TCS files draft prospectus for IPO
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has filed its draft prospectus for initial public offer (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The total number of shares on offer is 5.5 crore (55,452,600). This is divided into two lots. The first lot of 2.27 crore share are fresh shares being issued by TCS Ltd. The rest are shares on offer for sale from Tata Sons and other shareholders of TCS. The issue also has provisions of a greenshoe option of 83.17 lakh shares.
The face value of these shares would be Re 1, and the issue would be entirely on the book building method.

Sixty per cent of the offer is proposed to be reserved for qualified institutional buyers. Not less than 16 per cent is being reserved for non-institutional buyers and the remaining would be allocated on a pro-rata basis to retail investors. The issue has full eligibility for participation by foreign institutional investors. Around 55.45 lakh shares have been reserved for employees of TCS Division, TCS Ltd and Tata Sons. TCS is said to currently employ over 28,000 software engineers, spread across branches in 32 countries and global clients. It has over 800 foreign nationals working for it, according to analyst reports. The company has global delivery centres in the US, the UK, Hungary, Japan, Australia and Canada, among others.
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IHCL to divest TCS shares
Mumbai: The Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) intends to divest up to two lakh equity shares of Re 1 held by it in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd as part of the proposed initial public offering of equity shares of TCS Ltd. According to a notice issued to stock exchanges IHCL said, the sale of equity shares shall be at a price discovered through the book building process as per SEBI guidelines and would be subject to receipt of all necessary statutory and other approvals.
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Manganese Ore achieves highest ever turnover
Hyderabad: Manganese Ore (India) Ltd (MOIL), the Nagpur-based public sector undertaking (PSU), has achieved its highest ever turnover and production of Rs 229 crore and 7.99 lakh tonnes during the financial year 2003-04. The record performance has earned the company a net profit of Rs 28.52 crore. While the increase in net profit is 60 per cent over the previous fiscal of 2002-03, the sales turnover has gone up by 29 per cent, according to an MOIL release here. The company is the largest producer of high-grade manganese ore in the country and operates 10 major mines in the States of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. MOIL operates a 10,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) ferro manganese plant at Balaghat mine in MP, a 1000 TPA Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide (EMD) plant at Dongri Buzurg mine in Maharashtra.
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Atlas Interactive ties up with BSNL for broadband
New Delhi: Atlas Interactive India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the Rs 1,348 crore Atlas Group, has entered into an agreement with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to provide entertainment services over broadband. These include time-shifted TV, video on demand, music on demand and an array of other related services over the existing copper network of BSNL to its customers.
The Rs 1,200-crore project called netTV, would be launched in the coming six months in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida on BSNL's network.

The revenues would be generated through a 15-year revenue share arrangement between BSNL and Atlas Interactive. Atlas Interactive has shortlisted quality technology vendors such as Siemens, Lucent, ZTE and Tandberg. Any BSNL customer in the Atlas service area with a television set and a telephone connection will be able to access most of the broadcast services, as well as basic Internet functions such as web browsing and e-mail, through a set top box provided by Atlas.
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IDEA completes Escotel buyout
Mumbai: IDEA Cellular has announced the completion of its acquisition of Escotel Mobile Communications Ltd. The company has acquired hundred per cent shares from Escotel's promoters - Escorts Telecommunications Ltd and First Pacific. With the acquisition, EMCL has become a wholly owned subsidiary of IDEA Cellular Ltd. IDEA has replaced all the lenders of Escotel by raising Rs 450 crore through a project recourse loan from Rabo Bank and short-term loans from Bank of India, UTI Bank, HDFC Ltd and non-fund based facilities from Punjab National Bank.
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Salem Steel Plant wipes out previous years losses
Coimbatore: The public sector Salem Steel Plant (SSP) has ended the financial year with a higher sales turnover of Rs 557 crore, up by Rs 130 crore from the previous year's Rs 427 crore.
The plant achieved a net profit of Rs 2 crore against last year's net loss of Rs 119 crore, according to a SSP press release. The unit's gross margin for the year stood at Rs 81.7 crore from the negative gross margin of Rs 1.25 crore last year. Its interest burden fell to Rs 36 crore from Rs 73 crore.
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Arrow to custom-make shirts
Bangalore: ARROW, the premium menswear brand, has launched Bespoke, a service that offers custom-made shirts to its customers. This gives the customers the freedom to design their own shirts and is a "unique initiative" undertaken by any apparel brand in the country, Arvind Brands, the licencee for the brand, claimed in a media release. The customer can choose from a wide variety of fabrics, collars, cuffs, plackets and sleeve length options available at the Arrow exclusive stores. The service initially is available in Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi. The customer will pay in advance while placing his orders and the finished garment will be delivered at his doorstep within five working days, the company stated.
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Tata Indicom's Maharashtra circle shifts to new numbers
Mumbai: Tata Indicom will shift to ten-digit numbering under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) Universal Access Licence regulation. The ten-digit number would be applicable to all Tata Indicom mobile customers across the country within the next few days. The Department of Telecommunications has assigned the 92 series to Tata Indicom. After the change, the numbering plan of the service provider would be similar to other GSM (global system of mobile communications) operators.

Since Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra are defined as different circles by TRAI, the calls between Tata Indicom customers across these two circles would be considered as STD calls. Customers can receive calls on both the old and new numbers till June 30. Moreover, customers sending SMS text to the old eight-digit number would in turn be informed about the new ten-digit number. The implementation of this plan across the remaining circle will be done over the next 10 days. Tata Indicom customers could obtain information via SMS that is sent to 120 and others could message 9212000120.
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Pinnacle Info becomes Accurum
Chennai: The US-based Pinnacle Info Solutions, which has been `rebranded' Accurum Inc, will increase its headcount in India to about 1,500 in the next four to five years from the present 175.
The company provides technology solution to global capital markets and has a development centre in Chennai. It planned to start one more in Mumbai this year and another in Bangalore next yeari. The company provides technology solutions to address every aspect of capital markets business that is classified into consulting, information technology and research, he said.
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