Ispat to invest Rs 900 cr in capacity expansion
New Delhi: Ispat Industries Ltd is set to invest about Rs 900 crore to step up its production capacity of hot rolled coils by 50 per cent to 3.6 million tonnes by the end of this financial year. It also plans to acquire iron ore and coal mines in
India and abroad to ensure a continuous supply of key
raw materials.
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Amul, Walmart in sourcing talks
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation is in talks with the US-based Walmart to sell its Amul range of products through the global retailer's chain of stores.
Walmart has been test marketing a couple of Amul products at some of its stores in the US over the last couple of months. The company is believed to be convinced about the quality and sales potential of the products.

While the federation initially plans to sell butter, ice-cream and, cheese through Walmart stores, the next phase may include Amul packaged milk. Walmart has 3,200 retail stores spread across the US. As all Amul plants maintained by various dairy co-operatives are HACCP-certified, the federation may not face any problem to sell its milk in the US, a source said. HACCP is the highest international certification for any milk plant.
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COLT comes calling to India
New Delhi: Europe's telecom group COLT is all geared up to open a back office and technical support centre at Gurgaon by September 2004. The new venture in India will be a wholly owned subsidiary - COLT Technology Services India Pvt. Ltd. COLT is a leading provider of voice, bandwidth, e-business and managed network services to business and government customers across Europe. Through the Indian centre, it will cater to high quality technical support functions for its Europe-based services. A complete spectrum of high quality telecommunications services for businesses will also be offered to all the customers.
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Idea pares losses 22 per cent
Mumbai: Idea Cellular Ltd, the telecom company having equal equity participation by the Aditya Birla group, the Tatas and the US-based AT&T Wireless Services, has managed to reduce net loss by 22 per cent to Rs 235.70 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2004 from the previous year's Rs 302.26. The number of subscribers and revenue grew by 58 per cent and 26 per cent respectively in 2002-03.
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Ashok Leyland vehicle sales up 33 per cent
Chennai: Despite an over 12 per cent fall in its medium duty passenger vehicle (MDV) sales in the domestic market and a more dramatic fall of 63 per cent in its nascent light commercial vehicle sales, Ashok Leyland Ltd registered a 33 per cent hike in its overall sales in May this year compared with same period in 2003.

The company's production of MDV passenger fell by over 19 per cent, from 981 in May, 2003 to 792 in May, 2004.Simultaneously, the bus sales too fell to 657 (750). However, export of medium duty buses rose to 82 (52). On the other hand, the cheer was with the goods' segment. MDV goods production climbed 42 per cent to 2,978 vehicles (2,098). Domestic sales in this segment was up 48.5 per cent at 2,916 vehicles (1,964).
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Tata Power to contest MERC order
Mumbai: Tata Power Company will move the Bombay High Court against the order passed by state power regulator Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) last week on the standby charges issue. The move assumes significance as the Appellate Tribunal, which under the Electricity Act 2003 has the right to hear appeals against the rulings of power regulators, is yet to be constituted. "We are in the process of preparing a writ petition to be filed in the Bombay High Court," said Mohan Gurunath, vice president of Tata Power. Industry sources said Reliance Energy is planning to defend the MERC order.
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Britannia may get a lady ceio
Mumbai: The search for a ceo at Britannia Industries has accelerated in the past few weeks, according to industry sources. While no final decision has been taken, a number of names have been doing the rounds. The list includes two women, which is a surprise, given the paucity of women in the top echelons of corporate India. Marise Fernandes Kumar, former head of marketing at Whirlpool India, and Vinita Bali, former Coca-Cola vice-president, are reportedly among those being considered for the post of ceo.
soon.
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IOC reaps a windfall from Re gain, net set to zoom
New Delhi: Beating all odds like delays in revision of retail prices and high crude prices, IOC, the only Fortune 500 company, is set to clock significantly higher profits for fiscal year '03-04. The petro-major has made an unprecedented saving of Rs 400 crore on account of the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar. This, coupled with high refining margins of more than $5 per barrel is expected to shore up IOC's bottomlines.
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No divestment of HAL: Paswan
Pune: In a clear indication of where the UPA government is headed as far as disinvestment and privatisation of PSUs, including loss-making ones, two heavyweights in the alliance ruled out divestment of the ailing Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL).

In his first visit to Pune after taking over as union agiculture and food minister, Sharad Pawar headed to HAL and promised a revival package. Accompanying him to provide further assurances was union minister for chemicals, fetilisers and steel, Ram Vilas Paswan who ruled out disinvestment. The 50-year-old HAL and its workforce of 2,000 have been campaigning against either closure or sell-off to private investors.
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SET India in league for DTH club
Kolkata: The direct-to-home approach could be catching up in various segments. SET India is in talks with Dish TV to position itself on the Zee-promoted DTH platform. Plans are to air all SET brands through the DTH route in step with its existing transmissions via the cable and satellite (C&S) network.

"We are now in the midst of discussions with Dish TV and thrashing out the commercial terms linked to telecasting our channels through the DTH system. Our intent, as things stand, is to place all the channels in the The One Alliance bouquet of SET Discovery products on Dish TV's DTH platform," Shantonu Aditya, SET Discovery's president, said.
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Govt to take legal recourse in IHT Case
New Delhi: The government has decided to take the legal route in the International Herald Tribune (IHT) case. According to a representative of the information and broadcasting ministry, the government is ready to file a caveat in the Andhra Pradesh and Delhi high courts. This move would ensure that the government view is considered in case the printer of International Herald Tribune in India, Midram Publications, seeks a court stay.
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OVL profit surges six-fold
Mumbai: ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has reported a six-fold jump in its net profit to Rs 428.53 cr in 2003-04, which makes it the country's second largest oil and gas exploration firm after its parent. The company, which has stakes in oil and gas properties in nine countries, earned Rs 3,502 crore revenue during last fiscal as opposed to Rs 233 crore in 2002-03, OVL managing director R S Butola has said.
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Schwing Stetter planning to source components from India
Chennai: Schwing Stetter (India) Pvt Ltd, which makes concrete mixing equipment, is likely to become a sourcing base of castings and forgings for its parent Schwing Stetter of Germany. "We have got a list of items which we could source from here and send to them. That is under consideration," Anand Sundaresan, managing director, Schwing Stetter (India) said
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NPIL inks pact with French firm
Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) announced its alliance with Laboratories Pierre Fabre of France to exclusively sell the latter's dermatology-related or skincare products in India. NPIL will initially make and sell two products from Pierre Fabre's Ducray & Aderma range of personal products in India. Exomega, a moisturising cream and Kertyol-S, an anti-inflamatory and anti-fungal shampoo will be the first two products to be launched in India.
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Tata Motors sales increase by 35.8 per cent
Mumbai: Tata Motors Ltd reported a 35.8 per cent growth in total vehicle sales to 29,774 units in May 2004 as against 21,928 units the previous corresponding period. Domestic sales accounted for 28,123 units (20,670 units for the year ago period). In commercial vehicles, domestic sales rose by 47.5 per cent to 14,391 units (9754 units), including a 58.1 per cent increase in sale of medium and heavy commercial vehicles to 10,051 units and a 27.7 per cent gain in light commercial vehicle sales to 4340units.
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