TCS tops Hewitt's best employer list
New Delhi: Indian companies, instead of MNCs, have occupied the first three places in this year's Best Employer in India survey by Hewitt Associates and CNBC TV 18.

Leading the way is Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), with Bharti Televentures at second place and National Thermal Power Corporation NTPC) at third. The 2003 survey in comparison had Indian subsidiaries of MNCs Procter Gamble India and American Express (I) Private Limited capturing the first two slots. NTPC has retained its third position.

In fact, Indian companies have also occupied the top slot in two of the three new categories introduced this year in Hewitt's fourth annual study of Indian organisations, besides the 25 Best Employers. The Five Best Managed Workforces has Godrej Consumer Products emerging on top, the Best People CEO voted in is Sunil Mittal of Bharti Televentures, while the Most Admired HR Department slot has gone to MNC Procter & Gamble India.

The study, which is aimed at understanding the link between people practices and business performance in organisations, this year had participation from 272 Indian companies, a 75 per cent increase since the inception of the survey.

According to Hewitt, the research this year has widened its ambit by monitoring developments not only among the white-collar employees, but the blue- collar as well. Along with people practices, the study also analyses trends in human capital management cost, talent movement and leadership alignment.

The study was open to all organisations in India that have been established for a minimum of three years and have no less than 100 white-collar employees. Participation was across 15 industry groups with an increase in participation from the Public Sector. Data was collected from 75,000 employee responses across industries.
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Welspun-Gujarat bags Rs.500 crore Iranian gas order
Mumbai: Welspun-Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd (WGSRL), the Rs815-crore submerged arc welded (SAW) pipes manufacturer, has won an order worth Rs500 crore to supply 69,000 tonnes of coated pipes to the National Iranian Gas Company.

The company had recently won an order worth $117 million for a US-based project. The company is currently executing orders worth more than Rs1,600 crore. WGSRL has the capacity to manufacture pipes around 1,000 km annually at its Dahej unit. The company can make pipes of diameter ranging between 16 inches to 60 inches.

Welspun-Gujarat is currently setting up a new manufacturing unit at Anjar in Gujarat at an investment of Rs200 crore. The additional capacity will mean the company could produce pipes of up to 100 inches diameter. The SAW pipes manufacturer plans to add capacities of around 5,00,000 tonnes by the end of this calendar year.

The demand for SAW pipes in the Oil and Gas sector is estimated around 17,000 km over the next five years. Of this, demand from the gas sector is expected to be 13,000 km. As for export markets, the demand is estimated to be 52,000 km over the next five years.

Pipelines provide a cheaper alternative to transport oil and gas with costs as low as Rs1.30/km. According to analysts, this works out 50 per cent cheaper than rail and 70 per cent cheaper than road transport.
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Bharat Forge buys its second German firm
Mumbai: Bharat Forge Ltd (BFL) said that it has acquired CDP Aluminiumtechnik GmbH & Co KG (CDP AT), in an all-cash deal.

The acquired company, located at Brand-Erbisdorf near Dresden, Germany is a "significant player in Europe" in the area of aluminium forged components used in passenger cars and other automotive applications. Its customers include BMW, Ford, Audi, and Volkswagen.

This is BFL's second acquisition in Germany since it took over the German operations of Carl Dan Peddinghaus GmbH & Co KG (now called CDP Bharat Forge GmbH) a year ago.

The acquisition will enable the company's existing customers to source a complete spectrum of forged auto components across steel and aluminium segments from a single source.

According to an official statement, the transaction was concluded at an enterprise value of 6.3 million euros (Rs37 crore). It is funded by way of equity of 3.8 million euros (Rs22.3 crore) and non-recourse debt of 2.5 million euros (Rs14.7 crore).

Out of the total equity, two million euros (Rs11.7 crore) is being contributed by BFL in a phased manner over six months, while the remaining 1.8 million euros (Rs10.6 crore) is being met from the internal cash accruals of CDP Bharat Forge and CDP AT.

