Tata Tele to expand coverage in Tamil Nadu
Chennai: Tata Teleservices plans to spend over Rs 1,100 crore by March 2005 to expand coverage to over 145 towns and cities in Tamil Nadu. By the end of this year, it will have 2,700 km of highway covered to ensure that a subscriber is able to stay in touch over his Tata mobile anywhere along the highway and 4,300 km of communication backbone criss-crossing the State.
The infrastructure and its wide presence in cities and towns will ensure that Tata Indicom is within reach of 95 per cent of the potential customers for telecommunication services, he said.
The company has invested Rs 820 crore of the planned Rs 1,100 crore and the balance will be brought in by the year-end. The expanded network will mean it can offer one million direct exchange lines. In May, it will launch Internet facility on its fixed wireless phones with billing on a per minute basis.

Tata Teleservices started operations in Tamil Nadu in November 2002. It operates in eight circles throughout India and will expand to 11 more circles.
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Geometric Software declares dividend
Hyderabad: Geometric Software Solutions has announced the issue of 1:1 bonus shares and declared a dividend of Rs 5.50 per share subject to approval of the shareholders.

The company's consolidated revenues for the year ended March 31, 2004 increased by 28 per cent to Rs 112.38 crore (Rs 87.71 crore), while net profit has grown by 22 per cent to Rs 20.84 crore from Rs 17.05 crore.
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Software development centre for Novartis at Mumbai
Mumbai: The Switzerland-based Novartis Pharma AG has established a software development centre at Mumbai. The project labelled Development IT@India would look to enhance the strength of Novartis' three other centres in Switzerland, the US and UK by providing specialised IT solutions for drug development in a cost-effective and timely manner.

As part of the project, Novartis would have 60 full-time employees in India in 2004 and would look to scale this up to 102 between 2005 and 2008, he said. The project would result in a saving of $42 million for the company over five years.
According to Novartis the company invested about $1 billion on IT per annum, to support corporate, pharma and consumer health activities.
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CMC proposes dividend
Hyderabad: CMC Ltd's revenues have increased by 24 per cent to Rs 763.67 crore in 2003-2004 compared to Rs 614.73 crore in the previous year and the profit after tax stands at Rs 47.99 crore, up by 30 per cent over last year.
The consolidated revenues of the company along with that of its wholly owned subsidiary, CMC Americas Inc, were Rs 801.75 crore, recording an increase of 18 per cent over Rs 679.09 crore last year.

The consolidated profit after tax increased by 23 per cent to Rs 44.77 crore.

The board has proposed a dividend of Rs 5.50 per share against Rs 4 per share paid past year, subject to the approval of the shareholders.
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Jet Air's launches e-ticketing facility
Mumbai: Jet Airways has launched a special engine for online booking and purchase of e-tickets. The launch would allow bookings and purchase of tickets up to two hours before the scheduled flight time. The facility, currently available on the Jet Airways Web site alone, would soon be extended to travel agents and the airline's interline partners.

Jet Airways has partnered with GetThere (A Sabre Company) to power its web sales engine, which can be accessed at the airline site www.jetairways.com.

The same Web sales engine is in use by British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and United Airlines, among others. Passengers based abroad can access the facility as well.
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IA: Buy tickets and pay in EMI
New Delhi: Indian Airlines, in collaboration with ICICI Bank, has launched 'Pay smart', an equated monthly instalment (EMI) scheme under which a passenger can take advantage of the deferred payment system.

In a statement, the airline has said that under the scheme, passengers paying with an ICICI credit card have only to indicate their preference at the counter for the 'Pay smart' option and buy economy class tickets on any international or domestic sector. The scheme, which came into effect on April 26, will be valid till March 31.

The payment is to be made in 10 interest-free EMIs, with the first instalment being the down payment. The charge slip generated would show the EMI and the total fare to be paid by the passenger, the statement said. IA has said that the scheme will not be applicable on the dollar fare although foreigners residing in the country and possessing a resident card will be entitled to the scheme.

Tickets under the scheme can be purchased only through the airline offices in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.
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Twenty new products from Canon
New Delhi: Canon India has unveiled 20 new products that include digital cameras, camcorders and printers.
The company, which posted a Rs 230-crore sales turnover in 2003, said that it would spend Rs 20 crore on advertising and marketing in the current year and expects to sell products worth Rs 700 crore by 2007.

In India, analog photography still accounts for 97 per cent of the total market and Canon seeks to tie up directly with photo studios to help them upgrade to the digital technology.
The products introduced include amateur digital cameras ranging from Rs 14,995 to Rs 38,995 and two professional cameras priced at Rs 40,995 and Rs 85,995. The company also unveiled a range of photo printers ranging from Rs 16,995 to Rs 24,995. Among other products are projectors, copiers and photographic paper.
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