Cummins India to unveil second VRS at Pune unit
Pune: Cummins India Ltd (CIL) is going for a second round of VRS for its employees at the Pune manufacturing unit. The VRS is for employees across the organisation over 40 years of age or those who have worked with Cummins for more than 10 years. About 1,400 employees will be eligible for the VRS package. The scheme will be on from May 2 to May 31, 2003. The 41-year-old company has a total strength of 2,300 and about 33 per cent of the employees are in the 50 plus age group. CIL wishes to improve the cost structure and reduce the overall strength of the employees and achieve optimum manpower utilisation which will enable it to be globally competitive, a company note said. The company, currently, spends about 11 to 12 per cent of its costs on employee costs.
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MUL IPO for 7.22 crore share of Rs 5 each
Mumbai: Maruti Udyog will offer 7.22 crore equity shares of Rs 5 each, constituting 25 per cent of the fully diluted post-offer paid up capital, through the booking building route. The size of the offer may be increased up to 10 per cent (by up 7,224,300 equity shares) in case the selling shareholder decides to retain any oversubscription, MUL said in its draft Red Herring Prospectus filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India. In such a case, the size of the offer may increase up to 79,467,600 equity shares of Rs 5 each, it added. The floor price for the IPO is yet to be finalised.
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L&T ties up $50m IFC loan for revamp
Mumbai: Larsen & Tourbro (L&T) has tied up a $50m loan with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to part finance its operational and financial restructuring exercise. This will support the company's ongoing modernisation programme of approximately $250m. According to sources, the restructuring involves refinancing of the existing loans as well as the modernisation programme that will enable the company's increased focus on exports of its products and services.
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RPG may sell life sciences arm to Shreya
Mumbai: The Rs 7,500-crore RPG group is in advanced talks with closely-held drugmaker, Shreya Life Sciences, for the sale of whole or part of its pharma arm RPG Life Sciences. Shreya, however, may not acquire the drugmaker lock, stock and barrel, industry sources said. RPG group chairman Harshvardhan Goenka confirmed that the company was scouting for investors, but said a deal was not imminent. "We are looking at possibly trifurcating the company into three businesses - generics, pharmaceuticals and fermentation. Strategic partners are likely to be inducted only after that. We are talking to a number of potential strategic investors. However, we are not close to striking a deal," Goenka said.
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ACC Q4 net profit up 12 per cent at Rs 58.72 cr
Mumbai: Associated Cement Companies (ACC) has posted a net profit growth of 11.81 per cent at Rs 58.72 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2003 as compared to Rs 52.52 crore for the corresponding quarter last year.Total income (net of excise) during the reported quarter has increased from Rs 789.14 crore to Rs 792.85 crore on a year-on-year basis.The company has posted a net profit of Rs 103.89 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2003, as compared to Rs 130.43 crore in the previous year. Total income (net of excise) has increased from Rs 2904.51 crore in FY02 to Rs 2988.51 crore in FY-2003.
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Idea goes roaming to boost kitty
Pune: Idea Cellular, formerly Birla-Tata-AT&T Cellular, has identified 'roaming' as a profit centre, setting up a dedicated team for the facility. Its target: double revenues this year. Last year, roaming provided 8 per cent of its total revenues.The cell company, which just completed one year as Idea Cellular, has drawn up aggressive growth plans in the prepaid segment for the current year. In addition, with the calling party pays (CPP) regime coming into force from May 1, IDEA will offer new plans, although at the same rates, assured CFO, Vikram Mehmi.
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Tata Tele tariffs under Trai lens
Hyderabad: Basic services operator, Tata Teleservices (TTSL), finds itself at the receiving end with its latest tariffs for CDMA mobile services coming under the microscope of the Trai which is examining if the new tariffs are tantamount to predatory pricing.
The focus is on local as well as STD time bundled into calls between CDMA mobiles, including competing networks.
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Cellcos told to levy single tariff
Kolkata: Cellular operators will be unable to levy any separate air-time charges in the new inter-connection usage charge (IUC) regime. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has asked all cellular service providers to fix single tariff rates inclusive of the relevant termination charge (read: IUC component) for each service plan: cellular-to-cellular, cellular-to-fixed and cellular-to-WLL.Prior to May 1, this wasn't the case. For cellular-to-fixed calls, subscribers shelled out air-time charges for mobile call origination and access charges separately at Rs 1.20 per 3-minute call, payable to the concerned fixed line/WLL operators. The air-time and access components are now being merged into a single consolidated rate linked to actual cost.
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Bajaj Auto April sales down 15 per cent on truckers' stir
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto has reported a 15 per cent decline in its April two-wheeler volumes on account of the recent 10-day truckers strike. The company sold 88,749 units during the month as against 1,04,284 units in April 2002. Motorcycle sales saw a modest 5.9 per cent growth at 71,074 units as opposed to 67,136 units in the corresponding month last year. Pulsar and Caliber-115 were continuing to do well in the market, according to the company. The strike has been a dampener on April volumes and inflow of materials as well as dispatch of goods have both been severely affected, according to a Bajaj Auto release. The company has also reported a 16 per cent decline in total sales of two- and three-wheelers at 99,430 units in April as against 1,18,431 units sold in the same period last year due to the truckers strike.
