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IOC interested
in tapping Pakistan's diesel market
Islamabad: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has offered to sell 320,000
tonnes of diesel to Pakistan via the Wagah border at a discount. Petroleum
Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, currently on a visit to the country, is likely
to ask Pakistan to remove diesel from its negative list of imports from India. Aiyar,
who is on a state visit to Pakistan from June 6-8, will be meeting Pakistani
Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar on Monday. In
order to woo Pakistan's diesel import order, IOC is willing to sell the product
below the current landed price, irrespective of the production cost incurred
by Indian refineries, company officials have said. Pakistan,
which imports 2.5 million tonnes of diesel from Kuwait per annum, does not
have any refinery in Lahore-Multan area, which receives products either from
inland refineries or from Karachi by rail or road. The company has offered
320,000 tonnes of diesel for six months beginning July. Official
have said that the product would be priced in such a way that the landed cost
at Lahore is at least 50 cents lesser per barrel than the landed cost presently
incurred by Pakistan at Lahore. Actual saving shall, however, be decided after
negotiations with Pakistan Oil Companies before the contracts are finalised.
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Indian
Jet Airways all set to take legal action against US Jet Airways
Mumbai: Jet Airways intends to take legal action against the President
and CEO of US-based Jet Airways Inc for its "outrageous" allegation
that the Indian private airliner had terrorist links. Denying
all allegations, Jet Airways in a statement today said the American company
was attempting to "besmirch" its reputation, which had amounted
to outright harassment. "We
have taken a serious view of these allegations", Jet Airways said in
a statement. "Investigations show that Jet Airways Inc is just a shell
company with no business activity much less airline business", the statement
further added. The
primary motivation of Jet Airways Inc in filing the objection arises out of
a trade name claim made by them that is currently being addressed before the
US Patent and Trademark Office, the statement said. The
private Indian airliner is scheduled to launch its operations to the US with
a flight from Mumbai to Newark via Brussels on June 23. Maryland-based
Jet Airways, Inc., which is yet to commence airline operations, has filed
a petition with the US Transport Department that if the Indian carrier is
allowed to operate in the US "then we will once again have the Al Qaeda
flying and controlling aircraft over American cities". The
American company has alleged that "since Jet Airways (India) Ltd was
planned and started in 1991, it has been funded by Al Qaeda 'Specifically
Designated Global Terrorist' Dawood Ibrahim, and no matter how wonderful the
service and the airline may be in India, it is still an enterprise which is
used to launder money for Al Qaeda and it is still an Al Qaeda airline".
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to News Review index page Caparo
group to build leisure complex near Delhi
Arizona: Britain's Caparo Group plans to set up a big conference and
leisure complex spread over 24 acres on the outskirts of Delhi by at the cost
of more than Rs100 crore. The
group chairman Lord Swraj Paul said here that land for the complex had been
acquired at Greater Noida. "We
know a little about the hospitality industry having a few hotels in Britain,
but as a group, I would say, a venture of this size is a new area for us,"
he said. The
London-based NRI industrialist said that he hopes to increase the groups business
in India seven-fold which will account for 35 per cent of the group's global
turnover from less than five per cent at present.
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to News Review index page Kopran
restructuring to focus on international markets
Mumbai: Kopran Ltd is undertaking financial and business restructuring
of its business in order to focus on international regulated markets for bulk
drugs and formulations. The company is now gearing up to shift its historical
emphasis from the domestic business to the international arena. To
company plans to enter into strategic alliances or assignments for marketing
its domestic branded pharmaceutical formulations, the company has informed
the BSE. Earlier, Kopran had undergone a corporate debt-restructuring scheme.
However,
the debt servicing costs were not reduced substantially and hence, the company
has assigned a major part of its debt (Rs130 crore) to Clearwater Capital
Partners India and the interest burden has been brought down to a nominal
level. This restructuring through a one-time settlement with most of the existing
lenders will help the company bounce back and once again be profitable, the
company said. Further,
the shareholders have approved placement of equity through warrants of up
to 12 million shares at Rs74.55 a share to Clearwater Capital Partners. The
promoters too have subscribed to three million warrants at the same price.
The
international generic market presents a huge business opportunity of nearly
$50 billion, which is expected to touch $100 billion by 2010, as drugs go
off-patent over the next few years. Kopran is also looking at the herbal health
market. To
exploit the potential of this domestic and international market, Kopran has
merged with itself Kopran Pharmaceuticals Ltd (the company marketing the Smyle
brand) with effect from March 1, 2005. The company intends to have a range
of OTC products marketed under the Smyle brand. While continuing to cater
to the domestic market, there will be increasing focus in marketing Smyle
products internationally. In
the meanwhile, Rajendra Somani and Sunil Parekh have resigned as Directors
of Kopran, while S.J. Parekh and Susheel Somani have been appointed as Directors
in the casual vacancy caused as a result. Kopran
manufactures a range of antibiotics. Enhancement of its antibiotic manufacturing
capacity should lead to economies of scale. Further, the company intends to
expand capacity for its cardiovascular range of products. It has already filed
process patents for amlodipine, lansoprazole and sildenafil citrate, the announcement
said. Additionally,
Kopran Research intends to license out its molecules, KNC-6 (an anti-ulcerant)
and KNC-1206 (a bowel regulator), to other pharmaceutical companies and seek
collaboration for developing new molecules for its platform technology.
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to forge tie-ups for cement, power plants at Bokaro Steel
Bokaro: The Steel Authority of India Ltd is planning to set up two
new businesses in collaboration with other partners at its Bokaro Steel Plant
(BSP). The
SAIL board has cleared the proposal to set up a cement plant of an initial
capacity of one million tonne a year. The capacity will later be enhanced
to 2 mt. The second joint venture proposal on power would soon be placed before
the SAIL board by BSP. The plant has suggested setting up two 250 MW power
plants. The estimated cost of these two projects together would be Rs2,550
crore. The
project would be carried out by Bokaro Power Supply Co Ltd (BPSCL), an existing
50:50 joint venture between Damodar Vallley Corporation (DVC) and SAIL. According
to company officials, the cement plant is planned to take care of the huge
volumes of slag (a by-product in the steel making process) generated everyday.
Disposal of slag has become a major problem for all big steel plants. The
cost of the cement plant, which would bring clinker from another source, is
estimated to be Rs320 crore. The cost of the proposed power plant would be
Rs2,200 crore. Mecon
has already prepared a feasibility report for this power plant, while BSP
has also identified 750 acres of land for this project.
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to News Review index page Tietoenator
Ltd opens offshore production centre in Pune
Pune: Tietoenator Ltd, a Northern European software firm with a turnover
of over euro 1.5 billion has established an offshore production site in Pune.
The offshore centre would exclusively cater to healthcare solutions development,
company officials have said. The
other areas where the company would be present include banking and insurance,
telecom and media, production and logistics, processing and network. Officials
said that the company had begun its operations with about 100 software developers
and is expecting to ramp up to 300 within a year for the healthcare sector.
Detailing
the software product, officials said it allowed doctors attending on a patient
to have a clear record of the diagnosis made earlier and the medication given
to the patient. One-third
of the revenue would come from the software, one-third from consulting and
the remaining from the long-term maintenance of the software, officials said.
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