RITES bags Angolan contracts worth $40 mn
Delhi: The Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd (RITES), the consultancy arm of the Indian Railway, has bagged five contracts worth $40 million from the Transport Ministry of Angola for implementing its CFM railway rehabilitation project. An official release said the contracts signal a major breakthrough for RITES in Angola.

The project envisages deployment of RITES experts as part of technical assistance for a period of 18 months. It includes training of senior CFM officials in India, supply of diesel electric locomotives, five different types of passenger coaches and diesel multiple unit train-sets.

RITES will also supply self-propelled Accident Relief Train, working equipment, inspection cars, rail-cum-road vehicles and other equipment required for railway rehabilitation.
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BHEL bags Rs1,464 crore order from Bhilai Electric
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged a Rs1,464-crore order from Bhilai Electric Supply Co Pvt Ltd to set up two units of 250 MW each at the Bhilai thermal power project in Chhattisgarh. The Bhilai Electric Supply Co Pvt Ltd a joint venture of NTPC and SAIL.

BHEL's scope of work in the contract includes design, manufacture, supply and commissioning of the main plan package, including balance of plant and civil works on turnkey basis, a company release said.

The turbine generators and boilers would be built at the state-run company's Haridwar and Tiruchy plants, while the controls and instrumentation system would be supplied by BHEL's Bangalore-based electronics division. The Hyderabad unit would manufacture the boiler feed pumps and the Bhopal and Jhansi units would supply electricals and switchyard equipment, the release said.
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BHEL Bangalore units turnover at Rs818 crore for fiscal 2004-05
Bangalore: The three Bangalore units of Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) Ltd have recorded a turnover of Rs818 crore for the 2004-05 fiscal. This is a 24 per cent growth over the sales figure of Rs658 crore for the previous fiscal.

The Electronics Division , Electroporcelains Division and Industrial Systems Group showed all-round improvement in their operations with a profit before tax of Rs200 crore, an increase of 125 per cent over the previous year's PBT of Rs89 crore.

Their order book inflow touched a record high of Rs1,417 crore, or 42 per cent increase over Rs997 crore orders they got during 2003-04. At the end of fiscal 2004-05, the outstanding order book position of these units stood at Rs1,990 crore.

The three units are in the business of power plant automation, solar photovoltaic systems for both terrestrial and space applications, space-quality batteries, smart card based pre-paid energy meters, bulk material handling, distribution business, water management systems, products for the steel and oil sectors and new insulators.

The Electronics Division reached a milestone in setting up modern power plants in the country, with the commissioning the first unified control & instrumentation solution for the 500-MW Ramagundam Thermal Power Station in Andhra Pradesh and the synchronisation of the 500-MW unit at the Rihand Thermal Power Station in Uttar Pradesh.

BHEL has a technology tie-up with Metso Automation, USA, for the new remote connectivity technology. It said it had booked record orders worth Rs1,800 crore for these systems so far.

The Electronics Division has handed over the first three space quality batteries to the ISRO for use on its satellites. It also fabricates space grade solar panels for ISRO.

The BHEL-ISG has commissioned the 40-mld (million litres a day) sewage treatment plant of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board at Nesapakkam. This plant is the first of its kind to be executed by BHEL and treats sewage, discharges it into the Adayar River and also generates electricity from bio-gas.

On the export front, the three units executed a number of physical and deemed projects worth Rs94 crore in Indonesia, Germany, Italy, Libya, among others.
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New concept car from Reva
Bangalore: Electric carmaker Reva has launched a new concept car, the Reva-NXG.The Reva-NXG was launched by the Union Minister for Science & Technology, Kapil Sibal. The new concept car is the result of a collaborative effort between RECC (Reva Electric Car Company), the automobile designer, Dilip Chhabria, and Simputer developer Encore Software.

A press statement from Reva said `REVA-NXG' is a two-seater roadster with an extended range of 200 km per charge and a speed of 120 km per hour.
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Nalco establishes new records in production and sales
Bhubaneswar: The National Aluminium Company Ltd. (Nalco), India's largest producer and exporter of alumina and aluminium, has established new records in all areas of production and sales for the fiscal 2004-05.

During the year 2004-05, the exports business of the company crossed Rs2,200 crore, compared to Rs1,717 crore in the previous year.

The production of aluminium has been the highest ever at 15,75,000 tonnes compared to 15,56,100 tonnes during 2003-04. Similarly, the company achieved cast metal production of 3,38,483 tonnes, which is an all time record, compared to the previous high of 2,98,208 tonnes, according to an official release.

On the marketing front also, Nalco has recorded the highest ever domestic metal sale of 2,05,700 tonnes exceeding the previous figure of 1,66,650 tonnes in 2003-04. Export metal sale of 1,32,730 tonnes was also a new record, compared to 1,29,719 tonnes in the previous year.
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Patel Engineering bags Rs18 crore order from Mumbai municipal corporation
Mumbai: Patel Engineering Ltd has bagged a Rs18.40-crore micro-tunnelling project from the Brihanmumbai Mahanagarpalika in Mumbai, the second such project to be executed in India.

Micro-tunnelling is one of the several types of trench-less construction techniques, involving use of remotely controlled, guided pipe-jacking process that provides continuous support to the excavation face. This process avoids traffic disruptions caused by activities such as construction and rehabilitation of highways, apart from circumventing the need to dig newly laid roads and highways.
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Pepsi and HLL in JV to market iced tea
New Delhi: Pepsi India and Hindustan Lever (HLL) have joined hands to market iced tea - a segment that's expected to grow to 5-10 per cent of the overall Rs6,000 crore carbonated soft drinks market.

The two companies have announced a 50:50 joint venture, and launched the Lipton ice tea through an alliance that will pool their respective strengths to market, sell and distribute Lipton ready-to-drink tea and tea-based beverages in India. The companies have said that the arrangement combines Lipton brand equity with Pepsi bottling, sales and distribution strengths.

Lipton ice tea would be available in returnable 250 ml glass bottle (Rs9) and 500 ml PET bottles, officials said. The joint venture would focus on urban areas in the first two years and would be available initially in seventeen cities.
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R-World earns over Rs2 crore in first five days
Mumbai: Reliance India-Mobile's data and applications service R-World has earned revenues of over Rs2 crore in just five days of the service going paid. The company announced that R-World earned revenues of over Rs1crore from just two days of it becoming a paid service.

Over the last five days, R-World got over 1.5 crore hits resulting in revenues of over Rs2 crore, according to a news release from Reliance Infocomm. Nearly 50 per cent of the hits were driven by cricket fever - over the ongoing Indo-Pak one-day international series.

Over two million users used R-World Day Pass, which costs Rs3 a day. One million of them logged on to R-World for cricket score updates.

R-World Day Pass is similar to the railway season ticket, where the mobile phone user pays a one-time nominal charge to access the R-World server for unlimited usage for a day.
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Newport jeans signs up Saif Ali Khan
Bangalore: Newport, jeans from Arvind Brands Ltd, has signed Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan as its brand ambassador. It will soon launch a new campaign revolving around the theme `Saif's Style Fundas'.

Priced onwards of Rs399, Newport will soon be available across 2000 multi-brand outlets and over 80 exclusive shops.

The brand reported a trade turnover of Rs36 crore in 2004-05 and is hoping to jump to Rs85 crore in the current financial year.
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