HC order on notarised version of Birla will tomorrow
Kolkata: Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta on Monday concluded the hearing of the application filed by G.P. Birla, K. Tapuria and P.K. Khaitan seeking to produce the notarised photocopy of the will of M.P. Birla and Priyamvada Birla.
Justice Sengupta will pass the order on Wednesday. B.K. Birla filed a petition for addition of party in the probate petition of the Priyamvada Birla. The court will hear the petition on September 1, 2004.
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ONGC to finalise contracts to set up CBM units
Kolkata: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation will finalise turnkey contracts for setting up facilities for production of coal-bed methane (CBM) by November this year. The company has already prepared a roadmap for an Rs.10,000 crore investment in six coal blocks in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The company had already convened a pre-bid conference of global leaders in CBM technology in Delhi to discuss the salient features of the project.
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Jain Irrigation bags Coke contract
Mumbai: Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd (JISL) has recently formalised and concluded a contract valued at Rs.36.47 crore for the supply of mango pulp to Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCBPL).

The company has been a major supplier of mango pulp to HCCBPL for the last four years. JISL also supplies mango pulp and concentrate to Coca-Cola's bottling operations in different countries.
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Tuticorin Alkali to issue preference shares to SPIC
Chennai: Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd plans to issue 20 lakh, five per cent redeemable cumulative preference shares, of Rs 100 each at par to Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation Ltd (SPIC) totalling Rs.20 crore on private placement basis by converting a part of the loan given by SPIC to the company.

Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals (TAC) will seek its shareholders' approval for this proposal at the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for September 24.

As promoters of the company, SPIC had extended unsecured loans from time to time. The total outstanding loan as on September 30, 2003 including interest was Rs.30.47 crore.
According to a notice issued by TAC to the shareholders on the EGM, in the last four years, the company's performance had been affected by multiple factors such as depressed soda ash market conditions, difficulty in marketing of ammonium chloride (fertiliser grade) due to failure of monsoon and the unprecedented increase in price of imported ammonia.

According to the notice, the redeemable cumulative preference shares are redeemable not later than 20 years from the date of allotment. Dividend on these shares is payable at the time of redemption or at the time of declaring dividend on equity shares, whichever is earlier.

SPIC holds 46.93 per cent of the Rs.14.26 crore equity capital of Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals. The preference capital of the company is Rs.4 crore.

For the quarter ended June 30, TAC reported a loss of Rs.5.73 crore on net sales of Rs.25.57 crore.
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OVL picks up stake in Australian offshore block
Bangalore: The state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has signed a pact with Canada's Antrim Energy to buy its 55 per cent stake in an exploration block in offshore Australia.

The deal was signed by ONGC's overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd, last Friday and will be effective after the Australian authority gives its nod, a company statement said.

Antrim Energy will retain a 32.5 per cent stake in the block and operate the area. The remaining 12.5 per cent stake will be held by Australia-based Magellan Petroleum Pty Ltd. Block WA 306 P, located in the North West Shelf in Offshore Australia is spread over an area of 4,600 square km, contains a cluster of drilling prospects in Barcoo Sub-basin, the statement said.

ONGC said that the block has good potential and it expects to spud the first well in the coming few weeks.

ONGC has, so far, invested more than $2 billion in oil exploration ventures overseas, including Russia and Sudan. The company plans to annually spend Rs.5, 000 crore in overseas exploration in the next three years.
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ONGC to invest Rs.25,000 crore in Karnataka
Bangalore: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed a MoU with the Karnataka Government and the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) to develop a coastal special economic zone (SEZ) at Mangalore and invest close to Rs.25,000 crore staggered over a few years towards energy projects, such as a gas terminal, in the State. Earlier, the SEZ license was held by the KCCI.

The SEZ would consist of mostly petroleum and petrochemical related industries, besides other manufacturing, trading and service activities as a part of the multi-product zone development.
According to the pact that would be in force for two years, private developers would be invited to set up the SEZ through a special purpose vehicle.

About 360 hectares were required for the project and could employ close to 1,500 technical staff to handle precision plants.
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Hikal in pact with Bayer
Mumbai: Hikal Ltd has entered into a long-term arrangement with Bayer CropScience AG to manufacture and supply key agrochemical intermediates.

