BHEL's FACTS to reduce transmission losses
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has developed a new series compensation scheme, the Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS), for reducing power losses and speedy transmission.

According to a company release, FACTS will enhance power transfer capability of the system and reduce transmission losses in 400 kV lines considerably. BHEL established the technology, developed in-house, while executing the second phase of the project for PowerGrid's Kanpur-Ballavgarh 400 kV lines.

The company has also developed in-house an automatic device that adjusts itself to the system's requirement in less than 10 milliseconds. It reduces system losses and improves power system stability in high-voltage transmission lines.
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Sun Pharma approves merger
New Delhi: The Sun Pharma board has approved the merger of three wholly owned subsidiaries with itself, effective from March 1, 2005.

These are Bazley Finvest Private Limited, Dhaval Finvest Private Limited and Manish Finvest Private Limited.

The board also considered and approved the proposal for merger of Phlox Pharmaceuticals company.
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Durgapur Steel books record profits
Kolkata: The Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) is all set to record high profits this fiscal. In the first nine months of this financial year, its net profit has touched the Rs475-crore mark.

DSP focussed on special steel this year. Its production in the first nine months increased by 38 per cent to end at around two lakh tonnes against 1.21 lakh tonnes produced in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The plant has developed S-profile locomotive wheels for the Indian Railways, which are currently under field trials. These wheels have a higher heat dissipation capability during braking and can be used at high speeds.

According to SAIL corporate sources, DSP will be investing Rs2,800 crore during the next seven years to increase its capacity to 3 million tonnes a year from the present level of 1.86 million tonnes.
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Jain irrigation to expand capacity and product range
Mumbai: Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd has announced plans to expand its capacities and product range of PE pipes.

It plans to launch the 1200 mm diameter pipe, as large diameter PE pipes are extensively used as an alternative to conventional pipe line like DI and Steel abroad. Currently, the company makes pipes of up to 630 mm diameter.

Jain Irrigation has bagged orders for supplying to major urban water supply projects. It has also received orders worth Rs10 crore from telecom and gas distribution companies. These projects should help the company achieve a 150 per cent increase in its revenue growth in this division this fiscal.

The company expects the order book position to remain robust through the next fiscal as Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal are expected to take up water supply, telecom and gas distribution projects.
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Wockhardt sets up JVs in Mexico and South Africa
Mumbai: Drug company Wockhardt Ltd has formed two "business and marketing" joint ventures in Mexico and South Africa, respectively, besides setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary in Brazil.

The Wockhardt Chairman, Habil Khorakiwala, has said that the new channels would be for marketing Wockhardt's insulin and other bio-pharma and diabetes-related products in the global market. Wockhardt would supply the active pharmaceutical ingredient, he said.

Wockhardt has recently completed the restructuring of its operations in Europe, besides establishing its presence in the US, and the two markets cumulatively account for 50 per cent of Wockhardt's sales. Khorakiwala has said that the company was on the look out for acquisition opportunities in Europe, especially Germany. And Wockhardt was sitting on $100 million after the bond issue, he added.

The Mexico joint venture agreement is with Representaciones E Investigaciones Medicas, to form Wockhardt Mexico. Wockhardt would hold 51 per cent equity in the company. The pharmaceutical market in Mexico is valued at $7 billion and growing at 10 per cent. Insulin is a $75-million segment.

In Brazil, Wockhardt has established a sales and marketing subsidiary, Wockhardt Farmaceutica do Brasil Ltd, to market its pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products. Brazil has a $5-billion pharmaceutical market.

In South Africa, Wockhardt South Africa Pty Ltd is a 51:49 joint venture between Wockhardt and Pharma Dynamics, the 10th largest generic pharmaceutical company in that country.

Meanwhile, the company has received nine approvals for its bio-pharma products and expects another 25 approvals during the year in Russia, the CIS countries, South America, South East Asia and North Africa, he said.

On the domestic front, Wockhardt was shifting its manufacturing to a new plant in Baddi, by the second quarter of this year. The Daman facility, where these products are now being manufactured, will now focus entirely on the export market.
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BEL aims for export orders at Aero India
Bangalore: Bharat Electronics Ltd has picked a range of products and equipment with good export potential for display at Aero India 2005. The fifth edition of the Bangalore air show opens here on Wednesday.

