Reliance
makes more gas discoveries off east coast
New Delhi: Reliance Industries has discovered
gas at two locations off the East Coast at its large
D6 and NEC-25 blocks. the company's junior partner Niko
Resources of Canada announced this.
At
the D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin, off the
Andhra coast, Reliance made its 11th and 12th consecutive
gas discovery in M-1 and H-1 exploration wells.
Reliance
estimates the M-1 exploration well has approximately
155 metres of net pay making it one of the thickest
net pay gas sections encountered to date in the D6 Block
(where 14.5 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves have
been discovered since 2002), Niko said.
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Tata
Steel awarded TPM 'excellence award' for 2004
Kolkata: Four units of Jamshedpur-based Tata
Steel have been awarded the TPM 'excellence award' for
2004 by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM).
The
institute confers the TPM awards to applicants from
all over the world for implementing TPM to increase
plant efficiency. This is the first time in India when
a hot strip mill, a bearings plant, a precision tube
mill and wire rod mill have obtained the JIPM TPM Excellence
Award, according to a Tata Steel spokesperson.
Buoyed
by the significant improvements achieved in the units,
the deployment of this TPM philosophy has now been done
at all the manufacturing and support service areas of
the company, including mines and collieries, the spokesperson
said in a release.
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i-Flex
to acquire two firms in US and France
New
Delhi: i-Flex Solutions has said it is planning
to acquire two entities in the US and France as part
of its efforts at inorganic growth.
The
two strategic initiatives include the acquisition of
the US-based image sensor technology experts Equinox
Corporation, and picking up of a 33 per cent stake in
the French treasury software specialist firm, Login
SA, i-Flex has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. Company
officials said that both the acquisitions are cash-based
transactions.
Both
the initiatives are aimed at strengthening its solutions
portfolio for the global financial services industry.
The
officials said Equinox complements the Flexcube core
banking solution of i-flex. At this point the valuation
of the companies cannot be disclosed, but the size of
these acquisitions are valued at $5 million each.
The US-based Equinox has close to 300 people in its
back office process at Gurgaon with approximately five
to six customers and post-acquisition this would come
under the i-flex umbrella. i-flex had a marketing alliance
with Login SA and procuring the 33 per cent stake in
the treasury solution provider is an extension of the
relationship.
While
Equinox provides customer acquisition and BPO services
to mortgage institutions, auto financers and credit
companies, Login SA is a specialised front and mid-office
treasury solution provider.
Both
these companies have in-house IP-based products with
Equinox having products such as SmartAcquisition and
StopLeakage and Login owning Acumen.
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Toyota
Prado to be launched in India by month-end
Pune:
Toyota Kirloskar Motors plans to launch its Land Cruiser
Prado later this month.
Company sources said the company will initially launch
V6, the 4-litre petrol engine version of the SUV.
It
plans to bring in completely built units of the SUV
from the Toyota plant in Japan. Sources said the company
was targeting sales of an estimated thousand units in
the first year.
The
5-door, 235 bhp SUV features a 5-speed auto-transmission,
permanent four-wheel drive, dual zone air-conditioning,
height control mechanism and the trademark Toyota 'electronic
modulated suspension'.
The
company has still not finalised the price.
Toyota
Kirloskar Motors is also planning an MUV to replace
its Qualis model.
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AirTel
sets aside Rs150 to Rs200 crore for service rollout
in Orissa and Bihar
Kolkata:
Airtel has set aside between Rs150 and Rs200 crore for
its cellular rollout in the Orissa and Bihar telecom
circles. The Bihar Telecom Circle includes the state
of Jharkhand as well.
The
company will roll out its cellular operations in the
Assam Telecom Circle this fiscal.
Airtel
has initiated market surveys in the Andaman & Nicobar
Islands and Lakshwadeep, where it proposes to launch
cellular operations.
According
to the company, AirTel has a 25 per cent share of the
country's cellular market. Its share of the domestic
cellular revenue is higher than its market share. The
company was in the process of identifying select towns
and cities in India where end-to-end wired and wireless
telecom services would be offered to corporate customers.
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236
more towns to be covered by RIM in
Kerala
Kochi:
Reliance Infocomm has announced its second phase of
expansion plans in Kerala and is extending its mobile
phone network to 236 more towns in the State.
The
RIM phase-II plan for Kerala, backed by an investment
of Rs250 crore will be completed within 120 days. Of
the 236 new towns, around 100 locations will be covered
by January 1, 2005, The company had already covered
three towns in the last three days under the second
phase of expansion programme.
With
this expansion, the Reliance Infocomm network would
cover 337 cities and towns in the state. The area covered
by the network would also include all national highways,
state highways and railway routes in the state. The
expansion further enhances connectivity capacity of
the network, guaranteeing seamless communications across
the state with RIM covering all the districts in the
State.
RIM
had 4.84 lakh customers in Kerala as on October 31.
With the addition of new towns in the network, RIM service
would be accessible to new customers as well providing
increased coverage to the existing subscribers.
