Mahanagar Gas chalks out Rs 350-cr expansion plan
Mumbai: Mahanagar Gas Ltd, the compressed natural gas supplier to the vehicles and households of Mumbai, plans to expand its operations as a gas retailer. The company has chalked out a Rs 350-crore plan to expand its operations to other cities beginning with Thane and Pune. The company is in talks with Shell and GAIL (India) to buy gas from Shell Hazira and Petronet's Dahej LNG terminals. The company has pinned its hopes on GAIL's Dahej-Hazira-Uran common-carrier gas pipeline expected to be completed by the end of 2004. The company supplies 0.9 million tonnes CNG to over 1.18 lakh homes and 97,000 vehicles in Mumbai out of the allocated 1.5 mt and is still working on spreading the network to the entire city.

The additional demand would take its total gas requirement to between 1.5 and 2 million metric standard cubic metres per day, Mr Purwaha said. "Most of the expansion will be funded through a combination of internal resources and debt. Our study on gas demand in the regions says there is considerable potential for selling gas not only to households but also to commercial and small industrial customers," A.K. Purwaha, managing director, Mahanagar Gas, said.He did not rule out the possibility of approaching the equity markets to raise funds for the plans. The entire roll out in Thane, Pune and other cities such as Kolhapur would take roughly 5-6 years, Purwaha said. Mahanagar Gas is a 50 per cent joint venture of GAIL (India) and British Gas. The company, which has a Rs 450-crore worth 550-km pipeline network in Mumbai, will be the first amongst similar sized gas supplying companies, including Delhi-based Indraprastha Gas Ltd and Gujarat Gas Company Ltd, to begin such expansion.

In Mumbai, the company plans to increase the number of its CNG outlets to 87 from the present 57 outlets by March 2004 with an additional 60,000 households being added to the already existing network.
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Coal India H1 production up 3.7 pc
Kolkata: Coal India Ltd (CIL) has registered all-round growth in production, off-take and dispatch to the power sector during the first of half of the current fiscal. Its production touched 134 million tonnes (m.t.) compared to about 129 m.t. during the same period last year, recording an improvement of about five m.t. and registering 3.7 per cent growth. According to CIL sources, despatches to consumers showed an upward trend with total dispatch crossing 141 mts against a target of about 137 m.t. During the same period last year, total dispatch was about 136 m.t. Coal supply to the power sector, CIL's major consuming group, was about 109 m.t. against last year's figure of about 105 m.t. During April-September 2003 wagon loading, measured in four-wheeled wagons, was 19,038 wagons per day (wpd). The performance not only surpassed the target of 18,727 wpd but was more than last year's performance by 587 wpd, registering a growth of 3.18 per cent.
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Apollo Health plans more franchise clinics by year-end
Bangalore: Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd, a subsidiary of the Apollo Group of Hospitals, plans to have about 25-30 Apollo Clinics by the year-end. Apollo Health already has 12 such franchise clinics up and running in the country. Ratan Jalan, CEO, Apollo Health, said they intended to explore Kolkata, Jaipur, Siliguri and Chandigarh in the next few months, apart from setting up clinics in Riyadh, Nigeria and Bangladesh. Commenting on a possible tie-up with an insurance company, Mr Jalan said several insurance companies have been empanelled with Apollo Health. "We are talking to a couple of players, but it's too early to comment on it," he said. Having originated in South India, how does the healthcare company plan to build its brand in the North?

"This is a concern expressed only in certain quarters. Actually we have had no problem in establishing our brand across the country because our commitment to the healthcare industry is well-known," he said. In the healthcare franchising industry, more than big brand-building efforts, the selection of franchisees is more important, pointed out Jalan. "The frannchisee's commitment is vital. That's why we prefer the franchise owner to be an entrepreneur rather than s/he having several other businesses, because in the latter case the commitment is lower."

Brand building at Apollo Clinics is in the form of programmes such as preventive health checks for customers, educating them on quality issues, etc. Apollo Clinics employ about 35 people at each centre including doctors, nurses, front office staff, technicians, etc. Though Apollo Health is involved in the selection of employees, a greater emphasis is laid on training these staff. For instance, for the franchise owners' training programme, Apollo Health has tied up with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, for a two-week general management programme in healthcare. The employees go through a Standard Operation Procedural model and a Clinic Management Software programme. It has also tied up with the NIS for a service quality programme
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BSNL goes festive with 60-70% cut in ISD rates
New Delhi: In what could be a Diwali bonanza for its 40 million plus landline, as also its cellular and limited mobility (WLL) subscribers, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has slashed its ISD call rates to the US, the UK, Canada and other European countries by between 60 per cent and 70 per cent for a month starting Wednesday. As against the present peak-time call rate to these countries of Rs 24 per minute and off-peak rates of Rs 21.18 per minute, BSNL customers can make calls to the UK for Rs 7.20 per minute and to the rest of the western countries for Rs 9.60 per minute.

