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Base
Corp launches Panasonic maintenance-free car batteries
Bangalore: The city-based Base Corporation, the
exclusive partner of Japanese company Matsushita (Panasonic)
Battery Company Limited, has announced the launch of Panasonic
maintenance-free car batteries in the country on Friday.
The battery with calcium expanded grid technology is sealed
battery which needs no topping up and is priced at around
Rs 2,200 for a Maruti car battery. It also come with a
36-month warranty and 18 months guarantee. Addressing
the media, Matsushita (Panasonic) managing director Mitsuru
Kurukowa said, ‘‘the new maintenance-free range
being introduced in India is designed and modified to
suit Indian needs.’’ The company is setting
up a manufacturing plant in Sri Lanka which would supply
products to India thereby further bringing down the price
of the products, he said. In India, Base Corporation started
selling automotive batteries in 2002-03 touching sales
of Rs 14 crores. The company expects to touch Rs 60 crore
sales in 2002-03.
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Tata
Infotech posts Rs 30 cr net in ’02-03
Mumbai: System Integrator company Tata Infotech
has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 29.91 crore
on net sales of Rs 458.86 crore during the financial year
ended March 31, 2003. According to a company press release,
the company’s board has recommended a dividend of
Rs. 7.50 per equity share, including silver jubilee dividend
of Rs 2.50 per share for the reporting fiscal, compared
to a dividend of Rs 4 per share in FY-02, subject to shareholder
approvals. The release adds that the consolidated results
are not comparable with that ofthe previous year, as this
is the first year of presentation of consolidated financial
statements in line with accounting standards. The consolidated
results include that of Exegenix Canada Inc and Tata Infotech
Deutschland GMBH, 100 percent subsidiaries of the company,
and Sitel India Pvt Ltd a 40 per cent joint venture firm.
On a standalone basis, Tata Infotech Ltd posted a 49 per
cent rise in net profit at Rs 30.46 crore in 2002-03,
compared to Rs 20.50 crore posted in FY-02, it said. However,
the company’s net sales declined to Rs 453.02 crore
(from Rs 475.10 crore posted in FY-02) during the year
under review, its turnover declined marginally to Rs 462
crore (Rs. 483 crore), the company press release said.
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Eureka
Forbes to tap new export markets
New Delhi: Aquamall Water Solutions
Ltd., the manufacturing arm of Eureka Forbes that markets
the popular Aquaguard brand of water purifiers, is targeting
new export markets this year. "The additional markets
that we are focusing on this year are Malaysia, Sri Lanka
and Mauritius. Though we have targeted a turnover of about
Rs 20 million from exports for this year, we definitely
see exports contributing to an increasing amount of sales
for the company," says an Aquamall official. According
to industry talk, Aquamall, in a bid to step up its international
presence, is also in talks to set up a manufacturing facility,
in partnership with a local partner, in South East Asia.
Company officials were however tight-lipped about the
development. The company has already been exporting to
various markets including Sweden, Mexico, Thailand, Venezuela,
Taiwan, Sri Lanka, USA, Egypt, Mauritius and Indonesia.
Aquamall has also exported UV water purifiers to Electrolux,
USA under the brand name `Aerus'. Aquamall has been supplying
components such as UV lamps, quartz tubes, and so on to
`Lux Asia Pacific' factory in Manila, Philippines for
the last four years. This facility was owned by Electrolux
earlier, and was later sold to VORVAC, Germany three years
back.
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Haier
sounds domestic majors for tie-ups
Bangalore: China's Haier Group, a $8-billion consumer
durables major, will set up a 100 per cent subsidiary
in India after the Foreign Investment Promotion Board
and the ministry of finance cleared its proposal on Thursday.
It becomes the first Chinese company to receive the FIPB
clearance in over two years. Haier, considered the most
valuable Chinese brand, is expected to hit the Indian
market with its products towards this year-end. The company,
which plans to set up a distribution network of its own,
has already talked to domestic majors such as Voltas and
BPL for manufacturing tie-ups to source the products locally.
It is learnt that Haier might look at setting up an independent
production base here in the long term. Sources pointed
out that the FIPB's nod to Haier came at a time when the
prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is on a China visit
to bring about better economic co-operation between the
two countries. The board had earlier deferred its decision
on Haier's proposal, as the Chinese company was not able
to furnish a no objection certificate from its former
Indian partner, Hotline Group. However, on Thursday, the
FIPB waived the requirement of NOC citing that Haier's
proposed joint venture with Hotline had fallen through
even before it could take off, the sources added.
