GM, Ford are best paymasters in auto sector
Bangalore: The best paymasters in the Indian auto industry are Americans. General Motors (GM) and Ford offer the best wages. Both GM and Ford have close to 1,000 employees each on their rolls with at least half of them with technical background, which would include full-fledged engineers as well as industrial training institute graduates.

Ford plans to make the next round of induction only when it expands capacity. It has a total production capacity of 1,00,000 cars, of which it is barely utilising half, officials were quoted as saying. Next in line is Maruti, which employs a whopping 3,355 people. It is the largest employer in the auto industry even after 2,300 people exited under two rounds of VRS, the first in October 2001 and the second one that began this September and ended just the other day.
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US, M&M in test-run for hydrogen three-wheeler
Washington: The US Department of Energy (DOE) will introduce three-wheeled, hydrogen-powered experimental vehicles in India through a joint project with Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) as a possible alternative to small vehicles commonly used in densely populated cities.

In a public-private partnership supported by the US Agency for International Development and the DOE, US companies specialising in the conversion of engines to hydrogen power will modify three-wheeled vehicles provided by M&M, said a DOE press release. One vehicle will be returned to India for experimental use. Another would remain in the US for demonstrations, said the release. The project has the potential to encourage wider-scale conversions to hydrogen power with resulting positive impacts on reducing pollution and achieving greater energy sustainability.
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Air Deccan plans to expand beyond south
Amrita Dhar: India's first no-frills flier, Air Deccan, is gearing up to spread its wings beyond regional sectors. The airline plans to start operating on countrywide trunk routes from June 2004, which will bring it in direct competition with Jet Airways, Indian Airlines and Air Sahara. "We have major expansion plans and are going to increase our operations four times by April 2004. The airline is also going to break the image of a regional low-frills airline and enter the trunk route market," Captain GR Gopinath, managing director, Air Deccan, was quoted as saying.

To be able to fly on long-haul routes such as Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Bangalore, Chennai-Delhi, Air Deccan plans to acquire aircraft of higher seat configuration than the ATR Turbo Prop it now operates. The airline is in talks with aircraft manufacturing majors Airbus and Boeing to lease four planes for the long-haul operations.
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Hughes to double staff in BPO unit
New Delhi: Eyeing a revenue contribution of about six per cent from its business process outsourcing division, Hughes Software Systems will double the division's current manpower strength of 300 in 2004. "We will more than double the manpower in the Hughes BPO division next year," president and MD of HSS Arun Kumar said a news agency while adding the division is expected to contribute six-seven per cent to the overall revenue of HSS.

Currently, it is contributing about one per cent to the revenue, he said. Talks are at an advance stage to bag a few non-HNS (Hughes Network Systems) clients for the BPO division. HNS is the parent of HSS.
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IOC inks long-term contracts with bulk buyers
Mumbai: India's largest refinery company, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has signed long-term contracts with bulk buyers for petroleum products, to take on private players who have drawn up strategies to capture this segment. Industry sources close to IOC were quoted as saying that the company realised that some players were selling petroleum products, especially diesel and petrol, at cheaper prices as compared to prices fixed by public sector oil companies.

The prices are revised by PSUs every fortnight. The prices of petroleum products are cheaper in coastal regions as compared to the plains, due to various factors such as the location of refineries. Since the government has not permitted differential pricing of products in the coastal regions and the plains, PSU oil companies are forced to hike prices in the coastal regions to offset losses in the plains, to make up for transportation costs from the coastal regions to the plains.
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Haldia lenders tells Gail to pump in Rs 332 crore
New Delhi: Major lenders to Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) including ICICI, IDBI and SBI have zeroed in on Gail India Ltd as the new promoter of HPL. The lenders have asked the gas major to infuse Rs 332 crore out of the Rs 600 crore fresh equity required for the turnaround of Haldia Petrochemicals. The existing promoters of HPL have been asked to bring in the balance Rs 268 crore through public offering of shares. The IPO will be underwritten by the principal promoter of HPL, Mr Purnendu Chatterjee, with a 43 per cent stake.

Intensive negotiations were held during the last three days between the lenders and Gail brass to work out the modalities. Sources said chairman and managing director, Gail, Proshanto Banerjee along with his directors met IDBI chairman M Damodaran, deputy managing director, SBI, Chandan Bhatacharya, executive director, IDBI, AK Doda and executive director, ICICI, S Mukherjee.
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