Bhakta to reconsider resignation from Reliance board
Mumbai: The Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, has persuaded senior director on the board of the company, M.L. Bhakta, to reconsider his resignation of Tuesday, according to a news release issued by Reliance on Wednesday.

Bhakta, in a letter written to the Chairman on Tuesday, had expressed his desire to resign on the grounds of age, said the news release. Ambani, calling on Bhakta this afternoon, recalled his role as "a valued colleague of the founder chairman of the company, Dhirubhai Ambani, and as a guide and mentor of the present leadership of the company thereafter."
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Air India board approves acquisition of aircraft
Mumbai: The board of Air India on Wednesday has approved the acquisition of fifty aircraft and has decided to float tenders for the same. Two-third of the fifty aircraft will be acquired on a firm basis and one-third on option, the airline has said.

An official statement issued after the board meeting here said, the national carrier proposes to acquire three types of aircraft, namely, medium capacity ultra long range aircraft (A340-500/B777-200LR); 350-seater medium capacity long range aircraft in a three class configuration (A340-600/B777-300ER); and 250-seater medium capacity long range aircraft in a two class configuration (A330-200/B7E7-8).

According to Air India, with the fleet acquisition, the airline would be able to compete with other international airlines esffectively.

The plan provides for an increase in fleet size from the present 34 to 74 aircraft. The airline proposes to increase its seat capacity by twelve per cent annually. The airline will invite offers from aircraft and engine manufacturers and subsequently undertake a techno-economic review of the offers received.

The board has also decided to process the acquisition of 18 737-800 W aircraft, which it had earlier selected for its small capacity short-range operations, in the name of its subsidiary company, Air-India Charters Ltd, after updating the project report based on low cost, low fare operations.

On induction, these aircraft will be used to replace the leased capacity to be deployed by Air India Express when it commences operations in April 2005, the statement said.
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Another DoT notice to Reliance on ILD issue
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom may issue a show cause notice to Reliance Infocomm in the next two days asking it to explain as to why a penalty should not be imposed on the company for allegedly routing international calls as local calls.

The DoT is likely to impose a penalty of Rs50 crore for every circle where a violation has been detected.

This is the second notice being sent to Reliance Infocomm after DoT had earlier asked the company to stop all services that were leading to violation of the licence condition.

Meanwhile, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has moved the Supreme Court seeking an injunction against the Delhi High Court order, which stopped the public sector company from taking any action against Reliance for the alleged violation. BSNL was the first to blow the whistle on Reliance after it discovered that the private operator was bringing international long distance calls as if it were local calls. This was resulting in huge loss to BSNL as Reliance was avoiding payment of Access Deficit Charges. BSNL had threatened to disconnect Reliance if the company failed to pay up for the loss incurred by the State-owned company.

The other state-owned company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd had also made similar allegations against Reliance Infocomm.
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BPL Tele handsets launched
Kolkata: BPL Telecom Pvt Ltd will invest Rs50 crore by March 2005 in its GSM mobile handsets manufacturing facility in Kerala. The company, which announced the launch of its range of GSM mobile handsets here on Wednesday, has also initiated discussions with Intel Corporation for enhancement of its existing manufacturing capabilities.

Of the seven models launched, two are manufactured in India while the other five are outsourced from Korea. These handsets are priced between Rs3,800 and Rs13,000. They would be retailed through the company's distributors and dealers' network countrywide.

The company was hopeful of launching around 20-25 handset models in the months ahead. While the high-end models would be imported, the rest would be manufactured locally. To attract customers, the introductory launch offer has schemes that include free gifts with the purchase of handsets.

The company, which manufactures and sells telephone handsets, EPABX systems and power line carrier communication systems, is hopeful of a revenue of Rs 200 crore in 2004-05.
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SCI pays Rs.90 crore interim dividend
New Delhi: The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has paid Rs90 crore to the Government as interim dividend for 2004-05.

The dividend cheque was presented to T.R. Baalu, Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, by P.K. Srivastava, Chairman & Managing Director, SCI.

SCI has earned a net profit of Rs529 crore during the first half of the current fiscal, the highest-ever half-yearly profit for SCI, and has declared an interim dividend of 40 per cent for the year.

The Rs 90-crore dividend reflects the earnings on the 80.12 per cent shareholding of the Government in SCI, an official statement said here.
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Coimbatore industrialist bags Standard Motors property
Chennai: Coimbatore based industrialist T.S.R. Khannaiyann has succeeded in clinching the bid for the purchase of the assets of Standard Motor Products of India Ltd, for a price of Rs140 crore.

Khannaiyann's Hindusthan Group includes companies that manufacture power and distribution transformers, varnish-bonded fibre glass covered wires and strips, copper and aluminium wires and strips, electrical panel boards, and steel radiators for power and distribution transformers. Besides, the group has in its fold an engineering college, an arts and science college and a higher secondary school.

