Cairn Energy makes its ninth oil strike in Rajasthan
New Delhi: British energy firm Cairn Energy Plc has again struck oil in Rajasthan, its ninth discovery in the state in the last two years. The company has found 300 million barrels of inplace oil reserves in northern Rajasthan with the N-V-1 exploration well, which is located 18-km west-north-west of the gigantic Mangala field.

N-V-1, the fourth discovery Cairn has made in the northern region of the 5831 sq km Block RJ-ON-90/1, lies 19-km west-south-west of the N-C discovery. The British firm had struck 450 million to 1.1 billion barrels of inplace oil reserves in Mangala, of which 50 to 200 million barrels are estimated to be recoverable reserves.
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Ford likely to launch Fusion in November
Bangalore: The US based automaker is expected to launch its new car, Fusion, in November this year, which will take on competitors like Honda City, according to industry sources. The 1.4-l Fusion will be fitted with Sigma series of engines instead of the Rocam engines currently fitted in Ikons. The company has also been able to get extremely good rates while retiring high cost debt. Ford had raised Rs.100 crore each through debentures issues in 1999 and 2001.

Ford has, so far, invested around Rs.1, 700 crore in the Indian venture in which it has an 85 per cent stake, while the rest is with Mahindra & Mahindra. With the start of the second shift in August, the company will start making profits. Ford sold around 18,500 Ikons in 2003 and is expected to end the current year with a growth of 22 per cent. It recently added 700 more employees to its existing 600 employees to support the growing volumes and introduction of new models. During the first seven months of the current calendar year, Ford sold a total of 14,000 Ikons posting a growth of 52 per cent over the same period last year.

The company expects its exports to be around 24,000 units in 2004, the same as last year. Ford has also chalked out an aggressive distribution roadmap and plans to grow to 105 dealer outlets in 86 cities from the current level of 90 dealers in 71 cities. Meanwhile, Ford has also unveiled a new line of Ikons at a base price of Rs.4.49 lakh (ex-showroom). Ikon will have four new variants, which are Lxi, Exi and upgraded versions of Zxi and Flair. The price ranges between Rs 4.49 lakh and Rs 6.9 lakh.
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Blue Star gets Microsoft order for Hyderabad facility
Hyderabad: Air-Conditioning major Blue Star Ltd has bagged a Rs.12-crore order from the Research and Development (R&D) facility of Microsoft in Hyderabad against stiff competition from national and international bidders.

Blue Star will do the central air-conditioning of Microsoft facility, which is the largest outside the US. The company has registered a growth of over 300 per cent in Hyderabad in the six months ending June 30, 2004. During the period, the company has bagged orders worth Rs.36 crore compared with Rs.12 crore during the same period last year. The other projects underway in Hyderabad, include those for Satyam Computer and the K. Raheja IT Park, according to a press release from Blue Star.
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NPIL ties up with National Institute of Immunology
Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) has said that it has entered into a research collaboration with the National Institute of Immunology (NII) in New Delhi. The collaboration is an integral part of NPIL's R&D programme to discover and develop new chemical entities (NCE) in the field of inflammation, a company communiqué said.

NPIL is focusing its research efforts on the development of NCEs and New Drug Delivery Systems in therapeutic areas including cancer, diabetes and metabolic disorders, inflammation and anti-infectives. The company's lead molecule in Oncology, P-276-00, is undergoing advanced toxicology testing and is on track to enter human clinical trials by the end of this year, the company said.
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2:1 bonus shares from Kolar Bio
Mumbai: Kolar Biotech Ltd, engaged in IT and bio-informatics-related services, has reported a net profit of Rs.6.27 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal against Rs.1.88 crore in the corresponding previous period. During the quarter, the company's sales turnover touched Rs.17.56 crore, up from Rs.5.82 crore in the first quarter of the last fiscal. The company has recommended two bonus shares for every share held by its shareholders.

The company is also planning to invest Rs.7.5 crore in research-based activities in the biotech sector. It will be marketing biotech products under its own brand name and is in the process of registering the patent. Kolar Biotech will be also undertaking offshore testing of drug synthesised by pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe by setting up offshore testing centres.
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Toyota sees boost in sales
Bangalore: Toyota has sold a total of 982 units of Corolla in July, while Qualis' sales have dipped marginally because of a strike at Chennai port last month. A press statement from Toyota said the multi - purpose vehicle, Qualis sold 2,885 units, around 5 per cent less than the same month last year. Camry sold 115 units during July, 2004, four less than the same period last year. However, the total sales of all models between January and July rose 27 per cent to 28,284 units. Qualis sold a total of 17,448 units in the first seven months, posting a growth of 27 per cent while Corolla grew 38 per cent to 6,096 units.
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Tata Tele in Maharashtra to raise Rs.1, 700 crore
Mumbai: Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd (TTML) has an estimated funding requirement of Rs.1, 700 crore for its new expansion plans for the next couple of years. The company said that half of this would be raised by way of debt and the other half by way of equity. Already, debt amounting to Rs.600 crore has been raised by way of issue of foreign currency convertible bonds of $125 million in June this year. The rest of the debt - amounting to Rs.200-250 crore will be raised from the existing lenders. The equity component of around Rs.850 crore would be managed through a rights issue "at the appropriate time".