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Reinventing
paying off, says NIIT New
Delhi: NIIT Technologies, the software division
of NIIT Ltd, has identified insurance, airlines and retail
industries as its key focus areas in a major strategic
shift, a top company official has said. The decision to
`re-invent' the business and focus on these verticals
had started to pay off for the company, once severely
hit by the technology meltdown, said Arvind Thakur, president
of NIIT Technology. "Traditionally we were horizontally
focussed, mainly doing projects on emerging technologies.
But when we were impacted by the slowdown, we had to deal
with a fundamental strategic shift and enhanced our service
portfolio," Thakur said. This rethinking has helped
NIIT Technologies to bag orders worth $40 million in the
last quarter. The company notched up revenues of Rs 126.2
crore in the quarter, accounting for 58 per cent of the
total revenues. Mr Thakur declined to comment on business
in the current quarter. "Our onsite billing rates
area increasing because we are now doing high-end applications
such as SAP implementation," he said, adding the
string of acquisitions NIIT had done in the recent past
helped the company to build capabilities in its present
focus areas.
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Orissa
Mining Corp may get 308 hectare litigation-free mines
Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government, in a clever
move, has decided to lease out the litigation-free 307.835
hectare chromite ore mines in Sukinda Valley in favour
of the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC). The
state government is planning to recommend to the Centre
for the grant of the lease in favour of the state public
sector undertaking (PSU). The state government, in fact,
had recommended the Centre for the grant of the entire
436.295 hectare surplus chromite mines area in the Sukinda
Valley in favour of OMC in 2002. But, they returned the
proposal pointing out that there are legal complications
in leasing out the mines in favour of the state public
sector units. Two south India based companies - Nav Bharat
Ferro Alloys Limited and GMR Technology India Limited
- have gone to the court challenging the decision of the
Orissa government. Nav Bharat Ferro has already procured
a favourable decision from the Supreme Court. The Supreme
Court of the country in its judgement on December 27,
2002 declared that the leasing of the chrome ore mines
can be granted in favour of the company.
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Glaxo
sells Bangalore property
Mumbai: Pharma major Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals
Ltd on Friday said that it has sold its office premises
located at Cunnigham Road, Bangalore to Dawat-E-Hadiyah
Trust, Mumbai, for a consideration of Rs 23.10 crore,
in a notification to the stock exchanges.
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HBL
Nife promoters propose to buy out Swedish partner
Hyderabad: The Indian promoters of HBL Nife Power
Systems Ltd, the Hyderabad-based Rs 176-crore battery
manufacturer, propose to acquire the equity holding of
its foreign promoter, the Sweden-based Sab Nife AB. On
the existing paid-up equity capital of Rs 20.07 crore,
the Indian promoters together hold 80.36 per cent and
the Swedish major 4.03 per cent. The balance 15.61 per
cent is held by others including Indian public. The HBL
Nife chairman and managing director, Dr A.J. Prasad, informed
the stock exchanges that he would be acquiring the equity
holding of Swedish major, along with M.S.S. Srinath and
Beaver Engineering Ltd. At present, Dr A.J. Prasad holds
7.25 per cent stake, Mr Srinath 0.05 per cent and Beaver
Engineering 65.22 per cent. Of the 8.08-lakh equity shares
held by the foreign promoters, Dr Prasad proposes to acquire
4.08 lakh shares, Beaver Engineering 3 lakh shares and
Mr Srinath the balance one lakh shares at Rs 27 per share.
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Coromandel
Fert emerges highest bidder for GFCL stake
Hyderabad: Coromandel Fertilisers Ltd has emerged
as the highest bidder for the Andhra Pradesh Government's
25.88 per cent stake in Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals
Ltd when the Implementation Secretariat (IS) of the State
Government opened the price bids on Friday. However, in
view of Krebs Biochemical Ltd, another bidder for the
stake, approaching the State High Court against the IS
decision to disqualify its bid, a final decision regarding
who is the preferred bidder for the State Government's
stake has been deferred pending final ruling of the court.
The case is posted for hearing in the High Court for Wednesday.
CFL has quoted Rs 124 per share for the 82.80 lakh GFCL
shares of the State Government amounting to Rs 102.67
crore while Foskor Ltd of South Africa quoted a price
of Rs 96 per share (a total of Rs 78.48 crore). The lowest
quotation was from Groupe Chimique Tunisien (GCT) of Tunisia
that had offered a price of Rs 70 per share amounting
to Rs 57.96 crore.
