BSNL net up four times
New Delhi: BSNL has recorded four-fold growth in net profit at Rs5,976 crore on a turnover of Rs32,000 crore for 2003-04. The company said that it expects to clock about Rs6,000 crore net profit during in the current fiscal.
In 2002-03, the PSU had posted revenues of Rs28,000 crore and net profit was Rs1,400 crore.

The company, which was corporatised in the year 2000, paid a dividend of Rs481 crore to the Government, of which Rs281 crore is for the last fiscal and Rs200 crore is interim dividend for the current year.

A.K. Sinha, CMD, said that BSNL achieved remarkable cellular growth in 2003-04 having added thirty lakh additional connections and connecting 702 more cities during the period.

BSNL has paid licence fee of Rs3,300 crore for the current fiscal and demanded reimbursement of the same. In case it doesn't get reimbursed, its net profit will get reduced proportionately.

On the issue of access deficit charge, Sinha warned that the fixed line telephone charges would go up considerably in case the telecom regulator brings down the charge.
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Tata Motors and MG Rover JV to continue
Mumbai: Tata Motors Ltd and Phoenix/MG Rover Group, in a joint statement have reiterated their commitment to the City Rover in the UK and European markets.

According to it, the City Rover project will see added momentum with new product versions and entry into new markets. The companies plan to introduce left hand drive models of the car that will form the basis of its entry into European markets. Additionally, they have agreed on the potential inclusion of a turbo-diesel version of the City Rover.

However, it remained silent on whether there would be any price correction for the car, sales of which in 2004 has stayed below expectation. Foreign news reports put the UK sales figure at 6000 units.
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TajGVK Hotels buys Chennai property
Chennai: TAJ GVK Hotels & Resorts Ltd, a joint venture between Indian Hotels Co Ltd (a Tata group company) and the Hyderabad-based G.V.K Group, has acquired a hotel property, off arterial Anna Salai, in Chennai for Rs32 crore.

The 212-room property, which is located between Club House Road and Woods Road, covering 1.5 acres, has been lying unfinished for some time. The work on the property, which was owned by Sri Tripurasundari Hotels Ltd., started in 1994. The company planned to invest an additional Rs100 crore for upgradation work.

The acquisition of the hotel in Chennai is in tune with TajGVK's thrust to diversify geographically. This is the second hotel to be acquired after the 152-rooms, five-star hotel in Chandigarh during 2002-03.

In Hyderabad, the company has three hotel properties - The Taj Krishna, a five-star deluxe hotel, the Taj Residency and the Taj Banjara. TajGVK currently has an inventory of 527 rooms in Hyderabad. TajGVK is looking for properties in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

During the first half of the current financial year, TajGVK has reported a 37 per cent increase in operating revenues at Rs49.36 crore against Rs36.16 crore for the same period in the previous year
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TCS developing insurance solution for Takaful Malaysia
New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services Malaysia, a wholly owned subsidiary of TCS, has announced completion of the first phase of design & development for the $2.3-million IT project to develop a comprehensive Islamic insurance solution, called Takaful Integrated System, for Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad (Takaful Malaysia).

Takaful Malaysia and TCS would work together to bring the system to Takaful Malaysia's subsidiaries branches and associates in South Asia and the Middle East, as well as other Takaful operators in the Islamic insurance business, a TCS statement said here. The system is expected to be fully operational by mid-2005.

The Takaful Integrated System would automate Takaful Malaysia's business processes such as policy administration and claims processing. Tata Consultancy Services Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., a MSC (Mutimedia Super Corridor) status company, would oversee the planning, implementation, testing and end-user training, while TCS' offshore centres in India will manage the capacity planning, design, development and data migration for this project.
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Phoenix renamed TCS-BTS
Bangalore: Following its acquisition by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Phoenix Global Solutions has been renamed TCS Business Transformation Solutions Ltd. The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of TCS, according to a company release.

Satishchandra Doreswamy will continue to be the Chief Operating Officer of TCS Business Transformation Solutions and has been nominated as the whole-time Director on the company's board.
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Generator contract for Wartsila
New Delhi: Wartsila has been awarded its first contract for the operation and maintenance of a coal-based steam turbine generator plant of a leading cement manufacturer.

The contract is for operating and maintaining a 15-MW power plant based on Atmospheric Fluidised Bed Combustion Technology, a company release said. Wärtsilä currently operates and maintains 57 power plants in India, totalling 574 MW, running on heavy fuel and gas.
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Reliance board to consider share buyback
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd has called a meeting of its board of directors to discuss buying back equity shares from investors who want to exit. The company on Monday informed stock exchanges that a share buyback would be among the topics the board would discuss on December 27.

The meeting comes within days of the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Anil Ambani, calling for a meeting to discuss issues of importance, including the resignation of one of the senior most members, M.L. Bhakta.

The RIL stock has fallen 12 per cent from Rs544 on November 17, the day Mukesh Ambani hinted in a television interview that all may be not well within the family. The stock was quoting at Rs480.65 at close of trading on Monday.
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Reliance Energy extends buyback
Mumbai: Reliance Energy Ltd. extended the buyback programme of its equity shares up to March 17, 2005. This will be the second extension to the buyback since it was announced on June 14.

On June 14, REL had announced a buyback that was to end on June 8, 2005. Initially, the buyback was to be open for 90 days to close on September 18. On July 21, the board decided to extend the buyback up to December 17.

JM Morgan Stanley, managers of the buyback, said that the company will continue buying shares for another 90 days up to March 2005.
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TVS-E enters SAARC market
Chennai: TVS-Electronics has forayed into South Asian, West Asian and South African markets.

The manufacturer of computer peripherals has strengthened its presence in these regions through local distribution arrangements with Ingram Micro for SAARC countries, Jimbo Electronics for United Arab Emirates and TVR Computers for South Africa.

TVS-E has also appointed local business partners in these regions for sales and support programmes, according to a press release issued by TVS-E.
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CalSoft buys WebSpectrum
Chennai: The Chennai-based California Software Company Ltd (CalSoft) has acquired WebSpectrum Software Pvt Ltd, a closely held Bangalore-based firm, for Rs2.2 crore. A few weeks ago, CalSoft had also acquired a 51-per cent stake in the Kochi-based Team Frontline, a system integrator firm, for Rs20 lakh. CalSoft has around 400 employees.

The acquisition would help CalSoft strengthen its technology solutions division, besides expanding operations in Bangalore. CalSoft's technology division is to be merged with WebSpectrum that employs 35 people and is expected to have revenues of Rs3 crore this fiscal year ending March 2005, company officials said.

CalSoft plans to expand the Bangalore facility to accommodate over 100 engineers by 2005-end. WebSpectrum focuses on network management systems and networking products. The company's customers include Nortel Networks and Symmetricom, said Rathnakuamar Kayyar, Chief Executive Officer, WebSpectrum.
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Sun Network ties up with Malaysia's Astro
New Delhi: Malaysia's leading broadcaster, Astro All Asia Networks plc has entered into an agreement with Sun TV for setting up a joint venture to originate, aggregate and distribute television programming and channels for the global audience.

Investments by both the companies would be used for content creation in various languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali for distribution in the international markets.

The cooperation will also include setting up a Tamil channel to be developed by the joint venture exclusively for distribution on the Astro's direct-to-home platform for Malaysia and other South East Asian markets. Another Bengali channel would also be created for distribution in India and other markets with Bengali diaspora.
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