GNFC to invest Rs 200 cr in industrial chemicals business
Mumbai: Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Co Ltd (GNFC) is betting big on its industrial chemicals business even as its fertiliser business contributes major part of its turnover. With a view to expand its industrial chemicals business, the company plans to invest around Rs 200 crore during the current financial year. Of which, Rs 100 crore will be invested on expansion and revamp exercises and another Rs 100 crore on setting up a new weak nitric acid plant, which is under active consideration.
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Centre okays NTPC’s Rs 5,500cr Khalgaon extension project
Bhagalpur: The power energy ministry has cleared an ambitious Rs 5,500-crore extension project of the Kahalgaon super thermal power project in Bihar to raise its capacity from the present 840mw to 2,340mw, chairman-cum managing director of National Thermal Power Corporation, CP Jain, has said. “In the first phase, work for setting up two 500mw units would be taken up and the extension work is likely to be completed within 40 months, Jain told reporters here Wednesday night. Jain said there is no dearth of funds and the NTPC has already completed the earth levelling works at khalgaon and the tender for boilers and turbine generators would be floated in June and July.
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HLL reworking mkting strategy for Surf Excel
Kolkata: FMCG major Hindustan Lever Ltd is packing a fresh punch to its premium detergent powder brand Surf Excel. The company has decided to rev up its marketing strategy for the brand which is showing signs of stagnation. By revamping the product, HLL is aiming at gaining another 15 per cent marketshare in the Rs 350-crore premium detergents market.

Surf Excel currently has a 65 per cent marketshare in this segment followed by P&G’s Ariel which has a share of about 30 per cent.
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L&T, M&M, Max Airospace, Ramoss to get licences for defence production
Kolkata: Four private sector companies, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Max Airospace & Aviation Ltd and Ramoss India Ltd, will get licences for defence production, according to the defence ministry’s joint secretary for supplies, Alok Perti. These companies, chosen from 15 applicants, had already received the letter of intent (LoI) from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion for Defence Production. However, he made it clear the companies engaged in manufacturing and intending to participate in defence production, may also be incorporated later.
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Hero Honda unveils 223-cc Karizma
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors Ltd has launched 223-cc motorcycle ‘Karizma’ (pronounced karitzma), priced at Rs 79,000 (ex-showroom, New Delhi). Initially, the premium sports bike will be rolled out in top 175 dealerships (out of its network of 450 dealerships) in 100 towns. Company managing director Pawan Munjal hoped to sell around 20,000 units of Karizma in 2003-04. ‘‘Between Karizma and CBZ, we would sell over 45,000 units this fiscal. Margins are certainly better than what we can get in entry-level bikes.’’
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ONGC receives its first consignment of equity oil from Sudan venture
Mangalore: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Thursday got the first consignment of its equity oil from the Greater Nile oil project in Sudan, where ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) has taken a 25 per cent stake. The first shipment of 80,000 tonne of crude was received by the deputy Prime Minister LK Advani at the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT). This crude oil from Sudan will be processed by ONGC at its recently acquired 9.69 million tonne Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL). While the contracted price of this crude is around $27 a barrel, the landed cost including freight and customs duty to MRPL would come to around $30 a barrel.
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GTL calls off plan for Redington acquisition
Mumbai: Network engineering company GTL Ltd (formerly Global Telesystems Ltd) on Thursday said it was calling off its proposed acquisition of Singapore-based IT product distributor Redington Group. According to GTL, acquisition of the Group — comprising Redington India, Redington Singapore Pte Ltd and Redington Gulf Fze, Middle East — was no longer viable. The decision was announced after GTL's board meeting on Thursday. When contacted, a top GTL official said it was a judgment issue. "Most of our judgment about Redington in February when the deal had begun to take shape was based on market hearsay as it is a private limited company. We realised that GTL would have to take on a much larger financial burden in terms of guarantees given by Redington shareholders to their bankers and vendors," L.Y. Desai, Chief Investors Relations Officer, GTL, said
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Bhilai plant develops steel for warships
New Delhi: Steel Authority of India Ltd's (SAIL) Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) has developed a special grade steel for the country's naval warships in collaboration with the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad. Currently, India is importing this quality of steel to meet its requirements. The new product will not only reduce India's dependence on other countries for specialised steel requirements but also provide the scope for exports of such special grades to other countries.
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Morepen extends fiscal year by six months
New Delhi: With a declining domestic sales scenario and a difficult debt restructuring phase taking its toll - pharma company Morepen Laboratories Ltd has extended its financial year by six months to September 30, 2003. This was decided at the company's board meeting earlier this week and comes even as the company restructures its estimated Rs 600-crore debt-burden.
Company officials said that the six-month extension was part of a progressive plan to have a December-year ending. Also, by that time the debt restructuring, undertaken by GE Capital, would have been completed and fresh proposals would have been made to the lenders.
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i-flex unit CEO discharged by London court
Mumbai: The London-based CEO of i-flex Solutions Ltd's Dutch subsidiary, Senthil Kumar, has been discharged by a London court after the Netherlands Government failed to convince Britain to launch extradition proceedings against him. According to the company, the discharge came after a formal "Authority to Proceed" was not issued. This authority is an essential pre-condition to the commencement of extradition proceedings.
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IVRCL defers GDR issue
Hyderabad: The board of IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd, which met here on Thursday, has deferred the company's issue of Global Deposit Receipts and the proposal to increase its authorised share capital and borrowing powers. IVRCL's managing director, E. Sudhir Reddy, said that the issue of GDRs would be postponed at the most by a fortnight or three weeks.
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SEBI steps in to resolve Birlas-Kennametal issue
New Delhi: The Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) has written to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to examine the possibilities of waiving the mandatory `No objection certificate' (NOC) from the Yash Birla group for the acquisition of Widia India Ltd by the US-based Kennametal. Press Note 18 stipulates that any foreign company with existing joint ventures in India will have to obtain an NOC from the Indian partners if it wants ownership in any other company in the country. The Yash Birla group and Kennametal are partners in Birla Kennametal Ltd.
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Trai plans mega revamp in telecom tariff structure
New Delhi: A major review of telecom tariff seems to be in the offing with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) veering towards recommending distribution of the Access Deficit Charge (ADC), currently heaped solely on BSNL and MTNL, evenly among all players, including cellular and WLL operators. ADC is an attempt on the part of the regulator to reimburse basic service providers for uncovered costs of their operations arising from unremunerative areas. Because the tariff does not cover actual cost, this deficit is sought to be distributed in various elements of cost, such as rental, the charge to be paid to the basic service provider by call originating networks and in tariff as well.
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Orchid Chem to launch two products from Chinese jt venture
Mumbai: OrchidD Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd is to launch cephalosporins and biotech products from its joint venture partner in China, NCPC group's basket in the domestic market. The company will introduce the two products in the current financial year.