TTML achieved financial closure in September 2003 for its initial business plan with a project cost of Rs.3, 380 crore, of which Rs.3, 000 crore was spent till March 2004, according to the Chairman's statement at the AGM on Tuesday. The prepaid services of the company will be launched during the current quarter. The company also plans to introduce push-to-talk services shortly in Mumbai. With the capital expenditure plan for this year, the company intends to expand operations from its current base of 20 towns to over 150 towns and cities in Maharashtra and Goa by the end of the year.
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Infosys seeks 300 acres for new campus
Bangalore: Software major Infosys Technologies is planning a new campus in Bangalore for which it has sought 300 acres from the Karnataka Government. The company said that it has asked the Government for 300 acres for its new campus in the city in light of the fact that it is adding 8,000 to 10,000 people annually. This is the second time that Infosys is seeking land from the Government for its expansion. Earlier, its attempts to acquire about 100 acres on the outskirts fell through because of legal impediments in land acquisition.

However, the company has made it clear that if there was a delay in getting land for its current expansion, the company would not hesitate to look at other regions to set up its operations. The company has also made applications for 50 acres in Mysore and 25 acres in Mangalore to expand its software development facilities, Mr Nilekani said.
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Sonata Soft to join MMA
Bangalore: Sonata Software Ltd has announced that it was joining the newly formed Microsoft Mainframe Migration Alliance (MMA). This alliance, which brings together platform leaders, tools and technology developers and global system integrators, aims to enable the cost-effective migration of applications from legacy mainframe systems onto the latest Microsoft technologies.
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Secova buys out US firm
Chennai: Secova eServices, the Chennai-based human resources business process outsourcing firm, has acquired EmpactEBS, an American firm that is into benefits processing. The company said that the value was sub-$5 million.

Through the acquisition, Secova has brought into the firm about 60 employees and 15 customers of Empact, which has been in business for over seven years. Secova's staff strength is now about 90, of whom about two-thirds are working in the US and the rest in Chennai. By the year-end, Secova will have about 200 employees, 80 per cent of whom would work in India and the rest in the US. The company has development centres in Chennai and in New Jersey, USA.

The acquisition will provide impetus to Secova in its customer acquisition initiatives in the US. Using Empact's service model in benefits administration coupled with Secova's offshore outsourcing expertise in Human Resource and payroll, the new entity will extend a broad range of HR and benefits services including health and welfare and pension benefits.

According to him, various research firms, including Gartner, have projected the size of the global HR BPO market to be about $40 billion, with a 14 per cent annual growth. Secova would focus on mid-size companies withupto 20,000 employees. The HR BPO market from the segment alone was at about $20 billion.
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The Midas touch for Canco
Chennai: Canco Advertising has won a Gold Midas Award at the New York Festivals Midas Awards that honours the Best in Financial Services Communications Worldwide. The winning entry - a print ad titled 'Tiger Claws' - was created for HDFC Ltd. While the copy credits for this advertisement goes to Neelam Lakhani, the Art Direction was by Dhananjay Khotpal.

Entries for the Midas Awards 2004 were received from 34 countries worldwide, said a press release from the agency. A total of 139 entries made it to the short-list of finalists for the Awards of the New York Festivals, rated among the top five international advertising awards. Of these, only 19 entries won Gold and 15 won Silver. Judging was conducted in England, Germany, Spain, Mexico and the US.
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Zinta is new brand ambassador for 'Head & Shoulders'
New Delhi: Procter & Gamble India have announced actress Preity Zinta as its new brand ambassador for 'Head & Shoulders' anti-dandruff shampoo. Among celebrities that have endorsed this brand earlier are actress Pooja Bedi and cricketer Ajay Jadeja.

Out of the Rs.1, 100-crore Indian shampoo market, which is growing at about 7 per cent, anti-dandruff shampoo is valued at Rs.266 crore with a 15 per cent growth rate. Launched in 1997, Head & Shoulders has 46 per cent market share at present and is present in five variants.
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Irfan Pathan signed on by CavinKare
Chennai: Cavinkare Pvt Ltd. has signed on Irfan Pathan, to endorse its forthcoming health foods range. To begin with, Pathan will endorse Ruchi branded dates. The cricketer's image will be used in packaging, TV commercials, hoardings and print for more products in the foods category that CavinKare will unveil in the next few months. Orchard Advertising will be handling the communication exercise. CavinKare acquired Ruchi late last year for Rs.15.5 crore.
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