Indo Gulf cancels AGM over Lodha issue
Mumbai: Indo Gulf Fertilisers Ltd has informed the National Stock Exchange that since the company's board of directors has to take a definite view on whether chartered accountants Lodha and Co. can continue as statutory auditor of the company in the light of the will of Priyamvada Birla, the AGM to be convened on August 10 has been cancelled. Members will be intimated of a fresh date that will be well before September 30, it said. Aditya Birla group's metal company, Hindalco, has already removed Lodha and Co as its branch auditor. Grasim, which recently reappointed the firm as its statutory auditor, is said to be considering calling an extraordinary general meeting to seek removal of the firm as its external auditor.
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Marginal hike in Hyundai prices
New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India has announced a marginal price increase for all its cars across segments to reflect the incidence of education cess. Retail prices in case of the compact car Santro have gone up by up to Rs.2,257 and for the Accent the increase is up to Rs.4,889. The retail price increase for the luxury sedans Elantra and Sonata is in the range of Rs.10,129 and Rs.10,713, respectively.
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Nicholas Piramal in pact with Genzyme
Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) has said that it has completed its in-licensing agreement with Genzyme Corporation of the US for synvisc viscose supplementation for the Indian market. The deal would augment NPIL's presence in the orthopaedics segment. The in-licensing agreement is a five-year exclusive strategic alliance for Synvisc Viscose Supplementation in the domestic market. Synvisc is a pill-free treatment that is injected directly into the knee and it is used for the local treatment of pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee. Touted to be the fourth largest biotech company, Genzyme Corporation has a revenue base of $1.6 billion and has a strong presence in segments including orthopaedics and renal diseases. The product has global sales of $ 250 million and the Indian market size for this drug is estimated at Rs.20 crore. NPIL will market and distribute the product in India on exclusive basis, the note said.
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Sony India suspends CTV production
New Delhi: Consumer electronics firm Sony India has suspended production at its colour television facility and has said that it was evaluating whether to close down the CTV unit. Sony India has invested about Rs.80 crore in India and is aiming at 50 per cent topline growth this fiscal over Rs.800 crore last year, which will come from CTV and digital imaging products. At present, the company imports CTVs from a number of countries, including Thailand. It is being surmised that the decision to suspend production may have been taken in view of the upcoming Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Thailand.
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TVS-E signs up with Siti to supply set-top boxes
Chennai: TVS Electronics Ltd has launched its direct-to-home (DTH) set-top-boxes (STB). It has signed up with Siti Cable Network, part of Zee Network, as its first customer. The DTH STBs are manufactured at the company's newly commissioned manufacturing line in Chennai. The company hopes to sell about 75,000 STBs in the next five months, which would fetch a revenue of Rs.20 crore. TVS-E, the Chennai-based manufacturer of computer peripherals, has invested about Rs.4 crore in the new automated high volume manufacturing line, which could produce about 50,000 STBs a month. The cost of a Siti Cable STB would be about Rs.7,000, including installation charges. The STB provides video and audio qualities on par with a good DVD (digital versatile disc), he said.
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AMD launches Sempron processors
New Delhi: AMD has announced the availability of Sempron processors and has said that players like HCL Infosystems and LG would offer the new processor-based systems in India. AMD is also planning to set up a direct presence in Chennai by the end of the current quarter, taking its direct presence to four cities in the country. According to the company the new processor is targeted at catering to the increasingly complex computing needs of notebook and desktop computer users.
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HCL Info launches new Infiniti range
New Delhi: HCL Infosystems has announced the launch of its new range of Infiniti Global Line 2700 series with Dual Intel Xeon processors targeted at providing faster speeds for enterprise applications. According to the company, the Infiniti Global Line 2700 series is suited for general purpose multi-use computing, messaging, front-end applications and maintaining a small to medium database. The Infiniti Global Line 2700 series has increased FSB of 800 MHz from the current 533 MHz for faster speeds; 1 MB integrated L2 cache Xeon processors for lower latency; 64 bit support providing next generation computing power with higher memory addressability; I/0 standard PCI express for reduced bottlenecks; DDR memory for lower latency, faster data transfer between processor and memory, the release added.
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Novell launches enterprise class Linux server
Bangalore: Novell has introduced the Suse Linux Enterprise Server 9, with significant performance, scalability, manageability and security enhancements designed to handle corporate workgroup and data centre requirements with ease. With this release, Novell extends its lead in the Linux market by offering the first enterprise-class Linux server built on the new Linux 2.6 kernel and supported by leading hardware and software vendors.
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Mastek to pay out Rs.3 per share
Mumbai: The board of directors of Mastek Ltd has proposed a dividend at Rs.3 per share (face value of Rs.5), according to a company notification to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The annual book closure has been fixed for September 16-20, inclusive of both days and the annual general meeting has been scheduled on September 20. The board has recommended that the limit of investment made by FIIs/OCBs/NRIs under the Portfolio Investment Scheme be increased to 49 per cent of the company's paid-up capital subject to the approval of the shareholders and the Reserve Bank of India and any other statutory approvals. It has also recorded the closure of buy-back of equity shares with effect from Thursday, informed the notification.
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New Hathway net package
Mumbai: Broadband cable ISP company Hathway Cable Internet has introduced its new broadband package - Hathway 256 kbps, providing high-speed Internet through cable for just Rs.750 per month. Earlier in March 2004, the company introduced packages of 128 kbps speed at Rs.300 per month. The company has pointed out that with this price slash, 256 kbps is going to be the benchmark for high-speed Internet not only in attracting more subscribers but also in increasing awareness about broadband among the residential users.
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Reliance Infocomm launches call centre in Chennai
Chennai: Reliance Infocomm Ltd has inaugurated its call centre in Chennai to attend to customer calls from the four southern States.
The centre, spread over 8,000 sq. m, can now seat over 1,200 customer service personnel. It will be expanded to seat over 3,000 personnel, according to a Reliance Infocomm press release. This is the first regional call centre that Reliance Infocomm is establishing after the all-India call centre at Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City in Navi Mumbai. The Chennai call centre, at suburban Padi, will attend to the service needs of the southern States and attend to customer calls on a 24x7 basis. Calls from across the country, including the South, are now being attended to by the all-India call centre.
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Qantas announces exclusive offers
Mumbai: Qantas Airways has announced exclusive offers for its business and economy class travellers. According to an official statement, the offer is valid between August 4 and August 31, and will be valid for departures from September 1 to October 31. Under the 'companion fare' scheme announced for business class travellers, passengers will be able to buy two tickets for the price of one. For the period of the offer, the companion fare for two passengers from Mumbai to Sydney is Rs.72,650 plus taxes per passenger. The fares from other cities in the country are also available. Economy class travellers have the 'Three for one offer' under which they get a three-city combo fare, for the price of a single city fare. Travellers can chose from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Canberra, for a fare of Rs.29,035 plus taxes. This offer is extended for travel ex-Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Goa, along with Mumbai.
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