Sahara gets IRDA nod for entry into life insurance
Sahara Group, with a major exposure in para-banking activities, has received a life insurance licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).

This makes it the first private sector company in the domestic life insurance sector to get into life insurance without any foreign partner.

The company received its licence last week and has appointed former managing director of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India NC Sharma as its managing director.
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Ranbaxy launches diabetes drug in liquid form in US
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (Ranbaxy) has launched liquid Metformin that is used to treat Type 2 diabetes called RiometTM (Metformin HCl oral solution) 500 mg/ml, in the US market.

According to the company the liquid form of Metformin, RiometTM is likely to significantly improve the lives of people with diabetes who are unable to swallow tablets — a condition known as dysphagia a relatively unknown but widespread problem, affecting one in 17 people in some form.

Type 2 diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the US.
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MRPL expands retail presence
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has received the government nod to market transportation fuels in the country under its own name and logo.

MRPL currently operates 9.69 million tonne per annum refinery at Mangalore, fulfills the investment requirement of Rs 2,000 crore in the building of infrastructure in the hydrocarbon sector to be eligible for the marketing of petrol and diesel, according to the company.

MRPL plans to set up 500 petrol stations in the country mostly in southern and western India, including 110 each in Karnataka and Maharashtra. It will also set up retail outlets in 8 other states — Kerala (22), Tamil Nadu (56), Andhra Pradesh (56), Goa (12), Gujarat (56), Madhya Pradesh (22), Rajasthan (28) and Haryana (28).
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Zee Tele to raise $100 m through ECBs
Zee Telefilms Ltd is going in for a foreign currency convertible bond issue to raise $100 million (around Rs 453 crore) to meet its capital expenditure needs.

After the date of issue the bonds would be convertible into the company's equity shares and it is proposed that the bonds would be listed on an international stock exchange, according to Zee Telefilms.

The proceeds of the FCCB issue will be used to upgrade ZTL's infrastructure pertaining to distribution as well as conditional access system infrastructure.
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Cognizant net profit at Rs 25.83 cr
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, listed (Nasdaq-Cognizant), has posted a net profit of Rs 25.83 crore for the year ended December 2003 compared to Rs 15.55 crore clocked in 2002. Its revenue increased to Rs 165.69 crore during 2003 as against Rs 103.09 crore in 2002.

The company remains optimistic its growth opportunities for 2004 and says it is still in the early stages of the rapidly growing trend in offshore outsourcing, a huge growth opportunity that Cognizant is well positioned to capture.
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ONGC to get a makeover
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), India's largest integrated oil company, is getting a facelift.

The makeover includes entering new businesses and over time reducing the average age of the top brass of the company.

The Rs 34,534 crore ONGC has brought in Grey World Wide and Concept for designing corporate campaigns ahead of its public offering.

The corporation is ready to post eligible executives as group general manager and executive directors as a number of senior managers are retiring.

Besides working on a major brand building and corporate campaign it has lined up advertisements worth RS 25 crore in the run-up to its public offering and has roped in National Institute of Design to work on a logo for its proposed foray into retailing and distribution of transportation fuel.
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Corolla edges out competitors in a fierce race
Toyota Corolla positioned in the upper mid sized segment edged out competitors during 2003 but the race for the top slot in its category promises to get tougher. Corolla's performance is a repeat of the response Toyota received when Quails was launched.

In January 2004, Corolla's sales crossed the 1,000-mark while its two main competitors in the segment, Chevrolet Opera sold 700 cars and Skidoo Octave sold around 600 units in the same month.
The race promises to be even tougher ahead, as more car manufacturers with more variants and newer cars with far better fuel efficiency and aggressive pricing will hit the roads.

Toyota Kirloskar now plans to sell 12,000 units of Corolla this year, nearly 33 per cent more than last year.
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Philips profit falls 36 per cent in 2003
Philips India's net profit was down 35.66 per cent to Rs 67.1 crore in the year ended December 31, 2003, against a net profit of Rs 104.3 crore recorded in the previous financial year.

However net sales were marginally up at Rs 1,566.4 crore in the year compared with net sales of Rs 1,529.2 crore in the year ended December 31, 2003, a rise of 2.41 per cent.

According to a press release from the company the decline in net profit was because of higher tax provision and higher exceptional charges.
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Reliance to take on Nocil's plastics, petrochem divisions
Sunbright Cement Agencies, an associate of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), is all set to expand the group's presence in the petrochemicals segment by buying the petrochemicals and plastic products businesses of National Organic Chemical Industries Limited (Nocil), a member of the Arvind Mafatlal group.
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Dabur to enter functional food segment
Dabur Foods Limited is all set to foray into the functional foods market. The company will initiate its R&D operations on its cardiac and diabetes products this year, and has already made an initial investment of Rs 50 lakh in awareness programmes.
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IOC's Paradip Oil project revised to Rs 7,500 crore
A draft memorandum sent by Indian oil giant, the Indian Oil Corporation, to the state government of Orissa, has pegged the cost of the Paradip Oil Refinery project from the initial Rs 8,270-crore estimate to Rs 7,500 crore.
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Bharti acquires 5 unified licences worth Rs 63 crore
Envisaging an investment of Rs 600 crore, the Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti group has obtained five unified licences for the circles of Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (East) and Orissa, paying a one-time fee of Rs 63.25 crore to the Department of Telecom.
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1.5 crore SIM card tender from BSNL
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has floated a tender for 1.5 crore SIM cards for its CellOne and Excel cellular services across India.
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