Tata Power to increase capacity by 250 mw at Trombay
Mumbai: The Tata Power Company (TPC) is planning to increase generation capacity at its Trombay plant by 250 MW at an investment of Rs500 crore. According to TPC officials the board has given the go ahead for conducting a feasibility study for the proposed addition in the generation capacity at the Trombay plant.

Under the proposed expansion plan, TPC would set up a 250 MW gas turbine and combine it with the 150 MW existing steam turbine to create a combined cycle of 400 MW, officials said.

The demand is increasing by about 75 MW every year, officials said and the expansion would cater to the demand. The present capacity of the plant is 1,350 MW. Officials said that the company was envisaging doubling of its total generation capacity of 2,200 MW in the next five years, which would entail an investment of roughly Rs.8,800 crore.
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Tata Metaliks mulls entry into steel manufacture
Kharagpur: Tata Metaliks is exploring the possibility of diversifying into steel making and will take a decision in the next few months. At a press conference to announce the commissioning of the second blast furnace, Tata Metaliks Ltd (TML) officials said that the company was mulling the option of manufacturing billets.

The company may source sponge iron from Tata Sponge Iron Ltd (TSIL) and produce billets using the electric arc furnace route. TSIL is located at Bilaipada near Joda, in the Keonjhar district of Orissa. According to company officials the market for billets was good, and even Tata Steel had to buy 100,000 tonne of billets from other manufacturers.

In response to a request by TML for more land to meet its growth plans, West Bengal's chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has asked the company to submit its request and proposal to the government.

The commissioning of the second blast furnace would augment the capacity of the TML plant to 320,000 tonne of pig iron, which would translate into revenues in excess of Rs500 crore. The capital expenditure on the new blast furnace was around Rs50 crore, and the enhanced capacity could exceed 360,000 tonne. Tata Metaliks was also exploring possibilities in backward linkages and has applied for coal and iron ore blocks in Jharkhand and Orissa. The company was also eyeing acquisitions in the domestic market.
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Hyundai to invest $500 mn towards additional capacity
New Delhi: Targeting a $2.3-billion turnover by 2008, Hyundai motor India Ltd (HMIL) has said that it would invest close to $500 million (about Rs2,300 crore) for its new 1.5 lakh unit annual capacity plant for both domestic and international markets.

More than ninety per cent of the resources for the expansion project, that will take HMIL's capacity to four lakh vehicles annually by April 2007, would be generated internally by the wholly-owned subsidiary of Korean giant Hyundai, reflecting strong profitability of Indian operations.

HMIL officials have said that the company today is totally debt free, and that resources would not be a problem. The company expected to record a turnover of $1.4 billion during the current financial year.
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HLL sets up new plant for personal care products
Haridwar: India's largest FMCG company Hindustan Lever Ltd has opened a state-of-the-art factory for personal care products with an initial investment of Rs130 crore. The 30,000-tonne per annum factory will produce toothpaste, shampoo, skin cream, lotion, face and bodywash in small packs to meet the growing demand in north India.

HLL produces 1,50,000 tonnes per annum of products in the home and personal care (HPC) category and is expecting a rapid growth in this category. HLL has about eighty factories across India and the facility at Haridwar is its ninth such unit since 2001.
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Orissa revokes license of US power company
Bhubaneswar: The Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has revoked the license of the US power company AES. AES was operating the Central Electricity Supply Company Ltd (CESCO), which was in charge of distribution of power in the coastal areas, before AES decided to quit.

The move followed the 'failure' of AES to meet the 'obligations' of the license, an OERC release said. However, the order was kept in abeyance till March 31 next to give the US company a chance to meet certain conditions imposed by the regulator.

This included payment of 100 per cent dues of the Grid Corporation of Orissa Ltd (GRIDCO) with effect from April 1 next after meeting all necessary costs of management and appropriate loss reduction. The OERC has also ordered that there would be no increase in tariff for 2004-05.
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TRAI issues notice to VSNL on prepaid cards
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has sent a show cause notice to Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) for selling 'Tata Indicom outbound prepaid cards', stating that VSNL was not authorised to sell these international calling cards to customers.

The regulator has sought an explanation from VSNL by Monday and has asked for details like access deficit charges (ADC), caller line identification and inter-carrier billing.

On December 29, 2004, at a meeting, Trai had asked VSNL executives to submit details. Although VSNL had submitted an explanation on December 31, 2004, the regulator said the reply was not satisfactory as per the clause of the license.
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Twinstar's open offer for balance twenty per cent in Malco
New Delhi: Twinstar Holdings Ltd, part of Vedanta Resources Plc, has made an offer to acquire the remaining 20 per cent equity shares of Madras Aluminium Company Ltd (Malco) through the reverse book-building route at a minimum price offer of Rs185 per share.

Twinstar currently has 80 per cent equity and after the successful acquisition, the company plans to delist the shares from all the stock exchanges. Malco shareholders have already approved the delisting at an EGM, said an official statement.
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