CDP AT is a profitable company with an annual turnover of 35 million euros (Rs200 crore) and 130 employees, the statement said.
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Honda Motor to synergise Indo-Thai operations
New Delhi: Honda Motor Corporation has said that they are studying the FTA with Thailand very carefully to find a system by which its operations will be benefited, especially in motorcycles since it has huge capacities in both the countries. It said that as far as automobiles are concerned, it can use its Thai operations to the benefit of India.

The President and CEO of Honda Motor, Takeo Fukui, who is on his maiden visit to India, said that his company "sees huge potential in the Indian automobile market and will invest whatever profits Honda's businesses in India generate in the country."

Honda's operations include joint ventures - Hero Honda, Honda Siel Cars India, Honda Siel Power Products and wholly owned subsidiary Honda Motorcycle, and Scooter India. Meanwhile, Hero Honda Motors Ltd said today that it would invest Rs70 crore to ramp up capacity and finalise plans to set up a third manufacturing unit next month.

The company would increase production at its two plants to 2.8 million units annually from 2.4 million units at present, its Managing Director, Pawan Munjal, said. Hero Honda, which is 26 per cent each owned by Honda Motor Co of Japan and the Hero group, manufactures motorcycles at its two plants in Haryana.
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Zylog to market RTGS banking software
Chennai: The Chennai-based Zylog Systems Ltd will market in India RTGS PayWare (Real Time Gross Settlement), a Web-based banking product of the Singapore-based BCS Information Systems Pte Ltd. Zylog will also implement and integrate the product for commercial banks in the country, says a press release. The two IT firms signed an agreement to this effect recently.

RTGS is a system aimed at not only gradually reducing dependence on payments through cheques, but also at enabling online clearing and settlement of payments on a real-time basis across banks in different cities. The RTGS will allow live, real-time settlement of inter-bank payments across the country through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

According to BCSIS, which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation, Singapore, the product was meant mainly for the Indian market.

The RBI has asked Indian banks to implement RTGS. Some private sector banks have already implemented RTGS, and some public sector banks are planning to implement in the next few months, he told newspersons.

The company currently employs around 350, and plans to expand the workforce to 500 by 2005 end. Zylog achieved a turnover of Rs97 crore for the 2003-05 and is likely to reach Rs150 crore for the current fiscal ending March 2005.
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O&M is first runner up at Asian agencies awards
Chennai: Ogilvy & Mather India has been declared the first runner-up for the 'Office of the Year' Award at the 'Agency of the Year Awards' event conducted by Media magazine in Hong Kong on Thursday.

An O&M press release claims it is the only Indian agency among the winners, who were chosen on the parameters of new business wins, network's contribution to industry's advancement, industry recognition and staff training initiatives.

According to the Executive Chairman and National Creative Director of the agency, Piyush Pandey, "The fact that we have been declared the first runner-up in a highly contested competition in Asia serves to underpin our leadership position in India and, now, Asia. This award is particularly significant as the qualifying parameters span across 360-degree communication, therefore making this an incredible 360 win for the agency."
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SUSTA hires i2i
Hyderabad: The Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA) has hired Imports 2 India (i2i), a marketing firm, to undertake its promotional activities in the country.

SUSTA is a non-profit agricultural association comprising departments of agriculture of the 15 southern US States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

According to SUSTA, India's proposed entry to the WTO had spurred interest among the US food exporters.
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D'damas to spread retail network
Kolkata: D'damas Jewellery India Pvt Ltd, the 50:50 joint venture between the $1-billion Damas of Dubai and Gemplus Jewellery Ltd, will make its branded jewellery available in over 400 outlets in the country by early next year.

The company's branded products are currently available in over 200 outlets, primarily in chain stores, all over the country. Recently, two exclusive outlets were set up in Mumbai and the company is now focussing on opening more such showrooms through the franchise route.
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