document.writeln("

Tatas pick up the Pierre hotel in New York
New York: The Taj Group has bought out The Pierre, a premium luxury hotel in mid-town Manhattan, New York, for $50 million (Rs220 crore) in a bid to reposition itself as a luxury chain in the US.

Krishna Kumar, chairman of Taj Group of Hotels and a director in Tata Sons said that it is a landmark transaction for the group. According to him the Tatas will alter the amenities, especially to impart a feel of India.

The Tatas had lost out on their two previous bids to acquire a five-star property in New York. Three years ago, the Taj Group made an unsuccessful $130 million bid for the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan. Two years ago, the group nearly acquired the Inter- Continental Hotel located along the southern border of Central Park.

The Pierre is part of a clutch of 80 apartments-most of them owned by super rich people and is run by a cooperative. As a result, there cannot be an outright acquisition of the property and the Tatas have settled for a 30-year lease. The deal is expected to be funded by the war chest of $150 million that the Tatas have set aside from the Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCB) issued in 2002.

The Taj Group had, from 1981 to 1999, managed three-star hotels in Manhattan (Lexington) and Chicago (Executive Plaza). But a decision to reposition itself as a luxury hotel chain in the US had led the group to hunt for a five-star property for quite some time.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Consultancy and Orca Interactive tie up for IPTV system integration
Singapore: Tata Consultancy Services, Ltd. a global IT services provider, and Orca Interactive, a global leader in the IPTV market, have announced a partnership to offer worldwide IPTV system integration and service development over RiGHTv, Orca's IPTV middleware.

As part of the partnership, the Broadband and Broadcasting Group in TCS will introduce Orca's technology to potential customers around the world and will implement projects incorporating Orca's RiGHTv Telco-grade middleware applications. RiGHTv enables the delivery of a wide range of IPTV services such as broadcast TV over IP, VOD (video-on-demand), NVOD (near VOD), PVR (personal video recording), pay-per-view, games, T-commerce and other interactive services.

RiGHTv is in use at Atlas Communications in India, as well as with a worldwide base of operators including Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), Bezeq (Israel), iVISJON (Norway), FiberCity (Philippines) and Magnet Networks (Ireland).

TCS will work with Orca's customers to execute the development and customization of advanced interactive TV services using Orca's SUI SDK (subscriber user interface software development kit). Orca's SUI SDK enables system integrators, operators and third-party vendors to differentiate their IPTV offerings by adding applications, modifying the solution's look and feel, and porting the SUI to additional set-top-boxes.

"We foresee a huge demand worldwide for personalized TV and interactive services through the TV - such as video on demand, home monitoring, shopping, gaming, etc. By working with Orca, we are confident that we will continue to lead the market with cutting-edge technologies," said Behram Sethna, vice president of Broadband and Broadcasting Group, TCS. "We provide operators with a customized solution in a timely manner, empowered by Orca's highly productive SI-enabled products."

The Broadband and Broadcasting Group in TCS addresses the nascent IPTV and Triple-play interactive services market that is emerging as a result of the convergence of the telecom and entertainment industries. The group formalizes and capitalizes on the vast experience of TCS in the multimedia, telecom and media industries over decades to provide best-of-breed consulting and software development services to all stakeholders in the rich media content value chain: content owners (creators and aggregators), content service providers (Telcos and cable operators, and content packagers), technology providers (set-top-box, home networks, middleware, VOD, DRM vendors) and consumers.

According to Multimedia Research Group's IPTV Global Forecast (March 2005), the IPTV market will reach 25.3 million subscribers and $7.2 billion in revenue in 2008, up from 1.9 million subscribers and $635 million in revenue in 2004. Adding to that growth is the forecasted number of DSL subscribers expected to increase from 109 million in 2004 to 204 million in 2008, a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent.
Back to News Review index page  

Maruti 800 prices slashed
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has slashed the prices of its compact car Maruti 800, with the basic model of the Maruti 800 now cheaper by more than Rs16,000 at 1.99 lakhs and the AC version costing just Rs2.22 lakhs.

