HPCL earmarks Rs 11,000-crore investment
Mumbai: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has announced a Rs 11,000-crore investment plan over the next three years. The investment will be in its new refinery in Punjab, upgrading existing refineries for green fuels and clean fuels, expansion of its retail business and other infrastructure. To counter the entry of new private players in oil retailing, HPCL will invest over Rs 2,100 crore in the oil marketing business, and another Rs 1,105 crore in retail automation.

The company will also push branded fuels for better margins, and will extend availability to 500 retail outlets. HPCL, though, did not specify its exact strategy on expanding the number of retail outlets, which currently stands at 4,800, less than Indian Oil Corporation's 9,000 outlets.
Back to News Review index page  

Cisco to open a tech support centre in India
Bangalore: Cisco Systems, the leading provider of networking products and services, is all set to open a technical support centre in India. The $4-billion firm at present runs four technical assistance centres in London, Sydney, San Jose and North Carolina.

"We support customers remotely. I think a lot of work in professional services can be done the same way. Advanced and professional services have always been a very labour intensive business and customers tend to want 20 and 40 people onsite. We believe that probably one or two people can be onsite and a lot of things can be done virtually," Wim Elfrink, senior vice-president, customer advocacy, Cisco Systems, told a newspaper. "I'm looking at creating new opportunities for the process factory for the practices and for the back office work of professional services."
Back to News Review index page  

Nalco foresees 30% increase in exports this fiscal
Mumbai: National Aluminium Company (Nalco), India's largest aluminium exporter, is targeting a 30-per cent rise in exports at Rs 2,000 crore in this fiscal from Rs 1,530 crore in the previous fiscal. While China and Russia continue to be major markets with lucrative margins, Japan and Taiwan have also increased their intake of aluminium.

C Venkataramana, chairman and managing director, Nalco, said: "After our capacity expansion, although exports of alumina will see a slight increase, aluminium metal will be exported in larger quantities, especially to China and Russia." Nalco recently expanded its smelter capacity, which has raised production to 3.45 lakh tonne from 2.4 lakh tonne. Most of the additional production will be exported.
Back to News Review index page  

AMD identifies India as a key global market
New Delhi: Leading microprocessor manufacturer AMD says it has identified India as one of its key market globally. Ajay Marathe, vice president, manufacturing services division, AMD, said: "India is a key market for AMD in the region. We are bullish about the growth prospects here. China is a larger market for the company in the region, it expects India to emerge as one of the top market in the region."

The company is looking at expanding the scope of engagements it has with Indian software and technology development companies. AMD has recently announced a multi-year, multimillion dollar tie up with HCL Technologies to outsource application, IT infrastructure management, maintenance and support of global IT applications. "We have tied up with HCL Technologies. We are looking at how we as a company can expand our engagement with Indian companies," he said.
Back to News Review index page  

Petronet plans to sell LNG at $3.6 per million btu
New Delhi: The fuel scene is looking rosy now with India receiving the first shipment of LNG (liquified natural gas) from Qatar in January 2004. After re-gassification at Dahej, the gas may be sold to consumers at around $3.6 per million btu (British thermal unit), almost the same price as that of private domestic natural gas producers. Rasgas will supply 2.5 million tonne of LNG to Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) at its re-gassification terminal at Dahej in the first year and double it from 2005. LNG imports will supplement domestic natural gas, which currently meets just 55 per cent of the 115 million standard cubic meters per day demand.

PLL on Friday signed an agreement with Rasgas to purchase LNG at a fixed price equivalent to $20 a barrel for 25 years. The price translates into a FOB price of $2.79 dollars per million btu. This includes shipment cost of 26 cents per million btu (one million tonne LNG is equal to 52 trillion btu).
Back to News Review index page  

TVS all set to grab 10% Asean share
New Delhi: TVS Motor is eyeing a 10-per cent two-wheeler marketshare in the Asean market at 400,000 units over the next five years. This comes after the news that it has plans to set up manufacturing facilities in Indonesia and Thailand. "Key visits to finalise plans for these markets will start in October and we will be breaking ground on the projects by April," TVS Motor managing director Venu Srinivasan said.

"We have to set up a manufacturing base with high volumes to get local recognition in a foreign land, and we will be starting off with assembly operations of two-wheelers in the range of 100 to 125 cc engine capacity," he said. At 400,000 units, the Asean operations will be half the turnover of Indian operations. The proposal is yet to be taken up by the TVS board.
Back to News Review index page  

Max to say no to HealthScribe joint venture
New Delhi: The Analjit Singh-controlled Max India has said that it will divest its equity stake in Max HealthScribe (MHL), a medical transcription company, in favour of HealthScribe Inc, the US-based JV partner. Under the agreement signed between the two partners, 10,820,634 equity shares of Rs 10 each, representing the whole of Max India's 64.99 per cent stake, will be bought by HealthScribe Inc for $10.34 million (approximately Rs 46 crore).

This will increase the latter's ownership in MHL to a controlling interest of approximately 85 per cent. The transaction is expected to close in November 2003, after receipt of necessary government approvals.
Back to News Review index page  

Glenmark ties up with Apotex to supply cardiac drug
Mumbai: The Saldanhas-controlled Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has joined hands with Canadian drug major Apotex for the supplying a new-generation bulk drug in the cardiac segment for the US market. The firm has already started supplying developmental quantities to Apotex and expects to start supplying commercial scale quantities by end-2004.

"The tie-up with Apotex is a significant development for the company's active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) business. Partnering with the largest Canadian generic company is a part of our strategic initiative to augment our presence in the developed markets," Glenn Saldanha, managing director and CEO, said. Apotex is the largest pharmaceutical company in Canada with a turnover of around C$600 million.
Back to News Review index page