ONGC to partner with Gazprom
Moscow: Oil and Natural Gas Corp has signed an agreement with Russia's Gazprom for collaboration in oil and gas sector. ONGC chairman Subir Raha and Gazprom head Alexei Miller signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The deal provides for assessment of prospects in joint oil and gas projects in India, Russia and third countries and deliveries in India and other countries. The move may see the Indian firm investing up to 20 billion dollars in oil and gas exploration, gas processing and petrochemical plants in the former Soviet nation.

ONGC is negotiating a stake in Sakhlain-III and Vankor oil and gas field and is talking to Gazprom for a tie-up for all aspects of the gas business, from production to shipping.

The company is already investing over 2.7 billion dollars in Russia's giant Sakhlain-I oil and gas project.

Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said ONGC's foreign arm ONGC Videsh Ltd is a 'zero-debt' company and could raise up to 25 billion dollar for investments in various projects in Russia and other countries. OVL will participate in future tenders to develop oil and gas deposits in Eastern Siberia, Raha said.
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BHEL bags Rs.84 crore order
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged a Rs84 crore contract for setting up a 58 MW combined cycle power plant in Tamil Nadu, which BHEL will execute by early 2006. The contract has been awarded by Regency Power Corporation Ltd, promoted by KSK Energy Ventures Ltd, Hyderabad.

The order envisages manufacture, supply and supervision of erection and commissioning of a 18.75 MW steam turbine generator (STG) set as a frame-6 gas turbine generator (GTG) set along with associated auxiliaries.
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GAIL to acquire stake in China Gas
New Delhi: The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) will pay $ HK242 million for a nine percent stake in Chinese city-gas distributor China Gas Holdings. GAIL will subscribe to 210 million new shares of the Hong Kong-based firm at 1.158 HK dollar per share, China Gas said in a press release.

This represents about nine percent of China Gas' enlarged share capital. China Gas would also ensure that GAIL's stake is not diluted to less than six percent by any future issue of shares. GAIL has also agreed to lock up the shares for two years.
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Torrent Pharma and AstraZeneca into research tie up
New Delhi: Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd has signed a collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca for researching a novel drug candidate for the treatment of hypertension.

Torrent Pharma and AstraZeneca would fund the research project jointly in equal proportion, Torrent Pharma has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The agreement envisages success-based R&D milestone payments to Torrent, and also royalties based upon the commercialization of the drug candidate. Torrent Pharma would also get co-marketing rights of the products for India.

Last year, Torrent outlicensed its patented AGE Breaker molecule to Novartis Pharma AG.
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Mahindra launches CRDe-fitted Scorpio
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has launched its Common Rail Diesel Engine (CRDEe) fitted-Scorpio, which conforms to BS III emission norms.

The 2.6 Turbo CRDE will cost Rs6.83-7.93 lakh (ex-showroom) in Delhi. The vehicle will initially be available in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. It will be rolled out in other markets gradually. Roughly forty per cent of Scorpio's sales come from eleven cities, which will move on to BS III emission norms in April. The older version of the Scorpio will continue to sell in non-BS III markets.

According to an official statement, the Scorpio uses the contemporary CRS Gen 2.2 Common Rail System, currently used in European automobiles. The CRDe project was done in cooperation with MICO Bosch and the engine was tested in all possible Indian conditions and overseas in Spain, Germany and Switzerland.

Scorpio's turbo engine is the first CRDe engine to be manufactured in India. "Besides better power and torque and lower noise, vibration and harshness levels, the Scorpio 2.6 Turbo CRDe offers additional benefits in the form of cleaner exhausts that make it compliant to BS III auto emission norms," the statement said.
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Mallya makes open offer for 25 per cent of Shaw Wallace
Bangalore: The UB Group Chairman, Vijay Mallya, will make an open offer to acquire up to 25 per cent of the outstanding capital of Shaw Wallace & Co Ltd (SWC) at a price of Rs250 per share.

The offer for 25 per cent of SWC, with a paid-up capital of Rs48 crore, would entail a commitment of Rs300 crore. The UB Chairman said the offer was not a conditional one, and any other successful acquirer of SWC would have to contend with UB as a significant minority shareholder. The open offer values the equity of the company at Rs1,200 crore, which represents a premium of about 150 per cent over the average market capitalisation of the past twelve months. It further represents a premium of 23 per cent over the SEBI guidelines for pricing of such an offer. A successful takeover of SWC will transform Mallya into the world's second largest spirits producer after Diageo.

Meanwhile, the Jumbo Group, which manages SWC, has termed Vijay Mallya's move to make an open offer to minority shareholders as a 'hostile bid' as "it did not have the sanction of either promoter Manu Chhabria family or the incumbent management".

A Jumbo spokesperson said Mr Mallya had violated the spirit of accommodation and understanding reached between the two families following a move to drop all cases against each other in 2004.
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Mitsubishi Heavy to acquire SRP Tools
Chennai: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) of Japan will acquire the Chennai-based SRP Tools Ltd, a gear-cutting tool manufacturer. With this, MHI will form a new company tentatively named Mitsubishi Heavy Industries India Precision Tools Ltd, according to a press release issued by MHI in Tokyo.

