Rajesh Exports to enter retail jewellery market
Bangalore: Rajesh Exports is all set to enter the retail business to market its jewellery as part of its long-term strategy to increase profits. The company is engaged in wholesale business with exports constituting 85 per cent of its total turnover, set to touch Rs4,000 crore this year.

It has engaged Ernst & Young to assist it in the business planning process for the launch of its branded retail venture in about two months.
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Daewoo asset sale: GM issues fresh deadline to Govt.
Bangalore: General Motors (GM) has issued a fresh deadline to the Government on resolving issues concerning the Daewoo plant even as it plans to launch a new car in the B-plus category sometime later this year.

The company is also considering a move to gradually reduce the production of some of its Corsa models. It has scaled down the production of Corsa models to about 8,000 units this year from about 8,400 units in 2004. This has been done to increase production of the Tavera.

GM is also set to increase the capacity of its plant at Halol by 20,000 units to 80,000 units soon. According to company officials, with the addition of one more shift, the capacity can be increased to 80,000 units.

The company may launch the Aveo, a mid-size car this year though there is no official confirmation from the company. The five-door hatchback version is expected to compete with C class cars such as the Hyundai Getz, the Ford Fusion and the Suzuki Swift, which will be launched in May.

With just two per cent marketshare, GM is keen on increasing the share of the high-volume small car market as soon as possible.

In March, the company reported its highest ever sales for a single month since launching its operations in 1994. The company reported sales of 3,516 units largely because of high sales of the Tavera, which sold 1,905 units, followed by 1,101 Optras and 506 Corsas.
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Rs.60 crore contracts for UB Engineering
Mumbai: UB Engineering Ltd has announced that it has bagged contracts worth Rs60.35 crore in the power and steel sectors.While Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has given it an order worth Rs10.34 crore for the erection of two units of 250 MW each at Punjab State Electricity Board's Guru Hargobind Thermal Power Project (Stage II Units 3 and 4), and at Lehra Mohabbat, Bhatinda, the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd has entrusted work worth Rs27.12 crore for supply of equipment and the erection of turnkey constructions of 220 kV and 132 kV substations at Bahadurgarh.

In the steel sector, Essar Construction Ltd has awarded an Rs14.59-crore order for fabrication of structural steel and plate work for their expansion projects at Hazira in Gujarat.

Jindal Steel & Power has given UB an Rs8.3-crore order for mechanical work for its sinter plant project at Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.
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Strides completes allotment of FCCB issue
Bangalore: Strides Arcolab Ltd has announced that it has completed the issue and allotment of $40-million foreign currency convertible bonds.

The FCCBs, which will be due in 2010, carry 0.5 per cent coupon and can be redeemed at a premium to par to yield 6.8 per cent a year. The bonds are convertible into equity shares of the company at an initial conversion price of Rs358.70 per share with a fixed exchange rate of Rs43.7767 per dollar.

Deutsche Bank was the sole lead manager and book runner to the issue.
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Asiamoney award for ONGC
New Delhi: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) has bagged a trophy from Asiamoney for 'best deals of the year 2004'.

This is thanks to its secondary share placement of Rs10,694 crore, a company release said.

Asiamoney is a leading capital markets publication. The award was received by the ONGC's CMD, Subir Raha and the Director (Finance), R.S. Sharma.
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HM to sell 1,500 CNG, LPG based Ambassador cars
Chennai: The Hindustan Motors expects to sell at least 1,500 Ambassador cars this year that run either on compressed natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas, which will be five times higher than the number of cars sold last year.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the launch of the company's `LPG Ambassador' in Chennai, company officials said that the car was Bharat Stage-III compliant.

As an inaugural offer, the company has announced a price of Rs2.99 lakh for the first 100 cars, against the regular price of Rs3.53 lakh.

The cars are fitted with LPG equipment made by BRC Auto of Italy. Other Ambassador cars could be retrofitted with the LPG equipment and the compatible engine, for about Rs1 lakh.
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Daikin looks to turn the corner this fiscal
New Delhi: Japanese air-conditioner maker Daikin Industries Ltd has said that it would be posting a net profit this fiscal. "We had a net loss of Rs1 crore in the just-ended financial year on a turnover of Rs130 crore. This fiscal we hope to make net profit and expect turnover to grow to about Rs150 crore and post a net profit of about Rs3 crore," said Hayashi Toshiki, Managing Director of Daikin India, at a news conference.

The company, which entered India in 2000 with an 80:20 joint venture with the Shriram group, bought over the Indian partner's 20 per cent stake in November last year, and Daikin India is now a fully-owned subsidiary of the $6-billion Japanese major.

Toshiki said that the company has made investments of about Rs70 crore so far in India, which includes the Rs50 crore pumped in by the parent company last year to wipe out accumulated losses.

The company, however, made it clear that it did not intend to set up assembly or manufacturing facilities in India until volumes cross 100,000 units a year. It currently imports the products from its facilities in Thailand and Japan.

The company has benefited from the Indo-Thai Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with about 60 per cent of its imports coming in from Thailand, as a result of the duty reductions, Toshiki said. Daikin sold some 20,000 units in the Indian market last year.

