Ranbaxy gets tentative USFDA nod for cholestrol drug
Mumbai: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has received a tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Fenofibrate tablets for cholesterol reduction, according to a statement over the weekend.

Fenofibrate is the generic equivalent of Abbott Laboratories Inc's Tricor tablets.
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Chevy Spark to be launched in 2005
Bangalore: General Motors' (GM) small car Spark based on the erstwhile Matiz platform may be on Indian roads in the latter half of 2005.

A maze of legal issues is leading to delays in beginning the due diligence to acquire the Daewoo plant in Surajpur (UP) by GM.
However, once the plant is with GM it could take 12 months to get the paint shop ready, facilitating roll out of the cars towards August-September next year

The Spark, which is already produced in Korea, may come with a 1.1 litre petrol engine in India, similar in power to the popular tall boy car, Hyundai Santro.
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Volvo India to reach operational break-even in '04
New Delhi: Volvo India, maker of premium commercial vehicles has said that will achieve "operational break-even" this year.

The company clocked a turnover of Rs356 crore in 2003, up from around Rs281 crore in 2002.
The company says it will depreciate all investments within 2 to3 years and expects to hit its peak capacity of 4,000 units by 2006 - if the market continues at its current clip - which will help wipe out accumulated losses.

At present the capacity of the company is 1,000 units per annum.
Volvo has so far invested between Rs350 and Rs400 crore in its Indian operations and is targeting euro 100m in global sourcing revenue from India by 2006. The company will also be looking at its equipment business for sourcing opportunities.
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Bhel posts a 26 percent increase in orders
New Delhi: Renovation and modernisation of its old plants in the power sector has helped Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd post a 26 per cent increase in its order book to Rs950 crore from the service segment during 2003-04 compared to the previous fiscal.
The order relates to extending after-market services like overhauling, retrofitting, renovation and modernisation, uprating, residual life assessment and subsequent extension, operation and maintenance, repair and spares services.

Bhel has special expertise in servicing the power sector.
Bhel achieved a milestone in Andhra Pradesh, when 120 mw of Kothagudem thermal power station recommissioned on May 13, achieved a record generation of 15.98 million units, the highest electricity generated on a single day so far.
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HLL reduces shampoo packs, prices
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) the leading shampoo-maker has cut both prices and package sizes for its Sunsilk shampoo. The 125-ml Sunsilk bottle has been shrunk to 100-ml and its price from Rs55 to Rs37 while the 250-ml bottle has been reduced to 200-ml and its price from Rs100 to Rs70. The 125-ml package is the most popular one.

The price of the 400-ml pack has been slashed from Rs150 to Rs125. The move is seen to rival its competitors' Procter & Gamble's Pantene pack sizes. Pantene positioned against Sunsilk sells the 100-ml pack for Rs51, the 200-ml pack for Rs98 and 400-ml bottle for Rs175.

HLL also withdrew its promotional offer of buy-one-get-one-free bottle on both its big shampoo brands - Sunsilk and Clinic Plus and simultaneously relaunched Clinic Plus shampoo at a lower price point with five hair health benefit formulations.
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M&M net up 139 percent
New Delhi: Mahindra & Mahindra posted a 139 per cent jump in net profit at Rs348.5 crore for 2003-04 with gross sales of Rs5,914.5 crore.

Strong demand for its sports utility vehicle Scorpio along with a resurgence in demand for tractors in the domestic and overseas markets have helped the company achieve these healthy figures.

The board of directors has recommended a dividend of 90 per cent for the year though the M&M scrip, which opened at Rs429.25, came under heavy selling pressure and closed 2 per cent lower at Rs420.40.
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Wipro is top Indian outsourcing vendor in US
Mumbai: Wipro Technologies, the global information technology (IT) services division of Wipro Ltd, figures as the leading Indian company in the list of the top 10 leading outsourcing vendors in META Group's recently released North American list of leading outsourcing vendors. The other Indian companies who figure in the list are Infosys and TCS.

Wipro rates higher than Infosys and TCS because it can provide a wider bouquet of IT services and solutions than any other Indian software service provider and has been included in 'challenger' segment with companies like Hewlett-Packard, ACS, Unisys, Perot Systems, TCS and Infosys. The leaders in the North American market are Accenture, IBM Global Services, CSC and EDS.

Meta Spectrum enables IT professionals to quickly evaluate vendors based on their ability to deliver on the presence and performance criteria that matter most in a given market.

The Gartner group had rated Wipro ahead of Infosys, TCS, Deloitte Consulting, and EDS in the emerging web services consulting and system integrators quadrant report.
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TV Today to tap Indian Diaspora
New Delhi: TV Today's Aaj Tak channel is being made available in countries with a substantial Indian population such as North America and West Asia. However, unlike India, it will be a pay channel in the international markets. After North America and West Asia the company introduce the channel in UK and Europe.

Currently, TV Today is working out distribution arrangements with various service providers in the international markets. The English channel from the group, Headlines Today, will not be available to international viewers yet. TV Today is also intensifying its marketing and advertising activities surrounding its two channels and putting a renewed thrust on Headlines Today.
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Motorola's to develop mobile handsets at India software centre
New Delhi: Motorola has decided to design and develop new entry level mobile handsets both GSM (global system for mobile communications) and CDMA (code division multiple access) at its software global centre in India. The new handsets are expected to hit the market in the year 2005.

The company will use the India development centre for high-end research and development work on next-generation wireless infrastructure for the emerging and price sensitive markets, including India. Motorola is also focusing on developing products around 4G (fourth generation) and 3G (third generation) wireless technologies and wireless LAN (local area network).
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