Infosys Q2 net jumps 49 per cent to Rs.447 crore
Bangalore: Driven by a strong volume growth, software major Infosys Technologies Ltd, beating its own and street expectations, announced a 49 per cent jump in its net profits on Tuesday to Rs447.37 crore for the quarter ending September against Rs300.98 crore during the same period last year.

Revenues for the second quarter of the current fiscal jumped 52 per cent to Rs1,749.33 crore over last year's Rs1,151.8 crore.

Revenue and profit growth for this quarter was the highest since the first quarter of 2002. On a sequential basis, the revenues and profits grew 15 per cent each over the previous quarter.

Infosys expects income for FY05 to be in the range of Rs.7,132 crore and Rs.7,160 crore, a growth of 47-48 per cent over last year. The company expects earnings per share to be Rs67 for FY05, a growth of 43 per cent.

Infosys declared a mid-term dividend of Rs5 per share (100 per cent on par value of Rs5 each).

The company added 32 new clients during the quarter taking its overall client base to 431. Repeat business accounted for 96.3 per cent of revenues as the company saw good demand from existing clients in banking and telecom sector, especially the service providers.
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Patni to acquire Cymbal Corp. for $68 million
Mumbai: Patni Computer Systems, through its US subsidiary, Patni Inc, will acquire a California-based IT services company, Cymbal Corporation, for $68 million, to be paid in cash and over a period of time.

Cymbal Corporation, a company focused on the telecommunications industry, reported revenues of $32 million for the year ended June 2004. Cymbal has around 500 employees.

The acquisition would extend Patni's portfolio into the global high-growth telecom segment, said a Patni Computers release. This is the company's first acquisition after its IPO.
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Maruti goes for Amara Raja batteries
Chennai: Maruti Udyog Ltd has agreed to buy batteries for its cars from Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. The agreement should see Amara Raja supply 1,00,000 batteries to Maruti over the next twelve months.

The company is in the process of scaling up its automotive batteries manufacturing capacity at its Tirupati plant to 1.5 million units a year from one million now.

The company is an exclusive OE supplier to DaimlerChrysler, Ford and Swaraj Mazda. It also supplies to Ashok Leyland, General Motors, Hindustan Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors.

It is a joint venture between Indian promoters - the Galla family and Johnson Controls of the US. Both partners have 26 per cent stake each. The company is also examining a proposal to set up an assembly line for two-wheeler batteries and a decision could be taken by March, officials said.
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Tata Power raises Rs.600 crore from debentures
Mumbai: Tata Power has raised Rs600 crore through private placement of debentures. The debentures were issued at a yield-to-maturity of 7.1 per cent, said a news release from the company.

The company will utilise the issue proceeds for its expansion plans in the power sector, and to lower its cost of capital.

The debentures bear a coupon of 4 per cent for the first two years and thereafter 6 per cent for the remaining tenure, which is nine years.

The door-to-door maturity of the debenture is 11 years. The debenture will be entitled to a redemption premium and will be repaid back-ended, with 30 per cent to be paid in the ninth year, 40 per cent in the tenth year, and 30 per cent in the eleventh year.
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Google centres at Hyderabad and Bangalore
Hyderabad: The Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are currently in India to announce their two technology development centers, one each in Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Google has recently commissioned a centre in Dublin, Ireland, and are now overseeing their centers in India. They see services also getting localised catering to special requirements, particularly advertisements.

Google Hyderabad is its second centre in India and will be home to engineering, online sales, operations and human resource functions. The Google's ADWorlds that supports the global advertising related activity and generates revenues for the corporation would be supported from here.

On Monday, the duo called on the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and discussed technology issues. Dr Kalam, they said, was extremely knowledgeable and made a few suggestions.
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PowerGrid tie up for global project bids
Chennai: Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd has tied up with ECC-Keema of the Netherlands to bid for global transmission and power system improvement projects.

The agreement with ECC-Keema was an "umbrella agreement" that would help PowerGrid bid for international power systems improvement projects. The two companies had jointly bid for a project to strengthen the power system in Uzbekistan. According to the company the tie up with ECC-Keema was necessary as PowerGrid lost out "narrowly" on some global bids mainly because it did not have international exposure.

PowerGrid was trying to persuade various electricity boards to switch over to high voltage power distribution, as this would result in higher savings in the long run. The corporation was also working with State Governments on rural electrification.
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Kinetic launches Comet at Rs.1.67 lakh
New Delhi: Two-wheeler maker, Kinetic Engineering Ltd, has announced the launch of the Comet 250 priced at a whopping Rs.1.67 lakh. Aimed at the upwardly mobile youth, the limited edition motorcycle `Comet 250' would be sold in select cities.

The motorcycle, booking for which closes on November 20, will be brought from the stable of Hyosung Motors of Korea as Completely Knocked Down kits (CKDs).

The company will sell only 500 units of `Comet 250,' which comes fitted with a 27 brake horse power (BHP) twin cylinder and oil-cooled engine with mono shock absorbers, dual disc brakes, electric start and tyres as wide as that of mid-size car `Esteem.'
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i-flex bags award
Bangalore: i-flex Solutions Ltd has won the 2004 Global Entrepolis Singapore Award. The company won the award for Flexcube, its flagship banking product.

Rajesh Hukku, Chairman & Managing Director received the award from the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, and Senior Vice-President of Dow Jones & Company and President, Electronic Publishing,Gordon Crovitz.
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Best telecom brand award for Airtel
New Delhi: Bharti Tele-Venture's Airtel has bagged the award for the world's best communications brand of the year, at the World Communication Awards 2004, set up by London-based Emap Communications Group. The world's leading brands, including Orange, British Telecom, Starhub and M1, were among the nominees for the award.

The awards, in the sixth year of their inception, recognise outstanding performance by telecom companies and brands and are known as the `Oscars' of the communication sector. More than 50 of the world's leading telecom companies submitted a total of 123 entries for the awards.

Airtel was also a nominee for the Best Mobile Operator category.

The award is based on the actual market performance of the brand and the parameters include revenue growth, market share, market share growth and demonstrated leadership in product and service innovation. The company said the appeal of Airtel Express Yourself campaign has increased the brand awareness from 60 per cent to 91 per cent in just six months.
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