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Shasun
Chem to spend Rs 120 cr on R&D in next 3 years
Chennai: Shasun Chemicals & Drugs has planned
to pump in Rs 120 crore over the next three years towards
capital expansion. The money will be raised through a
mix of debt and internal accruals, said an official. Following
speculation in the media about the company's attempt to
privately place equity with institutional investors, the
National Stock Exchange (NSE) requested the company for
a clarification. The company has indicated that a private
equity placement is not on the agenda at the moment.
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Sterlite
bids successfully for Zambian mine
Mumbai: Sterlite Industries Ltd (SIL), a major
non-ferrous metal player in the country, has emerged as
the successful bidder for a controlling stake in Konkola
Copper Mines Plc, the biggest Government-owned copper
mine in Zambia. Company officials said that Sterlite would
shortly be starting negotiations with the Zambian Government
regarding the terms of sale and other issues related to
the operation of the mine. However, they were reluctant
put any expected investments in the Zambian venture.
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Reliance
scales down infocomm capex
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd has revised the
estimated capital expenditure for its Infocomm project
to Rs 18,000 crore from the earlier estimates of Rs 25,000
crore. ``The revision is attributed to the sharp fall
in telecom equipment cost globally,'' the company has
said in its annual report for the financial year 2002-03.
The company has, however, maintained that the overall
scope of the infocomm project has increased in spite of
the reduction in capex estimates. According to RIL, it
has already put in place a 60,000 km terabit capacity
optic fibre network linking 600 cities and towns. The
company plans to increase this network to cover 1.16 lakh
km connecting 6.4 lakh villages and 2,500 towns and cities.
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Welspun
Guj bags Rs 390-cr GAIL order
Mumbai: Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd, part
of the Welspun Goup, has bagged an order to the tune of
Rs 390 crore from public sector GAIL Ltd for submerged
arc welded (SAW) pipes. The order is for GAIL's Dahej
Vijaipur Pipeline Project (or HBJ upgradation) and constitutes
around 94,000 tonnes of pipes. In addition, the company's
joint venture Eupec Welspun Pipe Coating India Ltd has
also received Rs 40-crore order for the same project to
coat the 82.5-km pipeline. B.K. Goenka, Vice-Chairman
and Managing Director, said the company bagged these orders
through the tender process.
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Hatsun
Agro sets new trend for pvt dairies
Chennai: Hatsun Agro Product Ltd, the Rs 300-crore
private dairy, is looking to monthly milk card sales to
widen its market share. This is a new initiative for a
private milk brand, and it is expected to help Hatsun
achieve significant growth in turnover for the current
year, according to Hatsun's managing director, R.G. Chandramogan.
Hatsun has commenced promotional efforts to push milk
sales through a monthly card system for its Arokya brand
in Chennai. As a part of a trial offer for its consumers,
it is selling 15-day coupons at a discount of about 20
per cent. Each coupon entitles the holder to half a litre
of Arokya milk per day for 15 days, door delivered. As
a part of the initial offer, this will be followed up
with a monthly card at a discount.
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Lanco
shuts pig iron plant temporarily
Hyderabad: Lanco Industries Ltd, the Tirupathi-based
pig iron and Portland slag cement manufacturer controlled
by the Kolkata-based Electrosteel Castings Ltd, has shut
down its pig iron plant temporarily aimed at relining
and upgradation of its mini blast furnace. Owing to uneconomical
cost, the company had also decided to temporarily suspend
its cement production recently.
According to the company officials, the relining and upgradation
works of MBF would be completed and the pig iron production
works were expected to commence by the first week of June.
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AEEPL
in talks with BSES for carbon trading venture
Thiruvanathapuram: Net flows of carbon calculated
for India may not have changed since 1990, but this has
not prevented prospective players, including comparatively
small-sized environmental consulting firms, from nursing
dreams of trading in carbon.
The Vadodara-based Associated Environmental Engineers
Pvt Ltd (AEEPL) is one among the breed of such new generation
companies, which aim to enter a field where only the biggies
have dared to tread, at least till now. But, as Santhosh
Nair, director, adds as a word of caution, the company's
initiatives are still at the "very preliminary stages".
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Modern
Foods cuts losses to Rs 16 crore
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd’s (HLL) wholly-owned
subsidiary Modern Foods Industries has reduced its losses
from Rs 27.44 crore to Rs 15.76 crore in the year ending
December 31, 2002. HLL had acquired the balance government
stake in Modern Foods during the year. Since acquiring
management control in the company, HLL has been successfully
implementing a strategy to turnaround the company which
has been progressing as per plan. The strategy comprises
modernisation of factories, innovation, marketing and
distribution expansion, synergies through an integrated
wheat sourcing model and proactive industrial relations.
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Asian
Paints plans bonus issue
Mumbai: Decorative paints major Asian Paints informed
the stock exchanges on Friday that its board of directors
would consider issue of bonus shares when it meets on
May 28. The company board would also review the financial
results for the year ended March 31, 2003, and payment
of final dividend, the company said in a notice to the
Bombay Stock Exchange. The Asian Paints stock flared up
almost 17 per cent to hit the day's high of Rs 399 a share
on expectation of a liberal bonus issue but pared gains
in late trade to close at Rs 370 per share or 9 per cent
higher than its previous close of Rs 340.45 per share.
