Ratan Tata meets Pak PM Aziz
Islamabad: Chairman of the Tata group, Ratan Tata met Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday as part of his mission to expand business and investment opportunities in SAARC countries. Tata, accompanied by a team of management officials, also held talks with Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.

The Tata Group is on a major expansion spree, having acquired Singapore's Nat Steel and bandwidth company Tyco. They are also investing atleast $2 billion in Bangladesh in three major projects in the power, steel and fertiliser sectors.
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BSNL: New services for Sikkim from Mar-April
Gangtok: State-owned telecom operator BSNL will offer a package of advanced facilities to its mobile and landline subscribers in Sikkim.

The package, includes Net One internet dial-up service, direct internet access service (DIAS), Cordect/WLL, intelligent network, leased line internet, general packet radio ser vice (GPRS) and multi media service (MMS).

The entire package will become operational in Sikkim from March-April this year. The Internet dial-up service has a tariff of 10 paise per minute and can be availed of by the BSNL's landline users. DIAS, on the other hand, is a high-speed Internet service at the rate of 128 kbps.

Cordect/WLL service will provide voice and Internet services through wireless technology at locations where normal telephone line is not available, BSNL has said.
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Jet plans to purchase ten Boeing 737 NGs
Mumbai: Jet Airways will acquire ten Boeing 737NG (new generation) aircraft from March 2006 and proposes an outlay of Rs300 crore, as expenditure towards purchasing slots at foreign airports, aircraft leasing and other infrastructural support.

The Boeing 737NG aircraft are to be delivered between March 2006 and November 2007 and could cost upwards of $450 million, Jet Airways said here today.

The airline indicated that the type of Boeing - 737-700, -800 or -900 series, to be purchased would depend on domestic market conditions. Regarding expansion plans, the lease agreements were being finalised to get three Airbus A340s to begin daytime flights from Mumbai to London while three leased Boeing 737-800s would be operated on the Delhi-Singapore and Chennai-Kuala Lampur sectors on a daily basis.

Under the bilateral agreements with United Kingdom, the government has allotted Jet seven flights and Sahara two to Heathrow and Gatwick airports respectively.
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Corporate Results
HLL Q4 PAT down 32.50 per cent
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) has shown a net profit of Rs333.67 crore for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2004, a decrease of 32.50 per cent as compared to Rs494.72 crore reported during the same quarter last year.

Total revenue for the period has increased to Rs2,692.38 crore from Rs2,684.53 crore.

For the year ended December 2004, the company has recorded a net profit of Rs1,197.36 crore and revenue of Rs10,245.79 crore as compared to Rs1,771.79 crore and 10,598.18 crore respectively during last year.

The board of directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs2.50 per equity share of Re 1 for the year 2004, subject to the approval of the shareholders.

Together with the interim dividend of Rs2.50 per share the total dividend for the year works out to Rs5.00 per share.
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Tata Tea to restructure plantation business in South India
Kolkata: Tata Tea Ltd has decided to restructure its plantation business in south India, in order to focus on its branded business. The decision would protect the company from increasing fixed costs and volatility associated with the plantation business, he said.

As per the restructuring plan, the company will transfer by way of lease or sale, the business including the assets and liabilities relating to the seventeen tea estates at Munnar in Kerala to a new private limited company.

Officials said the regional office and connected service department would also be transferred to the new company, which is being formed by a group of employees of the company. In addition, the company will sell or lease out the whole or a portion of its other tea estates in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including one coffee estate.

The proposed scheme would be subject to all necessary approvals and the company will seek shareholders' approval through a postal ballot.
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HCL Peripherals to partner Intransa for storage solutions
Chennai: US-based Intransa Inc and HCL Peripherals, a unit of HCL Infosystems Ltd, will partner to implement Intransa's IP-SAN (Internet protocol-storage area network) solutions for the customers in India and the Asian region.

As per an agreement, both the companies would pump in $1 million each during this year for developing focused solutions in IP-SAN, which is emerging as the most preferred solution for storage consolidation and data management across the globe, top officials of the companies have stated.

Intransa would leverage its relationship with HCL Group to further expand the footprint for IP-SAN across different geographies, market verticals and customer segments.

The market for IP-SAN is estimated at Rs100 crore in India this year. L&T, Wipro Spectramind and HCL Technologies are some of the companies that have implemented Intransa's IP-SAN storage solutions.
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Coromandel Fertilizers to invest in S.Africa
New Delhi: Coromandel Fertilizers Ltd has said that it would invest in the South African Foskor Ltd to an extent of 2.5 per cent. The board of directors has approved the investment, the company informed the National Stock Exchange.

The board also approved the proposal of rendering certain technical consultancy services to Foskar and entering into required agreements for this.
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Reliance's gas discovery is thirteenth in a row
New Delhi: Reliance Industries has made its thirteenth consecutive gas discovery in the D6 deep-water block off the Andhra Pradesh coast. The G-1 exploration well flow tested on two intervals at rates close to 100 million cubic feet per day, Reliance Industries' junior partner Niko Resources said.

Reliance holds 90 per cent interest in Block D6 while Canada's Niko has remaining 10 percent.

Till date, 14.5 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves have been established in the block and Reliance plans to produce between 40 and 60 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from 2007-08.