The Hindusthan Group had a turnover of over Rs100 crore.
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E.I.D. Parry to invest Rs.200 crore in sanitaryware and sugar mill
Chennai: E.I.D. Parry Ltd, part of the Murugappa group, will invest over Rs200 crore to set up a sanitaryware facility in south India and an integrated sugar complex at its sugar mill in Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu.

The company has informed the stock exchanges of the decision to set up a 12,000 tonne sanitary-ware plant and to establish an integrated complex at the Pudukkottai sugar mill.

According to company officials, the sanitary-ware project is likely to come up in Tamil Nadu at a cost of about Rs58 crore. The new project would add 12,000 tonnes to the existing output of Parryware brand. It would cater to South India. The total production capacity under the Parryware brand would go up to 36,000 tonnes. The company has two facilities - a 12,900 tonne unit at Alwar, Rajasthan, and a 12,600 tonne unit at Ranipet, Tamil Nadu - producing the Parryware range. Thus the brand will span the entire country.

The balance is for an integrated sugar complex at its Pudukkottai sugar mill, which has a capacity to crush 2,500 tonnes sugarcane a day. This involves setting up an 18 MW cogeneration facility and expanding the sugarcane crushing capacity to about 3,000 tonnes a day. The integrated complex will involve investments of Rs90 crore. In addition, the company plans to set up a distillery here once statutory approvals are obtained.

E.I.D. Parry is also setting up a 22 MW co-generation facility at its Pugalur sugar mill at a cost of Rs 55 crore.
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Microsoft rolls out Project Shiksha in W.Bengal
Kolkata: Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd will spend $20 million on its "Project Shiksha" initiative, which will be rolled out in 10 States across the country in a phased manner. About 80,000 teachers working in the Government and Government-aided schools will be provided IT training over the next five years.

Microsoft India, on Wednesday, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the West Bengal Government for the roll-out of Project Shiksha in the State. Over the next five years, Microsoft will reach out to over 12,000 teachers and one million students in the Government and Government-aided schools in West Bengal.

The courseware would be both in English and Bengali and the entire training module for each batch of teachers would be of 95 hours duration spread over 12 days. These "master trainers" would then impart computer education in their respective schools. The West Bengal Department of Information Technology is the facilitator in the project even as the State's Department of Education would be the implementing agency.
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Volvo mulls construction equipment manufacture in India
Kolkata: The $30-billion Volvo group is planning to manufacture construction equipment in India. Volvo currently manufactures heavy commercial vehicles in India.

The company said that it was currently "studying" the possibilities of manufacturing Backhoe loaders in India. Backhoe loader is one of the many construction equipment manufactured by Volvo. "India is the largest market for Backhoe loaders with market size ranging up to 6,000 units." Overall, construction equipment business in the country is growing by 30 per cent.

Volvo currently sells over 300 units of construction equipment in India.

Apart from trucks and construction equipment, Volvo has substantial business interest in marine and industrial engines, aero-space industry and financial services.
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Ford considering diesel version of Fusion
Hyderabad: Ford India is exploring the possibility of launch of a diesel variant of the Ford Fusion vehicle sometime next year and plans to produce 500 more recently unveiled Ikon Anniversary sedans.

The company says that initially it plans to produce about 500 Fusions a month and gradually increase it to about 1,000 a month next year. Depending upon the demand, this could possibly go up to 1,500 a month.

Ford currently has 90 dealerships now in 70 cities and towns across the country and expects to take this number to 105 in 85 cities by first quarter next year.

The company said that running in two shifts, it expects to produce 60,000 vehicles. Out of this 30,000 Ikon's would be for the domestic market and about 24,000 for export market, including South Africa and other countries. It is also producing about 200 Endeavours a month.

Fusion variants are priced at Rs6.2 lakh and Rs6.95 lakh respectively (ex-showroom) in Hyderabad.
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Reliance Infocomm unveils `Get Started Kit'
Mangalore: Reliance Infocomm has rolled out the 'Get Started Kit', which consists of a pre-allocated 10-digit Reliance IndiaMobile (RIM) number and a nine-digit PIN to help activate a handset.

A company release said here that the kit would be available at Reliance Web Worlds and the 40,000-strong channel partners across the country.

With the kit, which is available for pre-paid and post-paid subscribers in separate packs, customers can purchase any Reliance-approved handset from the open market and get it activated with a number of their choice. Hitherto, Reliance Infocomm was providing handsets with pre-activated numbers.
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SSC&B Lintas bags Cybermedia Dice account
Mumbai: SSC&B Lintas Bangalore has won the Cybermedia Dice account in a multi-agency pitch.

Seven agencies reportedly participated in the pitch, including O&M and Saatchi & Saatchi. Dice is the world leader amongst job portals for technical placements in both the IT and non-IT domains.

In India, Dice has tied up with Cybermedia, a leading publisher of information and technology magazines. It will be the first specialised site for career management in the technology domain.

Besides Cybermedia Dice, other accounts in SSC&B Bangalore include Cisco Systems, Motul Lubricants, Kissan Greedy Bistix, and Modern Bread.
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