetted at teens, "a fusion of berry and cola" flavors and said that it will be on store shelves by August.

The drink follows a list of recent carbonated soft drink introductions from Purchase, New York-based Pepsi-Cola. It will also follow the mid-May introduction of Vanilla Coke from top competitor Coca-Cola.
Back to News Review index page