K. Raghavendra Rao, managing director, said on Thursday that the Chinese joint venture was expected to register sales of about $6-7 million in 2003-04. "The first phase of the joint venture with NCPC group will be operational in the next six months,'' Rao said.
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Astra Microwave to set up third plant in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: Astra Microwave Products Ltd, engaged in the manufacture of communications related products including radar sub-systems for Defence and telecommunications sectors, has embarked on a plan to establish a Rs 10-crore manufacturing base in the hardware park, coming up at Shamshabad, near here. The managing director of Astra Microwave, B. Malla Reddy,said that the Rs10-crore project will be part-funded by money raised through private placement from a Mauritius-based Frontline Venture Fund and from term loans.
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Promoters up holding in Apollo Tyres
New Delhi: Promoters group holding in tyre major Apollo Tyres Ltd (ATL) has now increased to 43.88 per cent on a reduced equity capital of Rs 32.63 crore. The promoters held a 36.97 per cent stake in ATL on an equity capital of Rs 36.32 crore as on December 31, 2002. Even as the promoters acquired an additional 4.95 per cent stake in the company on May 6 through creeping acquisition route, industry observers point out that ATL's move on May 9 to buy-back 36.90 lakh shares of the company from the custodian and cancel them has aided the promoters in shoring up their ownership interest in the company to a level of 43.88 per cent.
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GM rolls out premium hatch-back Corsa
New Delhi: General Motors India (GMI) on Thursday launched its premium hatch-back `Opel Corsa Sail' and said it would invest Rs 180 crore by the year-end to roll out more vehicles. The premium hatch-back would be available in two versions - 1.4 and 1.6 litre petrol engines - which would sport price tags of Rs 4.39 and Rs 4.65 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) respectively, the President and Managing Director of GMI, Aditya Vij, said while addressing a news conference on Thursday.
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Surana Tele eyes new lines — Talks on with Singapore co for entertainment, tourism
Hyderabad: The Rs 250-crore Surana group, which manufactures optical fibre and jelly-filled cables and telecom-related equipment, is diversifying into entertainment and tourism. It recently forayed into CDMA equipment maintenance and marketing.

The managing director of Surana Telecom, Narender Surana, said: "With reserves of over Rs 40 crore, we are keen to foray into new areas." Of particular interest has been the potential in the tourism-related business activity.
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Shareholders consider Kesoram merger
Kolkata: In separate meetings convened by the Calcutta High Court here on Thursday, the shareholders of Kesoram Industries Ltd (KIL), the BK Birla Group flagship, and KICM Investment Ltd (KICMIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of KIL, considered the scheme of amalgamation by which KICMIL is proposed to be merged with KIL. The formal high court approval for the scheme will be announced later based on the shareholders' view.
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Linux charged with copying Unix code
New Delhi: This could prove to be a dampener for the fast growing Linux software. SCO, which claims to enjoy about 20% marketshare in enterprise Linux server is issuing an alert to top Indian corporates, alleging, “Linux is an unauthorised derivative of the Unix operating system and that legal liability for the use of Linux may extend to commercial users’’. The attempt obviously is to cast doubts on the legitimacy of the open source operating system After filing a billion-dollar suit against IBM for misappropriating its code, the company is now suspending its future sales of Linux.
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