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General Electric to enter retail banking
New Delhi: US conglomerate General Electric has said that it is planning a foray into the banking sector in India through acquisitions of an existing bank or by setting up a subsidiary of its own.

GE officials have said that they hope to clock $5 billion through consumer finance over the next five years. Topping their list is a plan to enter retail banking, a business it has been successfully running in 22 countries across the world. Company officials have said that they want to acquire an Indian bank and are already in discussions with the RBI.

GE is rebranding its consumer finance business as GE Money across Asia to clearly mark it out from its other businesses.
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ONGC to adopt Integrity Pact for contracts
Mumbai: Independent external monitors will screen Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's contract initiatives from July.

Subir Raha, ONGC's Chairman and Managing Director, made this announcement on the 'Integrity Pact' at the company's fourth vendors meet, attended by over 70 companies, held in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The Integrity Pact may be made mandatory for ONGC contracts from July 1, the company said in a release.

The pact is a tool devised by Transparency International in the 1990s to fight corruption in public contracting. It contributes to improving the credibility of public procedures and administration. According to Raha, the independent external monitors will be drawn from a panel of eminent people to be chosen by the Central Vigilance Commissioner.

The model of the pact is based on the Berlin Airport reconstruction project and meets the legal criteria for a multinational bidding project, the release said. If a bidder does not sign the Integrity Pact while submitting the bid, ONGC will not consider it. Nineteen countries have so far committed to this pact.
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M&M tractors launched in Serbia
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has announced its foray into the East European market with the launch of the 39-50 HP ranges of tractors in Serbia. The tractors were launched in the Novi Sad International Agricultural Fair.

The range to be marketed in Serbia will be the Mahindra 275, 475, 575 and 595 models, through Intermotors Ltd, a Serbian distribution agency.

The launch in Serbia is in tune with M&M's strategy of expanding its reach to overseas markets. It recently launched tractors in Australia. In Serbia, M&M will introduce 2 WD and 4WD tractor model range.

The company has also announced that it has appointed Rajan Wadhera as Vice-President (Manufacturing), Automotive Sector. He will be responsible for the manufacturing and materials management function across all locations of the automotive sector.
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Tribunal sets aside sales tax demand of Rs.4,962 crore on GAIL
New Delhi: The Gujarat Sales Tax Tribunal, Ahmedabad has set aside the sales tax demand of Rs4,962 crore on GAIL (India) Ltd. upholding the stand of GAIL that transportation of natural gas by it from Gujarat to other States amounts to 'stock transfer' and not `inter-State sale'.

This judgment will reduce the contingent liability of the company substantially, a GAIL release has said. The company had filed a protest against the demand of Rs4,962 crore raised by the Gujarat Sales Tax Department.

The central issue was about the transmission of natural gas from Gujarat to other States, which the Gujarat Sales Tax Department claimed was inter-State sale and assessed the tax provisionally and passed order under the Act concerned. GAIL carries gas from Gujarat to other States under its ownership and transfers the ownership at the custody transfer point and claims it as stock transfer.

GAIL carries almost 85 per cent of the gas from Gujarat to various States under its ownership.
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JCB's Rs.450 crore Pune plant to serve as outsourcing hub
Hyderabad: JCB India, part of the $2-billion JC Bamford Excavators Ltd. is in the process of commissioning its second India plant at Pune with an investment outlay of $100 million (Rs450 crore).

This new plant would serve as an outsourcing hub for its global requirements and manufacture various parts that go into construction-related equipment and excavators.

The company is also investing about Rs100 crore in its Delhi facility. The new plant is being funded through internal accruals and has been positioned to serve as a sourcing facility for its global requirements.

In 2004, the company sold about 2,500 units of equipment for various requirements and this year JCB hopes to cross the 7,000-mark driven by increasing usage of construction related equipment.
Apart from expanding operations, JCB is launching a range of equipment for excavation requirements. The southern market accounts for about 30 per cent of the total JCB sales in India and Andhra Pradesh has emerged as a key growth area.
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Reliance Info introduces Zero-rental plans
Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm has introduced zero-rental plans for its wireless services. Although a minimum commitment of Rs299 and Rs649 are payable under these plans, free intra-circle calls worth the monthly rental makes them zero-rental, said a news release from the company.

The New Joy 299 ZR and the New Joy 649 ZR plans carry CLIP and Plan charges of Rs25 a month, as applicable on all Joy plans.
Under the new plans, intra-circle calls to all Reliance phones will cost 50 paise a minute. Calls to non-Reliance phones are Rs1.50 a minute under New Joy 299 ZR, and Re 1 per minute under New Joy 649 ZR.

The company has also announced that from now on, all new subscribers will automatically get STD facility immediately on address verification.
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LG desktop sales to exceed two lakh units
Bangalore: LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd expects its desktop sales to exceed two lakh units during the current year, and the sales from this segment to contribute about 11 per cent of its expected revenues of Rs9,000 crore during the year.

The company has in the meanwhile launched a high-end range of desktops the XPC, in the market here. The XPC model launched includes fully loaded configurations based on Intel and AMD processors and also comes with the latest Microsoft Media Center Edition (MCE) Operating System, designed to provide a true blend of computing and entertainment, according to the company.

In combination with MCE OS and the high-end processors such as Intel's LGA775 / AMD's Athlon64, the XPC offers leading edge features such as high speed processing, access to media storage with remote, personal video recording and multi-function.

The XPC as a PC-cum-entertainment centre at home allows live recording of TV programmes and has provision for pause, rewind, edit and maintaining video library for later viewing. The company has launched the XPC with bundled software on applications and tools along with accessories such as 2.1 and 5.1 stereo speakers to meet various customer requirements.

The XPC range, available in four different models, is priced between Rs35,000 and Rs50,000.
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Promotional scheme from Kingfisher Air
Mumbai: The Kingfisher Airlines has launched a promotional scheme that promises a single fare for every seat on every flight for a limited period of time.

Called the 'No Compromises' scheme, it assures every passenger on the Mumbai-Bangalore sector a fare of Rs2,999 for the month of May. This is nearly Rs1,000 less than its existing invitational fare pegged at Rs3,900.

Similarly, when the airline commences operations on the Bangalore-Delhi sector on June 9, every passenger will be assured a seat at Rs4,999 during the month.

Airlines officials said that the scheme was unique in that it had no restrictions unlike other promotional schemes that offered only a limited number of seats at the lowest fare.

The airline also expects to take delivery of its second aircraft on June 3. This will be deployed on the Bangalore-Delhi sector and will be a thrice-a-day service. The airline hopes to commence its Delhi-Mumbai service in August, officials said.
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Corporate Results: IBP
IBP FY05 net drops 73 per cent
New Delhi: Oil marketing company IBP has reported a sharp 73 per cent drop in net profit to Rs58.8 crore in 2004-05 on account of reduced margins on sale of petrol, diesel and kerosene.

"Reduction in profit for 2004-05 is mainly due to under- recoveries to the tune of Rs352 crore in kerosene and LPG and Rs211 crore in petrol and diesel, aggregating to Rs563 crore," IBP chairman Sarthak Behuria told reporters. Net profit in 2003-04 stood at Rs214.66 crore.

The company posted a 28 per cent growth in turnover to Rs13,663.90 crore during the year gone by as compared to Rs10,711.12 crore in the previous financial year, he said.
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