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Antrix to jointly market satellites with EADS
Bangalore: Antrix, the commercial arm of the Department of Space, and EADS Astrium of France have announced that they will jointly market communications satellites globally.

According to a MoA signed between the two parties at the Paris air show the two companies will market satellites with a launch mass of 2-3 tonnes and a payload power of below four KW.

This would mean that ISRO would make the satellites at its Bangalore satellite centre, ISAC, which has the capability for `3K buses' or three-tonne satellites such as the recent Edusat and Insat-3A.

Its European partner is known for its strong payloads and international marketing prowess.

"Satellites in this segment represent a sizeable and stable part of the world market," the two majors said in a joint release. "The aim of this co-operation is to optimise the INSAT 2K and 3K platforms along with EADS Astrium payloads. The Antrix-EADS Astrium alliance will have all the ingredients to be successful on this market, offering mature, flexible and cost effective solution to operators' requests."

ISRO's technology has a wide range of applications from telecom, broadcasting and meteorological services, to resources monitoring and management.

The national agency has also developed launch vehicles PSLV and GSLV. EADS Astrium, a European civil, military and earth observation satellite major, is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS Space.

A few years back, ISRO entered into a similar marketing arrangement with European launch major, Arianespace, for its 2-tonne PSLV launch vehicles. (See: ISRO aims for global market for launch vehicles)
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Airbus gets order for 125 aircrafts from domestic carriers
New Delhi: European aircraft maker Airbus has said that it will supply 125 aircraft to domestic airlines Kingfisher, Jet Airways and soon-to-be-launched IndiGo in deals valued at $ 13 billion.

The company has received orders for the supply of 100 jets in the single-aisle A320 from IndiGo and 10 aircraft from Jet Airways. The 15 planes order for Kingfisher includes 10 A380 superjumbos and other aircraft. Besides, Jet has also placed option for 10 more planes, Airbus officials told reporters here.

Officials said that the planes would be sold over the next nine years. While the planes to IndiGo will be supplied over nine years, Kingfisher will get its aircraft over seven years and Jet Airways in the next three years, Airbus officials said.

The Kingfisher deal is a definitive purchase agreement for 15 aircraft. The massive order from IndiGo, being promoted jointly by InterGlobe and Rakesh Gangwal, who has more than two-decades of experience with various airlines, created a stir at the Paris air show last week.

IndiGo is being planned as a low-cost venture, entering the market with a nationwide network and a full fleet of jets.

''India is one of the world's most promising markets. We have projected that India needs 570 aircraft by 2023 and Airbus expects to win at least half of this $ 55 billion-market,'' Airbus officials said. Against the global average of 5 per cent, air travel in India is growing at around 20 per cent, officials pointed out.
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Airbus drops demand for probe into Boeing deal
New Delhi: The French aircraft manufacturer, Airbus has suddenly decided to drop its demands for a government probe into the recent Air India- Boeing deal, on the back of a growing demand for airplanes from the Indian aviation market.

"We are looking to the future. What has happened in the past is behind us. Now we are looking at increased demand from India," Airbus officials said.

At the recent Paris Air Show Airbus signed deals long-term deals with Kingfisher airlines, Jet Airways and Indigo. Together these airlines will buy 125 Airbuses worth a total of $12 billion. Airbus also estimates that India's booming aviation industry will need at least 570 new planes over the next 18 years.

The company's new giant the Airbus A380 for instance has only found Kingfisher as a buyer among all private airliners in the world Ironically, India still doesn't have a single airport where the A380 can land.
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DLF says Mumbai mills land purchase not overpriced
New Delhi: A day after it clinched NTC's Mumbai Textile Mills land for Rs702 crore, the DLF Group has said that the deal was not overpriced as the valuation was based on economic viability of the upcoming retail and entertainment project, where it plans to invest about Rs300 crore.

"The transaction was not overpriced. This acquisition marks our entry in Mumbai and the western India market with a prime project. The idea was to do a landmark project, and the size and the dimension of this acquisition gives us a canvas to do something unique," DLF officials said.

In one of the biggest realty deals in India, Jwala Real Estate Pvt Ltd - an SPV floated by real estate developer DLF - yesterday outbid 12 bidders.

Company officials said that the group would pump in Rs200-300 crore on construction, design and development of the project. This will be funded through a mix of internal accruals and borrowings. According to company officials, DLF expects the project to be up and running in two years from the date of sanction, with the project to be completed at one go.

The company intends to transform the property into a landmark retail destination. According to DLF officials the project will be a composite mall with space for hypermarket and utility anchors, apparel anchors, brand and lifestyle products, and entertainment including multiplex, family entertainment centre, amphitheatre and action zones.

DLF has in the past completed commercial projects of close to five million sq ft, over four million sq ft in retail in addition to over 20 million residential projects.
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I-Flex acquires Capco's ORTOS
Bangalore: I-flex solutions, a world leader in providing IT solutions to the financial industry has acquired Capco's Operational Risk Tool Suite ORTOS, in order to provide financial institutions better measures to manage their enterprise risk.

Through the alliance, Capco and I-flex intend to leverage their collective strengths in operational risk thought leadership, consulting, and product development, as well as their extensive global sales and delivery networks.

