IBM Global to increase manpower in India to 10,000 by '05
Mumbai: IBM is planning to ramp up its India operations.

Merrill Lynch, the global investment company says IBM will increase its manpower in India from 4,500 to 10,000 over the next two years.

IBM's teams are scouring Indian cities and towns finding the right model for expansion. These IBM teams have also been meeting the management of several Indian companies, including Mastek, MphasiS, Satyam and Zensar leading to rumours that that these companies could be take-over targets for IBM. Howeverm IBM says the objective of these meetings is to understand the offshore model of these companies; and, more importantly their recruitment plans.

IBM may have zeroed in Kolkata and Bangalore. IBM Global Services (IBMGS) inherited the Kolkata centre after its global acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). IBM's official spokesperson in the country refused to comment.
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ONGC office staff strike work
Mumbai: Though the office staff of ONGC reported for work at ONGC's Vasudhara Bhavan office in Bandra, Mumbai they were in an uncooperative mood and took part in demonstrations in the building courtyard.

Despite this oil and gas production at the offshore and work at offices across the country continues as usual.

A crowd of ONGC employees shouted slogans condemning the management and in memory of their 22 colleagues who died in the helicopter crash off the Mumbai shore on August 11.

Two of the 24 bodies have not yet been recovered from the accident site near the Neelam oil fields.

These include ONGC official R.M. Murthy and co-pilot, D.K. Mittal.
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TV18 hikes stake in CNBC joint venture
Mumbai: Television Eighteen Ltd (TV18) has increased its stake CNBC Asia Pacific (CNBC AP), up to 90 per cent.

CNBC AP will hold a 10 per cent strategic stake in TV18's unlisted channel broadcast subsidiary.

The stake increase from the earlier level of 49 per cent will be virtually cash neutral for TV18.

Besides the 10 per cent strategic stake the agreement also includes a definitive 15-year franchise arrangement for the CNBC brand. The entire arrangement is subject to obtaining requisite regulatory approvals.

TV18 will be hiving off the channel's operations into its existing unlisted subsidiary, iNEWS.com Ltd in which CNBC AP will take a 10 per cent stake in this entity. Necessary approvals from shareholders and regulators for implementing this structure will be sought shortly.
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US embassy enters the cola battle
New Delhi: The American Embassy here has entered the cola battle, and is supporting the US cola majors Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

A note circulated by press associate David Kennedy says, "Coca-Cola and Pepsi are working with the Indian government to clarify these issues with the assistance of independent scientific experts and laboratories."

CSE, an environmental agency, recently claimed to have found excessive levels of pesticides in the samples as a consequence of which sales have fallen up to 40 per cent since the findings became public.

The Embassy has assured the Indian consumer, saying, "Coca-Cola and Pepsi are reputed and responsible firms with worldwide operations. They have emphasised it is their top priority to provide the consumer with safe products."
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Fedders Lloyd moves into bus AC, truck refrigeration
New Delhi: The Rs 170-crore air-conditioner major Fedders Lloyd Corporation Ltd, has entered into a tie-up with Hong Lim Industrial Co Ltd, a Rs 176-crore Korean air conditioner company, to mark its foray into bus AC and truck refrigeration business.
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Mumbai Fast to be broadcast on Zee News
Mumbai: Mid Day Multimedia Ltd and Zee News have tied up to produce, Mumbai Fast, a daily news capsule of city news to be aired on Zee News.

The first broadcast of Mumbai Fast will be at 8.30 p.m. on August 15, and will thereafter have daily slots at 7.30 a.m., 8.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m.
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Ceat gets quality accreditation
New Delhi: Ceat Ltd has been accredited with an ISO/TS-16949: 2002 certificate. The certification was done by TUV Suddeutschland AG.

ISO/TS-16949:2002 standard is a quality management system of ISO, specific to the automotive industries. The International Automotive Task Force and Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association have prepared this standard with support from ISO/TC 176.
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AIR declares gross revenues of Rs 131 cr in '02-03
New Delhi: All India Radio (AIR) has declared a gross revenue of Rs 131 crore against Rs 97 crore declared last year. Net revenue was at Rs 113.26 crore this year.

