MUL cuts vendor base by 20 per cent
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has reduced its vendor base by around 20 per cent to 299 vendors from 370 over a period of three years, in order to improve quality, reduce cost of production and generate economies of scale. The company has stated in its draft prospectus that it intends to continue reducing the number of vendors and increase collaborations with them to increase the rate at which localisation of production can take place of the new models. “This has also helped to reduce the cost of our components”, it says. As on March 2003, 113 of the company’s vendors were in technical collaboration with foreign entities. “As of the same date, we had strategic equity interests through joint venture agreements in 13 of our vendors, who together supply a substantial portion of our purchases of components”, it says
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RIL, DuPont Polyester Tech in R&D deal
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has entered into a strategic research and development (R&D) alliance with DuPont Polyester Technologies (DPT) to develop advanced polyester process and product technologies in India. The alliance will focus on developing innovative technologies for PET resin, polyester filament and polyester staple fibre. The alliance will allow them to explore new areas in research opportunity and also pursue many promising projects already in the Dupont Textiles and Interiors (DTI) and Reliance research pipelines. The intellectual property from joint developments under the alliance will be available on a royalty-free basis to both RIL and DuPont.
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Govt may allow FIIs to hold 25 per cent more in telecom firms
New Delhi: The Communications ministry proposes to raise foreign investment in the telecom sector to 74 per cent from the existing 49 per cent by allowing the incremental investment to be routed through foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who do not seek management control. On April 23, the Union cabinet had turned down a proposal cleared by a Group of Ministers to raise the foreign investment limit in several sectors including telecom. In the case of telecom, the proposal to raise the foreign investment limit to 74 per cent from the existing 49 per cent was turned down by the Cabinet on security grounds. Security agencies had said that by giving control of telecom operators to foreigners, all the sensitive information could be passed on to an enemy country. In support of their argument, the security agencies reportedly cited evidence of Chinese authorities accessing sensitive information through an ISP.
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Market expects 4-fold jump in Tisco net
Kolkata: Analysts have forecast Tata Iron & Steel (Tisco) net profit in 2002-03 to be in the range of Rs 900-970 crore, more than four times Rs 205 crore posted by the company in the previous fiscal. Credit Lyonnais Securities, in its early March 2003 projection, had put Tisco’s net at Rs 966 crore for 2002-03. HSBC Securities (Asia) in its end-March analysis has projected a Rs 908-crore net while Motilal Oswal in an April 2003 projection report predicted a Rs 971-crore net profit. For the first nine months ended December 31, 2002, Tisco announced net profit of Rs 549 crore, 566 per cent higher compared to the same period last fiscal, and almost touching its record full-year profit of Rs 553 crore achieved in 2000-01.
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Suzuki taps Maruti for R&D
Mumbai: Suzuki has announced its decision to make Maruti its research and development (R&D) centre for Suzuki cars in Asia. The company stated that it expects Maruti to have full-model change capability by 2006-07. The company has recently acquired capability to conduct minor and major facelifts of models. This includes the capability to upgrade products in terms of technology and features. The company has further stated that, the R&D centre will also play an important role in localisation and development of components. The new strategy is to introduce new models with a minimum of 75 per cent localisation level and increase the same to at least 90 per cent within the next three years of the introduction of new models. This will directly benefit the customers, with the cost of component accessories going down. It will also help in after-sales services, with these parts being available at Maruti Service Stations at lower costs
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Shree Cement to focus on Ultra Red Oxide cement production
Kolkata: Shree Ultra Red Oxide cement, a new brand promoted by Kolkata-based Shree Cement Ltd, will dominate the product-mix of the company shortly. The company has also plans to spend Rs 5 crore this fiscal for brand-building and to increase its number of dealers from the present 1,100 to 1,500 by the end of the current fiscal. “Although the company has the capability of producing both ordinary Portland cement and Portland Pozzolana cement, we have taken a strategic decision to concentrate on the production and marketing of our value-added Shree Ultra Red Oxide Cement — a new generation cement with rust-retardant properties,” Shree Cement’s managing director, HM Bangur said.
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Matrix Labs fixes record date for Vorin, Medicorp merger
Hyderabad: With the High Courts at Hyderabad and Chennai approving the scheme of amalgamation of Ranbaxy-owned Vorin Laboratories Ltd (VLL) and the Chennai-based Shriram Group promoted Medicorp Technologies India Ltd (MTIL) with the Hyderabad-based Matrix Laboratories Ltd (MLL), the boards of these pharmaceutical companies have convened their meetings on May 17 and 18 to take on record the Court orders. The key agenda for these meetings was to fix the record date for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders who were entitled to receive the shares of Matrix in exchange of shares held in Medicorp and Vorin as per the agreed swap ratio. The board of Matrix, which met on May 18, has fixed June 25 as the record date. While April 1, 2002 was fixed as appointed date for the scheme of amalgamation, the shareholders of Medicorp Technologies and Vorin Labs would get two shares of Rs 10 each of Matrix Labs for every 13 shares of Rs 10 each held by them.
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Bayer India, Cropscience swap ratio at 5:3
Mumbai: The board of directors of Bayer India Ltd and Bayer Cropscience India Ltd (BCIL) on Monday approved the merger of the two companies and announced a swap ratio of 5:3 (for every 3 shares of Bayer Cropscience, shareholders will receive 5 shares of Bayer India). According to the press release, the shareholders of BCIL will receive 5 shares in Bayer (India) Ltd of face value of Rs 10 each (after taking into consideration the sub-division of equity capital of Bayer (India) Ltd into equity shares of Rs 10 each) for every 3 shares of face value of Rs 10 each held by them in BCIL. The companies appointed Haribhakti & Co and KPMG India Pvt Ltd, to recommend a share swap ratio for the merger. Ambit Corporate Finance Pte Ltd provided strategic advice on the merger. The merger will be effective from April 1, 2003 subject to statutory requirements.