The Basel II accord which was finalised last year has now a new category of risk which has been introduced unlike the focus earlier which was only on credit and market risks, namely operational risks. According to I-flex officials ORTOS satisfies Basic, Standardized as well as Advanced Measurement Approaches for operational risk management.

ORTOS includes all components needed to fully cover the regulatory and management operational risk mandates for all banking institutions, regardless of size. Its modular framework addresses loss data collation, self assessment, monitoring of risk indicators, tracking of issues and action plans, calculation of economic capital along the advanced management approach as well as fulfilling the requirements for both Standard and Basic Approaches.

Capco is a leading provider of integrated consulting, processing services and products exclusively for the financial services industry. The size of the deal was not revealed by either of the parties involved.
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e2e to invest Rs.250 crore towards expansion
Hyderabad: e2e Service Solutions, a wholly-owned business process outsourcing (BPO) company of Tata Sons, proposes to invest Rs250 crore in expanding its operations and doubling its staff from the existing 4,000 to 8,000 by 2007.

According to Tata officials e2e would soon become one of the top 10 BPO companies in the country. Tata Sons established e2e in Hyderabad, Pune and Mohali ten months back investing an amount of Rs70 crore. Currently the company handles the call centre of Tata Tele and VSNL. At present, 95 per cent of its revenues of over Rs500 crore a year are from the group companies.

Company officials said that e2e would become a full-fledged BPO outfit shortly. It had just started looking at international clients and would reduce its dependence on group companies.

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Tata's looking at IPO or acquisition of Cingular's stake
Hyderabad: With Singapore Technologies Telemedia and Telekom Malaysia (STT-TM) consortium deciding not to acquire a 47% stake in Idea Cellular, the Tatas, one of the major partners, have indicated that the company will look at other options including an initial public offer (IPO) or even acquiring Cingular Wireless' stake in Idea Cellular.

Cingular has already expressed its desire to exit Idea Cellular.

All the three partners of Idea Cellular — Tatas, Birlas and Cingular Wireless (formerly AT&T) have decided to meet in the next few days at Mumbai to chalk out the future course of action, including finding a new partner, expansion and investment plans, officials have indicated.
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Kinetic unveils Italijet
Pune: Pune-based Kinetic Engineering Ltd (KEL), has unveiled its much-awaited Italijet scooters at the company showroom in Pune on Tuesday.

The company said that the first model to hit the domestic market would be the 150 cc Millennium, followed by the Euro, in Diwali, and the 250 cc Jupiter. The Millennium, priced at Rs49,000, will be available in black, red and grey.

The Italijet series, seven in all, will range from 50-250 cc and be priced between Rs25,000 and Rs75,000, for domestic consumers.

The company was targeting sales of about 1.3 lakh scooters and one lakh mopeds and motorbikes (combined) for the current fiscal year.
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LG Electronics eyes CTV sales of 3 million
New Delhi: Consumer durables major LG Electronics India Ltd (LGEIL) said on Tuesday that it expects its CTV sales to grow 25 per cent to 3 million units this year, up from 2.4 million units in 2004.

The company said growth was expected to be even higher in value terms as it had increased focus on the high-end segment including PDPs and LCD TVs.

Company officials said that in 2003, about 88 per cent sales came from conventional TVs and barely 10-12 per cent from flat TVs; but this year the ratio is likely to be 50:50 due to a change in the consumers' buying pattern. They said the company expected to increase its market share in the CTV market to 30 per cent this calendar year from 24 per cent in 2004.

LG on Tuesday launched a new range of display panels including a wireless LCD monitor and a 14-inch PDP.
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Corporate Briefs: Uttam steel, BSNL, Tata Teleservices, MTNL
$60-million expansion for Uttam steel
Uttam Galva Steel has chalked out a $60-million expansion plan to double its galvanised and cold-rolled steel manufacturing capacity in the next two years. Cold rolled steel production will be raised to 1 million tonnes and galvanised steel to 75,000 tonnes by the end of 2006.

10mn mobile subscribers for BSNL
Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has registered 10 million mobile subscribers, out of which, 1.6 million are in the eastern zone, 2.10 million in western zone, 2.60 million in the north and 3.70 million in the south. It plans to add 4 million subscribers every quarter during this fiscal, the company said.

Tata Tele's eastern region roll-out
Tata Teleservices will invest Rs600 crore in the current fiscal in the east to expand its network in Orissa, Bengal, the combined circles of Jharkhand and Bihar and Calcutta. The company plans to install 400 more cell-sites to the existing 500 to facilitate rolling out of services in nearly 350 towns from the present 80.

MTNL net down 18.3 pc
State-owned telecom major Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has reported an 18.38 per cent drop in its net profit for 2004-05 at Rs938.97 crore. The board of directors of the company has recommended a dividend of 45 per cent, including an interim dividend of 20 per cent.

MTNL's net income from services declined to Rs5,592.38 crore, a drop of 12.19 per cent.

The income from mobile services went up by 53.70 per cent to Rs287.04 crore during the year. MTNL has added 5,21,146 mobile subscribers, taking the subscriber base to 8,81,696.
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