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Bharti
Tele adjudged Asia's best GSM operator
New Delhi: Bharti Tele-Ventures has been judged as
the best GSM operator in Asia in the 2005 Telecom Asia
Awards. The company's Chairman and Group Managing Director,
Sunil Mittal, was given the `Best Asian Telecom CEO' award.
A 12 member-judging panel decided on the awards based
on a financial analysis by the telecom research firm,
the Yankee group.
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IFC
to fund Ramky to the tune of $20 mn
New
Delhi: The International Finance Corporation (IFC),
World Bank Group's private sector financing arm, is looking
at providing funding for Hyderabad's waste management
company Ramky Group to the tune of $20 million in order
to support the company's waste management projects.
The
funding proposed to India's largest private solid waste
management group will be in the form of $10 million of
cumulative, convertible, redeemable preference shares
and $10 million of loans for IFC's own account.
Ramky will be the seventh Indian company that IFC has
funded in this calendar year alone. IFC's investments
of $1.2 billion as of March 2005 make India its third
largest country of operations. The cost of the municipal
and industrial waste management projects being implemented
by Ramky Group is reported to be around $71 million.
The
projects will provide modern waste disposal services to
industrial and commercial businesses and municipalities
in many cities like Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Vizag,
Chennai, Indore and Bangalore.
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Fuel
prices: IOC loses Rs.2600 crore in current fiscal
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has said that
it has lost Rs2,600 crore on the sale of petrol, diesel,
LPG and kerosene so far in the current fiscal.
"In
this fiscal so far, revenue deficit on petrol and diesel
sale was Rs1200 crore and on kerosene and LPG Rs1400 crore,"
IOC chairman Sarthak Behuria said. While kerosene was
being sold at Rs11.92 per litre loss, LPG was under-priced
by Rs106 per cylinder, he said. IOC controls half of the
Indian retail market and the losses for the industry would
be roughly double the IOC figures.
The
gross under-recovery on petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene
(for the industry) in 2004-05 was Rs20,310 crore.
Behuria
suggested that the oil industry - upstream oil producers
(ONGC and OIL), midstream firms (GAIL) and downstream
companies (IOC, BPC and HPC) and private refiners like
Reliance - share the under-recoveries on petrol, diesel,
LPG and kerosene on "equitable basis and thus enable
the vibrant oil and gas sector to earn sufficient returns
on investment."
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BSNL
ties up with Oxigen for e-recharge facility
Hyderabad: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has joined
hands with Oxigen, a private pre-paid services company,
to offer e-pin, an electronically deliverable recharge
facility. The facility would let CellOne prepaid customers
get their accounts recharged using Andhra Bank ATMs, AP
Online and thousands of retail outlets hooked onto the
Oxigen server.
There was no scope for scarcity of any pre-paid denominator
as happened generally. Besides, roaming subscribers could
get their cards recharged while they stay away from the
State. At present, the facility is being offered in seven
other circles such as Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Chennai.
Oxigen had a footprint of 7,000 retail points, including
point of sale terminals, cyber cafes and ATMs. The company
expected that the coverage would expand to 16 circles
and 25,000 points of sales by the year-end.
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Hutch
offers Zero Rental plan
Hyderabad: Hutch, the mobile services provider, has
launched a new category of `Zero Rental' plan for all
Hutch and Orange post-paid users across the country.
Users under this scheme will be able to call or SMS any
local Hutch number for 50 paise per minute. Rental charges
have given way to a new system of a commitment-based plan,
wherein a subscriber gets talk time equal to the full
value of the monthly charges.
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MTNL
to spend Rs.1,867 crore this fiscal
Mumbai: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd will be making
investments of Rs1,867 crore this fiscal, including Rs866
crore in its Mumbai circle.
The company has substantially reduced its landline-to-landline
night-time tariff, and has increased the pulse rate to
five minutes from three minutes, company officials said.
