Raymond outbids buyers at Melbourne wool sale
Mumbai: Raymond successfully outbid several participants at an open auction in Melbourne to buy a bale of 11.8-micron wool in Australia recently. Micron wool is the finest quality wool that is available on the market.

A kilogram of the cleaned wool is priced at Rs1.33 lakh. Once cleaned the bale will give up 69 kg of wool of 11.8 micron (a micron is a millionth of a metre) and will make for 69 suit lengths. The company beat out buyers from Italy, Japan and Korea to buy the sole bale on auction. Company officials said that few companies could handle the wool or convert it into fabric.

In India, the landed cost of the raw material alone is about Rs 1.8 lakh per kg.
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SAIL clears Rs.675 crore for investments
New Delhi: The Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has approved a total investment of Rs675 crore in six projects as part of the first phase of its corporate growth plan for increasing production of value-added steels by 2012.

While out of the six projects, four have received the company board's green signal for commencement of implementation, the other two have been granted in-principle approval, according to a company release.

In-principle approval have been given for revamping of galvanising lines I & II at Rourkela Steel Plant's (RSP) cold rolling complex and installation of a hot metal desulphurisation unit at Bhilai Steel Plant's (BSP) SMS-II.

The four projects to be implemented would include rebuilding of a coke oven battery each at Bhilai and Bokaro Steel Plants with the latest pollution control facilities, revamping/replacement of B-strand in Bhilai's Wire Rod Mill and installation of argon oxygen decarburisation facility and high-powered electric arc furnace at Alloy Steels Plant.

These four projects are expected to be completed within a period of two years, the release said.
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Becton and Hind Latex tie-up for disposable syringes
New Delhi: Global medical technology firm Becton Dickinson (BD) has entered into an alliance with Hindustan Latex Ltd to launch auto-disposable syringe in India. Under the agreement between the two, BD will manufacture the syringes, while Hindustan Latex will market and distribute the syringes in the country.

Based on the BD SoloShot technology for immunisation and curative purposes, the syringes will be marketed under the brand name Autolok.

The production of these syringes will partially be done in India while most of them will be manufactured in the company's Spain facility.
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Capco sets up service delivery centre in Bangalore
Bangalore: Business processing, data and technology services firm Capco has set up its new service delivery centre in Bangalore with an estimated investment of $1 million.

The new delivery centre would house 100 people with plans to scale this to 200 employees by mid-2005. The facility at Bangalore will support several of Capco's Tier One financial services clients and would function as a fully integrated office within the Capco and Capco Reference Data Services global network.

The delivery centre will offer the entire range of business services, data operations, and software development, testing and production support for Capco's managed data services, data solutions, and technology solutions.
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O2 launches Xda series PDA phones
New Delhi: The UK-based mobile solutions provider, O2, has launched two compact PDA phones in the Indian market.

The Xda II mini, which the company said is the smallest PDA phone in the market, is priced at Rs34,888 while Xda IIs handheld will be available for Rs44,888.

O2 Asia said that Goldkist International Singapore, which has eighty dealers in India, will be the exclusive distributor for O2 handsets in the sub-continent. The company is aiming for a 100 per cent growth in the market for its range of high-end integrated mobile sets.

O2 entered the Indian market in September this year with Xda II handhelds and has sold around 2,000 units since then.
The company said that with the new product range, it aims to have a leading market share of convergence device in India. O2, a spin-off entity of British Telecom, seeks to have a presence in 250 locations by 2005.

The company has service centres in Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore.
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Geometric to acquire US company
Mumbai: Geometric Software Solutions Company Ltd has said that it is planning to acquire 100 per cent stake in the Arizona-based Teksoft Inc and Cimtronics Inc. It has signed a term sheet with OnCourse Technologies Inc, which is headquartered in Wisconsin, US, to acquire stakes in its Arizona-based entities.

The company expects to finalise details within the next 60 days, Geometric Software has said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange. This deal is subject to the necessary permissions of shareholders and board of directors of OnCourse and other regulatory bodies, as may be required.
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Mascon board approves GDR draft
Chennai: The board of Mascon Global Ltd has approved the 'draft offering circular' in connection with the proposed GDR issue to raise funds up to $18 million, including green shoe option of $ 3 million.

This is subject to completion and final approval from the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LSE), says a company release to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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English channel for South Asian viewers
Mumbai: South Asia World, the first English language channel dedicated to South Asian viewers across the world, has been launched. It will have operational arrangements with TV18.
The new channel is available on the Dish Network platform.

"Customers can add South Asia World on an `a la carte' basis for $4.99 per month, or they can get one month free by paying on an annual basis," an official statement said.

A subscription to America's Top 60 or above, Dish Latino or above, or any South Asian channel or package is needed to subscribe to South Asia World. Additional equipment may be needed to receive these channels, a release has said.

India World Network, USA Inc, owns and manages the channel. India World Network is wholly owned by SAW Holdings Ltd, promoted by Raghav Behl, who also founded TV18.
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