According to the release, the new company will come into being on May 1 and will specialise in the production of precision cutting tools. It will initially produce gear-cutting tools and progressively expand its line-up to include high value-added products.

"Through steady business expansion, MHI targets annual sales to increase from SRP Tools' current figure roughly equivalent to 500 million yen (about Rs21 crore) to 2 billion yen (about Rs83 crore) in fiscal 2007 and 4 billion yen (about Rs165 crore) in fiscal 2010," the release said.

The new company will be established at SRP Tools' present location in Ranipet, Tamil Nadu, about 120 km west of Chennai. The new operation will also oversee after-sale service bases throughout India with Voltas Ltd, the sole distributor of SRP Tools for the Indian market. The new company will have a capital base of about 71 million yen (about Rs29 lakh) and will employ about 250 workers now engaged by SRP Tools.

The company's major customers are motorcycle and automobile manufacturers, including producers in Japan and South Korea.
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Visaka to set up fibre cement sheet plant at Rae Bareilly
Hyderabad: With the successful completion of its Tumkur unit in Karnataka, Visaka Industries Ltd is setting up another 1.2 lakh tonnes per annum (tpa) fibre cement sheet plant in Rai Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh at a cost of Rs25 crore.

The new plant (to be funded through internal accruals and debt) is expected to commence production next fiscal. The land has been identified and the acquisition process is in progress, the company has said.

VIL was also considering setting up a garment unit with an investment of Rs55 crore, a weaving unit (Rs53 crore) and a cotton yarn unit (Rs93 crore). Subject to board approval, the company would set up the garment and weaving units next fiscal and the cotton yarn unit in 2006-07. The details of three projects were being worked out.

While the Tumkur plant has commenced trial production the commercial production is expected to start from March 1. With the Tumkur project, the total capacity of Visaka Industries' Fibre Cement Sheet Division will go up to 3.4 lakh tpa. After completion of the Rai Bareilly unit, the capacity would further increase to 4.6 lakh tpa.
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Airtel video service for GPRS customers
New Delhi: Airtel has announced the launch of video service for non-video phones for its pre-paid and post-paid GPRS customers nationally, at Rs30 per download.

To access this service, an Airtel GPRS customer using a non-video phone needs to go to the Airtel Live portal and click on the "Videos for non-video phones" section. The customer can then select a video of his choice. The video along with the software gets downloaded on the phone, and the customer can then view the video.

Each video download is charged at Rs30, a company release said adding the duration of the video could be typically 10-30 seconds, depending on the phone's memory availability.

The first time experience has been made possible because of Oplayo Vidlet - software. The software is an all in one video player for Java enabled mobile phones, developed by Oplayo Oy, a Finnish company pioneering in mobile software technology. The software contains both the playback and the media content in one small package. It works as any standard downloadable Java application bringing video to mass-market mobile phones, the Airtel release said.
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Alcatel wins FLAG submarine cable contract
Mumbai: Flag Telecom, now owned by the Reliance group, has awarded the turnkey contract for construction of its proposed FALCON submarine cable systems to Alcatel.

The contract calls for building, installing and commissioning of 10,000 km of submarine cable in the Gulf region with multiple landings throughout West Asia, said a news release from FLAG. All terrestrial and submarine equipment will be managed by an integrated network management system, also provided by Alcatel.

Alcatel is already a sky supplier to FLAG Telecom, and was involved in the deployment of FLAG Atlantic-1 and the FLAG North Asia Loop Cable system.

"FALCON will dramatically change the global communications infrastructure balance, bringing terabit capacity to the FLAG for the first time, and providing additional access in India, the second largest growth economy in the world," said Patrick Gallagher, CEO, FLAG Telecom.
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HCL Tech buys out JV from Computech
New Delhi: HCL Technologies Ltd has announced the acquisition of the last tranche of 16.33 per cent stake in HCL Enterprise Solutions (HES) from Computech Corporation, through its wholly owned subsidiary, HCL Technologies (Bermuda) Ltd (HCLB).

With this, the company has now completely taken over the joint venture which will henceforth be solely owned and managed as HCL Technologies (Illinois) Inc from Illinois, US, the company said in a notice to the BSE.

HES was set up as a 51:49 joint venture between HCL Technologies and Computech Corporation in 2001, to focus on the enterprise application integration market. In line with the joint venture agreement, HCL Technologies acquired through HCLB, further stakes of 16.33 per cent each in September 2002 and October 2003. With the acquisition of last tranche, HES has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of HCL Technologies.

In the last three years, HCL's Global Oracle practice has grown to $25 million, registering a strong year-on-year growth of over 50 per cent, while the onsite headcount of HCLTI has also ramped up from 75 to 200 people, it said.

The acquisition enabled HCL Technologies to gain a strong onsite presence in the US ERP market and the company is leveraging this onsite capability to provide end-to-end and ERP solutions to several Fortune 2000 companies.
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