In the first two months of this fiscal, Maruti managed to sell only about 13,000 Maruti 800s, down 38 per cent from what it sold in April and May 2004.
Back to News Review index page  

IA pilots heading for a showdown over salary demands
New Delhi: More than 60 pilots of Indian Airlines have asked for a 'No Objection Certificate' from the airline, so they can move on to other carriers. The pilots union claims that the number of pilots in the agitation will go up to 100 in the next two days.

According to Captain V K Bhalla, Central President, Indian Commercial Pilots' Association, "The management has completely failed us. We want to fly better planes. We want better salaries."

The pilots say they need the NOC before they can get new jobs. Talks between the unions and the management have broken down over the issue of salaries. According to sources the pilots were demanding a raise of up to 300 per cent, which the Indian Airlines management flatly rejected.

They now want a salary hike of at least 100 per cent but even that is not acceptable so far.

The move by the pilots union comes at a time when there's a serious shortage of pilots thanks to more and more airlines entering the market.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Steel to invest $700mn in Iran
Mumbai: At a press briefing, B. Muthuraman, Managing Director of Tata Steel, said that TISCO (Tata Iron and Steel Company) would be a 49-per cent equal joint venture partner with IMIDRO (2 per cent would be held by a pension fund of the Iranian Government) at the slab and billet-making facility and the proposed joint venture for exploration and mining, which includes a pellet plant in Iran.

Tata Steel's Iranian commitments, disclosed on Sunday, include a fully owned facility for producing steel billets entailing an investment of nearly $700 million over the next five years.

The company will partner the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (IMIDRO) in establishing a 1.5 million tonnes per annum steel slab-making facility, a 1.5-mtpa steel billet-making capacity, a separate 3 mtpa export-oriented steel plant and explore and mine iron ore.

The semi-finished steel joint venture would require an investment of $1.2 billion with equity from both sides coming to $600 million on a debt-equity ratio of 1:1. Tata Steel's share would be $300 million. This facility - the Hormozgan steel project - was already under way as an IMIDRO project when Tata Steel decided to join in.

The exploration and mining joint venture would cost $300 million with Tata Steel's equity share estimated at $75 million. Its pellet plant would supply raw material for making billets. As the IMIDRO joint venture billet plant may be commissioned by early 2009 (the slab facility goes on line in 2008), initial pellet supplies would be met from an existing pellet plant.

The separately proposed 3 mtpa billet plant near the Hormozgan steel project in the Persian Gulf Special Economic Zone (PGSEZ) would be a 100 per cent Tata Steel facility, with Phase 1 (1.5 mtpa) investment pegged at around $700 million. Equity contribution would be $300 million. Phase 1 should be ready by early 2009.

The main recipient of Tata Steel's Iranian billets would be the 2-mt NatSteel, having operations in South-East Asia and China. Some billets would be shipped to the Indian west coast as well, as it is cheaper than moving billets to Mumbai from Jamshedpur.

According to him, Iran was an attractive location to make steel because it has iron ore and natural gas, the latter being critical to keep costs low. Iran's iron ore reserves at 2-3 billion tonnes were of the magnetite variety, helpful for the DRI route to steel making at NatSteel. Further, the country was poised to be a good-sized steel user in the region, its current production of 14 mt on a modest population base providing a strong per capital intake figure.
Back to News Review index page  

Jindal Vijayanagar may issue $500mn FCCBs to fund expansion
Mumbai: Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd (JVSL) has obtained shareholders' approval to raise $500 million through a foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) issue.

The company is expanding its steel-making facilities from 2.5 mt to 3.8 mt at a cost of Rs1,275 crore. Fund requirements for the current expansion have already been tied up, with Rs450 crore coming from internal accruals and Rs800 crore by way of debt.

The company said it would go for an FCCB issue only if the premium is around 50 per cent, officials said. The company has also rationalised its debt-equity ratio from 2.37 in 2003-04 to 1.33 towards the end of 2004-05.