The
expanded network would cover all tourist destinations
and pilgrimage centres of the state. The network will
soon be available for pilgrims in the current Sabarimala
pilgrimage season.
With
Kerala fast emerging as a leader in tourism, the 'anywhere,
anytime' data network of Reliance would be a significant
infrastructure contribution to the future growth of
tourism, he said.
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Microsoft
plans to offer software in 14 Indian languages
New
Delhi: Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, who is on a
visit to India, said the company plans to localise its
Windows and Office software in 14 Indian languages by
next year-end. He said, the Indian government needed
to take measures to stimulate the IT economy in India
as the country lagged in investments in computerisation.
Ballmer
indicated that there were opportunities for the government
to do even more on the issue of digital inclusion.
Ballmer
said he had updated prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh
on Micosoft's project `Bhasha' to bring Windows and
Office in 14 Indian languages by this time next year.
He
said Microsoft would continue to hire more R&D engineers
both in India and its headquarters in the US.
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OATS
launches India centre, partners with Infosys
Bangalore:
RFID product development and services major, OATSystems,
has launched its Indian facility and announced a partnership
with Infosys Technologies to service its RFID (radio
frequency identification) products.
The
facility will work on both product development and software
support and services for OAT's Foundation Suite, the
company expects to create IP-oriented products here.
Dr
Sanjay Sarma, Chief Technology Officer, OATs said this
a step to transition the country from being software
services to product development.
Dr
Sarma said that a portion of the $11.5-million VC funds
received by OATS last year had been ploughed into the
Indian facility and the company would look at hiring
top-notch engineers and scout the IITs for talent.
Ashish
Vikram has been selected to head the Indian operations.
He
said that with large retailers such as WalMart and Tesco
working towards RFID compliance in 2005, there will
be a need for competent RFID manpower and India can
fulfil this requirement and provide services for RFID
deployment.
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TeamLease
to train students in BPO job skills
Bangalore:
TeamLease Services, a staffing solutions company, has
launched a BPO-ITeS training programme for students
of graduate and technical colleges.
The
training programme focuses on enhancing the skills required
for a BPO job like improving vocabulary and communication
skills, neutralising regional accents, etc. The programme
also helps students understand the cultural nuances
of various countries, geographical and social issues
that are of relevance to the business.
Apart
from this, students will also have the opportunity to
interact with HR managers of BPO companies to discuss
career issues.
According
to a recent Nasscom report, the total manpower demand
in the BPO sector is estimated to touch 11.2 lakh by
the year 2009.
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Cartoon
Network will telecast of 3D animated show worldwide
Mumbai:
Cartoon Network has approved 'Pet Alien,' a 3D animated
television show of Crest Animation Studies for worldwide
telecast.
The
series is co-owned by Crest and MYP, an arrangement
believed to be a first for the industry here in the
3D Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) space.
The
two companies are also working on another co-production,
`Dive Olly, Dive', likely to be ready for the market
by mid-2006, for which nine networks have signed pre-production
contracts.
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Air
Deccan scales down income projections
New
Delhi: South India-based carrier Air Deccan has
scaled down its revenue projections by about 25 per
cent to $90 million for the year ending March, 31 2005.
This is because of the delay in inducting new aircraft
into its fleet.
The
deployment of three Airbus aircraft was delayed by two
months, resulting in late start of its services in key
metro sectors like Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Bangalore and
Delhi-Chennai.
Besides,
the airline was further hit by delays in getting the
mandatory regulatory clearance for parking and landing
in some of the metro stations like Delhi and Mumbai.
Officials
say the carrier will not be able to achieve the earlier
target of $120 million though it will cross $90 million.
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GMI
plans to change on failure of talks with lenders
New
Delhi: General Motors India said its takeover of
Daewoo Motors' assembly plant in Surajpur, Uttar Pradesh,
has been hindered by disagreement over unsettled debts.
The company is talking to the creditors of Daewoo Motors
India (DMIL) to acquire the car assembly unit of the
failed Korean carmaker and has set a timeframe to clinch
the deal.
The
announcement of GMI to acquire the car assembly unit
of DMIL in March had revived hope of re-launch of Daewoo's
compact car' Matiz' as Chevrolet Spark.
GM,
the world's largest automaker, now plans to give a deadline
to the two disagreeing parties - the Mumbai-based Debt
Recovery Tribunal and the customs department - to convey
that a prolonged delay in resolving the issue of debts
might force it to "look at other options."
GM
India's president and managing director, Aditya Vij,
said the company will look for alternate routes for
expansion after some time. However, he did not provide
the time-frame by which GM India will start looking
for expansion alternatives.
In
March this year, General Motors had made an offer to
buy the unit from the principal lenders -ICICI Bank
Ltd., Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd and Export-Import
Bank of India. The Debt Recovery Tribunal, Mumbai had
said the principal lenders should be given first preference
in awarding any proceeds of the sale of the Daewoo unit.
Customs officials have claimed that Daewoo India owed
money to the department in the form of unfulfilled export
commitments, against imported auto components.
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