Orissa and POSCO talks fail
Bhubaneswar: The Rs45,000-crore mega POSCO steel project has run into rough weather, with the South Korean steel giant unable to sign an MoU with the Orissa government, which was scheduled for April 14.

The POSCO delegation in Orissa said its talks with the state government had failed, as the government was changing its conditions too often. Earlier, a senior MP of Orssia's ruling BJD had claimed that the project would not benefit the state. "The project will adversely affect the domestic steel industry which has just made a turnaround," Braja Kishore Tripathy had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Tripathy also said that POSCO appeared more interested in exporting iron ore from India and might add to the misery of the domestic steel industry.

The project was going to be one of the biggest investment projects in India.
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New ADC to drive up mobile roaming costs
New Delhi: Mobile roaming will now become dearer with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) imposing Access Deficit Charge (ADC) on international and domestic roaming calls.

TRAI has said that all calls from national roaming subscribers would be treated as STD calls, while those of global roaming users will be accounted as incoming international calls for ADC calculation.

Until now, mobile subscribers using the roaming facility did not have to pay the deficit charge if the call was made to another mobile phone within the same circle. After the TRAI order, a Delhi subscriber roaming in Chennai, for instance, will have to pay Rs0.30 per minute more for all calls made to another mobile phone in Chennai. There will be no impact on calls made to fixed line telephones, since operators are already paying ADC on cell-to-fixed calls.

An international roaming subscriber, while making any call in India, will have to pay an ADC of Rs3.25 per minute. The ADC is to be collected by the visited network operator and paid to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for rolling out telephone lines in rural sectors.

Responding to the TRAI order, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), has said, "The order is anti-consumer and is uncalled for, especially since TRAI is reviewing the entire ADC regime. One does not find the rationale for imposing such a charge that will put an additional burden on the consumers." COAI officials said that the operators may approach the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal to challenge the TRAI order.
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MMTC aims at Rs30,000 crore turnover by 2009-10
New Delhi: MMTC, is all set to step up its turnover to Rs30,000 crore by 2009-10. It posted a 66 per cent increase in the turnover for 2004-05 at Rs15,100 crore against the previous fiscal.
MMTC officials said that this ambitious turnover would be achieved through a slew of measures including the setting up of trade-related infrastructure such as ports and acquiring its own rakes in moving bulk materials.

Besides, there is also a proposal to establish six free trade warehouse zones and in expanding the MMTC-promoted Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) plant's steel-making capacity. The company which holds 51 per cent equity in NINL has decided to install about one million tonnes capacity steel-making facility at an investment of Rs1,000 crore to produce wire rods, reinforcement bars billets, given the growing demand for long products.

Alongside, he said the company would develop iron-ore mine of two million tonnes capacity in Sundergarh/Keonjhar district of Orissa.

The company's domestic business has exceeded Rs1,050 crore which was also a record.
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ABB bags $80 mn transformer orders from NTPC and PowerGrid
Bangalore: ABB, the power and automation technology group has won India's first major equipment orders for 765 kV extra high voltage (EHV) transformers and shunt reactors from NTPC and Powergrid Corporation of India Ltd. These are the largest transformer banks and the highest voltage class transformers to be installed in India.

The combined value of the orders is around $80 million. The transformers and shunt reactors for both projects will be manufactured at ABB's factory in Ludvika, Sweden. ABB India's scope primarily includes local interface, logistics, commissioning and after sales support, said a company release.

As part of the NTPC order, ABB will deliver eight 200 MVA, 21/765 kV generator transformers, seven 333 MVA, 765/400 kV autotransformers and 10 80 MVA, 765 kV shunt reactors.

These units will be delivered to the new Sipat power plant being set up near Jabalpur, Chattisgarh. The overall scope of the order includes supply, transportation, erection and commissioning. For Powergrid, ABB will supply 10 500 MVA, 765/400/33 kV auto-transformers and 10 80 MVA, 765 kV shunt reactors.

The autotransformers and reactors for this project will be installed at Seoni Substation in Madhya Pradesh to evacuate power from the 3,000 MW Sipat power plant.
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Samsung targets $1.4bn in revenue
Hyderabad: Samsung India intends to increase exports to the level of Rs100 crore this year and top $1.4 billion in revenues.

The company is aiming at about 40 per cent growth overall in sales across various divisions and the revenues are set to top the Rs6,500-crore mark up from Rs4,900 crore last year. The company has begun to export refrigerators to CIS, West Asia and SAARC nations.

The company plans to double its sale of ACs this year. While consolidating its position as the number two player in ACs this year, Samsung is eyeing a leadership position in frost-free refrigerators by the year 2006.
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Jet ties up with South African Airways
New Delhi: Jet will lease three A340s from South African Airways for two years at a price above the market rates as the machines are brand new. Jet is also tying up with the South African airline to offer connectivity in each other's domestic market.

For an international major like South African Airways, India continues to be their fastest growing market and tying up with Jet, which is the market leader in India will give them access to a greater Indian market.
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Mastek Q3 net up 37.32 per cent
Mumbai: Technology company Mastek has reported third quarter results in line with street expectations. The company has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs13.80 crore for Q3. This is up 37.32 per cent against Rs10.02 crore for the corresponding quarter in 2003-04.

On a consolidated basis, the revenues have been pegged at Rs150.11 crore, compared to Rs117.46 crore in the same quarter in 2003-04. While revenues from European operations grew by twelve per cent, revenues from the US declined by five per cent.

Going forward, the company expects Q4 profit between Rs14.2-Rs 15.2 crore. It expects Q4 revenues to be in the region of Rs152-Rs157 crore.

It has added three new customers during the quarter.
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Infosys gets Kids HQ deal
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies Ltd has said that Kids Headquarters (Kids HQ), the world's largest children's apparel company, has turned to Infosys to help comply with existing mandates from major retailers.

Infosys' RFID solution, based on Microsoft .NET, provides Kids HQ the flexibility and scalability required to quickly adapt to compliance initiatives and also look beyond it to other strategic initiatives.

Kids HQ will benefit from a new scalable foundation upon which intelligent supply chain strategies can be developed.
Infosys did not detail the deal size.
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Huawei solutions for HFCL Info
Bangalore: Huawei Technologies has signed a three year cooperation framework agreement with HFCL Infotel Ltd, which will see the supply of Huawei's latest telecom solutions, including CDMA network and terminal, fixed network solutions, IN solutions and optical transmission solutions, for expansion of HFCL Infotel's telecom services in India.

The contract, is valued at approximately $70 million.
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