Quoting the National Steel Policy of 2003, the company said the country's steel capacity is expected to go up to 100 mt by 2018 from the current 35 mt.

The company also obtained shareholders' approval for changing its name to Jindal Steel Works Ltd.
Back to News Review index page  

Det Norske Veritas certification for Kudremukh
Mangalore: The Kudremukh Iron and Steel Company (KISCO) has received three international standard certificates - ISO 9001:2000 for quality management system; ISO14001:1996 for environmental management system; and OSHAS:18001 for occupational health and safety system from Det Norske Veritas.

A company release said here on Monday that Dr Vijaya Rao of Det Norske Veritas, the certifying agency, presented these certificates to the KISCO Chairman, P. Ganesan, in Mangalore recently. KISCO is the only large-scale producer of pig iron in coastal Karnataka.

The release said that KISCO is capable of producing 2.16 tonnes of pig iron per annum.
Back to News Review index page  

Lenovo mulls business strategy post acquisition
New Delhi: The Chinese PC major Lenovo, which has recently acquired the personal computing division of IBM, has said it would focus on offering `business continuity' for ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and ThinkVision customers in India, even as it mulls launching its own product range in the country.

Lenovo officials said that India is a high priority market for them. Since the company currently does not have its own line of products in Indian market it is analysing which of the products that Lenovo sells in China and a few other markets, can be launched in India. The officials were speaking on the sidelines of a conference to announce Lenovo's strategy in India post the IBM personal computing acquisition.

A company project team was in the process of identifying Lenovo products that would suit the Indian market, and the exercise would be over in 60 days.

Lenovo known for its aggressive pricing strategy in the China, said that it would continue with the premium positioning of the product portfolio that came to it after taking over IBM's personal computer business.

For products acquired from IBM, the company plans to focus on "business as usual strategy" without any immediate change in product roadmap, customer service teams or sales coverage. Lenovo can use IBM logo on its products for five years.
Back to News Review index page  

Corporate Results: Pittie Laminations, TVS-E, Geometric Software
Pittie Laminations declares 20 per cent dividend
Hyderabad: During 2004-05, Pittie Laminations has posted a 20 per cent higher sales revenue at Rs54.58 crore compared to previous year's Rs45.32 crore.

However, due to higher tax liability net profit after tax was higher by only 24.64 per cent at Rs5.02 crore (Rs4.03 crore).

The board of directors of the company has recommended a dividend of 15 per cent for the financial year ended March 31, 2005, including the interim dividend of 10 per cent declared in January 2005.

TVS-E net dips in Q4
Chennai: TVS Electronics Ltd has reported a reduced net profit of Rs72 lakh (Rs1.34 crore) on a turnover of Rs61.12 crore (Rs58.48 crore) for the quarter ended March 31, 2005.

The reason for the drop is the average price reduction of 5 per cent across its product range. The company says that it expects to do better in the current quarter.

The company's board has recommended a dividend of 90 paise per equity share of Rs10 each for the 15 month period ending March 31, 2005.

For the 15 months, the company reported a net profit of Rs4.28 crore on a turnover of Rs317.40 crore.

According to the company it plans to invest Rs20 crore this fiscal on printers, set-top box, power suppliers and an assembly plant in Himachal Pradesh. A decision on this would be taken in a couple of weeks. The company said that the investment would not be very large.

With growth in four key segments, including IT, telecom and digitisation of home entertainment, the company is focussed on introducing new products and services to take advantage of the emerging markets, said a company press release.

Geometric Soft lowers guidance
Mumbai: Geometric Software Solutions Company Ltd has lowered its profit guidance by 5-8 percentage points for the first quarter of the current fiscal due to a delay in some of its projects.

"After 10 straight quarters of quarter-on-quarter growth, I have to report that consolidated revenues will show a decline this quarter over the previous quarter," the company's Managing Director, Manu Parpia, said in a release.

"Unfortunately, the commencement date of several projects has been shifted to the next quarter. The effect of this has been compounded by a delay in completing a major fixed price project, making it ineligible for revenue recognition," the release added.
Back to News Review index page