Star TV, Tatas join hands for DTH
New Delhi: Rupert Murdoch-owned Star TV has told the Indian government that the company has tied up with the Tatas for its direct-to-home (DTH) foray. Star plans to launch its services by mid-2004. As per the DTH guidelines issued in 2000 that cap the broadcaster's holding in a DTH venture at 20 per cent, the Tatas are expected to be offered 80 per cent of the equity in the Rs 250-crore Space Television. Star will hold the remaining 20 per cent.

"We have been told that Space Television will offer a bouquet of 100 channels using Star's B-Sky-B platform and will also have a pay-per-view system for some of its programmes," an information and broadcasting ministry official was quoted as saying. Star intends to roll out its DTH services by March or April next year. DTH involves the installation of a dish antenna of 60 to 90 cm radius and a set-top box at the subscriber's end to receive television signals transmitted from a satellite. Space Television is to charge Rs 400 per month from its subscribers and is looking at ways to give subsidy on the set-top box, which is priced at Rs 5,000 per unit.
Back to News Review index page  

P&G looking for R&D ties with Indian companies
Mumbai: American consumer products leader Procter & Gamble is eyeing alliances with leading Indian companies for its global R&D operations. P&G was in talks with Reliance Industries, Dr Reddy's Labs, Ranbaxy, General Electric India, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Institutes of Technology among others to enhance its global R&D capability, senior P&G executives were quoted as saying. The alliances will enable P&G to incorporate cutting-edge technology in its manufacturing processes and products.

"We have met about 18 companies and research centres across India for extending our innovation and knowledge capabilities, and are looking for tie-ups with them. We will begin due diligence on these companies and institutions soon, before shortlisting them," said Larry Huston, vice-president, innovation and knowledge, P&G.
Back to News Review index page  

A-I cuts down lean season fares
New Delhi: Air-India has cut economy class fares to London by 23.5 per cent, to Frankfurt by 36 per cent and to the US by 13.3 per cent for the October-December season. The Delhi-London or Mumbai-London return fare will come down to Rs 26,000 from Rs 34,000. A return flight to Frankfurt will cost Rs 25,000, against Rs 34,000 earlier, and to New York Rs 43,000 (Rs 49,500). The offer will be open till November for London and December for Frankfurt and New York.

British Airways has also cut first-class fares from Chennai by 50 per cent, business class fares from Chennai and Kolkata by 30 per cent and economy class fares from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai by 25 per cent. Air-India is not touching its business and first-class fares, but will continue the free companion offer on these classes. The national flag carrier has also started a scheme for senior citizens on all sectors, which will be lower than the excursion fares. On weekdays, return fares to London are Rs 25,000, while those to New York are Rs 41,000.
Back to News Review index page  

L&T shuts down packaging business
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has shut its packaging business down as part of a portfolio recast. The company, after having decided on the demerger and sale of its 16 million tonne-plus cement business, is now reviewing the operations of its small-sized businesses as well. While the first to come under the scanner is its packaging business, the next in line is its glass business, while several other small businesses are to examined in terms of financial viability.

The company is primarily evaluating its less than Rs 100 crore businesses which are more of a drag in terms of their ability to contribute to the company's bottomline. L&T director and CFO Y M Deosthalee said: "We have shut down the packaging businesses as operations had become unviable. All the 100-odd employees have accepted a voluntary retirement scheme. We have been keeping a watch several businesses including the glass division. Fortunately, it has performed quite well in the last couple of quarters. So the business continues."
Back to News Review index page  

HCL Info net zooms 245% in Q4
New Delhi: HCL Infosystems has reported a 245-per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 23.47 crore in the fourth quarter ended 30 June 2003, against Rs 6.79 crore in the same period last year. The net sales of the company however, fell 24.36 per cent to Rs 304.53 crore in the fourth quarter ended 30 June 2003, against Rs 402.62 crore in the same period last year. The net profit for the year for the company grew six fold to Rs 92.65 crore against Rs 15.36 in the financial year ended 2001-02.

The company has reported a consolidated revenue of Rs 2,705.1 crore during the year ended 30 June 2003, as against Rs 1,367.1 crore in the previous year, a growth of 98 per cent. The revenue from the computer systems business is Rs 1,103.7 crore as against Rs 912.6 crore in the previous year, a growth of 21 per cent. In the computer systems business, the company expects to grow at par with or more that the market growth.
Back to News Review index page  

Microsoft prefers no chat with spammers, paedophiles
London: Microsoft has said that it will shut down its Internet chat rooms in 28 countries, saying the forums had become a haven for peddlers of junk email and sex predators. "The straightforward truth of the matter is free unmoderated chat isn't safe," said Geoff Sutton, European general manager of Microsoft MSN. From 14 October, the software giant will shut down its MSN chat services in Europe, West Asia, Africa, Asia and much of Latin America, forcing millions of message board users to find alternative online forums to discuss the topics of the day.

In those regions, said Microsoft, the chat was free and unsupervised, giving rise to a nefarious element that bombarded users with 'spam' mail, much of which was pornographic and, in some cases, allowing paedophiles to prey on children. The decision has triggered a heated debate among free speech advocates, children's rights groups and Microsoft rivals about the proper way to police online forums, which predate the Web itself and have been critical to the Internet's growth as a mass medium.
Back to News Review index page  

Alstom gets Balco order
Kolkata: Alstom has bagged an order from Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco), to supply pollution control systems for its aluminium smelter at Korba in Chhattisgarh.

Out of the total Rs 102-crore order, its Indian outfit — Alstom Project India Ltd (APIL) — will execute job worth Rs 84-crore, while the remaining will be executed by Alstom, Norway. A source was quoted as saying that the system will treat the pot and baking furnace exhaust gas to limit the emission level as per world standards.
Back to News Review index page  

East India Pharma to upgrade facilities
Kolkata: East India Pharmaceuticals has taken up a scheme to upgrade facilities in one of its plants near here and has also applied for test licences for development and trial for a few drug formulations. Company managing directors Amit Kumar Sen and Dipankar Dutta Gupta said the plant upgradation project, now under way, will cost around Rs 6 crore and should be complete by the end of the calendar year.

The financing of the project is being tied up. The project has been taken up to conform to the good manufacturing practice (GMP) norms under the amended schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetic Act (1940). The revised GMP norms will come into effect from 1 January 2004. Under the new norms, a pharmaceuticals manufacturing unit has to comply with a set of guidelines relating to standard operating procedure, documentation, validation, environment protection and cleanliness.
Back to News Review index page  

Hindalco acquires second Australian mine
Mumbai: The AV Birla group has announced the acquisition of its second copper mine in Australia, Queensland's Mt Gordon Copper Mine, for a gross consideration of A$21 million (Rs 65.1 crore at Monday's closing rate of Rs 31 to the A$). The deal, to be funded 60 per cent by debt and balance by equity, is through Birla Minerals, Hindalco's wholly-owned subsidiary.

The mine owned by Western Metals Ltd, among the world's largest non-integrated zinc producers and one of Australia's largest producers of zinc and lead concentrates and copper cathode, had gone into receivership since July. It is home to the globally patented 'Mt Gordon Process.' As per information on the Internet, about 40-45 per cent global concentrate production is sold to the custom smelting market, balance being treated at integrated smelting facilities under common ownership with mining operations. Few months back, there were reports of investigation by competition authorities abroad into the tight copper concentrate market.
Back to News Review index page