Tata Steel to raise Rs.5,000 crore towards expansion
Mumbai: Tata Steel will convene an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders on March 24 to seek approval for raising Rs5,000 crore to fund the company's expansion and growth. The EGM also includes an enabling resolution to allow the company to borrow money not exceeding Rs10,500 crore.

The company has plans to take its steel production to 15 million tonnes (mt) by 2010 from 4 mt in 2004. Some of its other plans include investment in NatSteel, a 2.4-mt expansion at Jamshedpur, a 6-mt greenfield expansion at Orissa, a greenfield project at Bangladesh, port infrastructure at Dhamra, Orissa, a coke project at Haldia, a limestone joint venture in Thailand, a ferro-chrome project in South Africa and a titania project at Tamil Nadu.
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VSNL UK starts wholesale voice services
Mumbai: The Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd's UK affiliate, VSNL UK Ltd, has launched a wholesale voice services in Europe for termination to India. The service is intended to support the expansion of VSNL's international voice business, said a news release from the company.

VSNL UK is focused on selling to European carriers seeking Indian termination service, it said. "Currently companies in 18 countries look to VSNL UK as a vehicle to connect with India. Through a strategic partnership with Interoute utilising their Virtual Voice Network, VSNL is able to provide next generation voice services using TDM or VoIP for interconnection."

VSNL UK has interconnected with a number of leading regional and alternative telecom operators across Europe to terminate their India-bound traffic and offers the advantages of flexible agreements and charging methods to meet the needs of the wholesale voice market.
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Bharat Forge to raise $300 mn
Mumbai: Bharat Forge Ltd (BFL) has informed the BSE that its board has approved raising resources of up to $300 million or rupee equivalent by issuing appropriate securities to meet the company's long-term financing needs.

Additionally, it has approved increasing BFL's authorised share capital from Rs90 crore to Rs105 crore by creating 15 million more equity shares of Rs10 each, increasing the limit for FII holding to up to 40 per cent of the company's paid-up equity share capital and sub-dividing equity shares of Rs10 nominal value each into five equity shares of Rs2 each.

Also approved was the creation of securities of value up to Rs1,500 crore for borrowings and raising the board's borrowing powers from Rs500 crore to Rs1,000 crore.

All these decisions are subject to other required approvals, including from BFL's shareholders, the official statement said.
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GMI Feb. sales up 42 per cent
New Delhi: General Motors India has said that its sales grew 42 per cent this February while the year-to-date sales were up by over 75 per cent. The company sold 1,859 cars in February as against 1,309 cars in the same month last year. It sold 1,300 units of Chevrolet Tavera last month, 350 of Chevrolet Optra and 207 units of Opel Corsa.

For the first two months of this year, GM sold 4,881 cars, recording 75.2 per cent growth. Company officials said that they are ramping up production capacity to 60,000 units at the Halol facility to meet the growing demand for its cars. Once commissioned later this month, the company will be able to quickly clear the backlog of popular Chevrolet vehicles like Tavera and Optra.

GM India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation. Besides the Chevrolet Optra, it manufactures the Chevrolet Tavera, Opel Corsa, Opel Corsa Sail and Opel Swing at Halol, Gujarat. GM India also sells the imported Opel Vectra and Chevrolet Forester.
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Gujarat Ambuja despatches dip in Feb.'05
Mumbai: Gujarat Ambuja has reported an 11 per cent drop in cement despatches, year-on-year, for the month of February 2004. The company has attributed the drop to adverse weather conditions this winter in the northern region of the country, as well as a drop in exports.

Despatches dropped to 11 lakh tonnes this February, down from 12.41 lakh tonnes reported for February last. Production fell 10 per cent to 11.01 lakh tonnes, down from 12.28 lakh tonnes.

Production amounted to 13.75 lakh tonnes (13.05 lakh tonnes).
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ACC's Feb.'05 output increases by 5.36 per cent
New Delhi: The Associated Cement Companies (ACC) Ltd has reported a 5.36 per cent increase in cement production in February this year as compared to the corresponding month last year.

Cement production for February stood at 1.375 million tonnes against 1.305 million tonnes in the same month last year, as per the company's information supplied to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Despatches during February increased marginally by 2.92 per cent compared to the same month last year. In February the company's cement despatches figures stood at 1.372 million tonnes against 1.333 million tonnes in February 2004, it said.

The cumulative production in April 04-February 05 period increased by 8.3 per cent to 15.030 million tonnes as compared to the same period the previous year. The cumulative despatches also increased by 7.96 per cent in April 04-February 05 period at 14.987 million tonnes against the corresponding period the previous year.
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Suzuki to introduce crossover model by next year
Geneva: Suzuki Motor Corp, a majority partner in auto leader Maruti, has said that it will introduce a new "crossover" model in India, which it was developing in partnership with Italy's Fiat Auto.

"The development of the car is on. We expect the car, which would be a crossover between a small car and a SUV, to be introduced (in India and Europe) by next year," said Suzuki Motor Co Board Member Hirotaka Ono on the sidelines of 75th Geneva Motor Show. He said the car will carry a diesel engine, which could be between 1.5-2 litre capacity.

Late last month, Suzuki had said that it would develop two new global models by 2007 to stave off competition in India, where it was increasingly facing competition from Korean and Japanese carmakers. Suzuki is already ready to launch the 'Swift' model in India, which will be taking on Hyundai Motor India's 'Getz' model.

Currently, Maruti occupies the leadership in Indian passenger car market with about 50 per cent market share.
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