Hikal has set up a new facility at Mahad in Maharashtra to manufacture these products. The manufacturing facility at Mahad uses Ethernet-based technology for process control automation using fibre optics transmission.
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CMC to leverage TCSs strengths overseas
Hyderabad: CMC Ltd, a Tata group company, has drawn up plans to consolidate its overseas business leveraging Tata Consultancy Services Ltd's (TCS) strengths, even as the boards of both CMC and TCS, may consider the possibility of merger of the two in due course.

The two companies have now embarked on the process to transform the company and grow the overseas business. From about 18 per cent, it has grown to about 27 per cent in the first quarter. This was possible because of the group synergies.
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Bharti launches mobile services in East UP
New Delhi: Bharti Cellular Ltd, a subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures on Monday announced the launch of its GSM mobile services in Uttar Pradesh (East).

Announcing the launch of the service in Lucknow, Bharti said it plans to invest Rs.150 crore in the telecom circle during the current fiscal, with a view to expanding its operations in the region.

In the first phase, Airtel is launching its services in 88 towns of the region covering eight major highways including the key cities of Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Jhansi, a release said adding that services in Allahabad would begin shortly.

In the next phase, the company would launch its services in another 80 towns and cover four highways, it added.
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Rolta India net up 277 percent
Mumbai: Rolta India Ltd has posted a 277.4 per cent growth in net profit at Rs.16.82 crore for the quarter-ended June 30 compared to Rs.4.46 crore recorded during the quarter-ended June 30. Total revenue showed a 34 per cent increase at Rs.92.63 crore (Rs.69.10 crore).

For the year-ended June 30, 2004 the company registered net profit of Rs.80.50 crore as against Rs.112.28 crore for the 18-month period ended June 30, 2003. Revenues for the year-ended June 30, 2004 stood at Rs.301.05 crore (Rs.383.57 crore for 18-month period ended June 30, 2003).
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Acer launches Travel Mate notebook
Bangalore: Acer India is launching a light, high mobility notebook to cater to the needs of the small and medium enterprises, home and the student community.

The Acer TravelMate 292EFXC notebook is built around Intel's new generation processor Intel M Processor 320 (1.3 GHz, 512kb L2 Cache, 400 MHz FSB), weighs 2.72 kgs and is only 3.2 cm deep, for take-anywhere mobility.

This notebook supports Bluetooth and wireless LAN options and is designed for total mobility, performance, and low energy consumption, said an Acer press release. Priced at Rs.44,999, the Acer TravelMate 292EFXC notebook is equipped with 30 GB hard disk, 256 MB DDR RAM and integrated optical drive with DVD/CD-RW combo for handling a full spectrum of optical media.
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ICSA nod for Intoto product
Hyderabad: Intoto Software, a security solutions provider for networking and communications equipment manufacturers, has announced that its integrated VPN (virtual private network) software solution has received the ICSA Lab's certification. The company claimed it was one of only three top leading vendors who have achieved this significant VPN testing milestone. The Indian software team of Intoto in Hyderabad developed the integrated VPN software solution.
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Jet Airways is number one in the domestic circuit
New Delhi: The private sector airline, Jet Airways, occupies the number one spot in the domestic market among the four scheduled airlines operating in the country during 2003-04. During 2003-04, Jet Airways carried 68.98 lakh passengers and enjoyed a market share of 46.7 per cent.

In comparison, Indian Airlines (IA) and its 100 per cent subsidiary, Alliance Air, which together carried 58.08 lakh passengers, enjoyed a market share of 39.3 per cent during the period under review.

Incidentally, this is the second consecutive year that the private sector airline has taken a lead over IA.

In April this year, the figures released by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed that the market share of domestic passenger traffic carried by IA slipped to 41.8 per cent in 2002-03 from 47 per cent during the corresponding period in the previous year.

On the other hand, during 2002-03, the market share of Jet Airways had gone up marginally to 48.4 per cent as compared to 48 per cent recorded earlier.

During 2003-04, Sahara Airlines, took up third place having carried 19.24 lakh passengers. The airline had a market share of 13 per cent followed by Air Deccan, which flew 1.49 lakh passengers and had a market share of one per cent.
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Celebration packs of Teacher's 50
New Delhi: Allied Domecq Spirits and Wine Pvt Ltd has announced the launch of a limited edition of celebration packs of Teacher's 50, a premium 12-year old scotch and Teacher's Highland Cream Scotch Whisky. The company said it will also launch miniature bottles of 12-year old Teacher's 50.
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