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InStep with Infosys
Bangalore: Software major Infosys Technologies expects about 100 students from 70 universities across the world to participate in its global internship programme - InStep - this year. The programme had attracted some 70 students last year.

Students from universities, including Carnegie Melon, Harvard, Wharton, MIT, London Business School and Asia Institute of Management, are participating in the programme.

Some 40 interns from different parts of the world arrived at Infosys for InStep. Welcoming the interns, Nandan Nilekani, President, CEO and Managing Director of Infosys, said that for years, students from India have been aspiring for internships at US companies. "Now, an increasing number of students from across the world are coming to India to understand our business model."

Through InStep, Infosys provides an opportunity to introduce students from the top business, liberal arts and technical academic institutions in the world, to the company and India. "It plays an important role in putting into action our management philosophy of a globally diverse Infoscion base," Nilekani added.

Infosys said the intensive eight to 24-week internship programme gives select students hands-on experience on developing latest software services and solutions in Infosys' global development centres across the globe.

InStep, which began with 300 applications for 14 positions six years ago, received over 9,000 applications for 100 positions this year, the company said.

HCL Tech in a joint venture with NEC
New Delhi: HCL Technologies has entered into a joint venture (JV) with the Japan-based NEC Corporation to provide offshore software engineering solutions. The JV will provide offshore solutions in embedded software, hardware design, network and security, mobile technology to NEC.

The JV would also conduct research and development in high performance computing for NEC, its subsidiaries and their clients worldwide. The Japanese firm will hold the majority stake of 51 per cent in the JV.

The venture, which would be based at Noida, is expected to generate $25 million in three years and up to $100 million revenue a year in a five-year period, Shiv Nadar, CEO, HCL Technologies said.
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Reliance slashes all product prices except LAB
Mumbai: The Reliance Industries Ltd has slashed product prices for the second month in succession in all its product categories - polyester, polymers and fibre intermediates - except for linear alkyl benzene (LAB).

The price reduction was sharpest for mono-ethylene glycol (MEG), down 23.7 per cent by Rs11.50 a kg at Rs37.10. The other fibre intermediate, purified terephthalic acid (PTA) was down by Rs4.80 (11 per cent) to Rs37.50.

Polyester prices were down by Rs6 and Rs7 a kg for partially oriented yarn (POY) and polyester staple fibre (PSF) respectively. While POY was down by 8.2 per cent to Rs67 a kg, PSF was down by 10.4 per cent at Rs60.50.

Similarly, polymer prices were down by between 9.2 per cent and 13.6 per cent. Polyethylene (PE) was down Rs5 (9.2 per cent) to Rs49.50; poly vinyl chloride (PVC) by Rs6 (13.6 per cent) at Rs38 and polypropylene (PP) by Rs7 (12.2 per cent) to Rs50.40.

The price of LAB, the only product to left unchanged remains at Rs64.30.
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Cummins to demerge services wing
Pune: The board of directors of Cummins India Ltd, manufacturer of diesel engines, has approved the demerger of the services business of Cummins Auto Services Ltd (CASL) with Cummins Diesel Sales & Services (India) Ltd (CDSS), a 100 per cent subsidiary of the company, to optimise synergies in the after-market operations.

CASL, which made its debut three years ago, had a business model for itself but it was realised that it was not a financially viable model. CASL has two divisions - a services segment and a retails parts segment.

For the year ended March 2005, Cummins India has recorded a 28 per cent increase in net sales at Rs1,191.8 crore against Rs932.4 crore for the year ended March 2004.

Domestic sales grew 12 per cent and exports rose to a record level of Rs402.4 crore (Rs227.4 crore). An official release said that the profit before tax for the year rose by 34 per cent per cent to Rs185.3 crore (Rs138.1 crore). The board has proposed a final dividend of 100 per cent, in addition to an interim dividend of 100 per cent paid earlier.

Net sales for the quarter ended March 31, 2005 stood at Rs316.8 crore, an increase of 16 per cent over Rs272.7 crore earlier. Net profit before tax in the last quarter rose by 47 per cent to Rs56.9 crore (Rs38.6 crore).

The company had exceeded its sales targets and was able to increase PBT by 34 per cent.

Cummins has produced more than 167,000 engines to date in its modern manufacturing facilities in Pune. The company manufactures an average of 10,000 engines per year.
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L&T bags Rs.278 crore order
Mumbai: Engineering major Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) has bagged a Rs278 crore contract from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The order entails upgrading and four-laning a 70-km section stretch of National Highway-76 (NH-76) in Rajasthan.

The road would be completed by L&T's Construction Division - ECC in two-and-half years, L&T has said.

The road forms part of the National Highway Development Programme (phase-II) of NHAI and would significantly enhance the link to Kota on the North-South and East-West Corridor.

The project is funded by Asian Development Bank.
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