TPC investment in telecom sector reaches Rs 1,115 crore
Mumbai: Tata Power Company's (TPC) investment in the telecom sector touched the Rs 1,115-crore mark as on 31 March 2003. Company sources, talking to a newspaper, said TPC will not make any further investments in telecom in the near future. The company in its annual report had said that it has made an additional investment of Rs 25 crore towards telecom infrastructure. TPC is believed to have invested this amount for telecom infrastructure in Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.

The company has said that it is striving to bring the long-term benefits of participation in a integrated telecom value chain. The Tata group is also taking steps to consolidate the group's telecom presence in the corporate market with the formation of a focused enterprise business unit. As of now, the break-up of TPC's investment in telecom include Rs 115 crore in Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd (TTML) and Rs 212 crore in Panatone Finavest Ltd (PFL) for VSNL equity. With this, the company's equity investments in Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) stands at Rs 500 crore, Rs 115 crore in TTML and Rs 500 crore through Panatone Finavest in VSNL.

Other assistance provided by TPC for the Tata group's telecom investment include outstanding deposit of Rs 275 crore in TTSL, guarantees to third parties on behalf of TTSL aggregating to Rs 880 crore. Further, TPC has provided letters of awareness to banks and financial institutions for facilities aggregating to Rs 90 crore. TPC has also issued a non-disposal undertaking on existing and future shareholding in TTSL in consideration of a grant of short term loan of Rs 100 crore by the institutions to TTSL.
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IDBI moves SC on Rs 29-crore SPGL shares issue
Mumbai: The Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court for the issuance of shares of Rs 28.79 crore by Spectrum Power Generation Ltd (SPGL) at the earliest. IDBI made this move on behalf of ICICI, IFCI, IIBI, LIC, GIC, New India Assurance, National Insurance Corporation and Oriental Insurance Corporation. IDBI is entitled to receive shares of Rs 23.25 crore of the total Rs 52.04 crore, which would have been issued by SPGL by 19 June, to these institutions. IDBI has moved the apex court on the latter's directive on 10 July.

The SC on 10 July had dismissed SPGL's plea of giving three months extension for the issuance of shares to the IDBI-led institutions. The apex court on 10 July had asked SPGL to issue shares of Rs 23.25 crore to IDBI by 11 July and had directed IDBI to file an affidavit on behalf of others, which will be heard on 21 July. Institutional sources told reporters that SPGL has not yet issued shares to IDBI and the demand will be strongly made during SPGL's board meeting on 16 July. SPGL, it is learnt, will also be told during the meeting not to wait for technical clarification from the SC but to immediately issue shares to IDBI as well as other institutions.

The institution-wise shares will be given as follows: ICICI (Rs 1.80 crore), IFCI (Rs 9.84 crore), IIBI (Rs 1.66 crore), LIC (Rs 1.15 crore), GIC (Rs 20.80 lakh), New India Assurance (Rs 21.36 lakh), National Insurance Corporation (Rs 12.60 lakh) and Oriental Insurance Corporation (Rs 13.65 lakh).
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Hero Honda expects double-digit sales growth
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors, the country's largest motorcycle company, says it is confident of achieving a 'double- digit' growth in sales this financial year due to a good monsoon and expectations of strong demand in the ensuing festival season. The company expects sales to come down to 4.5-4.55 lakh units in the July-September quarter from 4.58 lakh units in the first quarter due to stagnant demand in the 'traditionally-poor' months of July and August, says Hero Honda director (finance) Ravi Sud.

"The months of April-May were subdued because of the fear of drought. Now, with expectations of a good monsoon, the industry should do well. We think our guidance of double-digit growth should materialise," he says. Hero Honda had sold 1.67 million motorcycles during 2002-03 - a 17.7-per cent growth over the previous year. "July and August are weak months because of monsoon. The dealers do active stocking during the month of September for the coming festival season. The sales should pick up in the third (October-December 2003) quarter," he added.
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ONGC to start deep-water exploration programme
Mumbai: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will launch a deep-water exploration programme with five wells in the East and West coasts. Three wells will be drilled on the East Coast and the other two wells in Maharashtra. ONGC has set a target of drilling 35 deep-water wells during the course of the year. ONGC executive director - asset manager (Mumbai High) Kharak Singh says the expenditure on each deep-water well will be in the region of Rs 80 to Rs 100 crore.

ONGC plans to spend about Rs 1,800 crore for deep-water drilling activities in the current year, he adds. ONGC has decided to focus on deep-water exploration to increase its crude production. It is in the process of hiring two rigs for its exploration activities. It takes approximately 40 days to drill a deep-water well. ONGC will also begin drilling on the 37 wells awarded to it under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), by the end of this year. It bagged 37 of the 70 exploration wells thrown open by the government under the first three round of NELP.
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Mukand to develop new properties in Mumbai
Mumbai: Mukand Ltd, led by its promoters, has started plans to develop its property at Kurla in Mumbai, by seeking permission from the government of Maharashtra to effect closure of its foundry effective 13 October 2003. Under the restructuring approved by the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) empowered group, the company is also expected to sell off or develop the real estate belonging to Nathani Steels Ltd, a Mukand group company.

The Beco division at Ballabhagh will also be put on the block as per the restructuring scheme, under which the promoters have to arrange for a sum of about Rs 70 crore within seven months as purchase consideration towards acquiring and/or development rights on the company's land in Kurla as may be mutually agreed between the company and lenders' monitoring committee.
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Star revives shell company
New Delhi: The Star group has revived a shell company, Touch Telecontent (India), launched in February 2003, to hive off its infrastructure assets like studio, cameras, video and editing equipment. Touch Telecontent will provide all infrastructure support to Star's uplinking company, Media Content & Communications Services (MCCS). The new entity, which is headed by Vynsley Fernandez, who was earlier a senior vice-president in MCCS, will become vital to Star operations in India..
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