All drilling till date in D6 has occurred in a 1,800 square-kilometre area covering 20 per cent of the 1.9 million acre block. Processing and interpretation of newly acquired 3D seismic data covering 3,165 square kilometre are under way with additional exploratory drilling planned for 2005, Niko said.
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Mercator Lines to acquire Handymax bulk carrier
Mumbai: Mercator Lines Ltd has signed a Memorandum of Agreement to acquire a new Handymax bulk carrier of about 56,000 DWT. The vessel is expected to join the company's fleet in August, Mercator Lines informed the BSE here today.

The company has also received `Star Company in SME Sector' award instituted by Business Standard newspaper, it added.
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Techspan to invest $16 million in India
New Delhi: IT consultancy and services company Techspan India plans to invest $16 million in order to expand its infrastructure four-fold by June this year.

The company said that it plans to invest $12 million in acquiring buildings and the rest towards equipment. The company will invest $7 million towards buying a 1,000-seat facility in Bangalore. It has already invested $2 million for land in Noida and will buy additional land there in future. The company currently has 550 people in India.

The company had revenues of $120 million with Indian centres contributing 30 per cent.
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BEL and Suriname signs $1.6 m deal for defence equipment
Bangalore: Bharat Electronics Ltd and the Government of Surinam have signed a contract for the supply of defence communication equipment and night vision devices worth $1.6 million (approx. Rs 7 crore).

Three months ago, BEL had signed a contract with Surinam for the supply of solar-powered traffic junctions worth $1.3 million. The two have also identified Suriname's next phase of requirements, BEL said. BEL recently sold two of its battlefield surveillance radars to Indonesia and had got order for ten more.

The company is looking at exports of $15 million for 2004-05 out of a total turnover of Rs 3,200 crore.

BEL's products in the areas of defence communication, battlefield surveillance, artillery combat command and control, night vision and hand-held UHF radios have been identified for field trials and further testing in some of these countries.
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Rajesh Exports bags Rs.146 crore order from Singapore
Mumbai: Rajesh Exports Ltd has received a Rs 146-crore order for supplying studded gold jewellery to Gold Star, a dominant player in the Singapore market.
As per the terms of agreement, this order has to be executed over three months.

It will be executed at the company's Bangalore factory, which is one of the world's largest jewellery-manufacturing facilities spread over twelve acres and a built-up area of five-lakh sq. ft., with a capacity to process 250 tonnes of gold jewellery per annum.
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Bombardier to increase staff at Hyderabad centre
New Delhi: Bombardier Transportation plans to have about 300 engineers at its Hyderabad centre, up from the present level of about 250 and subsequently take the total to 600 the year after.

The Hyderabad centre would work on design engineering aspects of the company's various projects, primarily outside India.
Company officials said that Bombardier would seek some long term contracts from the Indian market that include those of mass rapid transport systems.
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HLL stresses top line growth
Mumbai: Faced with flat sales growth and higher input costs, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), has said that its key agenda going forward will be to drive top line growth.

The company's optimisim comes on the back of an upturn in the FMCG market. The company said that it is now beginning to see the effects of a good rural economy.

Company officials said that the average category growth was expected to be in double digits going forward. The recently launched water purifier Pureit is expected to open up a huge potential.

The company continues to maintain that input costs would impact margins especially in the laundry segment where the costs of inputs such as chemicals and packaging material have been going up. In its foods division, HLL plans to look at new categories and rework some of its earlier launches, which were withdrawn. It has revamped the supply chain for its foods business. It has also set up a shared service hub for planning, sourcing and production scheduling to ensure inventory management.
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MTNL and BPL cheapest service providers in metros
New Delhi: A study sponsored by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on various mobile tariffs offered by operators in Delhi and Mumbai has found Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and BPL Cellular to be the cheapest service providers.

According to the preliminary results of the research study, MTNL's post-paid Plan E, with a monthly bill of Rs 272, is the lowest in Delhi and BPL's Wirefree 149 Delight, with a monthly bill of Rs 213, is the lowest plan for Mumbai users.

The study indicates five most competitive tariffs for different categories of users. For instance, a medium-level user in Delhi who makes about 235 minutes of local calls a month may find MTNL's Trump card the cheapest in the pre-paid segment and MTNL's Plan F as the lowest in the post-paid category.

High-end users calling 444 minutes every month may find Idea Cellular's Chit Chat to be the best deal in the pre-paid segment and MTNL's Garuda Plan B in the post-paid category. Very high-end users in Mumbai who make calls in excess of 900 minutes a month could chose between Hutch's pre-paid card and BPL Cellular's post-paid connection.

"The results are only indicative and, therefore, should not be construed as specific professional advice or direction or recommendation of any tariff plan offered by the service provider, TRAI said as a disclaimer.
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Cognizant in $76 m expansion drive
Pune: Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is due to make another round of investments, to the tune of $76 million, towards the expansion of techno complexes in Chennai, Pune, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Cognizant said this would mean an additional space of 8,30,000 sq ft and an increase in headcount by 9,000 employees. The investment would also be utilised for the setting up of the Cognizant Academy in Chennai, an exclusive training centre. This is expected to be ready by August this year.

The company said that based on the current visibility, the company was anticipating first quarter revenue of 2005 to be close to $180 million, recording 50 per cent increase over 2004.
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