Vascular Concepts readies for the European market
Bangalore: The first India-developed stents - devices implanted to unclog arteries of heart patients - would be travelling to European markets sometime early next year. Three versions have completed clinical trials in Europe and are awaiting regulatory approvals.

The stents market abroad is estimated to be at $1-billion (around Rs4, 584 crore).

Vascular Concepts, started in 1998, plans to raise $15-20 million (around Rs.70-90 crore) to fund its EU foray and is looking at options such as equity participation by domestic or international companies, debt and a combination of such arrangements.

Vascular Concepts recently formed a UK subsidiary to market across Europe its three products - platinum-coated, sirolimus coated stents and a covered stent graft - which were tested with encouraging results.

From Europe, a natural step would be the US, estimated to be a ten times bigger market. In spite of owning 35 patents for materials, design and coating process, Vascular Concepts opted for a manufacturing tie-up with Eucatech AG of Germany as "India doesn't have a brand in medical devices".

Started with a loan from KSIIDC and some angel funding, Vascular Concepts is an Rs35-crore company that operates alongside global stent majors Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson. In an Rs90-crore domestic market, it quickly raised its market share to 25 per cent with a 40 per cent price edge - a move which has brought down the cost of stents in the country in recent years.

Each year, hospitals across the country perform over 35,000 angioplasties using stents. With minimal bodily invasion techniques gaining preference, there has been 40 per cent growth in the stents segment, and more and more people are getting angioplasties done at the same or lower costs as four years ago.

As in the US, there is also a gradual shift from plain to drug-eluting stents that are costlier but found more effective in preventing recurrence of blocks.
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BSNL and Reliance to share community phones contract
New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Reliance Infocomm will share the contract for setting up community phones in 50,000 villages with support from the Universal Services Obligation (USO) fund.

While the two companies had separately bid for most of the villages, BSNL won the contract for rolling out community phones in two-thirds of the specified villages. The details of the contract and the bid amount will be announced by the Department of Telecom on Monday. An agreement between the two operators and the Government is expected to be signed on September 23.

The 50,000 villages identified are spread across 19 States and have a population of more than 2,000 people with no PCO facility yet. The support from the USO fund comprises a front loaded subsidy and an equated annual subsidy over a period of seven years. The operators are required to cover at least 20 per cent of the villages within one year from the effective date of the agreement and a minimum of 60 per cent by the end of second year.

The balance shall be provided by the end of third year.

The USO Fund Administrator is moving ahead with plans to cover all the 5.7 lakh villages with public phones. While 5.2 lakh villages have already been covered, tenders for setting up telephones in 50,000 remaining villages have been issued. A tender for setting up tele-info centres in 40,000 villages is also under way.

However, these plans may hit a roadblock as against an allocated amount of Rs3,700 crore for the last year, the USO fund has received only Rs500 crore from the Finance Ministry.
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BHEL prepares strategy for exports
Bangalore: State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has prepared a multi-pronged strategy to enhance its overseas operations and has set a target for exports which will contribute 25 per cent of its total turnover by 2011-12.

In the last five years, renewed thrust on globalisation has resulted in BHEL accumulating export orders of about Rs4,000 crore, in diverse product areas, entering new market segments, besides consolidation in existing products and markets .

BHEL's export range covers individual products to complete power stations, ranging from turnkey thermal, hydro and gas-based power projects, substation projects and rehabilitation projects, to Operation and Maintenance Services and specialised after-market services among others.
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Casino on mobiles from October
Mumbai: After going online, casinos are now set to enter cellphones with the first casino-based mobile game hitting India next month.

Mobile data content and applications firm Coruscant Tec has tied-up with UK-based ADLM Ltd, which is the holding company for leading online casinos, to develop and distribute casino-based mobile games in India and across the globe.

According to Coruscant, the first game 'BlackJack World Championship' will be available to Indian and international cellular operators from mid-October.''

ADLM Ltd is the holding company for windowcasino.com, goldkeycasino.com, blackjackchamp.com and magicosis.com.
Mumbai-based Coruscant Tec provides a range of mobile solutions including business applications, marketing solutions, entertainment and mobile commerce. It has offices in Palo Alto and Chennai. It offers one of the largest portfolio of SMS, WAP and Java content to the Indian market.
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