HPCL bids for KPI outlets in Thailand
Mumbai: In a notice to the stock exchanges, the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has said that the company has submitted a non-binding bid for the downstream marketing assets of Kuwait Petroleum International in Thailand. Kuwait Petroleum has around 100 retail outlets selling auto fuel and lubricants in Thailand.
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AB Electrolux goes for Indian vendors
New Delhi: Swedish household appliances major AB Electrolux, has awarded orders of components worth Rs 58.5 crore to Indian vendors. The vendors include NRB Bearings, Abilities Pistons, Sunbeam, Goetze, Oswal Electricals, Jhalani Impex, Bajaj Motors, Highway Industries and Kalyani Forge Ltd. Electrolux factories in Sweden, Italy, the USS and Australia will be sourcing components from India. Electrolux has identified India as the sourcing base for its outdoor division that makes garden and forestry equipment such as chain saws, riders, lawn movers and lawn tractors.
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TV 18 board to consider stock option plan
New Delhi: The board of directors of Television Eighteen India Ltd will meet on May 18 to consider the introduction and implementation of TV18 Employee Stock Option Plan, 2004 and TV18 Employees Stock Purchase Plan, 2004. The company is also planning to raise additional resources to fund its future expansion plans.
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Lotte picks up 20 per cent of Parrys
Chennai: The public offer by Lotte Confectionery Co Ltd of Korea for the shares of Parrys Confectionery Ltd has netted 7,54,258 shares (20 per cent) at Rs 283.25 per share. According to a post-offer notice of the BSE on May 7, Lotte Confectionery holds 30,31,647 shares (80.39 per cent) of Parrys's shares. The post-offer public shareholding is 7,39,643 shares (19.61 per cent).
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Reliance Info slashes STD tariffs 25 per cent
Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm has announced a 25 per cent cut in inter and intra-circle calls to fixed telephones made by Reliance India Mobile customers of its fixed wireless phone (FWP) and the fixed wireless terminal (FWT) services. The new tariffs will be with effect from Tuesday, said a news release from the company. STD rates from FWP and FWT to landline phones within the circle have been brought down to Rs 1.65 for distances of more than 100 km on tariff Plan 500, to Rs 1.50 on Plan 1000, Rs 1.35 on Plan 1500.

The rates used to be Rs 2.2, Rs. 2 and Rs 1.6 respectively.
STD rates to landline phones outside the circle for distances of over 200 km now costs Rs 3.3 on Plan 500, Rs 3 on Plan 1000 and Rs 2.7 on Plan 1500. The tariff reductions are due to the increase of pulse duration for intra-circle calls from 30 seconds to 40 seconds and for inter-circle calls from 15 seconds to 20 seconds for the two distance slabs mentioned.
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L&T and People Soft to partner
Mumbai: L&T Infotech and People Soft, the ERP software company, have signed a partnership agreement with focus on the construction, manufacturing, financial services and telecom industry verticals. Since L&T is an IT and ERP solutions and services provider, it already has domain expertise in many of these verticals, according to a company release.
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Pentamedia mergers okayed
Chennai: Pentamedia Graphics Ltd has informed Bombay Stock Exchange that at the court-convened meeting held on May 3, its shareholders approved the scheme of amalgamation, arrangement and compromise between the company, Media Dreams Ltd., Kris Srikkanth Sports Entertainment Ltd, Intelivision Ltd and Mayajaal Entertainment Ltd and respective creditors and shareholders.

According to a release by Pentamedia the amalgamation will help the company that focuses on entertainment business to become a pure content creator and distributor, and meet growing competition from domestic and global markets. It will also help achieve internal synergy and consolidation in different segments of entertainment business the company is currently pursuing.
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VSNL offers bandwidth on demand
Mumbai: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has announced the introduction of telecom bandwidth on short-term contracts through a new service called Tata Indicom-Bandwidth-on-Demand. This service has been designed to meet short-term urgent additional bandwidth requirements and also enables Tata Indicom's Internet leased line customers to significantly upgrade their bandwidth to almost double their capacity within a 48-hour timeframe, said a news release from the company.

Customers can provision for "bandwidth on short-term contracts" for as low as seven days, helping them make savings besides helping them to tap new business opportunities coming their way. This short-term augmentation of bandwidth would help customers to undertake and execute unforeseen new project opportunities within a record time, said the release. With a view to simplifying the application process for its customers, VSNL has set up a fully automated online process that delivers bandwidth upgradation requests .
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Rasna plans summer campaign
Chennai: Rasna's has said the company plans to increase the number of its retail distributors from one million to 1.5 million, which would ensure that the soft drink concentrate is available in rural and semi-rural areas. Besides reach, the other factor that the company has taken into consideration is pricing, as only 20 per cent of Indian consumers could afford a soft drink. The company's aim is to break the price barrier and make the drink more affordable.

According to the company, the recently introduced Cola Cola at 50 paise a glass sold 150 million glasses in 30 days, and the company hopes to sell one billion by the year-end. The company has introduced a sachet priced at Re 1 that makes two glasses of Rasna. It has entered the ready-to-drink market via the franchise of vending machines. These machines are being installed at heavy traffic zones such as railway stations, schools, supermarkets and petrol bunks. It has also introduced Rasna Shake Up, a pre-sweetened milkshake mix powder. The Rs 225-crore company spends around Rs 4 crore on research and development.
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