EID Parry division to be merged with CFL
Chennai: The Murugappa Group has decided to demerge its subsidiary EID Parry’s farm input division and merge it with another group subsidiary Coromandel Fertilisers Ltd (CFL). The director boards of both companies met here on Monday and okayed the decision. They have also decided on a share swap ratio of one equity share of CFL for every three EID Parry shares. Addressing a press conference, group director (marketing) A Vellayan said that the bringing of EID Parry farm input division under the banner of CFL was part of the group’s operational restructuring to bring more focus into its business operations. As part of the scheme, the farm input division of EID Parry will be hived off and be merged with CFL. Further, EID Parry’s wholly-owned subsidiaries Parry and Company Ltd and Mofussil Warehouse and Trading Company Ltd will be merged with EID Parry. However, EID Parry’s another subsidiary Santhanalakshmi Investment Ltd will remain as a its investment arm, he added.
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CAG indicts Sipcot for rise in NPAs
Chennai: State Industries Promotion Council of Tamil Nadu (Sipcot), which was earning profit up to 1997-98, started suffering losses from 1998-99 and has accumulated losses to the tune of Rs 63.16 crore by March 31, 2002, according to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for 2002, released recently. The report has attributed the loss mainly to increase in non-performing assets by Rs 68.31 crore between 1997-98 and 2001-02, with provisioning of Rs 49.24 crore and write-off of Rs 8.48 crore for bad and doubtful debts. In addition to this, the company had to make a provision of Rs 4.16 crore towards non-recovery of term deposits with the defunct government company, Tamil Nadu Steels Ltd.
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Aventis charts expansion plan for Ankleshwar facility as global hub
New Delhi: Aventis Pharma has outlined a major expansion plan for its Ankleshwar facility in view of its plan to make Indian operations a sourcing hub for Aventis’ global requirement. Aventis managing director Ramesh Subrahmanian said Pharma Pulse, “the proposal would be put before the board shortly for approval.” Refusing to divulge the projected investment and expansion aspirations, he said, “Our plan to source APIs and formulations from India for the worldwide requirement of Aventis is progressing fast and in this context the expansion and upgradation are highly significant.”
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HLL eyes Rs 300 crore in 5 yrs from herbal products sales
Mumbai: Fast-moving consumer goods giant Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) is actively evaluating the global opportunity for herbal products and expects the sale turnover from these products to touch Rs 300 crore in five years. A step in this direction is repeat purchases in excess of 50 per cent registered for ‘Ayush’ products, as revealed in an extensive survey conducted by Indica Research for HLL. Commenting on the repeat purchases, HLL head (herbal research) Dr DBA Narayana said, “The Ayush brand has surpassed many of the existing brands of HLL. In fact, we had to undertake the exercise on repeat buying rate twice to confirm it.”
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Tata Metaliks net up 30 per cent
Kolkata: Tata Metaliks reported a profit after tax of Rs 14.62 crore for the financial year to March 31, 2003, a 30 per cent growth over the previous fiscal’s profit of Rs 11.3 crore. During the fiscal under review, the company’s profit before tax went up by 25 per cent to Rs 22.01 crore from Rs 17.70 crore previous fiscal. According to a press statement issued by the company here Monday, during the fiscal to March 31, 2003, Tata Metaliks reported an income of Rs 129.02 crore, a 14 per cent growth over the previous fiscal’s Rs 113.42 crore. “The profit before tax to income ratio improved 17.06 per cent from 15.61 per cent last year,” the press statement said. The company management has declared a dividend of 25 per cent on its paid-up capital against 22.5 per cent declared last year. The company has claimed that it has achieved a record production of 1,33,923 million tonne of foundry grade pig iron against 1,28,836 million tonne last year.
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Bharat Bio plans to unveil 10 new vaccines
Bangalore: Hyderbad-based Bharat Biotech International plans to introduce 10 new vaccines capable of treating infectious diseases afflicting the developing world in the next five years. Speaking to journalists on the launch of a new single shot typhoid vaccine here, Bharat Biotech chairman and managing director Dr Krishnna Ella said the company would introduce anti-rabies and Japanese Encephalitis (brain fever) vaccines in the market by the end of the year.
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RIL, DuPont join hands for polymer research
Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) and US major DuPont are forming a strategic alliance for research and development in polyester and polymer products. The alliance involves DuPont outsourcing R&D to RIL for state-of-the-art new products. According to sources, RIL’s new technology centre in Mumbai will carry out research activities for the US major. Though details of the alliance are not known, it will broadly cover research in co-polymer fibres, filaments and resins. The research will also leverage synergies between RIL’s polymers and fibre intermediates businesses. RIL and DuPont are expected to make a formal announcement on the tie-up shortly. The move signals an increasing association between RIL and DuPont. Reliance had tied up with DuPont last year to license the NG-3 resin technology from the US-based company.
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Tracmail in IPR talks with software firms
Mumbai: Voice and email-management call centre company Tracmail is in the process of talking to software service companies to collaborate with them for creating IPR (intellectual property rights) for its services. The Mumbai-based BPO firm intends to limit its exposure to commodatised services such as voice, by entering into a strategic relationship with a software services company. The software company will help develop packaged software used for automating processes by BPO firms. Tracmail would provide labour to support the software on a self-sustaining model. “The software company expected to come in as an investor would provide the resource to make investments in software and own the IPR for that,” Tracmail chairman Adi Cooper said. Tracmail would then enter into a licensing arrangement with the company for use of the software. Cooper said that the firm will work towards inculcating software into the BPO process.
