document.writeln("
CMC
TCS to 'go-to-market' together
Hyderabad: CMC and TCS have drafted a joint `go-to-market'
approach to address opportunities in both domestic and
international markets building on diverse strengths.
Addressing shareholders at the 29th AGM of CMC, the Chairman,
S. Ramadorai, said: "CMC's strong domain expertise,
technical skills in niche areas, and strong service delivery
chain in India and TCS's expertise in application development,
global execution and delivery capabilities, create an
unbeatable combination for accelerated growth."
The Managing Director of CMC, R. Ramanan, said that the
company expected to recruit about 300-400 people this
year, adding to the existing 3,200 to scale up operations
and also invest in strengthening the infrastructure and
other skills.
The board has recommended a dividend of 45 per cent, compared
to 55 per cent last year.
CMC said that it has restructured the overall operations.
From an 82:18 mix of international and domestic business,
it now expects to grow the international business this
year to about 30 per cent, building on combined strengths.
This will help both a scale-up in value and also provide
a wider range of services.
Back
to News Review index page
Tata
Chem outbid again for EFC
Mumbai: The Tata group's plan for the biggest overseas
buy by an Indian company has run into some tough competition
with Egypt Kuwait Holding (EK Holding), a financial services
firm, offering $110 a share more than what Tata Chemicals'
had bid for Egyptian Fertiliser Company (EFC).
Although Homefield International Ltd (HFL), a Tata Chemicals'
subsidiary which had bid for EFC, was not forthcoming
on its future move, a release from the company said: "The
bid price is about 30 per cent higher than our offer and
we feel that at this level, value creation becomes a difficult
proposition."
At a total value of $601.06 million, the EK Holding offer
is now $81.86 million higher than the $519.2 million (over
Rs 2,250 crore at an exchange rate of Rs 43.50 per dollar)
offer made by Tata Chemicals.
In a notice to the Cairo Stock Exchange, EK Holding has
revised its offer to $462 per share for acquiring 1.301million
shares or 88.25 per cent of EFC.
EK Holding already has 11.75 per cent stake in EFC.
Tata Chemicals had initially made an open offer to buy
EFC at $305 per share. At that price, the total cost of
acquisition worked out to $450 million. After EK Holding
made a counter bid at $350 per share, Tata Chemicals had
increased its price to $352 per share.
Back
to News Review index page
SAIL
lines up Rs.400 crore investment plans for DSP
Kolkata: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has lined
up approximately Rs400 crore worth of investments for
Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) for 2005-06, as part of its
Rs2,800-crore modernisation plan. These investments by
SAIL for DSP are part of its Corporate Plan 2011-12.
By the end of 2012, DSP's hot metal production would increase
to 3.2 million tonnes from the current level of two million
tonnes. The SAIL board has also approved the plant's proposal
for setting up a bloom caster and two ladle furnaces during
2005-06. The bloom caster would cost Rs270 crore. Its
capacity would be 0.85 million tonnes per annum.
The Italy-based Daneili Centro is heading a consortium
for setting up the bloom caster. It would be commissioned
by March 2006.
DSP wants to reduce the share of semi-finished steel products
to 10 per cent by 2012 from the present level of 50 per
cent. It has proposed to set up a bar and rod mill and
a medium structural mill.
SAIL has given an in-principle approval.
At present, DSP is preparing a feasibility report for
these two mills. The cost of the bar and rod mill would
be Rs600 crore-700 crore and the structural mill would
cost Rs500 crore.
During 2004-05, DSP's gross sales grew to Rs4,029 crore
from Rs3,049 crore in 2003-04. Profit before tax jumped
to Rs784 crore from Rs81 crore.
Back
to News Review index page
GM
plans to capture ten per cent market share by 2010
Mumbai: General Motors India has said it plans to
capture a 10 per cent share in the country's automobile
market by 2010 and build up India as a major export base.
The company also plans to increase sourcing of products
from India from the current level of $120 million to $1
billion, General Motors India officials said.
Officials also said that the company plans to introduce
two new products every year starting 2006. It is currently
mulling the launch of a small car.
Even as it plans to increase capacity at its Halol plant
from the current 60,000 vehicles to 80,000 vehicles (in
three shifts), GM India is considering putting up a greenfield
project. The brownfield or the greenfield project would
be a necessity in the event of the Daewoo assets not coming
GM's way.
The launch of a small car is critical to GM if it wants
to carve out a 10 per cent share in the Indian market,
officials said. GM, he said, has a 14 per cent share globally.
GM has invested Rs1,300 crore so far in India.
Back
to News Review index page
VSNL
dial-up net subscriber base drops
New Delhi: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has lost 24 per
cent of its dial-up Internet subscriber base during the
last quarter ended March 2005, dropping in rankings to
the fourth spot, below the Chennai-based Sify. This comes
even as the Internet segment is growing at 22 per cent
annually.
VSNL subscriber base had dipped from 9.3 lakh in December
2004 to just over seven lakh in March 2005. Sify, on the
other hand, has moved up from 7.7 lakh to 8.1 lakh during
the same period.
The state-owned telecom majors Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd
and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd continue to be the top
two ISPs with growth rate of 9.5 per cent and 6.6 per
cent respectively. In fact, BSNL and MTNL account for
nearly 50 per cent of the 5.55-million subscriber base.
