Mastek Q2 net down to Rs 4.1 crore
Mumbai: The Mastek group recorded a lower net profit of Rs 4.1 crore for the second quarter ended 31 December 2003 as compared to Rs 16.3 crore in the yearago period. The total income stood at Rs 95.5 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2003 compared to Rs 97.4 crore achieved during the corresponding period last year.

Delayed customer decisions and execution delays are likely to bring some challenges for the company, "But we are optimistic about facing these challenges. The IT budgets of customers is still not moving up so fast even though IT spends are happening," Ashank Desai, chairman, Mastek Group, told a newspaper. For the six-month period ended 31 December 2003, the Mastek's income stood at Rs 186.9 crore in regards with Rs 189.1 crore recorded during the same period in the previous year.
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NTPC waints to raise euro bonds of $200 million
New Delhi: National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is planning to approach the euro bond market to raise $200 million, with a repayment tenor of seven years. The funds will be used to finance its power generation capacity addition programme. This the first time that NTPC will be going to the overseas bond market to raise funds, says a report.

Several leading foreign banks have recently made presentations to NTPC, seeking the mandate to raise the funds. These include DSP Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, ABN-Amro, Standard Chartered, Bank of America and BNP Paribas. The company has decided to go in for a bond issue since it can be contracted at lower interest rates compared to loans from banks. Bond issue attracts wider interest from the investor community. In the case of syndicated or term loans, only banks lend. In the case of bonds, the investor community includes mutual funds and pension funds.
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Eicher ventures into engineering solutions business
New Delhi: THE Eicher group has made a foray into the engineering solutions business. The company has set up a centre for excellence for engineering services to provide solutions to other compamies. "We have developed a product development capability of a significant order. So we have created a centre with good design andanalysis capabilities and have started offering services to outsiders, both international companies as well as domestic companies, who want to get their engineering services outsourced. It is at present a very small outfit, but we do believe that it has potential," says S Sandilya, group chairman and CEO, Eicher.

Eicher has developed indigenous manufacturing capability in segments such as commercial vehicle, tractor, and motorcycle segments. "We have been in commercial vehicles and tractors and have done a lot of product development ourselves. The recently launched 16-tonne heavy commercial vehicle (HCV), which is doing very well in the market, is totally indigenously designed. Similarly, we are piloting a 25-tonne multi-axle vehicle which again has been designed by us," says Sandilya.
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TVS palsn sales of 1.6 million
New Delhi: TVS Motor Company, India's third-largest two-wheeler maker, plans to sell 1.6 million vehicles in fiscal 2004-05, recording a growth of over 33 per cent from the current year on increasing demand for motorcycles. "We expect to sell 1.2 million motorcycles in 2004-05. Our overall sales will be 1.6 million two-wheelers," says C P Raman, president, TVS Motor Company.

In the current fiscal year, TVS will sell 1.15 million to 1.2 million vehicles, growing at over 10 per cent from 2002-03. Sales of its best-selling Victor model is likely to be 4.30 lakh units to 4.40 lakh units, up from about 3.75 lakh units last year, says Harish K, general manager (marketing). In the coming year, TVS will introduce more models across different categories, including a new variant of the Victor, which could come with a 125 CC engine. Raman says the new Centra, priced at Rs 36,990 (ex-showroom) is expected to sell 3 lakh units in 2004-05. The 100cc, four-stroke bike will return a mileage of 100km per litre under standard driving conditions.
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Sanyo likely to invest $40 million into BPL
Bangalore: Sanyo Electric Co Ltd may pump in $40 million into BPL Ltd, the beleaguered domestic consumer durables major, says a reoport. This will record the first phase of Sanyo's investment into the Indian major, which is in the final stages of a rather prolonged corporate debt restructuring exercise, informed sources were quoted as saying. Ajit Nambiar, chairman and managing director, BPL, says the deal making with Sanyo is on track but nothing has been finalised yet. "It is a long climb up."

BPL's proposal for an initial capital infusion of roughly $40 million is before the Sanyo board. It is not yet clear whether Sanyo will directly invest in the first round or a financial institution backed by Sanyo guarantee would extend a loan. Sources said the impending capital infusion would not result in Sanyo picking up equity in BPL right away.
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Millennium's two greenfield breweries in Rajasthan, Orissa
Bangalore: Millennium AlcoBev Ltd (MABL), a three-way beer joint venture between United Breweries, Scottish & Newcatle and Ravi Jain, has formalised plans for two new greenfield breweries in Rajasthan and Orissa at a cost of Rs 56 crore. Ravi Jain, managing director, told a newspaper that the company has already posted people on the location and work on the breweries is expected to start in the next three to six months.

The Rajasthan plant, with a monthly capacity of 2.5 lakh cases, will attract investment of Rs 30 crore, while the Orissa plant, which will go on stream with an initial capacity of 1.5 lakh cases, will cost Rs 26 crore. Both these breweries will have completely knocked-down (CKD) plants, which is being preferred above high value acquisitions of independent domestic brewers.
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PepsiCo India on a revamp mode
New Delhi: Soft drink major PepsiCo India is undertaking an organisational recast exercise, with the objective of consolidating operations and tightening management control further, reports suggest. As part of the organisational revamp exercise, Tanmaya Vats, who was head of the north market unit of PepsiCo, has now been appointed as executive director, market operations, India.

Under the new hierarchy, the company's four regional heads of operation (Satendra Aggarwal [heading northern region operations], Venkat Shankar [in-charge of the eastern region], Praveen Someshwar [head, western region], and Saurabh Gupta in-charge of the central market unit) will report to Vats. Vats, in turn, will report to Rajeev Bakshi, chairman, PepsiCo. Curiously, no change has been implemented in the south market unit.
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HCC gets Rs 843-crore water pipeline order
Mumbai: Hindustan Construction Co Ltd (HCC) has bagged a Rs 843-crore order for making a water pipeline project for lifting of water from Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. HCC has emerged as the lowest bidder, elbowing aside the other two bidders: an L&T-led consortium and Sino Hydro of China. The contract envisages design and construction of pump houses, supply and erection of pipeline, supply and installation of pumps and allied electro-mechanical and hydro-mechanical works on a lumpsum turnkey contract basis.

The order also includes operation and maintenance of the project for two years. HCC has made its presence felt in the fields of power, water, transportation, tunnelling works, environmental engineering and industrial constructions.
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Honda cuts CR-V price by Rs 30,000
New Delhi: Honda Siel Cars India Ltd has slashed the price of its CR-V sports utility vehicle by Rs 30,000, following the recent decision of the central government to abolish the 4-per cent special additional duty (SAD).

CR-V will be now priced at Rs 14.50 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) compared with Rs 14.80 lakh earlier. Honda Siel has also cut the prices of its City and Accord sedans by Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 to pass on the benefits of customs duty cuts.
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