Among the BEL products on display are communication equipment, command and control system, radars and sonars, opto-electronics and thermal imaging products, tank electronics, simulators and trainers, besides gun upgrades.

BEL is providing the communication and infrastructure support for the air show. In addition to taking up a stall of 553 sq. metres, it will have an outdoor display space for larger products. Among these are the all-weather anti-aircraft weapon control system, the Upgraded Flycatcher Radar and the low-probability intercept radar.

The premier defence PSU said it was constantly innovating to manufacture some of the best professional electronic equipment and components for the international market. The communication equipment will include the UHF hand-held transreceiver LUP 291, secure tactical radio in VHF band, unit level switch board for field use at the battalion level, hand-held radio terminal, semi-rugged automatic exchange, and stand-alone communication unit (SACU) and mini-SACU, which provide message communication over three independent channels.
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1.8 million new mobile subscribers in Jan. '05
New Delhi: The mobile subscriber base went up by 1.8 million in January, taking the total subscriber base to 49 million. Of this, 1.27 million users opted for cellular operators with the Global System for Mobile (GSM) technology. Bharti Cellular, with 4.1 lakh new users, added the highest number of mobile users, followed by Reliance Infocomm with 3.7 lakh new users.

Reliance, with a total subscriber base of over 10.5 million mobile users, is the largest operator in the country, according to numbers released by telecom industry associations.

According to data released by the Department of Telecom (DoT), over 164 lakh telephones, both mobile and fixed, have been added during April-December of the current year. Of these, in December alone, more than 23 lakh phones were provided. With this addition, the total number of phones has reached a level of 929 lakh, taking the tele-density from 7 per cent in March 2004 to 8.59 per cent at the end of 2004.

About 87 per cent of the additional phones during the current year are accounted for as mobile phones. Private players have so far provided 426.44 lakh phones as on December 31, 2004, which is 46 per cent of the total phones in the country.

However, in rural areas, only Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has provided telephones. As against 4.73 lakh additional telephones provided in rural areas during April-December 2003, BSNL has provided 7.65 lakh telephones during the current year. 3,138 village phones have also been provided by BSNL during the past nine months.
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HCL Tech to develop software for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner
New Delhi: HCL Technologies has announced that it has been selected by Boeing as a software development partner for the 787 Dreamliner (formerly known as the 7E7) program.

"A multi-year, multi-million dollar agreement has been signed with Boeing," an HCL release said here. HCL Tech would provide services in the areas of software and hardware development, as well as verification and validation, to Boeing and its Tier-1 systems suppliers for the 787 program.

HCL has initiated several projects relating to this program and is currently working on providing a hosting platform for the flight test computing system.

In addition, HCL engineers are working at a systems requirements definition level for some of the Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) with some of Boeing's Tier 1 systems suppliers for the program.
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Wipro in IDC ranking
Bangalore: Wipro Technologies has said it has been ranked in the "fast followers" category in a recent research report from IDC, titled `European Managed Services - 2004 Competitive Landscape'. Wipro has been profiled extensively and is the only Indian player to be featured in the report, the company said.

Leading global and European players were evaluated based on alignment with market opportunity and ability to gain market share in Europe in the managed services space.

IDC considers 'fast followers', such as Wipro, to be influential in setting new standards in the industry. Wipro was also recognised for being proactive, having a strong vision and strategy in place, the release.
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Corporate Results
Wockhardt net up 50 per cent
New Delhi: Wockhardt has announced a consolidated net profit of Rs214 crore for the year ended December 31, 2004, a 50 per cent rise over 2003, the company said. The consolidated global revenue for the year, at Rs1,239 crore, showed a 32 per cent growth over the previous year.

Wockhardt's post-tax profit has more than doubled from Rs105 crore in 2002 to Rs214 crore in 2004, reflecting its sustained healthy growth, the company has said.

The company has achieved this in spite of increasing its investment in research and development (R&D) each year. Investment in R&D shot up by 45 per cent to Rs94 crore in 2004.

The company has also declared a dividend of Rs5 per share.
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