Tata Steel in discussions on titanium dioxide project
Chennai: Tata Steel is satisfied with the feasibility study for its proposed titanium dioxide project in Tamil Nadu and is holding discussions with the State Government on the availability of water.

The project, which envisages mining and processing the mineral-rich beach sands in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu to produce titanium dioxide, requires about 12 million gallons of water per day.
The issue is whether the Government will be able to supply water from the Tamiraparani river or whether the company will have to go in for a seawater desalination plant.

Tata Steel was prepared to look at desalination as an option. However, this would include a power plant and the power generated by it would have to be purchased by the State Government. These are the issues under discussion.

The cost of the titanium dioxide project, excluding the cost of desalination plant and a power plant, would be about Rs 1,600 crore. The plant would have a capacity to produce 1,00,000 tonnes a year of titanium dioxide. The project involves mining and separating rutile and ilmenite from the beach sands and producing titanium dioxide, which found use in the pigment and paint industry.

At present, about 30,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide was being imported into country. Apart from ensuring import substitution, the project was important for the company as it believed it would be a stepping stone for Tata Steel to get into manufacturing titanium, which, it felt, was the metal of the future.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Steel and BlueScope in talks for JV
Mumbai: Tata Steel is likely to form an equal joint venture with BlueScope Steel to produce downstream products, mainly for the construction and building industry, according to company officials.

BlueScope is a large steel producer in Australia and New Zealand. Last week, BlueScope had announced that it would invest Rs340 crore in setting up three manufacturing facilities in India - at Delhi (for rollforming and components), Pune (pre-engineered buildings, rollforming and components) and Chennai (rollforming and components).

BlueScope had also stated that it was in talks with Tata Steel for a 50:50 joint venture to develop a metal coating and paint line facility in India and if that materialised, the investments in the three new plants would also form part of that joint venture.

Tata Steel officials confirmed that talks were on and a decision would be taken shortly. The plant at Chennai would come up at suburban Tiruninravur, on the premises belonging to a defunct steel rolling mill, according to the officials.
Back to News Review index page  

JCT leases textile mill in Senegal
New Delhi: JCT Ltd has acquired a mill in Senegal with an annual capacity of 9 million metres of woven fabric and 2.45 million garments. The company will acquire the mill with a five-year lease and an option to buy it outright after that, it has informed the BSE.

JCT has invested $3.34 million towards advance lease rentals and expenses and has finalised a $3.2-million loan for renovation. It will make a further investment of about $2 million and estimates operations to start by the end of February.

JCT has already doubled its cotton fabric dyeing and processing capacity in India and plans to add facilities to produce 100 per cent nylon or polyester fabric. It is also planning to invest in a captive power plant.
Back to News Review index page  

Indoco Remedies looks abroad
Mumbai: The Mumbai-based drug company Indoco Remedies Ltd plans to set up subsidiaries abroad to strengthen its foothold in the overseas market, through its proposed 100-per cent holding company, Indoco Holdings Netherlands BV. The proposed holding company will hold 55 per cent equity in the proposed Indoco South Africa Pty Ltd and 100 per cent in Indoco UK Ltd.

Indoco Remedies is entering the capital market with an initial public offering (IPO) of 30,00,000 equity shares of Rs10 each. The price band for the issue has been fixed at Rs220 to Rs245, company officials said, kicking off the road-show here on Monday.

The proceeds of the issue will be utilised to part fund the company's expansion programme - for a plant in Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) at an investment of about Rs25 crore, a bulk drug producing plant at an estimated project cost of Rs22 crore, a R&D centre and for the repayment of loans for previous brand acquisitions and purchase of office premises.

The issue will constitute 25.38 per cent of the fully diluted post paid-up capital of the company. The equity stakes of the promoters and the promoting group, currently at 79.75 per cent of the present paid-up equity capital of Rs8.82 crore, will decrease to 59.51 per cent after the issue. The equity after the IPO will be Rs11.82 crore.

