Zydus taps French market with forty three drugs
Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad-based generics major Zydus Cadila has launched 43 drugs in the French market and has announced that it would launch another 20 products by December.

The products launched on Thursday were in six broad therapeutic categories - cardiovasculars, central nervous system (CNS), gastrointestinals, pain management, Type-II diabetes and anti-infectives, a company release said here.

Zydus Cadila entered the French market with the acquisition of Alpharma France in 2003. Zydilla intends to tap the French market, pegged at $1.25 billion and growing at 30 per cent annually, by using the French company, with its ready distribution channels and 109 generics registrations, it said.
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Standby charges - High Court asks Reliance Energy and Tata Power to sit together
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the top managements of Tata Power Company (TPC) and Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) to sit together and work out a mutually acceptable solution on their standby charges dispute.

The High Court has given the companies a week's time to decide on the solution. The next hearing is scheduled on September 23.
The standby charges are payable to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) towards making available a back-up or reserve power pool for Mumbai in case of any fault in the city's power distribution system.

While TPC avails standby from the MSEB, REL, which buys power from the former, benefits indirectly.

The High Court acknowledged that since the dispute is a technical one, it would be appropriate that both companies find a solution through discussions.
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Priyamvada Birla will: Jaitley doubts legality
Kolkata: Senior advocate and former Union Minister, Arun Jaitley, said that the tussle over the wills was between public charity and personal gain.

Jaitley doubted the authenticity of the 1999 will of Priyamvada Birla and the subsequent codicil, which in this case was a letter written by her to Lodha.

He suggested that Lodha had taken the opportunity provided by his fiduciary role in the MP Birla group and created documents for his personal gain against the wishes of philanthropy as repeatedly stated by MP Birla and his wife in all the wills.

According to him, the 1999 will was a "camouflaged" document and contradicted the basic tenor of the 1982 set of wills wherein it was categorically stated that the group estate would be used for philanthropic activities.

"As the couple had no child, they had always believed that their assets were `God's gift' and they wanted it to be used for public charity and the good of the people," Mr Jaitley said.

In this context, he mentioned that the 1982 set of mutual wills was reciprocal in nature and, therefore, did not give any right to Priyamvada Birla to create a fresh will and hand over the estate to any third person.

He urged the court to take a liberal view on the aspect of "interest" while considering the caveatable interest of the Birlas and also take into account the factor of "common ancestors."

Jaitley pointed out several discrepancies in the codicil and added, "just reading the document creates a high level of suspicion." He also doubted the legality of Priyamvada Birla's 1999 will.The matter will come up again on September 22.
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NMDC wins prize in technology sector
Hyderabad: The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), a public sector enterprise, has won the second prize in technology sector in the exhibition on Minerals, Metals, Metallurgy and Materials 2004, organised by the Indian Institute of Metals at Pragati Maidan last week in Delhi.

The corporation had succeeded in developing an absorbent from kimberlite, the mother rock of diamonds, which can remove fluoride from water.
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Awards for Matrix Labs and Biotech International
Hyderabad: Matrix Laboratories Ltd and Bharat Biotech International have won the All-India Manufacturers' Organisation (AIMO - AP) Bharat Ratna Dr M. Visvesvaraya Industrial awards for `Best export performance' and `Best technology effort' for the year 2004.

U-Foam Pvt Ltd, a leading foams company with a turnover of Rs.20 crore, has won the `Best performance in small-scale industry' award.

AIMO was founded by late Dr Visvesvaraya.The other awardees are: B.V. Mohan Reddy (Chairman and Managing Director of Infotech Enterprises) - Outstanding Industrial Achievement Award; P. Sudha Reddy (Managing Director of K.N. Biosciences (India) Pvt Ltd) - Best Woman Entrepreneur; B. Gandhi of Bhagyanagar Laboratories - Best Industrial Worker; and Jaisara Tooling Systems Pvt Ltd - Best R&D Effort.
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Japanese co picks stake in Strand Genomics
Bangalore: Bioinformatics company Strand Genomics has announced that Japan's MediBic Alliance has taken a minority equity stake in Strand.

