Tata Tele accuses Reliance of anti competition practices
New Delhi: Tata Teleservices has complained to the telecom regulator about Reliance's WLL-mobile phone service plans, saying Reliance is adopting anti-competition practices.
Reliance sources refuted the charges.

Tata Tele's main objections are against the three-year locking in of the customer which amounts to financing of the handset by Reliance. The company says such financing is in the same league as Tata Finance financing a Tata Indica car or truck.

Reliance in turn says that a customer can return the handset within the three-year period and will only be liable to pay Rs 100 per month against club charges. If a customer does not want to get in the three year scheme, he can make upfront payment for the handset and continue to avail the Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer, said a Reliance official.

Reliance says its customers get the handset after getting into the hire-purchase agreement with the financing company. The company points out that in any sector be it FMCG or Automobiles, under the financing agreement the customer gets into a lock-in period for a certain term and can get out of it after pre-paying the amount.

Though generally financing companies charge a penalty for pre-payment, which in real terms is 'locking-in the customer,' in the case of Reliance if the customer returns the handset, the company won't charge him any amount said a Reliance official.
Back to News Review index page  

Wockhardt acquires UK pharma company for Rs 82 cr
Mumbai: Domestic pharma major, Wockhardt Ltd, has announced the acquisition of the UK-based CP Pharmaceuticals Ltd, for a total consideration of £10.85 million (Rs 82.46 crore).
With this acquisition, Wockhardt 's turnover will cross Rs 1,100-crore mark.

Wockhardt said it will fund the acquisition through internal accruals and borrowings.

The company said that with this acquisition, it would be able to establish a significant presence in the European Union and especially the UK market.

Wockhardt 's international business will now account for 53 per cent of the total revenue and in the UK itself, the company's business will be over £50 million (Rs 380 crore) including that of its 100 per cent UK subsidiary Wallis Laboratories.

CP Pharmaceuticals has a branded portfolio of hospital drugs, generics, contract manufacturing and exports. The company is a supplier to UK's National Health Service (NHS) and reported sales of £34 million in 2003.

For the present the two UK subsidiaries of Wockhardt, Wallis Laboratories and CP Pharmaceuticals will remain separate entities.
Wockhardt will now file for its product approval in the UK through CP Pharmaceuticals. This could include abbreviated new drug applications as well.
Back to News Review index page  

Volkswagen Audi plans India entry
New Delhi: German luxury carmaker Audi, the Volkswagen group company, is said to be reviewing its plans to enter India.
Earlier the company had cancelled its entry plans after it witnessed the stringent investment norms under the MoU regime and the high local content required to make cars in India.

This time round Audi is planning to come in initially as a CBU project with its best selling TT Coupe as the launch vehicle by March '04.

Initially Audi plans to function with one wholesale distributor who will run one retail outlet each in Delhi and Mumbai and by August this year the company plans to have its distribution structure in place.
Back to News Review index page  

ITC to expand Aashirwad brand
Kolkata: ITC Ltd is aiming at an annual turnover of Rs 500 crore from its branded packaged foods business by year 2007. The company has now added new products to its Aashirwad branded food range of packaged foods which till now consisted of atta and salt.

ITC has now launched a range of vegetarian curries and gravies under the "Aashirvaad ReadyMeals" brand.

The initial products under this include include Rajma Masala, Navratan Kurma, Dal Makhni, Aloo Matar and Palak Paneer.
Positioned with a tagline "quick to heat and delight to eat", the products are priced at Rs 35-40 per each pack of 285 grams.
The company already has existing brands of Kitchens of India gourmet foods,' 'Minto confectionery,' 'Candyman' hard-boiled sweets and 'I Bischips' baked snacks that were launched in the last one year.

Under the Aashirvaad brand, ITC has already launched atta and salt.
Back to News Review index page  

Hughes buys Tenet Tech for Rs 18 crore
Bangalore: Hughes Software Systems (HSS) has acquired the Bangalore-based Tenet Technologies in an all-cash deal worth Rs 18 crore. Tenet after regulatory approvals are granted will become a wholly owned subsidiary of HSS.

Following the buyout, HSS expects revenues from Japan to double in the next couple of years. The company got about 8 per cent of its revenues from Japan in the last fiscal.

HSS, which specialises in convergent network software, has signed a definite share purchase agreement with shareholders of Tenet as part of the takeover.

The leading communications software company hopes the buyout will help it significantly increase its presence in Japan.

HSS has been looking at various options to reduce its over dependence on the US market and the acquisition has been a part of it. The company is expecting revenues from the US to come down to 40-45 per cent of our total revenue from about 65 per cent at present.

Set up in 1996, Tenet, which has Citibank as one of its investors, designs, develops and offers product realisation services for 3G and IP network software services.

It has 95 employees, a development centre in Bangalore and a sales and support presence in Japan through a wholly owned subsidiary.
Back to News Review index page  

Hutch lowers entry cost
Kolkata: Hutch, cellular service provider in Kolkata, has reduced the entry cost for getting a mobile connection.

Hutch has introduced a GSM handset bundle promotional offer for Rs 3,760, which includes a free talktime of Rs 300 with a Siemens model A50 for both its prepaid and post paid segments.

On activation, Rs 50 would accrue and Rs 50 with every recharge for first five recharges.

For the prepaid segment, all five recharges would have to be made by December 31.

Without the bundle offer the cost would be around Rs 4,399.
In the post paid segment, the Hutch bundle offer comes for Rs 4,069. The handset bundle offer gives free outgoing local talktime of Rs 1200 over a period of 12 months. Without the bundle offer the cost would work out to be around Rs 5,180.
Back to News Review index page  

Reliance plans investment of over Rs 4,500 cr for laying product pipelines
New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is planning to invest more than Rs 4,500 crore in setting up 5,895-km of product pipelines, which will span the country before it starts retailing petrol and diesel. These pipelines will feed RIL's 5,849 petrol stations across the country.

Official sources said a formal proposal to this effect has been submitted to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, Gas Transportation and Infrastructure Co Ltd, has proposed an investment of Rs 1,640 crore for the Jamnagar- Patiala pipeline, Rs 1,780 crore for the Jamnagar-Kanpur pipeline, Rs 460 crore for the Goa-Hyderabad pipeline, Rs 325 crore for the Chennai-Bangalore pipeline, Rs 110 crore for the Kakinada-Vijayawada pipeline and Rs 260 crore for the Haldia-Ranchi pipeline.

The 1,580-km Jamnagar-Patiala and 2,540-km Jamnagar-Kanpur pipelines would feed petrol stations in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh directly from the Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat.

The company is likely to transport petrol and diesel from its Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat to ports at Goa, Chennai, Kakinada and Haldia through ships. From these cities, four different pipelines would take the products to feeding petrol stations in Karnataka, parts of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Back to News Review index page  

IPCL hands out VRS to 1,550 employees
Mumbai: Reliance Industries group firm IPCL has offered a VRS to 1550 employees thus reducing its workforce by about 12 percent.

Company officials said that after the VRS, the workforce at IPCL has been reduced from 13,150 to 11,600 "without any loss of productivity", they added.

The move is expected to cost the company around Rs 120 crore during the current year..

The VRS has been given to the employees on health grounds, and is mainly seen as a cost cutting measure and will no doubt result in improved efficiency also.

The pay out includes ex-gratia equivalent to two months' salary for each completed year of service or two months salary for the number of months left, whichever is less.

The execution means that the company's profits would be reduced by Rs 120 crore in accordance with the new accounting guidelines.
IPCL had posted a net profit of Rs 204 crore on a turnover of Rs 9,921 crore in 2002-03.
Back to News Review index page