Siyaram to enter home furnishing
Mumbai: Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd has decided to enter the home furnishing segment.

The flagship company of the Rs 1,125-crore Siyaram Poddar group is also due to invest Rs 22 crore in expanding capacity in 2005. It has already added 48 looms at its Tarapur and Silvassa units.

The company recently test marketed a new suiting product Featherz in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The new product priced at Rs225-400 per meter has already drawn favourable responses from international retailers and Indian manufacturers. In 2005, the company is planning to set up a garment unit in Tarapur at a cost of Rs5 crore.

Currently exports account for 20 per cent of the company's output. The company was expecting to post a turnover of about Rs330 crore for the year ended March 2005. The company hoped to raise the turnover to about Rs425 crore in 2006. The company hopes to raise its share of the fabric market to 20 per cent from the present 15 per cent.
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Rajesh Exports to foray into diamonds and retail
Ahmedabad: Rajesh Exports Ltd, the Rs3,000-crore gold jewellery maker, has announced plans to enter into retail business with a dedicated chain of jewellery stores, as also plans to enter into diamond products.

The company has chalked out a Rs800-crore expansion plan that involves setting up 100 jewellery stores in the southern States at a cost of Rs450 crore. The company is also investing Rs70 crore for its diamonds foray and has put aside $50 million (Rs 220 crore) to acquire gold mines in either Australia or South Africa.

During 2003-04, the company's topline crossed Rs3,000 crore. Net profit during the period rose from Rs7.37 crore to Rs27.31 crore.
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GAIL to pick up 33 per cent stake in Ennore LNG terminal
New Delhi: GAIL (India) Ltd will take a 33-per cent stake in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal proposed to be set up by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) at Ennore port in Tamil Nadu.

"GAIL is to take a 33-per cent equity participation in the Ennore regassification terminal. It will also undertake marketing of three million tonnes of regassified-LNG (R-LNG) from the Ennore terminal," the company said in a statement here.

IOC plans to build the terminal to cater to the fuel needs of its subsidiary, CPCL, and to supply re-gassified LNG to prospective industries in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which are willing to switch over from liquid fuel to natural gas.

Ennore power station, North Chennai power station, Tuticorin power station and Mettur power station are some of the potential customers of the Ennore LNG terminal.

GAIL has proposed a Coimbatore-Erode-Salem-Dharampuri pipeline besides the Chennai-Bangalore and Chennai-Tuticorin lines to transport regassified LNG. Besides, a local network of 163-km (Kuttalam-Narimanan- Kovilallapal-Perungulam- Bhuvanagiri) is under implementation, the statement said.
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Woodland targets 100 per cent growth in sales turnover
New Delhi: Woodland is targeting Rs150-crore sales turnover this fiscal and 100 per cent growth over the next three years to touch Rs300 crore. The company has decided to set up three new factories in Himachal Pradesh and Dehradun to enhance capacity and expand its existing product range.

It has already unveiled a completely new range of footwear in its summer collection; begun expanding distribution network and consolidation of market share in the apparel segment.

The company has earmarked Rs 5 crore for advertising its products and a new ad campaign will soon be on air, Woodland said in a statement here.
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Logic Soft to take five percent stake in Vertex
Pune: The Pune-based Vertex Software Pvt Ltd and the Ohio-based Logic Soft Inc have tied up to leverage the onsite-offshore capabilities. Logic Soft would invest in five per cent of Vertex equity, bringing a foreign direct investment of Rs1.02 crore to Vertex.

Vertex would set up a centre of excellence in Pune for Logic Soft, dedicated for the development of Actuate, an enterprise-reporting tool. The centre, to be housed at the Vertex office, would have a team of about 10 professionals to start with.

Logic Soft is into enterprise reporting and has about 50 consultants. The company has a technology alliance with Actuate and See Beyond. It projects a turnover of $2.7 million for the current calendar year ending December 2004 and of $4 million by the end of 2005 with a strength of 100 consultants. Vertex would close the current fiscal with a turnover of Rs14 crore ($3.1million) and is looking at a turnover of close to Rs70 crore within three years.
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