VSNL sources said the decline in dial-up subscriber base
has happened on two accounts.
First, due to a shift in consumer usage to high-speed
Internet access such as broadband and, second, due to
the removal of non-active subscribers, which takes place
at the end of every financial year for the purpose of
keeping the account books clean.
VSNL, which had almost 70 per cent of the market a few
years ago, now has just 13 per cent market share.
Back
to News Review index page
Inferior
'Swift': Maruti demands apology from Hyundai
New Delhi:
Auto market leader Maruti Udyog has demanded an apology
from its competitor Hyundai, charging Hyundai of engaging
in a "false, misleading and deceptive" campaign
against its new product Swift or face the consequences.
Maruti
officials have taken strong exception to Hyundai's advertising
brochure called "Xing ahead of the Swift".
In
its brochure, Hyundai claimed superiority of its Santro
Xing over the Swift on ten counts, saying its product
was ahead in terms of space, convenience and global technology.
It also sought to make a case that MUL's Indian product
was inferior to the same product launched in European
market by the parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation.
Close
on the heels of launch of 'Swift', Hyundai announced a
price cut of up to Rs22,000 in some of its Santro models.
The release of the brochure now coincides with the price
cuts on its Xing models.
Back
to News Review index page
VSAT
licence of HFCL cancelled
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom has cancelled
the VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminals) licence held
by Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd on account of
non-payment of dues. HFCL, which also provides unified
access services in Punjab circle, had only 64 subscribers.
In another move, RPG Satellite Communication has surrendered
its VSAT licence. The company also could not make inroads
into the VSAT market and had 75 subscribers. DoT had earlier
cancelled the licence of ILD operator Data Access and
mobile operator Koshika Telecom for non-payment of dues.
The VSAT market is now left with four large players controlling
more than 90 per cent of the market share. The biggest
player is HCL Comnet with 35 per cent of the total subscriber
base. The second largest player is Hughes accounting for
31 per cent of the total user base. Comsat and Bharti
account for nearly 26 per cent of the market share.
Others such as ITI, Essel Shyam, Tata and Telstra together
account for 10 per cent of the user base, but most of
these companies have reported a decline in subscriber
base.
VSAT is used by large corporate to connect their branch
offices across the country through satellite. It involves
installing a series of small dish on the customer's premises.
The service is useful especially for offices located in
remote places where fixed line telephone cannot reach.
FMCG companies are the biggest users of the technology.
Back
to News Review index page
QuEST
to supply non-core services to Smiths Aerospace
Bangalore: Quality Engineering and Software Technologies
(QuEST), has tied up with Smiths Aerospace to set up a
dedicated offshore engineering centre in Bangalore to
supply non-core services for the latter.
As part of the three-year deal, the projects undertaken
involve both fixed price and time & material tasks
sourced from Smiths' operations in the US and the UK.
QuEST will provide advanced engineering services to key
businesses of Smiths Aerospace, including landing gear
and hydraulic systems, engine systems, flight control
systems, propellers, and aerostructures.
Back
to News Review index page
Lowe
India bags C&O account
Mumbai: The C&O Group, a major integrated energy
supply global conglomerate, has settled on Lowe India
to handle their account.
C&O is a Dubai-headquartered fuel management company
that operates globally in South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam,
China, Russia, and Australia. It has a major presence
in the Indian sub-continent. C&O has a decade of experience
in point-to-point fuel management services ranging from
sourcing to entire supply chain logistics. In India, it
works with industrial houses such as Tata, Reliance, and
RPG.
Lowe's winning pitch involved a 360-degree solution that
meticulously addressed the company's multiple targets
and communication needs.
For this pitch, Lowe had put together a special team comprising
competencies such as industrial customers, advocacy, and
brand building.
Back
to News Review index page
Corporate
Results: Engineers India, Tricom
Engineers India FY 05 net up 40 per cent
New
Delhi: State-owned
Engineers India Ltd has posted a 40.48 per cent increase
in its net profit at Rs112.64 crore for the year ended
March 31, 2005 as against Rs80.18 crore last year.
Total
income has slipped 13.36 per cent to Rs967.78 crore for
the reporting year from Rs1117.12 crore in 2003-04.
The
company board has also recommended a 75 per cent dividend
on the paid up equity share capital for the accounting
year 2004-2005.
For
the quarter ended March 31, 2005, EIL has registered a
net profit of Rs37.98 crore as against Rs23.36 crore for
the corresponding quarter in 2003-04.
Total
income has moved to Rs355.32 crore for the quarter under
review from Rs193.47 crore in the year-ago period.
Tricom Q4 net up
Mumbai: The Mumbai-based BPO company, Tricom India
Ltd, has reported a net profit of Rs1.16 crore for the
quarter ended March 31, 2005, against Rs40.3 lakh in the
corresponding quarter last year.
Total income for this quarter stood at Rs3.26 crore (Rs
2.26 crore), an increase of 44.21 per cent.
The
company also reported a profit after tax of Rs4.1 crore
for the year ended March 31, 2005, compared with Rs2.6
crore last fiscal. Total income in the same period increased
to Rs13.1 crore from Rs9.4 crore last year, an increase
of 40.2 per cent.
The company's board has recommended a 20-per cent dividend.
Back
to News Review index page
