Escorts units conversion comes under glare
New Delhi: The controversy surrounding the conversion of Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHIRC) into a company in 2000 seems to be continuing unabated, say reports. Close on the heels of a survey of the Income-Tax Department at offices of Escorts Ltd., including EHIRC, a trustee of an investor organisation, Indian Investors' Protection Council, Arvind Gupta, has submitted a letter of dissent to Escorts Ltd questioning the manner in which the conversion of EHIRC was carried out.

The letter, a copy of which is with this newspaper, raises several questions with regards to the conversion of EHIRC. These include questions such as whether at the time of conversion of the company, in 1999-2000, "over Rs 100 crore of public money was diverted from the Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi to private trusts (Escorts Employees Welfare Trust, Escorts Founders Welfare Trust and Escorts Rehabilitation and Relief Trust), via the formation of a dummy society at Chandigarh without any payment."
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Hindujas wants to raise foreign stake in InCablenet
New Delhi: The Hindujas are looking for ways to increase foreign holding in their group outfit, IndusInd Media Communications Ltd (IMCL). The company has sought permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to increase its foreign equity from the present 22.48 per cent to 30.34 per cent. The move has come under scrutiny of the Reserve Bank of India with the FIPB instructing the central bank to examine as to whether non-convertible preference shares of the company were converted into optionally convertible preference shares (OCPS) with its permission.

IMCL has informed the FIPB that its two existing foreign partners, namely, Mauritius-based IndusInd Channels Ltd and IndusInd Communications Ltd, both controlled by the Hindujas, hold 18.92 per cent and 3.56 per cent stake, respectively. Apart from direct holdings, IndusInd Communications also has 55,00,00 OCPS. According to the application, the Mauritius-based company now wants to exercise its option and convert the preference shares into equity shares.
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Govt: Dominant Indian partner needed in new uplink norms
New Delhi: The Government has revised the guidelines for foreign news channels wishing to uplink from India making it mandatory for the company to have a "dominant Indian partner" with a minimum of 51 per cent stake in the venture. But stakes held by banks and financial institutions will not be included in computing the 51 per cent. This brings the foreign investment norms for news channels at par with the guidelines issued earlier for newspapers.

Addressing newspersons after a meeting chaired by the prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the information and broadcasting (I&B) minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, "the thrust of the guidelines is on the insistence of a dominant Indian partner with 51 per cent equity." Specifying the revised guidelines, the Minister said that the shareholder could be an individual, a company or a group of companies.
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Apollo Hospitals to manage Malaysia hospital
Chennai: Apollo Hospitals has won a $1-million contract to manage a hospital in Malaysia, and has floated a management company to handle it. At the company's 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Chennai on friday, Dr Prathap C. Reddy, Executive chairman, told shareholders "the win was against all international competitors". At present, Apollo has been awarded the right to serve as transition manager, and a management company has been formed in which Apollo would hold about 70 per cent of the stake.

As the next step, the company is in the process of negotiating the right to manage operations after the transition period. When queried, Preetha Reddy, managing director, declined to disclose details of the contract because the negotiations with the Malaysian counterpart have not been concluded. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) is yet to be signed.
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Essar Shipping board okays Vedinar oil project package
Mumbai: The board of Essar Shipping Ltd has approved the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) cell's package for the Vedinar oil terminal project. The company said it will seek its shareholders' approval to issue financial instruments, including equity shares, on preferential basis to ABB or promoters, their associates or group entities an amount not exceeding $100 million.

The board has also decided to approach the shareholders with a proposal to issue up to $100 million to persons other than existing members of the company for meeting the present and future fund requirements of the company, ESL sources said here. The board has also decided to seek approval of shareholders for increasing the authorised share capital from Rs 510.5 crore to Rs 1510.5 crore.
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Balaji Tele plans Rs 20-crore capital expenditure
Mumbai: Balaji Telefilms Ltd is planning a capital expenditure of Rs 20 crore over the next two years in building infrastructure in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. The company said it plans to build shooting floors and invest in production and post-production equipment in these cities.

It announced these plans at its annual general meeting held on Thursday. "Until then the company will follow a prudent investment policy of deploying this balance in low-risk debt instruments," Balaji Telefilms informed the BSE. The company said it would deploy the cash balance for funding its capex programme and towards acquisition at appropriate time and cost. The company also told its shareholders that it would maintain the dividend levels during this fiscal at previous year's levels.
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Whirlpool expects 15% value growth
New Delhi: Consumer durables major Whirlpool of India Ltd is eyeing a 15-per cent value growth in the current fiscal. "The monsoons have been very good, so we expect higher sales in the coming months. Also, product categories such as air conditioners would result in overall growth for us this year,"

Raj Jain, managing director, Whirlpool of India, said. Jain also voiced concern on the rising prices of key inputs -- steel and plastic. Though the rise in costs would not be passed on to the consumer, Jain said that the increasing price of steel and plastic was putting pressure on margins. Making things worse for the industry is the fact that key durable segments such as washing machines have shown little growth.
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BHPV gets NPC order
Viskhapatnam: Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels Ltd (BHPV) here has received a work order for design, manufacture and supply of 88 hairpin-type heat exchangers from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India for its use at Madras Atomic Power Station-1, Chennai. The order, valued at Rs 48 crore, is to be executed by December 2004.

In the recent past, BHPV has supplied similar equipment involving the latest welding technology to the NPC. BHPV specialises in manufacture of different types of heat exchangers. Work orders to the extent of Rs 200 crore are in the pipeline and BHPV hopes to get a substantial portion of them within the next two months, according to a company press release.
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