There will be no categorisation of peak and off-peak time during this period. Calls to the rest of the countries will, however, continue to remain higher. A one-minute call to SAARC & other neighbouring countries will continue to cost Rs 21.18 per minute during peak time and Rs 18 per minute during off-peak time, while those to the rest of other countries (excluding the UK, the US and Europe) will be charged Rs 24 per minute peak and Rs 21.18 off-peak rates. According to sources, this is a marked departure from the earlier stand taken by BSNL that it would not tamper with the ISD call rates in response to the lower tariffs being offered by the cellular operators. While all the private cellular operators have slashed their ISD tariffs to Rs 15.99 per minute, BSNL had decided to continue with the previous rates for both its landline and cellular services, which were between 24 per cent and 33 per cent more expensive.

The decision was taken in view of the sharp hit in its revenue margins, which is already taking a big hit because of the increasing competition. Although the international voice traffic is a small portion of the overall volumes, it continues to be a substantial revenue earner. Another reason why BSNL stuck on to the higher rates was because of the review in the interconnection usage charge (IUC) regime that is due to be announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. If there is a change in the long distance component of the IUC then it could consider reducing the ISD rates correspondingly. At present, of the Rs 24 per minute peak time ISD rate that BSNL charges the customer, it retains close to Rs 15 and gives Rs 9 to VSNL the preferred carrier of ISD calls as interconnection charges. Of this amount, VSNL can retain only around Rs 2 and has to hand over the remaining portion to the foreign carriers for routing the call to the destination. BSNL can therefore, if it wants, choose to retain a lesser portion, and pass on the benefit to the customers. This is precisely what it is doing as a festive offer to its customers, the sources said.
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Omax Autos promoters to divest 18% stake
New Delhi: The promoters of Omax Autos Ltd are planning to divest approximately 18 per cent stake (20,00,000 shares), from their collective holding of 57.45 per cent of the paid up equity capital of the company in the open market. At present, public holds about 35.37 per cent. Following a communiqué to the National Stock Exchange today in this regard, the company's share price went up 9.75 per cent to Rs 93.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Rs 427-crore Omax Autos is in the business of auto ancillaries.. It supplies auto components to companies such as Hero Honda, Maruti, Sundaram Clayton, and TVS Motors.
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Colgate's Nepal arm suspends operation
Mumbai: Colgate Palmolive Nepal Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Colgate Palmolive India Ltd, has temporarily suspended operations from October 18 in view of the deterioration in the general security situation at Hetauda (Nepal). According to a press release, the factory will remain closed till October 27. "Suspension of operations will not impact the company's business in view of existing alternate source of production in India,'' the company said.
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Matsushita's Indian subsidiary plans capital reduction - To change name in Panasonic AVC Networks
New Delhi: Matsushita Television & Audio India Ltd, the Indian arm of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, which has not been in the `pink of health', hopes to start making profit by the next fiscal (2004-05). Besides, beginning November, the company will be called, Panasonic AVC Networks India Co Ltd. Disclosing the company's strategy to get back into good health, Kazuo Ogishima, managing director, Matsushita Television & Audio, said, "The company has opted for a capital reduction plan to wipe out accumulated losses. As per this plan, the preference capital of Rs 39 crore will be reduced to bring down the loss and to make the balance sheet strong and healthy." Elaborating further on the financial health of the company, he told that the current turnover of the company (for 2002-03) is Rs 120 crore. On how the capital reduction plan will be used, Ogishima said, "With the capital reduction plan our intention is not to increase the turnover but to wipe out the accumulated losses and impairment of assets.. And with this restructuring, the company hopes to become financially sound and target healthy growth."

Further, the Japanese parent, which has 55 per cent stake in the company, has been infusing fresh capital into the entity. The current equity base of the company is Rs 89 crore, which includes Rs 50 crore equity capital and Rs 39 crore of preference capital. The company has the capacity to manufacture two lakh TV sets and four lakh audio units per annum at its production facility in Noida. Commenting on the reasons behind the company's current health despite `National' being an established brand, Mr Ogishima said, "Panasonic is establishing itself as a brand in India. We are not into big numbers and therefore at the moment there is a pressure on our bottom line. The Indian market is price-sensitive and we do not compromise on quality." Ogishima said new launches in the offing comprise a 51 inches projection TV, PS series of flat models including 21 inches and 29 inches and VK series of Audio Hi-Fi systems, which includes models such as VK30 (1,400 Watts) and VK 50 (3,200 Watts).
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