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TCS majority partner in JV with Microsoft in China
Mumbai: India's Tata Consultancy Services will set up a joint venture with global giant Microsoft in China to provide services to global companies and the local Chinese market.

Tata, India's top software exporter, will hold a majority stake in the venture, the company said Thursday. Microsoft, China's Uniware and two Chinese software parks will be minority shareholders.

The joint venture will be located in Beijing's Zhongguancun Software Park and will start operations in early 2006.

"The key objective of this global initiative is to build the new venture as a role model for the growing Chinese software industry," Tata said in a statement. China's exports in software and back-office services total less than one-fifth of India's $17.2 billion.

Tata already operates in China through a subsidiary with 250 employees set up in 2002.
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ABN Amro in talks with Indian IT firms for outsourcing IT jobs
Amstrerdam: ABN Amro Bank NV plans to outsource 2,300 IT jobs later this year in a continuing effort to cut costs, banking sources have indicated.

ABN spokesman Sierk Nawijn confirmed this week that the bank is negotiating several outsourcing contracts but declined to say how many of its 3,500 IT workers will be affected by the moves.

Nawijn did say that some of the affected employees will transfer to the outsourcing firms. The planned workforce reduction is part of a plan to save more than $1 billion annually.

ABN Amro employs 97,000 people in 3,000 branches around the world.

Nawijn said ABN is negotiating with several firms for multiple outsourcing contracts. According to Nawijn the bank is in negotiations with Accenture Ltd., IBM and Indian companies Infosys Technologies Ltd., Patni Computer Systems and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) about a deal for a contract to handle its application development operations.

The bank is also in talks with Infosys and TCS about outsourcing its application maintenance operations, he said.

All of the deals are expected to be in place around September.
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Anil Ambani group applies for DTH licence
New Delhi: Anil Ambani's group today approached the government for a licence for entering the competitive Direct-to-Home (DTH) services.

The group, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises, has applied to Information and Broadcasting Ministry for a licence, though it is not clear as to which particular company from the govt. is the applicant.

This is the first major step taken by Anil to expand the business of Infocomm, which he got as part of the settlement with elder brother Mukesh along with Reliance Energy and Reliance Capital.

Prasar Bharati and Zee group are already operating their DTH services in the country while Sun Group of Kalanidhi Maran, brother of IT and Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran, and the Tata-Star joint venture, Space TV, have recently been given the go-ahead for DTH by the government.
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Anil Ambani to pick up majority stake in Adlabs for Rs.350 crore
Mumbai: Reliance Land Pvt Ltd (RLPL), part of the Anil D. Ambani-controlled Reliance Capital, on Thursday proposed to acquire 51 per cent stake in film and entertainment software company Adlabs Films Ltd for Rs350 crore.

The Ambani firm will make a preferential offer to buy stake in the Mumbai-based company. As per the Sebi's takeover code, Reliance Capital will have to make an open offer for 20 per cent stake.

Currently, promoters Manmohan Shetty and family hold 63 per cent stake in Adlabs.

For the fiscal 2004-05, Adlabs posted a turnover of Rs82.4 crore and a profit of Rs21 crore in 2004-05. Adlabs is in the digital movie production and has a network of entertainment centres and multiplexes.

Said Manmohan Shetty: ''The investment by Reliance will provide the company a strong and unparalleled platform to pursue exciting growth opportunities. This development will make Adlabs the largest company in its sector by all financial parameters.''

Adlabs's main business is processing of pictures and it has processed films for all major production companies in Mumbai. Adlabs entered into an exclusive technological agreement with IMAX Corporation, Canada and built IMAX Adlabs Dome Theatre in Mumbai. The theatre was commissioned on March 5, 2001.

Earlier this week, Reliance Mutual Fund - which is under Anil's control - had acquired 8.6 per cent stake in entertainment firm Pritish Nandy Communications.
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IOC seeks Govt. nod for merger with Bongaigaon Refinery
New Delhi: The Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) on Thursday said that its board of directors has recommended that the Government approve the merger of its subsidiary company Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (BRPL) with itself.

IOC, which holds 74.46 per cent stake in BRPL, will offer its equity shares to BRPL shareholders in a proportion to be decided by advisors of the merger. The merger decision has to be ratified by the board of BRPL after which IOC would initiate the process of appointment of financial and legal advisors.

BRPL owns a 2.35 million tonnes per annum refinery in Assam and petrochemical units.

The board has also cleared an investment of Rs806 crore for expanding its Panipat refinery to 15 million tonnes.
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Govt. clears merger of IOBL with IOC
New Delhi: The Government on Thursday approved the merger of Indian Oil Blending Ltd (IOBL) with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

A wholly-owned subsidiary of IOC, Indian Oil Blending manufactures over 450 grades of Servo brand of lubricants and greases.

The proposed amalgamation will help the merged entity to achieve size, scale, integration and greater financial strength and flexibility in maximising the shareholders' revenue, an official statement issued after the Cabinet meeting said. The Cabinet has authorised the two companies to take follow up action that will be necessary to carry out the merger. The two companies have been asked to decide the date of the merger themselves.

With this merger, IOBL is likely to achieve higher long-term financial returns than the companies could achieve individually, the statement said.

IOBL is a public company incorporated in 1963 under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956.
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TCS to invest Rs.250 crore in Kerala IT hub
Thiruvananthapuram: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will invest Rs250 crore to set up a software development centre at the Technopark campus and upgrade its existing training facility.

According to senior Technopark officials, the company will sign an agreement for allotment of 26 acres at the Technopark campus on Friday. The work is expected to be completed in a year's time and it will provide jobs for 5,000 software professionals.

TCS has a corporate training centre in Kerela that will be upgraded to a global training unit by pumping in fresh investment. The centre currently trains close to 800 fresh recruits. This number will increase when facilities at the centre are upgraded.

This is the biggest land allotment agreement signed by Technopark since its inception in 1996," said Vasudevan.
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Knorr-Bremse in JV with Tata Autocomp Systems
Frankfurt: The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported that Knorr-Bremse, the German braking systems company, and Tata Autocomp Systems, the Indian automotive component group, have formed a joint venture.

The German group, according to the report, will hold a 70 per cent stake in the new company.

Production of air brakes and electronic brake controls will begin at the new site of the joint venture, located near Pune, India. A source from Knorr-Bremse commented that the Indian production site would add capacity on a growing market.
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Aurobindo Pharma gets WHO approval for anti-retroviral unit
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma Ltd (APL) has obtained the compliance of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for its facility to manufacture anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs.

The WHO approval is an important prerequisite for several global sourcing programmes.

In a press release here on Thursday, the company said the WHO inspected its unit-III facility and found it to be in compliance with the WHO GMP standards.

According to Aurobindo Pharma, WHO has initiated the project along with UNICEF, UNAIDS and UNFPA in the context of increasing the access and improving the affordability of HIV/AIDS-related care and treatment.

The WHO had invited expression of interest from manufacturers of pharmaceutical products in respect of the provision of drugs for the management HIV-related diseases.
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