The company recently acquired Karvol Plus brand from Solvay Pharmaceuticals and more acquisitions are on the company's radar. The company was looking at global acquisitions in markets such as France and the UK - a strategy adopted by other pharma companies in global markets. The company was also looking to become a complete outsourcing partner and may foray into the bulk drugs segment.

Known for its presence in the segment comprising finished dosage forms of medicine, the company is looking at manufacturing bulk drugs too. Through contract manufacturing and R&D, it looks to complement the operations of multinational companies abroad.
Back to News Review index page  
Reliance Info unveils Handset Change Card
Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm has rolled out a Handset Change Card (HCC) to offer subscribers the flexibility of changing or upgrading to the handset of their choice and retaining the old phone number with it.

Hitherto, Reliance, or for that matter any other CDMA operator, has been providing handsets with pre-activated numbers, said a news release from the company.
Back to News Review index page  

Tatas serve notice on VSNL compensation issue
New Delhi: The Tata group has served a legal notice to the Union Government on its long-standing demand for a suitable compensation package for Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) for advancing the deadline for opening up the international long distance (ILD) sector by two years to 2002.

The move comes after the company had made numerous representations to the Department of Telecom (DoT) to settle the compensation quickly, as the three-year deadline, as mentioned in the shareholders purchase agreement, ends in February 2005.

The company had said that the Government had not given it a chance to negotiate the compensation package for VSNL before signing the agreement to buy a part of the Government's stake in the long distance services company. The Government, on its part, maintained that the agreement was arrived at in a transparent manner and the strategic partner was aware of the Government's policy while signing the dotted line.

The 43-page notice is a precursor to the company filing a suit in court against the Government.

One of the primary concerns for the Tata-managed VSNL is losing out on the ILD traffic from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (BSNL) network, which has already taken its own ILD licence and plans to launch its service independently by next year.

While the compensation package offered by the Government had stipulated that BSNL and MTNL would route their ILD traffic through VSNL till 2004, the Tata group wants a long-term arrangement with the two public sector companies, which together own nearly 60 per cent of the country's telecom network.
Back to News Review index page  

Stay granted on I-T demand notice to HCL Corporation
New Delhi: The Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has granted a stay on the over Rs800-crore demand notice raised by the Income-Tax Department on HCL Corporation, which is the founding entity of HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems.

Reliable sources said that the stay has been granted subject to the condition that a sum of Rs100 crore is deposited with the Tribunal by February 28, 2005. Hearing in this case before the Tribunal is to be held in March.

HCL Corporation is said to have approached the ITAT on appeal against the I-T Department's order after the Commissioner of Income-Tax (appeals) had granted marginal relief to the assessee against the Rs800 crore plus demand raised by the income-tax assessing officer.

Informed sources said that the dispute revolves around the issue of "notional capital gains". HCL Corporation holds 56 per cent stake in HCL Technologies and 52 per cent stake in HCL Infosystems.
The HCL group was raided by the I-T department in January 2002. The Department claims that the documents seized during the raid allegedly provide documentary evidence of capital gains tax evasion.
Back to News Review index page  

Rado to enhance presence in Indian market
Kolkata: Rado, part of the 4-billion Swiss franc turnover (Rs15,200 crore) Swatch Group, has firmed up plans to augment the number of points of sale from 100 at present to 120 by end-2005.

Pilot showrooms have been set up in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Soon, such showrooms will be set up in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Talks are underway for setting up pilot showrooms in Delhi and Kolkata as well. The number of service centres will also be augmented.

According to him, the Swatch Group has 16 brands on offer, including Omega, Rado, Longines and Tissot. These watches are priced as low as $40 (Rs1,800) to as high as $300,000 (Rs1.3 crore). The Rado range of watches will be available in India between Rs15,000 and Rs 1 lakh. The range of high-tech, scratch-proof, ceramic Rado watches will be available in India for Rs50,000-60,000.

The company is hopeful of selling around one lakh Rado watches above the $500-700 (Rs22,500-31,500) price line next year.
Back to News Review index page