However, expenditure for the same period is a whopping Rs 748 crore. Prasar Bharati said that it was for the first time that AIR revenues had crossed Rs 100 crore. The previous year it was about

AIR has now set a target of Rs 125 crore for '03-04.
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Two Tata group units sign pact
Mumbai: The Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit (TIEBU) has entered into a strategic alliance with Tata Telecom for co-marketing the latter's end-to-end converged communications products and solutions to India's top corporates.

TIEBU, formed a few months ago, is the common customer interface for four Tata group telecom companies - VSNL, Tata Teleservices, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd and Tata Internet Services Ltd.
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HLL rationalizes portfolio
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever is rationalising its portfolio of brands yet again. Its now a step further on its strategy of focusing on a shortlist of power brands.

The company is now planning to cut its brand portfolio down to a few mega-brands while the rest of brands which have a unique positioning will stay as stand-alone power brands; the others that do not fit into the above two categories will be absorbed by the larger brands, leaving the company with a leaner brand portfolio in the long run.

It is turning a few of its power brands with the potential of becoming mega-brands, into mother or umbrella brands, having under them weaker or smaller brands.
Thus brands like 501, Rexona, Taj Mahal, Taaza, Red Label, Ala, and Modern Atta bread, among others, are being turned into sub-brands under the mother brands in their categories. The plan is to migrate consumers to the mother brand, and gradually phase out the sub-brands which do not have the potential to become mega-brands.
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Coke withdraws petition from Supreme Court
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said it cannot entertain the petition of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCBPL) saying there were no grounds for it to hear the issue. Subsequently, HCCBPL withdrew its petition seeking testing of its product by experts.

The Bench also refused to be drawn into repeated plea of the petitioner's counsel, Mr Kapil Sibal, to convert the petition into a public interest litigation (PIL) to protect the rights of the consumer, according to agency reports.

Late last week, PepsiCo India had approached the Delhi High Court demanding independent evaluation of the Centre for Science and Environment's (CSE) report that had indicted 12 brands of soft drinks.

Coca Cola wanted to bring the testing under a single umbrella, though the apex court did not entertain the view, since the Delhi High Court was already seized of the matter and even the Government had already initiated action, in terms of getting the soft drink samples tested.
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Dept of Space gives go ahead for Star News uplink
New Delhi: The Department of Space has passed the application of Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS) for uplinking Star News from India though the Home Ministry is yet to give assent.

Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of information and broadcasting told the Rajya Sabha that an inter-ministerial group comprising representatives from the Ministries of Law, Finance and I&B had been constituted to examine all aspects of this proposal. He clarified that the company's proposal for Direct to Home (DTH) services was still under examination.
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Bangalore hosts Auto Expo
Bangalore: The city is hosting an automobile exhibition from August 14 to 17 that will showcase some of the newest vehicle models in the country.

These include, Maurti's Grand Vitara, WagonR and Carbon and Steel models of Zen, Mahindra's Invader and Scorpio, Telco's new Safari, Reva's new A/C model, Honda Accord and CRV, Hyundai's Terracan and Tuscania. The highlight of the event is the first Indian sports car `Chinkara' designed by a German designer Mr Guido Bothe.

Among the motorcycles on display will be TVS FieroF2, Scooty Pep, Kinetic Aquila, Honda Eterno, LML's new Freedom and Kinetic Boss.

Apart from these, there would a wide range of car accessories, car stereos, used cars, car finance companies and other allied products.
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Fiat India signs wage pact with union
Mumbai: Fiat India has signed a new wage pact with the internal employees union for an increase in wages ranging between Rs 1,300 and Rs 2,300, depending upon the number of years of service with effect from August this year to December 2004, according to a company release.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Fiat India chairman and managing director Alberto Montonari. Fiat has around 2,000 employees and manufactures the 178 platform range of cars from its Kurla plant, which include the Palio, Siena, Adventure and the Weekend.
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