Reliance is front-runner to bag Dabhol project
New Delhi: The Reliance group is leading the race to bag the troubled Dabhol power project. It may be recalled that the British Gas group has also approached the finance ministry with a proposal to take over the company. The third party to have shown an interest in the project, Tata Power, is understood to have made no fresh proposal to the finance ministry in this regard, says a report. However, its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with British Petroleum (BP) for making bids for Dabhol Power Company (DPC) is still in place.

Senior government functionaries told a newspaper that Reliance was in advanced negotiations with key stakeholders in DPC including GE, Bechtel and US agency Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). A Reliance Industries spokesperson said: "We have, on several occasions over the past two years, expressed our interest in participating in any process that may be undertaken for the restructuring/sale of DPC. For that purpose, we periodically have discussions on an ongoing basis with the various stakeholders of DPC."
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SCI may up stake in LNG transportation companies
Mumbai: Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) may hike its stake in two liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation companies to 42.5 per cent from the 29.08 per cent in five to six years. This will, however, depend on the stand taken by Petronet LNG. The two companies were incorporated for transporting LNG to a terminal that has been set up by Petronet LNG at Dahej in Gujarat.

Under the terms of the charter party agreement with Petronet LNG, SCI may have to hike its stake to 42.5 per cent five years after the delivery of two vessels. The first vessel is due for delivery in a few weeks, while the second will be delivered in about a year.
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Jindal Polyester plans Rs 570-crore spread plan
New Delhi: Jindal Polyester Limited (JPL), a BC Jindal group company, has penned a Rs 570-crore investment plan for its flexible packaging film plant in Nashik. This comes close on the heels of the acquisition of French company Rexor on 26 November, reports suggest. With its planned investment, slated to fall in place by mid-2005, Jindal's capacity for bi-axially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) and polyester film and will go up to 1,70,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) from 49,000 tpa at present.

Rexor, the company says, is the largest metalliser and coater of plastic films in France. It has acquired the company for euro 8.5 million, by a direct investment of euro 3.6 million and by raising the balance as debt in Jindal France, its subsidiary. "With these expansions our Nashik plant is poised to become the single largest location for BOPP films in the world. The domestic market for polyester film has been growing steadily for some time now. In four years, demand will grow at a rate of 10 per cent for polyester films and 15 per cent for B0PP," Samir Banerjee, director (marketing) of JPL, said.
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Infrastructure industries post 5.2% growth in November
Mumbai: The performance of six infrastructure industries during 2003-04 showed a 5.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth during November. This provisional growth figure, as per data available from the Indian government, is better than its counterparts over other months, except September, which showed a 5.9 per cent y-o-y growth.

But these growth rates are small as compared to most rates from 2002-03, when the highest was 10.2 per cent y-o-y in July, says a report. Sector-wise y-o-y growth during April-November 2003-04 shows finished steel at the top with an increase of seven per cent. Crude petroleum was the only sector showing negative growth of 0.5 per cent.
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VSNL, Bharti to set up two landing stations
Mumbai: The proposed transoceanic cable network, South-East-Asia Middle-East Western-Europe-4 (Sea-me-we-4), will have two landing stations in India which would be set up by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) on the West coast and by Bharti Tele-Ventures on the East coast of the country. The proposed landing stations, in Chennai and Mumbai, have been finalised as they are on route of the submarine cable system and due to the strategic locations of the places for terrestrial connectivity, VSNL sources were quoted as saying.

The cable system is being constructed by a consortium of over 100 telecom companies around the world, led by France Telecom, of which VSNL and Bharti are the partners in India. The landing stations are also been decided in a manner that both the Eastern and Western coasts of the country have a landing point each, which helps in reducing terrestrial-connectivity distance from any place in the country, they said.
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