The company is bullish about the growth prospects of the Indian market and has said that the market is likely to witness 16-18 per cent growth this fiscal, higher than the other world markets. The premium segment in the split air-conditioners market would see demand perking up by 30-35 per cent, according to the company.

The company, which is present in 100 Indian cities through 200 dealers, is eyeing a turnover of Rs500 crore in the next five years.

Daikin India operates in the high-end segment of the AC market, with almost 70 per cent sales being to commercial establishments and 30 per cent to the household segment.
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BSNL to slash call rates for the Gulf region
Thiruvananthapuram: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is considering slashing call rates to the Gulf countries in a bid to counter illegal routing of international calls.

While officials refused to comment on the extent of tariff reduction, they said the reduction would affect the profits now being reaped by those engaged in camouflaging international calls as Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) calls.

BSNL would also introduce a new scheme, Plan 240, for urban subscribers in all SDCAs having a capacity of one lakh lines and above. As per the scheme, the monthly rent will be Rs240 only with 100 free calls every month. The calls beyond 100 will be charged at Rs1.20 per pulse.

With Kerala having the longest waiting list in the country with 3.57 lakh applicants the circle plans to provide 6.5 lakh new connections in the current year. Out of this, two lakh connections will be on wireline, while the remaining 4.5 lakh will be WLL connections.

The circle is planning to provide 14 lakh new cellular mobile connections in 2005-06. Of the 1,217 additional base trans-receiver stations (BTS) planned, 632 will be in rural areas, which will ensure seamless coverage in most of the villages.
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Oracle to launch enterprise software Fusion
Kolkata: Oracle will launch, within the next three years, an enterprise software product called Fusion that would facilitate the migration of PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards' clients to the Oracle platform.

Addressing a news conference here to announce its association with electric meter manufacturer Landis + Gyr India, company officials said that Oracle was committed to providing support to PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards' clients till 2013.
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ONGC net profit at Rs.12,500 crore
Agartala: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has made a net profit of Rs12,500 crore in the last financial year and Rs30,000 crore overall in the last three years, Company chairman-cum-Managing Director Subir Raha has said.

ONGC though was suffering a loss of about Rs200 crore per annum in Tripura because of its inability to sell gas due to communication bottlenecks, he said. ONGC was now working on an ambitious joint venture project for setting up a 750 MW gas-based thermal unit at Palatana in South Tripura district, to be completed in 30 months.

Raha, who is also the chairman of the project, said effort was being made to involve North Eastern Power Corporation (NEPCO) in the project "but nothing has been finalised".
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Quarterly Results: TCS, Castrol India, HCL Infosystems, Hexaware Tech
TCS Q4 net below street expectations
Mumbai: Technology major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced Q4 results, far below street expectations. On a QoQ basis, the company has posted a net profit of Rs471 crore, down 33 per cent from Rs709 crore.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2005, total income has increased to Rs2,604 crore, up marginally from Rs2,578.4 crore. The company has also declared an earnings per share (EPS) for Q4 of Rs.9.83. It has also declared a dividend of Rs5 per share. The total expenditure for the quarter has been pegged at Rs1,865 crore.

The company added 53 new clients and 1775 employees in Q4.

The technology major is the first Indian IT company to cross $2 billion in revenues and $0.5 billion in net profits. It incurred forex losses of Rs185cr in the reporting quarter.

Revenues from GE contributed to 13.96 per cent of international revenues, down from 14.83 per cent in Q3. On a YoY basis, the operating margins for Q4 are at 25.62 per cent, down from 27.65 percent.

Castrol India Q1 net up nineteen per cent
New Delhi: Castrol India Ltd has posted a 19.16 per cent increase in net profit at Rs31.96 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005. This is compared to Rs26.82 crore for the corresponding quarter in 2003-04.

Total income has increased to Rs325.11 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2005 from Rs296.5 crore in the year-ago period, the company has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

HCL Infosystems Q3 net up 17 per cent
New Delhi: HCL Infosystems has posted a 17 per cent jump in net profit at Rs65.40 crore on a consolidated basis in the third quarter ending March 31, 2005.

During the reporting quarter, the revenues of the company rose 69 per cent as compared to last fiscal at Rs2011.82 crore.

For the third quarter in a row the company has declared an interim dividend of Rs7.0 on every share of the face value of Rs10. This takes the total dividend paid by the company in first nine months to 210 per cent.

On a consolidated basis, the company's revenues during the first nine months of 2004-05 was Rs5586.14 crore, up eighty per cent as compared to the same period last year.

Hexaware Tech Q1 net up 101 per cent
Mumbai: Hexaware Technologies has registered a 101.64 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs23.23 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005. The net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2004 stood at Rs11.52 crore.

In the reporting quarter, the company's total income grew to Rs166.92 crore as against Rs118.06 crore in the corresponding period of last year. On a standalone basis, the company posted a growth in net profit at Rs10.29 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005 as against Rs8.04 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2004.

Total income increased to Rs78.28 crore for the reporting quarter against Rs58.80 crore corresponding period last year.
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