Of the amount earmarked for the Mumbai circle, Rs287 crore
would be spent on switching equipment, Rs214 crore on
transmission equipment, and Rs79 crore on OFC ducting,
they said.
The investments also include Rs136 crore towards CDMA
services, Rs64 crore towards GSM service and Rs79 crore
on information technology requirements. The overall investment
of Rs1,867 crore also includes an amount of Rs200 crore
towards the company's overseas investments, such as its
operations in Mauritius and Nepal.
During the year ended March 31, 2004, MTNL added 2.9 lakh
GSM subscribers, and 40,000 CDMA subscribers. However
the company's fixed line subscriber base came down by
90,000 in Mumbai.
MTNL has announced two broadband plans. One is the pay-as-you-use
plan with zero rental and Rs2 per MB of data download.
The other is an unlimited night browsing plan for Rs590
a month for 500 MB of free download free browsing between
12 midnight and 8 a.m. Additional charges beyond the free
limit will be charged at Rs1.20 per MB.
The Mumbai development plans for the current year include
expansion of GSM technology by another 2 lakh lines from
the existing 6.25 lakh; broadband capacity to be augmented
by another 90,000 lines, up from 1.8 lakh lines; and introduction
of the latest CDMA 20001x technology with capacity of
4 lakh which is to be commissioned shortly.
There are several other plans for infrastructure expansion
and modernisation, billing systems, a call centre, and
introduction of Wi-Fi connectivity at hotels and clubs.
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HLL
shareholders clear transfer of tea estates
New Delhi: Hindustan Lever Ltd. has said that its
shareholders have approved the transfer of the tea plantation
businesses in Assam and Tamil Nadu.
The Doom Dooma Division in Assam and the Tea Estates India
Division in Tamil Nadu comprise gardens and manufacturing
facilities.
On April 8 last, HLL had announced that it would seek
shareholder approval for selling its tea plantation businesses
in Assam and Tamil Nadu to a wholly owned subsidiary of
the company.
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Ultra
Slim notebook from Wipro
Bangalore: Wipro Infotech has launched an Ultra Slim
notebook under the new LittleGenius series for superior
mobile computing, featuring the latest wireless technology.
The Ultra Slim notebook has a sleek, aesthetic and contemporary
look and weighs about 1.35 kg.
The new LittleGenius Ultra Slim Series comes powered with
Intel Centrino Mobile Technology, Intel Pentium M Processor
1.6GHz with 2MB L2 Cache, Intel PRO Wireless Network Connection
2200bg and Intel 855GME Chipset.
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Corporate
Results: BRPL, Balarampur Chini
BRPL's FY05 net rises 15 per cent
Mumbai:
The
Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (BRPL) has
posted a 15 per cent increase in its net profit for the
financial year ending March 31, 2005 at Rs478.3 crore
as against Rs303.74 crore for the corresponding fiscal.
The
board has recommended a final dividend of Rs6 per equity
share of Rs10 amounting to Rs119.89 crore for the year
2004-05, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange
today. The company's total income has increased from Rs2,950.28
crore in FY04 to Rs4,570.39 crore for the year ended March
31, 2005.
BRPL's
net profit for the reporting quarter ended March 31 rose
to Rs51.55 crore as against Rs17.66 crore for the corresponding
quarter last year while its total income increased from
Rs834.79 crore in Q404 to Rs1,232.33 crore for the same
period last year, it added.
Balrampur
Chini declares 160 per cent dividend
New Delhi:
Kolkata-based sugar company Balrampur Chini Mills has
declared a dividend of 160 per cent for the financial
year 2003-04.
The
company's Board of Directors has recommended a dividend
of 160 per cent - which amounts to Rs1.60 per share on
23,18,02,000 equity shares of Re1 each. The Bombay Stock
Exchange has been informed that this dividend recommendation
is subject to approval by the shareholders.
The
board has also given a go-ahead to build a 10 MW Cogen
Power Plant at Akbarpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Balrampur
Chini Mills will set up a remuneration committee to spell
out details of the Employee Stock Option Scheme.
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