Exhibition showcases Tatas strength
New Delhi: An exhibition showcasing Tatas strength has opened in Delhi. The exhibition will be presented in seven cities and started off in Jamshedpur. It will move to Mumbai and Kolkata.

The Tata Group is showcasing the centenaries of J N Tata, the founder of the group and the birth centenary of J R D Tata and Nawal Tata, by observing the period 1904-2004 as the "century of trust".
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ONGC in the race for Ecuadorian and Yukos assets
New Delhi: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has bid for Canadian firm EnCana's stake in a cluster of oil fields in Ecuador. The state-owned company is also in talks with Russia for picking up stake in the assets of oil major Yukos.

The ONGC Chairman and Managing Director, Subir Raha, confirmed the bids but did not divulge details.

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the company's foreign arm, has bid for the assets, which include the Canadian firm's stake in the Amazon blocks 14, 17 and Tarapoa, with a combined output of 66,891 barrels of oil per day. OVL is pitched against PetroChina for the EnCana assets.

Officials have indicated that ONGC is eyeing an 10-15 per cent stake in Yuganskneftegaz (Yugansk), the main production unit of Yukos, through its agreement with Rosneft (which acquired Yugansk) and it may farm into one of the oil fields of Yugansk.

ONGC is seeking overseas petroleum assets as its domestic output has declined and no large fields have been discovered recently in India, which imports 70 per cent of its crude oil requirements. OVL has operations in 10 countries including Vietnam, Russia, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar and Australia, and has the backing of the Oil Ministry, which wants the company to spend at least $1 billion a year to acquire foreign operations.

Raha also said that ONGC was pursuing other opportunities in Russia including Sakhalin-3. It is a partner with Rosneft in the $4.5-billion ExxonMobil-led Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project off Siberia's cost. Each has a 20 per cent stake.
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New vaccine delivery device from Shantha Biotech
Hyderabad: Shantha Biotechnics Ltd has announced the availability of its hepatitis-B vaccine, Shanvac-B, in a unique vaccine delivery device called BD Uniject.

In a press release, the company said that Shanvac-B in BD Uniject was unveiled at the PEDICON-2005 symposium, held in Kolkata on Saturday.

Shanvac-B in BD Uniject is a single-dose, single-use injection device that guarantees the integrity and sterility of Shanvac-B right up to the final moment of use, the company said. The BD Uniject device prevents any scope of tampering or contamination from the outside environment. The absence of glass, rubber or silicone ensures that there is no chance of particulate matter mixing with the vaccine, the company said.
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Ashok Leyland bags orders for 644 buses from BEST
Chennai: Ashok Leyland has bagged an order for 644 buses to be inducted by BEST under the Mumbai Urban Transport Programme (MUTP).

The value of the order is estimated at around Rs70 crore. This follows a tripartite agreement between BEST, Maharashtra Government and the World Bank for providing buses for Mumbai, with World Bank funding and against international tender.

The buses will have a reduced floor height of 860 mm with two-step entry.

Ashok Leyland, through a company press release has said that ahead of the April 2005 deadline, the company will conform to BS III emission standards. Passengers carried by BEST's 3,300-odd buses each day have increased by six lakh over the last one year, to 48 lakh now.

As per the agreed delivery schedules, 450 buses will be supplied by December 2005 and the balance by March 2006. BEST also proposes to introduce 600 CNG buses.

The company also said that it has developed BS III compliant engines, ahead of the April 2005 deadline.

These are the first to be indigenously developed and approved for commercial vehicles in the country, the release said. The Ashok Leyland BS3 engines use an electronic management system for faster response to operating variables like speed and load.
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Reliance buy back programme nets 6.29 lakh shares
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has bought over six lakh shares from the market under its share buyback programme. As per details provided to the stock exchanges, the company purchased 6,29,800 shares on Monday at an average price of Rs 539.62 a share.

RIL shares on Monday closed at Rs533.30 a share on the BSE, down 1.36 per cent from the previous close. The company spent Rs33.99 crore, out of the Rs2,999 crore set aside for the buyback programme, on the first day itself. The corpus represents 10 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital and free reserves of RIL as on March 31, 2004.

The company announced the buyback scheme after its board meeting on December 28, 2004, saying the decision was a reflection of the under-valuation of the company's stock price.
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Tata Finance and Tata Motors finalise merger swap ratio
Mumbai: Shareholders of Tata Finance will get eight shares of Tata Motors for every 100 shares held by them following the approval by the boards of the two companies for a share swap ratio of 8:100 consequent to the merger of the two companies.

This merger is expected to enable Tata Motors to grow its vehicle financing business, as automotive financial services form an important and integral business for all the global automotive OEMs.

At present, Tata Motors has its own financing division, Bureau of Hire Purchase and Credit (BHPC), which has a dealer-driven sourcing model. Post merger, the company will have a `formidable' captive financing arm that will help in eliminating cost disadvantages and enable the automobile company to offer bundled financial options, officials said.

Post merger, the Tata group's holding in Tata Motors will also edge up by two per cent to 34 per cent.

Tata Finance has currently an accumulated loss of around Rs500 crore. Ishaat Hussain, Chairman, Tata Finance Ltd, said Tata Motors is expected to benefit from a reduction in taxes on account of the set-off of the accumulated losses of Tata Finance.

For the first half of the current financial year, Tata Finance reported profit before tax of Rs15.63 crore. Outstanding debt as on December 31, 2004 was Rs1,200 crore down from a high of Rs2,613 crore in June 2001.
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Emirates extends special fares to Mumbai-NY service
Mumbai: Emirates has extended its festive season fares on its recently launched Mumbai to New York air service via Dubai.

According to an official release, the airline has extended the special return fares across all classes till March 31. During this period, economy and business class passengers will be able to avail themselves of discounted return fares of Rs47,315 and Rs1,36,000, respectively. Passengers travelling on first class will be able to get a return fare for Rs2,62,905.

Emirates currently operates 43 non-stop weekly flights from India to Dubai, with 19 from Mumbai, seven from Delhi, eight from Hyderabad, five from Kochi and four from Chennai.

The airline recently introduced additional flights on its Mumbai-Dubai route to meet the increased levels of outbound travel. Providing greater flexibility to passengers, additional flights will be available from January 1 to March 31.
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