Luxor postpones plans for packaged water venture
New Delhi: Luxor Writing Instruments (LWIL) has postponed its plans to venture into the packaged water segment. Says D K Jain, chairman and president, LWIL: "We have decided to go slow on the packaged water business plans for now. It is a tough market to operate in."

In early 2003, the writing instruments company had planned to venture into the ionised water segment under its Luxor brand. LWIL had, at that time, indicated that it was tying up with an international player for its water business, and that research had been initiated for the same. The packaged water business was to be floated under LWIL's wholly-owned foods subsidiary company, Hazel Foods, a report suggested.
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Lignite project: BHEL bags Rs 197-crore contract
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged a Rs 197-crore contract from the Gujarat State Electricity Board to set up a 75mw lignite-based power project. The power plant will be equipped with an eco-friendly circulating fluidised bed combustion (CFBC) steam generator, specifically designed to utilise low grade fuels such as lignite, high-ash coal, washery rejects and petroleum coke.

The project is expected to be completed in 32 months. BHEL's scope of work includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of main plant equipment - steam generator, steam turbine and generator along with associated auxiliaries including electricals, controls, instrumentation, transformers, electrostatic precipitators, etc. While the turbine generator and steam generator will be manufactured at the company's Hyderabad and Tiruchi plants, respectively, the control and instrumentation will be supplied by BHEL's electronic division in Bangalore.
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Welspun Gujarat to make a new range of weld pipes
Mumbai: Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd (WGSRL), a leading manufacturer of pipes, has forayed into the manufacture of high frequency induction weld (HFIW) pipes at its existing unit at Bharuch, Gujarat. The company will manufacture different API-grade pipes with a total capacity estimated around 2 lakh tonnes depending on the product mix, a company press release said here. The plant will be commissioned by June, the company added.

The company also has a joint venture with Eupec Pipe Coatings GmbH for pipe coating solutions and the current foray into HFIW will synergise the operational capabilities in both plants, it said. The company has prepaid its high cost borrowings of Rs 72.50 crore to banks and financial institutions, which would lead to interest savings of around Rs 10 crore annually.
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Jindal Steel to set up 1,000mw plant in Chhattisgarh
New Delhi: Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) is set to enter the power sector in a big way by setting up a 1,000mw coal-based power plant at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh with an investment of about Rs 3,999 crore. JSPL will be setting up the project through its wholly owned subsidiary, Jindal Power Ltd. The project will be set up in two phases. The first phase will have two 250mw units and another two 250mw units will be set up in the second phase.

JSPL executive vice-chairman and managing director Naveen Jindal says: "This project has been identified by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Power as one of the 23 independent power projects for special attention for achieving financial closure. As a result of this, the cost of the project has come down to around Rs 3,900 crore from the earlier estimated Rs 4,300 crore as the project will now enjoy import duty and excise duty exemption."
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Moody's plans increase stake in ICRA
New Delhi: Major Indian financial institutions are selling a part of their stake in India's premier credit rating agency, ICRA, to its foreign partner and global credit rating agency, Moody's. Moody's currently holds a 23.44-per cent stake in ICRA through its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, Moody's Investment Company India Ltd (MICIL). The acquisition will be funded by the Mauritius-based subsidiary, Moody's Mauritius Holdings Ltd, says a report.

MICIL will buy out a total of 8,18,500 equity shares of ICRA from Union Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, IL&FS, HDFC, Exim Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and United Bank of India, accounting for 7.605 per cent stake in the company. After the buyout, MICIL's stake in the company will go up to 31.045 per cent. Moody's Mauritius outfit will bring in $ 0.5 million for completing the transaction.
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SET India to buy 100% stake in Singapore entity
New Delhi: Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India has decided to acquire a 100-per cent equity in SET Satellite Singapore through a share-swap and increase the foreign holding in the Indian entity to 90 per cent. The company proposes to purchase 100 per cent shares of SET Singapore shares in the ratio of 1:16 SET India shares to SET Singapore. As a result of this swap, the foreign holdings of Sony Pictures Entertainment entities, the parent, will go up from the existing 61 per cent to 90 per cent. Also, there will be no outflow of foreign exchange.

However, the presence of Grandway Global Holdings Ltd, an OCB based in Mauritius has led to the Government seeking views from the Reserve Bank of India. The RBI had derecognised OCBs as investors in September 2003. As a result, the company was asked to submit a revised proposal. Sony has clarified that Grandway Global is an NRI-controlled company incorporated in Mauritius. The name also does not figure in the list of OCBs derecognised by the RBI or SEBI. While the name of all the shareholders have been provided by the company, their exact shareholding has not been given.
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Adlabs board allows stake-buy in Prime Focus
Mumbai: The board of Adlabs Films Ltd has approved the acquisition of up to 6 per cent stake in Prime Focus Ltd, a closely held public limited company engaged in providing post-production services — editing, special effects, sound mixing and computer graphics.

As a business arrangement, the company will promote the services offered by Prime Focus Ltd in its product offerings to its clients. According to the company, this backward integration from processing to post-production would enable it to offer an integrated post-production and processing services under one roof and increase its client base.
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D-Link Q3 net doubles
Mumbai: D-Link (India) Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 8.02 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2003, an increase of 101.63 per cent on Rs 3.97 crore recorded over the corresponding period in the previous year.

Other income spurted to Rs 1.98 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal, as against Rs 27.26 lakh in the corresponding previous period. K R Naik, chairman and managing director, D-Link India Ltd, said sales of locally designed and developed products had also aided top-line growth. The margins on these products were around 40-45 per cent as against 20-25 per cent in the case of imported products. Net sales for the quarter under review increased by 22 per cent to Rs 50.94 crore (Rs 41.71 crore) and PBDIT rose by 71.65 per cent to Rs 9.96 crore (Rs 5.80 crore).
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