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Coromandel buys more of GFCL stake
Hyderabad: Close on the heels of Andhra Pradesh Government's decision to divest its 26 per cent holding in the Rs 994-crore Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (GFCL) last fortnight, Coromandel Fertilisers Ltd (CFL), part of the Chennai-based Murugappa group, has picked up further equity holding in GFCL through open market purchases on Monday. CFL has informed the stock exchanges that it has acquired 1,50,000 equity shares of GFCL, amounting to 0.47 per cent on its Rs 32-crore paid-up equity. Following this, the total shareholding of CFL in GFCL is now 45,63,103 equity shares, amounting to 14.26 per cent of GFCL equity. Market analysts said that the company has sent clear indications on its keenness to acquire controlling stake in GFCL.
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Dabur seeks court nod for pharma demerger
New Delhi: Dabur India Ltd on Monday filed its scheme of demerger with the Delhi High Court for approval. The company expects the entire demerger process to be completed by October this year. At its board meeting last week, the company's directors had approved a swap ratio of 1:2 — one pharma share for every two Dabur India shares held — for the demerged pharma and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) entities. As part of the demerger, the company proposes to transfer assets of Rs 214 crore connected to the pharma business, out of the total asset base of Rs 521 crore, to Dabur Pharma Ltd, a company release issued here on Monday said. Once approved, it also proposes to list Dabur Pharma Ltd on the stock exchanges.
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OEN India MD bags CII award
Kochi: The immediate past Chairperson of CII-Kerala and managing director of OEN India Ltd, Pamela Anna Mathew, has been awarded the CII award for outstanding contribution. Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Sons, presented the award to her at the CII annual general meeting in New Delhi recently. Mathew is the first Chairperson from Kerala to receive the prestigious award, a release issued here said. The award citation said that as the Chairperson, Ms Mathew played a vital role in shedding Kerala's "industry- unfriendly tag". Under her tenure, the Government, the State industry, the media and the trade unions gelled well as partners with a common objective of creating the right image for the State; fostering good labour management relations and transforming the State into an industry and investment friendly destination, the release said.
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MRF, JK spat over truck tyre ad
New Delhi: Tyre majors — MRF and J.K. Industries — continue to spat with each other on their respective advertising claims. J.K. Industries (JKI) has claimed victory in the latest round, with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) recently concluding that MRF's claim in an advertisement that ``MRF tyres are always the favourite choice of Indian truckers'' was not substantiated.
ASCI has directed MRF to modify the advertisement, to which an assurance has been received from MRF that the ad has been discontinued. The advertisement in question, which was published in leading Indian dailies on February 1, 2003, is a campaign on truck tyres and related to one of the claims that ``MRF is the ONLY approved OE supplier of Tyres (Radial and Crossply) to VOLVO''.
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TBW to upgrade IOC boilers at Barauni
New Delhi: Thermax Babcock &Wilcox Ltd (TBW), the captive power and cogeneration boiler company, has signed up an order for automation and spares worth Rs 11 crore with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to help the public sector oil major save crores of rupees. IOC's Barauni refinery in Bihar has two 38-year-old outdated boilers that were on the verge of replacement. The huge saving has been made possible by TBW, which has taken up the job of upgrading the boilers to the latest designs to ensure safe and reliable operations. IOC Barauni would have had to spend about Rs 45 crore to buy new boilers as replacement of the old ones, but with TBW stepping in, the country's largest refinery would be saving a total of Rs 34 crore. This apart, the oil major would also be saving Rs 38 lakh annually owing to higher efficiency on fuel alone.
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Usha Martin's Dubai unit may go on stream by Aug
Kolkata: The city-based Usha Martin group's Dubai unit is expected to be commissioned by August, providing a fillip to exports.

Company sources said that the 6,000- tonne wire ropes unit, which is being implemented at a cost of $ 3 million, is owned by Usha Martin International (UMI), the worldwide distribution network of the group. The equity of UMI is held by Usha Martin Ltd (UML) and Exim Bank with the Jhawars having the majority stake, the sources added. The plant which is coming up at a facility purchased by UMI at Jabel Ali free trade zone in Dubai, will add value to the wires which will be exported by Usha Martin to the unit for conversion to wire ropes. "The unit is expected to boost the company's exports to West Asia and Europe,'' sources said.
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Workers, police clash at Daewoo plant
New Delhi: A clash between workers and police on Monday at the defunct plant of Daewoo Motor India Ltd at Surajpur in Greater Noida left 14 persons, including 11 policemen injured. The violence erupted after the workers protested against the takeover of the plant and assets by the official receivers, appointed as per a ruling of the Debt Recovery Tribunal. The workers of the plant, which has been closed for the past several months, are demanding that their dues be settled before the receivers take possession of the unit. As the situation became tense, the police were called to control the mob.
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Ranbaxy to collaborate with MMV for malarial drugs
New Delhi: Ranbaxy has taken over the baton from Swiss-major Roche for the development of a synthetic peroxide anti-malarial drug. In an agreement inked in Geneva recently, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd would collaborate with non-profit organisation `Medicines for Malaria Venture' (MMV), Geneva, for this project. The search is on, for a new molecule that would ensure a short treatment period of three days for malaria. In addition to the pharmaceutical and clinical development of the drug, Ranbaxy would also have worldwide rights for the registration and commercialisation of the product, the company said in a communiqué issued here on Monday. Ranbaxy's scientists would collaborate with researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Monash University and the Swiss Tropical Institute in identifying a candidate for development.
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