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Ashok Leyland 2002-2003 net up 30 per cent to Rs 120 cr
Chennai: Ashok Leyland Ltd (ALL) has reported a 30 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 120.21 crore for the fiscal ended March 2003, as against Rs 92.25 crore during the corresponding period last year. Net sales stood at Rs 3,073.99 crore (Rs 2,630.43 crore), a growth of 16 per cent. A dividend of 50 per cent has been proposed. However, the fourth quarter net profit was lower by 5 per cent at Rs 69.6 crore (Rs 66.3 crore), while sales grew by 18 per cent to Rs 1,046.37 crore (Rs 881.24 crore). The lower profitability was attributed to input cost pressures and lower defence sales in the quarter, as against the same quarter last year. Also, a price increase was effected by mid-February but could be implemented only by end-March. Staff costs were higher by Rs 7.42 crore at Rs 65.68 crore (Rs 58.26 crore), due to a wage revision.
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PACE Soft Silicon to supply multimedia tech to South Korean phone company
Pune: PACE Soft Silicon Pvt Ltd has won a major contract to supply a broad suite of its multimedia technology: video, imaging, audio and speech to a leading phone manufacturer in South Korea. PACE CEO Neil Salvi did not name the South Korean company but said the PACE technology would go into next generation smartphone platforms. The contract was won against an intense global competition and a design-win of this type in one of the most technologically advanced wireless phone markets signifies our acceptance as a credible product vendor, Salvi said.
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GE Shipping Q4 net profit soars 285 per cent to Rs 93 cr
Mumbai : Great Eastern (GE) Shipping has reported a 285 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 93.11 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2003 as compared to Rs 24.18 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. Total revenue rose by nine per cent to Rs 281.85 crore from Rs 258.45 crore last year. The increase in profit during the quarter under review is attributed to the improved average time charter earnings coupled with reduced costs and benefit in taxation garnered under Section 33 AC. During the quarter, the average earnings increased by 10 per cent for crude carriers to $23,321 per day over last year. The average earning in this segment was up by six per cent over the immediate preceding third quarter.
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Apollo plans to set up genetic diagnostic centre for hospitals
Hyderabad: Apollo Hospitals group, a leading healthcare services provider, has proposed to establish an ultra-modern 'Genetic bio-research and diagnostic Centre' in Hyderabad offering high quality diagnostic services to other corporate hospitals, apart from its own group hospitals in the country. "Initially, we offer our diagnostic services to all the small and big hospitals in Hyderabad for chronic infectious diseases including genetic disorders, cancers, transplantation immunology," Apollo Hospitals group executive director Sangeeta Reddy told the media here on Thursday.
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Flag out option only if tonnage tax is delayed, says GE Shipping
Mumbai: Although it did not have any immediate plans to flag out its fleet from Indian registry, Great Eastern Shipping may consider the flag out option if the Government delayed introduction of tonnage tax for much longer. Bharat Sheth, the company's Managing Director, told presspersons here on Friday that he was hopeful of the Government announcing introduction of tonnage tax within this year.
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Apollo board meet to discuss buyback
New Delhi: The board of directors of Apollo Tyres Ltd (ATL) will meet on May 9 to consider and approve the buyback of the company's shares held by the notified parties mentioned in the orders of the Special Court that probed into the securities scam of 1992. A senior ATL official said on Friday that the Special Court has approved the proposal put forward by the company/management in response to the invitation for bids from interested parties for a block amounting to 15.1 per cent of the equity of the company.
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RDSO applies for patents to tap world market
Hyderabad: Leveraging its strengths in research and designing of applications for Indian Railways, the Lucknow-based Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) has decided to apply for patents on those applications which have international market potential."We were not for going for patents till now as our applications were for the captive use of Railways. But now we are thinking on these lines. We expect to get three patents soon," G.K. Wadhwa, Director-General, RDSO,said.Set up in 1957 by merging Central Standards office (CSO) and Railway Testing & Research Centre (RTRC), RDSO is a premier R&D arm of the Railways.
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EEL plans Rs 15-cr investment
Coimbatore: ELGI Equipments Ltd (EEL) is planning a capital expenditure of Rs 15 crore in the current financial year as part of efforts to ramp up production, mainly for screw compressors. The company, which witnessed a near 14 per cent growth in sales in 2002-03 to reach the figure of Rs 250 crore, is confident of recording a 20 per cent growth in sales turnover in the current year. The company, which paid off around Rs 10 crore of debt during last year, has become debt free except for a small payment towards FDs placed with it, which it plans to pay off during this year.
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TVS Motor motorcycle April sales up 16 per cent
Chennai: TVS Motor Company Ltd sold 58,291 motorcycles in April, 16 per cent higher than in the same month last year, says a press release from the company. This is the seventh consecutive quarter that motorcycles sales have increased, it says. The company sold 84,757 two wheelers in the month, registering a 5 per cent growth over the same month last year, "in spite of a 10-day truckers' strike during the month".
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