Indian Airlines may tie up with Air Deccan
Bangalore: Indian Airlines is planning to join hands with a domestic private airline to service regional routes through a hub-and-spoke arrangement. The move could push back IA's plans to buy small capacity aircraft such as ATRs to service its feeder routes, for which the airline had set up an experts' committee for shortlisting the manufacturer a few years ago. A top IA official was quoted as saying that the airline is in talks with Air Deccan, to use its services as a feeder airline. Air Deccan is a low-cost, no-frills airline.

The official said under the hub-and-spoke arrangement, passengers using Air Deccan's flights need not book tickets separately for their onward journey. A single ticket will ensure that they can travel by an IA flight to any of the destination covered by the airline. The official said the tie-up with a regional airline such as Air Deccan, will lead to optimising the capacity utilisation of the airline. Currently, IA's subsidiary, Alliance Air, operates small-bodied ATRs to service the Northeast sector.
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Escorts postpones annual meet
New Delhi: Escorts has announced the postponement of its AGM scheduled for 30 September to a later undisclosed date. While the company says the postponement has been due to unavoidable procedural circumstances, the move is being seen with much interest in the market as it comes in the wake of Escorts' subsidiary, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHIRC) proposing to change its status under the Companies Act, say reports.

EHIRC has written a letter to the income-tax authorities in Chandigarh, where it is registered, stating its intent to convert itself into a company under Section 25 of the Companies Act with charity as one of its main objectives. A company official said the move was meant to put to rest the controversy that had arisen following reports of the proposed disinvestment of equity in EHIRC to a Singapore-based entity, Merlion India Fund.
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Parryware to install electronic flushing urinals in schools
Chennai: Parryware, the sanitaryware division of EID Parry Ltd, has bagged orders for the installation of hands-free integrated electronic flushing urinal systems in two schools. The Delhi Public School in Gurgaon will be installing 70 systems in the school's toilet complex and the American International School order in Chennai is for the installation of 100 wall-mounted closets and basins.

The awareness levels about the importance of hygienic and water friendly toilets were gaining strong acceptance in some of the leading schools in the country, the press release said. Some of the features of the system are that it is a sleek compact unit with the water inlet line concealed. No manual flushing is required and it flushes once the user moves away from the urinal. Only 400-ml of water is required as against a normal consumption of 600 ml.
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Hind Sanitaryware shelves JV plan with German firm
Bangalore: Hindustan Sanitaryware and Industries Ltd (HSIL) has shelved its plans to float an equal joint venture assembly facility with German firm Grohe AG. "We are happy with the current arrangement wherein we exclusively market Grohe AG products in India. At an opportune time in the future, we will explore the possibility of a joint venture," Sandip Somany, joint managing director, was quoted as saying. Currently, HSIL offers Grohe products as complete bathroom solutions across the country. The company expects its bottomline to grow by 25 per cent and revenue by 10 per cent in the current fiscal against a net profit of Rs 5.54 crore and turnover of Rs 255 crore a year ago.

Tier-II towns will drive growth in the short to medium term on account of increased housing activity, Somany said. "We have already identified around 20 of these cities and towns and are expanding our sales and distribution network to these towns to tap this demand." Though new housing initiatives are the primary growth drivers, the replacement market also fuels demand for sanitaryware significantly, he said. "It will not be unfair to say that demand for individual housing due to the availability of easy financing options has been beneficial for us."
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RINL clocks Rs 521-crore profit
Visakhapatnam: The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (Vizag steel plant) is on an upbeat mood after posting a turnaround during the last financial year and its performance during the current year is very satisfactory, B K Panda, chairman and managing director, said. The audited accounts for 2002-03 were adopted at the meeting held here.

During the year, the plant achieved a net profit of Rs 520.69 crore during the year on a turnover of Rs 5,058 crore, of which the domestic sales accounted for Rs 4,458 crore. The rest were through exports.
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ICI to finish revamp exercise by end-fiscal
Chennai: ICI India plans to complete the restructuring exercise undertaken by it before the end of this financial year. This involves exiting completely from the explosives venture, and divesting its rubber chemicals and nitro cellulose businesses. Rajiv Jain, managing director, ICI India, said discussions are on with various companies for selling the rubber chemicals and nitro-cellulose businesses, whose turnover would be in the region of Rs 80 crore each. He said the form of divesting was also being discussed either as a joint venture or through a complete sell-off.

He said ICI will also complete the sale of its stake in Indian Explosives, a joint venture, to Orica of Australia. The entire sale proceeds would bring in Rs 166 crore to ICI. The restructuring exercise, he said, is part of ICI's efforts to concentrate on its four main areas of business paints, Quest (flavours and fragrances), National Starch and Uniqema (specialty chemicals). ICI's turnover at the end of this year was expected to be Rs 600 crore, which will represent 10-15 per cent growth over the previous year on a like-to-like basis (after taking into account the sale of different businesses).
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Siemens to supply two gas turbines to Konaseema
Hyderabad: The energy group of Siemens Ltd will supply two gas turbines to the Konaseema Power Project in Andhra Pradesh. The German company is also looking towards participation in the 1,000-mw power plant to be established in Surat by the Torrent group, Harminder Singh, director of the Energy group, said. Singh also said that Siemens is currently focusing on power plant automation in India and renovation and modernisation of old plants.

He said the Electricity Act 2003 is expected to give impetus to captive power plants in the country. Siemens is taking part in Interkama India 2003 being held at the Hyderabad International Trade Exposition Centre. It is exhibiting its advanced software-centric distributed control system called 'Telesperm XP add' that can improve the performance of power plants.
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Bajaj Auto to revamp international operations
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto is recasting its international operations in an effort to have a more direct interface with its overseas customers. For this the company will gradually move away from the distributorship model and will have a direct marketing presence in these markets.

Bajaj Auto has divided its export markets into four distinct regions — Saarc, the Middle-East, Far East and South America. The company will set up separate teams for each market, which will be stationed in the respective markets. Each team will have three-four persons and will be headed by a senior official, of deputy general manager designation or similar seniority.
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