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Fixed to mobile call tariff set to be slashed
New Delhi: Communications & IT minister Arun Shourie on Monday held a meeting with BSNL and MTNL representatives amid indications of a likely rollback of the new fixed-to-mobile rates. Though the communications ministry sources were tight-lipped over what emerged from the deliberation, a revision of the rates was considered a certainty with the Prime Minister reviewing the matter with his senior colleagues and the communications minister. An hour-long huddle went into the question of tariffs which has assumed sensitive dimensions in the warm-up to the polls with the ruling party MP s publicly signalling their discomfort with the new rate regime.
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A-I to hive off IT, ground handling, engine units
Mumbai: Air-India is working on a plan to hive off its ground handling, engineering, engine overhaul and information technology (IT) divisions into separate companies. The new companies will work on a transfer pricing policy, offering hourly rates for services rendered to the flag carrier, A-I sources said. The restructuring is part of the draft recommendations from management consultant AT Kearney, which was mandated by A-I to suggest measures to improve the efficiency of the airline.
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Choice hotels to launch toll-free reservation nos
New Delhi: Choice Hospitality (India) Private Ltd, which operates 25 hotels around the country, plans to introduce a toll-free reservation number within the next two months. "Initially, the toll free number will be available only for the hotels in India. But eventually, it will also provide access to other hotels worldwide," the company's Chief Operating Officer, Sunil Mathur, said.
Meanwhile, the group plans to bring the Clarion brand into the country soon. "We are getting ready to introduce the Clarion brand in India and the Delhi hotel will be a Clarion property by next year. This is a brand which will grow."
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Sun Pharma to focus on exports, R&D
Mumbai: Exports and research and development initiatives will be the key growth drivers for the Baroda-based Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. The company is expected to increase its expenditure on R&D substantially and will file about five to six Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) with the USFDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) this year. According to Dilip Shanghvi, managing director, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, "We also plan to take up our revenue R&D expenses from Rs 30 crore this year to something close to Rs 100 crore in next two to three years.'' Currently, the company has in 2002-03 spent Rs 65 crore on R&D, which includes setting up of infrastructure as well as maintenance costs. The maintenance costs, which account for 50 per cent will increase substantially in the next two years, company officials said. "Around 40-45 per cent of the R&D budget would be for innovative products as well as the US market, and around 55 per cent would be for process development. We expect this number for innovation to go up from 40 per cent to 65-70 per cent at high growth rates in two to three years.''
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SAIL R&D unit develops new steel props for coal mines
Kolkata: The Ranchi-based Research & Development Centre for Iron & Steel (RDCIS) of Steel Authority of India Ltd, in collaboration with the Central Mine Planning Design Institute of Coal India Ltd has developed high-strength, lightweight steel props for use in underground coalmines. According to industry sources, these steel props are likely to replace the existing timber props, which have some inherent disadvantages such as restricted availability and non-uniform strength."Timber props are gradually being replaced with steel props but these are also heavy and difficult to install and transport.
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Raj TV defers launch of Telugu channel
Chennai: Raj TV has deferred the launch of its general entertainment Telugu channel, Vissa, by three weeks, its CEO, Mr Rajeev Nambiar,said. Along with Vissa, the channel's proposed 24-hour music and news channels are likely to kick off operations on June 14, instead of May 23. He said the television house has to resolve "some loose ends" in programming and thus the delay.
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Shantha Biotech bags tech award
Hyderabad: Shanta Biotechnics Pvt Ltd (SBPL), the Hyderabad-based company into genetic engineering, has bagged the National Technology Award-2003 for the second time for `successful commercialisation of indigenous technology.' The award was handed over by the Vice-President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, to the SBPL managing director, Varaprasad Reddy, in New Delhi.
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Trial court order on serial stayed
Kolkata: A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Justice A. Ganguly and Justice D.P. Sengupta on Monday stayed the operation of an order passed by the Trial Court on May 8 with regard to the telecasting of a serial `Miracle of Destiny' based on a novel `Woman of substance', written by Barbara Taylor Bradford. The author of `Woman of substance' moved a writ petition asking for a stay against Sahara Media Entertainment Ltd (Sahara) who made the serial based on that novel and scheduled to be telecast on Sahara Channel from May 12 with a reason that the story has been picturised without the permission of the author.
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Balrampur Chini Mills: Uncertainties sour picture
New Delhi: A Sharp slide in sugar prices and the rising input costs have soured Balrampur Chini Mills' performance for 2002-03. The company has managed a 3 per cent growth in its gross sales for the year. Since sugar prices in 2002-03 ruled around 15 per cent lower than in the previous year, this is a sign that the company has managed to push through significantly higher sales volumes than in the previous year. But the good news appears to end with this. The sharp slippage in the company's operating profit margins shows that the higher volumes came at much lower realisations than the previous year. The company's operating profits for 2002-03 were 22 per cent lower than in the previous year.
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