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HLL's
notice to shareholders on oils biz transfer
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd has issued notice to
its shareholders to consider and to pass, an ordinary
resolution to transfer of Edible Oils and Fats business
to Bunge Agribusiness India Pvt Ltd. The last date to
submit postal ballot forms is July 29, 2003. The result
of the Postal ballot will be announced on August 1, 2003.
Last week HLL had announced that it had transferred its
edible oils and fats business in India and Nepal to the
US-based Bunge Ltd for a consideration of around Rs 90
crore.
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Bata
India proposes to rationalise workforce
Kolkata:
Considering that the huge fixed costs, mainly contributed
by wages, account for as much as 26 per cent of the total
turnover of the company, the Rs 694-odd crore Bata India
Ltd has decided to take up a major exercise to rationalise
its workforce, now bordering around the 13,000-mark. Talking
to newspersons after the AGM of the company here on Friday,
A.L. Mudaliar, chairman, said initiatives have been launched
to effect top management restructuring, wherein accountability
has been firmly established at all levels. Spelling out
the roadmap for the company to return to the dividend
list, he said the strategies have been drawn up. "Aggressive
steps are needed to battle it out and take control of
the situation.''
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Golden
Carpets promoters told to make open offer
Hyderabad: In a significant development, the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has directed
the Golden Carpets Ltd (GCL) promoter to make an open
offer to GCL shareholders. It observed that the promoter
of the Hyderabad-based Golden Carpets Ltd (GCL), Srikrishna
Naik, has violated the takeover regulations while acquiring
shares on a preferential allotment basis during December
2002, The market regulator has also directed the acquirers
to pay an interest of 10 per cent per annum on the offer
price from May 1, 2003 till the date of actual payment
of consideration for the shares to be tendered and accepted
in the public offer directed to be made by the acquirers.
Naik, a promoter of GCL, acquired 6,10,000 shares representing
9.26 per cent of the post-preferential equity share capital
of the company through preferential allotment on December
24, 2002 resulting in increase in his shareholding from
30.82 per cent to 37.22 per cent. The SEBI has observed
that the said acquisition of 6.4 per cent shares was made
without making a public announcement as required under
Regulations 11(1) of the Regulations. Accordingly, the
regulator served a show-cause notice on the GCL promoter
on January 31, 2003. The acquirer filed his reply vide
letter dated February 21. Thereafter, a personal hearing
was granted to the acquirer by the SEBI on April 30, wherein
he reiterated the submissions made by him in reply to
the show cause notice.
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DRL
set for US launch of hypertension drug
Mumbai: Drug major Dr Reddy's Laboratories will
be in a position to launch the modified generic version
of Pfizer's $2.5-billion blockbuster anti-hypertension
drug `Norvasc' in the US in the next two months. The company
is also preparing to file for an NDA or New Drug Application
for an oncology drug in Canada. It is expected to file
for 15 drug master files (DMFs) and 15-18 Abbreviated
New Drug Applications (ANDAs) this year, said Satish Reddy,
managing director and chief operating officer, Dr Reddy's
Laboratories at an analyst meet here. Dr Reddy's Laboratories
is expected to garner good sales with Pfizer's patent
on the anti-hypertension drug expiring. According to G.V.
Prasad, executive vice-chairman, Dr Reddy's Laboratories
(DRL), the company is in talks with several companies
to co-market the product after clearance from the USFDA
(United States Food and Drug Administration), which is
expected shortly. The company had received the ``approvable''
letter for Amlodipine Maleate from the USFDA.
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Black
out pay channels that don't declare prices: I&B
Chennai: Unfazed by the dilly-dallying attitude
of powerful pay channel broadcasters’ lobby, which
is allegedly scuttling efforts to implement the Conditional
Access System (CAS), the Union information and broadcasting
ministry has fired a salvo to quell any further rebellion
to delay implementation of the CAS regime.It has directed
the multi-system operators (MSOs) “not to transmit”
any pay channel through their networks after July 14,
’03 in the event of “non-declaration” of
the price by the broadcasters before the dead-line. The
deadline, originally fixed for June 16, was further extended
by about a week. All the broadcasters of pay channels
were supposed to declare a la carte price for each one
of their pay channels to enable subscribers to choose
the channels of their choice. The broadcasters of course
circulated an indicative a la carte price list for their
respective channels in the June 18 meeting. But as the
prices of all the channels came to Rs 550-Rs 600, the
ministry expressed shock
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