RIL Board vests full authority in Mukesh Ambani
Mumbai: A Reliance spokesperson has said that Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani is not exploring legal options to solve ownership issues with his younger brother Anil Ambani. The spokesperson has also said that the company's board is fully backing Mukesh as Chairman and Managing Director of the RIL and has vested all authority in him.

The spokesperson also said that the Reliance Board did not find any merit in Anil Ambani's dissent note challenging Mukesh Ambani's move to takeover superior rights in the company made during a board meeting late last month.

Yesterday, six Directors of Reliance Energy Limited (REL) had resigned from the board of the company and Reliance Energy Chairman, Anil Ambani, had said yesterday that the resignations would be considered at the "appropriate time".
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DoT imposes Rs.150 crore penalty on Reliance
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has imposed a penalty of Rs.150 crore on Reliance Infocomm for violating licence conditions by routing international calls as local ones. The DoT has given Reliance seven days to respond to the notice as to why this penalty should not be imposed.

Reliance has confirmed the receipt of the notice and has said that the company would seek extension of the time period. This is besides the payment of about Rs.100 crore made by Reliance to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) against a claim of over Rs255 crore for avoiding payment of access deficit charge (ADC) of Rs4.25 per minute on incoming international calls. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has also claimed Rs309 crore under the same clause.

DoT took the decision to impose the penalty after seeking legal opinion from the Law Ministry.
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Hyundai drops Elantra prices
Bangalore: Hyundai has reduced the price of its latest model Elantra by over Rs.1 lakh and the offer will be open for seven days.

Early this month, Hyundai reduced the price of Santro to Rs3.01 lakh for three days and last December, it reduced the price of Accent to Rs5 lakh for a limited period.

A Hyundai official said that to celebrate the occasion of having sold seven lakh cars in 70 months, it has decided to offer Elantra for Rs7.6 lakh ex-showroom (basic version), around Rs1.3 lakh less than its earlier price tag while the top end version will cost around Rs8.3 lakh, nearly Rs1.7 lakh less. The CRDi will cost Rs9.93 lakh, nearly Rs80,000 less than the earlier price. All Elantra models are fitted with Antri-brake locking system (ABS) and Tracation Control System (TCS).

Elantra's sales have in fact been as per the target. For the first 12 months of its launch, Elantra was expected to sell around 6,000 units or 4,800 units till the end of 2004. It has been selling at a steady 500 units per month. After these price reductions, Hyundai is all set to increase the price of all its models between 2 per cent and 3 per cent.

During the three-day period when Santro was on sale for a price tag of Rs 3.01 lakh, Hyundai was able to sell as much as 27,000 units, with most of the sales happening on the last day while Accent sold around 6,000 units during the limited period offer which was at a price of Rs5 lakh.

The official said Hyundai expects to close the year with sales of 2.1 lakh units, around 40 per cent higher than 2003. Its exports during the entire year are expected to be around 70,000 units, around 133 per cent more than 2003. Hyundai has also been able to resolve the production issues and will now be able to manufacture around 21,000 units per month from next year onwards.
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Indian Immunologicals launches world's first Nimesulide injection
Hyderabad: Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL), the wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), has announced the launch of the world's first Nimesulide injection for animals.

The product, branded `Nimovet', has been launched after successful in-house research and clinical trials in leading veterinary colleges in the country. The product is available in 1 ml and 15 ml vials.

"Nimovet's action is multifaceted and it has been proven to be a safe, fast acting and powerful non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It does not cause hyperacidity and gastritis associated with other conventional NSAIDs."

The company said that the traditional NSAID therapy in India, though effective as analgesic and anti-inflammatory, has been associated with severe side effects such as hyperacidity, gastric irritation and toxicity.

While Nimesulide is available in oral form in human medicare, the company has developed the molecule as an injectible for the first time in the country for veterinary healthcare.

IIL expects to garner a market share of around five per cent in the domestic veterinary pain management drugs market, estimated at around Rs 27 crore, in the first year itself.
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Kothari Sugars promoters inject capital for revival
Chennai: The promoters of Kothari Sugars and Chemicals Ltd have brought in over Rs47.30 crore as a part of a rehabilitation package approved by the AAIFR (Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction).

In a communication to the stock exchanges, it has been stated that Parvathi Trading and Finance Company Private Ltd has acquired 4.73 crore shares, representing 57.17 per cent of Kothari Sugar's share capital.

The mode of acquisition is allotment pursuant to AAIFR order dated June 17 and the date of acquisition was November 23. Through this acquisition, Parvathi Trading, which brought in the Rs47.30 crore, holds 59.19 per cent stake in Kothari Sugars. The total share capital is Rs82 crore following inflow of funds under the rehabilitation programme, the communication said.

In April 1999, Kothari Sugars came under the purview of the BIFR, which ordered the winding up of the company in May 2002. Kothari Sugars appealed against the order in July that year and filed a revised rehabilitation package in January 2003.
Kothari Sugars operates a sugar mill at Lalgudi near Tiruchi, with a capacity to crush 2,900 tonnes sugarcane a day, an 11 MW cogeneration plant and a 45 kl a day distillery.
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Hero Mindmine to tap training outsourcing solutions market
New Delhi: Hero Mindmine, the learning and knowledge management division of Hero Corporate Services Ltd, part of the Rs9,500-crore Hero Group, is all set to offer training outsourcing solutions to developed countries such as the UK and the US.
While Hero Mindmine is not looking at taking up hands-on training for companies, it will occupy the space by offering content design for learning and development and working out the administration of the training for companies.

According to the company, a study done recently shows that Fortune 100 companies spend as much as $200 million annually on learning and development. Out of this, 55 per cent of the expenditure goes into content design and administration, which is the space that it would be tapping. According to the company, for companies in the developed world the cost differential works out to be 30 to 40 per cent.

Hero Mindmine has recently signed a contract with the Government of Oman to train the Omani citizens in communications skills. It is now looking at other West Asian countries such as the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait to deliver training solutions.
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Intec Group firms up plans for software unit
Hyderabad: The Intec Group Ltd, a $8 billion diversified engineering and manufacturing services provider with interests in IT and communications, has firmed up plans to acquire about 100 acres of land near Hyderabad to locate both a software services facility along with an hybrid incubation centre.

A team headed by the Chairman of the Intec Group, Walter van West, along with senior members of the group including M. Sridhar, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Technology, met with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy, to detail the company plans for Indian operations.

Intec, along with the Confederation of Indian Industry, is also planning to locate a Smart Hybrid E-Incubation Project that is aimed at helping small and medium sized companies in business productivity improvement. Its Indian subsidiary Intec Group (India) will cater to the needs of the company's global operations.

Speaking at the e-Hardware summit, West said that the global electronic industry has shaped up to a $4-trillion business and within this, the e-economy is about $2 trillion. However, the Indian contribution as opposed to that of China is relatively small mainly due to regulatory constraints. Once these are sorted out, India could well emerge as one of the favoured destinations for foreign direct investments in the region.
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Big B in new Boroplus ad
New Delhi: personal and healthcare major, Emami, has launched its latest advertising campaign featuring megastar Amitabh Bachchan, this time for Boroplus, one of its power brands. Bachchan has already featured in two Emami's ad campaigns - for Navratna Oil and Fast Relief.

According to a company release, Emami has aggressive plans for the Rs90-crore Boroplus brand with several extensions. Emami has already launched Boroplus Light Cream and Lotion this season.
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