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Boards
to consider merger of Bayer, CropScience unit
Mumbai: Bayer India Ltd and Bayer CropScience India
Ltd on Friday informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in separate
communications that their respective boards of directors
would meet on May 19 to consider a proposal to merge the
two companies. According to the notice on the BSE, the
meeting would also consider the swap ratio and sub-division
of the existing equity capital of the company into shares
of face value of Rs 10 each. Bayer CropScience was known
as Aventis CropScience until early this year when the
name was changed following the global acquisition of Aventis
CropScience by the Bayer Group of Germany.
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Nalco
to ramp up production to 1,000 tonne a month by Dec
Mumbai: National Alumi-nium Company Ltd (Nalco)
will increase its presence in the rolled-products segment
in the aluminium market by the end of the current calender
year. Sources at Nalco (Bhubaneswar) said that the production
was planned to be ramped up to around 1,000 tonne per
month by December 2003. Currently, Nalco is producing
only around 300 tonne per month of rolled products. “Certain
equipment have to be installed, the technology providers
have been making visits to fill up the lacuna and we expect
to ramp up capacity to around 1,000 tonne per month by
December,” sources said.
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RIL
signs deal with CSIR to develop new technology
Mumbai: Reliance Indu-stries Ltd (RIL) has entered
into an agreement under the New Millennium Indian Technology
Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) with the Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR) for developing breakthrough
technology in key areas from laboratory to commercial
scale wherein RIL will be offered the first right to the
IPR (intellectual property right) for commercial development.
The key areas in which technology is being developed include
alkanes involving acetic acid and ethylene from ethane,
vinyl chloride monomer from ethane, detergent alchol from
c11-13 alkanes and other area of research include lactic
acid and lactic acid-based polymers to make value-added
polymeric materials from renuable sources.
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P&O
Ports acquires container terminal
of Mundra Port
Ahmedabad: In what is being perceived as the single
largest foreign direct investment deal in recent months,
the UK-based P&O Ports has finally inked a $200 million
deal for outright acquisition of the container terminal
of the Mundra Port, promoted by the Ahmedabad-based Rs
4,000 crore Adani group. At an informal chat with mediapersons
here on Friday, Adani chairman Gautam Adani informed that
the agreement was signed for the taking over of the container
terminal on Thursday following clearances from the Foreign
Investment Promotion Board and the Gujarat government.
According to Adani, under the terms of agreement P&O
Ports has picked up the Adani group’s stake in the
terminal for a consideration of $60 million while another
$140 million has gone into purchase of numerous assets
built by Gujarat Adani Ports Limited for the terminal
including a wharf and a back-up yard as also the use of
certain infrastructure facilities of the Mundra Port.
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Maruti,
Sumitomo hike stake in JJ Impex to 49 per cent each
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) and Sumitomo
Corp of Japan have increased their stakes in JJ Impex,
a joint venture set up in Delhi to meet vehicle needs
for Maruti cars. MUL and Sumitomo have increased their
equity stakes to 49 per cent each in the company from
around 47 per cent each held earlier. With restructuring,
the equity holding of Maruti Countrywide Auto Financial
Services has halved to around two per cent. JJ Impex is
in the business of repair and service of Maruti automobiles,
sale of spare parts and accessories of motor vehicles
and sale and purchase of automobiles. Maruti Udyog is
setting up a chain of model workshops across the country
to be a one-stop shop for maintenance, service, spares,
accessories and insurance-related services and attention
to warranty claims, under the brand name of Maruti Service
Masters (MSM).
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Dabur
net up 37 per cent to Rs 91 cr in FY-'03 on 7 per cent
rise in sales
New Delhi: Dabur India and its subsidiaries have
posted a 37per cent jump in net profit at Rs 91 crore
on a turnover of Rs 1,371 crore, up 7per cent, during
the FY ended March 31, ’03. The Dabur Board which
met on Friday decided to pay 90per cent final dividend
to its shareholders taking the total dividend paid this
year to 140per cent, its highest payout till date. The
company had announced a 50 per cent dividend in November
’02. “The year ’02-03 was good for Dabur,
despite poor monsoons and tough market conditions. The
board is happy to announce its highest ever dividend so
far,” VC Burman, chairman, Dabur India, said in a
statement. The Dabur board formally announced demerger
of the pharma business from the FMCG in Dabur India and
recommended a swap ratio of 1:2, i.e. one equity share
of Re 1 each in Dabur Pharma for every two shares held
in Dabur India. The parent company, Dabur India, which
consisted of two businesses—FMCG and pharma—recorded
6per cent growth in sales turnover, from Rs 1,163 crore
to Rs 1,232 crore during the reporting period.
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ONGC
gets first crude shipment from abroad
Mangalore: The first-ever shipment of Indian crude
from a foreign field landed in Mangalore today, opening
a new chapter in India’s hydrocarbon history. The
crude oil has been brought in by ONGC Videsh Ltd from
its Greater Nile Oil Project in Sudan where it acquired
25 per cent oil equity in January this year. The other
equity stake holders in this project are Petronas of Malaysia
and China Petroleum of China. This consignment of oil
which has been shipped in “Seafalcon” the crude
carrier from Sudan, has brought in 80,000 tonnes of crude
which will be processed at the Mangalore Refinery and
Petrochemicals Ltd
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