MediBic Alliance is the investment arm of MediBic, a leading Japanese pharmacogenomics and life sciences consulting company.

The strategic investment for five years will help Strand to speed up its activities in informatics and modelling technologies, the Strand CEO, Dr Vijay Chandru, told a news conference.

The company was looking at emerging fields such as molecular diagnostics, which is estimated to grow to $15 billion in the coming years. With its latest product truPK set to push up revenue three-fold this year, Strand expected to turn cash positive this year, Dr Chandru said.

Strand, the first Indian bioinformatics company, was formed in 2000 as a spin-off of the Indian Institute of Science. It recently received $0.9 million from ICICI Spread Fund. Strand has also received $0.4 million under the CSIR's NMITLI grant and $1 million from the Technology Development Board. Since 2002, it also raised $4.6 million venture fund from West Bridge Capital Partners and UTI Venture Fund.

Among its partners and customers are Clinigene, Eli Lilly, Abgenix, Syrrx, Sequenom, which recently granted marketing rights for two of its products, and AstraZeneca Research Foundation for in-silico drug design.
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Bharti floats 50:50 joint venture with Rothschild firm
New Delhi: Bharti Enterprises Ltd (BEL) has announced a foray into the agri-business sector through Field Fresh Foods Private Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture with the Rothschild Group-controlled ELRo Holdings India Ltd.

The new venture would involve an initial investment of $50 million (Rs.250 crore), with both BEL and ELRo Holdings contributing $10 million each worth of equity.

The new company's core business would be in the export of fresh fruits and vegetables from the country to markets such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, South East Asia and West Asia.

FieldFresh would first source fresh fruits and vegetables through the contract-farming route from Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh. The products to be covered include apples, kino (citrus), litchis, cherry, tomato, baby corn, okra, lettuce, etc. In the second stage, these activities will be expanded to other parts, particularly the premier horticulture belt of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for products such as grapes, mangoes and bananas.

The country's exports of fresh fruits and vegetables amounted to Rs 1,700.35 crore during 2003-04.
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Delhi-Mumbai calls to cost Rs.1.90 a minute
New Delhi: The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd has reduced STD rates between the two cities to Rs.1.90 a minute from Rs.2.40. The move will benefit five million fixed line users of the state-owned company.

STD traffic between Delhi and Mumbai is among the highest in the country. MTNL subscribers making STD calls to other cities will continue to pay Rs.2.40 a minute.The new rates will be applicable from October 2.
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Infosys to contest trademark ruling
Bangalore: Software major Infosys Technologies Ltd has said that it would soon file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to contest the ruling of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), Chennai, which held that the company cannot hold a monopoly on trademark "Infosys."

The company did not elaborate on the issue citing that the firm was in the silent period ahead of its second quarter results on October 12.

According to a recent direction issued by the Chennai bench of IPAB, the Registrar of Trade Marks, Chennai, has been asked to remove the registration of trademark "Infosys" following an application moved by the Kolkota-based Jupiter Infosys.

,Jupiter Infosys Ltd sells computers, computer parts, accessories and other items of hardware.

The Infosys trademark is a registered trademark in India for several years as well as in over 25 countries around the world including the United States and Europe, it said.
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MTNL, BSNL synergy process begins
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom has invited expressions of interest from merchant bankers and consulting firms to advice the Government on finding the best option for synergising the strengths of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

This also includes the possibility of merger of the two state-owned telecom firms. DoT has formed a joint evaluation committee with the Department of Disinvestment for selecting a consultant.

The two departments have short-listed 13 firms including HSBC , Ernst & Young, J.P. Morgan, Lazard, ICICI Securities, Kotak Mahindra, SBI Capital, Boston Consulting and Accenture.
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InFocus launches new products
New Delhi: InFocus Corporation has announced the launch of a new range of products for India, aimed at providing user-friendly wireless capabilities and a strong image quality.

The products launched include InFocus X2 projector, the mobile projector InFocus LP70+ and the InFocus LP600 that has the InFocus `LitePort' feature.
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