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Bechtel to go ahead with arbitration on Dabhol
New Delhi: Even as GE has announced a "comprehensive settlement" of its Dabhol-related disputes, Bechtel, the other major equity shareholder in the project, has said that it has failed to arrive upon a settlement with the Government.

The San Francisco-based engineering company is preparing to go ahead with the arbitration proceedings against the Government in the London Court of Arbitration (LCA) on July 18 for recovery of its claims.

According to a statement attributed to a Bechtel spokesman, the company has said that the Indian Government had so far rejected its most conciliatory proposals for a settlement. Consequently, it said that while the company's door were not closed to a settlement it would be taking all necessary steps to argue its case before the LCA on July 18.

Bechtel Corporation, along with GE, holds close to 85 per cent stake in the beleaguered Dabhol Power Company (DPC), which ran the 2,184-MW power project in Maharashtra. GE had, on July 2, announced that it had reached a settlement with the Indian lenders, the Union Government and the Maharashtra State Government on the dispute.

According to sources, beyond the financial settlement, Bechtel had asked for certain issues to be settled before arriving on a final agreement with the Indian lenders and the Union Government.

Among the issues, Bechtel Corporation had sought the right to argue in a court of law that the liability to compensate DPC's creditors should fall on the Government of India for the period that the plant has been shut since 2001, sources said.

The Government had been hopeful that the Indian lenders to the project would reach an out-of-court settlement on the pending cases with both GE and Bechtel. While GE has played along with the Government on the issue, Bechtel's stand could delay the restart process.

The Government, on its part, has worked out the broad contours of a special purpose vehicle, involving NTPC, GAIL, the Indian-lenders led by IDBI and SBI and MSEB, to restart the power plant and the adjoining LNG terminal.
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VW's Indian plant goes on hold amid scandal
Berlin: The bribery scandal engulfing giant German carmaker Volkswagen AG has resulted in the group's chief, Bernd Pischetsrieder putting on hold a decision on the planned construction of a new factory in India, Germany's business daily Handelsblatt has reported yesterday.

VW has declined to comment on the reports.

The burgeoning bribery scandal, which centres on VW's Czech-based Skoda operations, has badly shaken the company and has already triggered two high-profile resignations from the company.

Skoda's personal chief, Helmuth Schuster, left the company in June amid allegations that he took bribes from potential suppliers and that camouflage companies were used to secure lucrative VW contracts abroad, notably in India and Angola.

Last week, the company was rocked again when the head of VW powerful works' council, Klaus Volkert announced that he was also stepping down.

VW, which is also Europe's biggest carmaker, slumped into the red last year and reported an operating loss of Euro 53 million in the first quarter of 2005.
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TCS enters RFID consulting services
Chicago: IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services has recently opened the doors to a new RFID consulting services business in the US, the move coming just weeks after rival IBM announced it had established an RFID services branch.

Tata last week launched its new service in its "RFID Technology Center" in Chicago, Illinois.

Part of its RFID offerings are "off-site" teams supporting enterprises' RFID projects, as well as RFID training, testing and benchmarking services.

Tata also would resell RFID software and hardware from partners including Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Texas Instruments and Printronix.

"We are hearing an increased demand from our customers for RFID solutions and services - and our RFID Technology Center will provide access to various RFID hardware and software where our customers can test practical solutions," said Prasad Raju, vice president of Tata RFID technology in North America, in a statement.
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M&M starts China operations with delivery of first tractor
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has announced on Monday that Mahindra (China) Tractor Co has formally commenced operations in China with Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, M&M, handing over the first tractor produced at the Nanchang factory to the city mayor, Li Douluo, and another tractor BEING given to a local farmer, Wan.

Wan becomes M&M 's first Chinese customer.

Mahindra (China) Tractor Co is a joint venture between M&M's 100 per cent overseas subsidiary, Mahindra Overseas Investment Co (Mauritius) Ltd and Jiangling Motor Co Group (JMCG). The joint venture, in turn, acquired the tractor manufacturing assets of Jiangling Tractor Company, a subsidiary of JMCG.

The Nanchang plant has a capacity to manufacture 12,000 tractors a year. Mahindra has an 80 per cent stake in the joint venture entity, while JMCG holds the balance.

Its 10-member board consists of Anand Mahindra, seven others from M&M and two from JMCG.
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Essar Tele picks up additional stake in Hutch JV for Rs.267 crore
Mumbai: Essar Teleholding, the telecom arm of the Essar group has bought an additional 3.43 per cent stake in Hutchison-Essar for Rs267 crore.

The purchase follows an agreement between Hutchison, Essar and Usha Martin Telematics as part of which Essar had the option to purchase 3.43 per cent of Hutchison-Essar at the original acquisition price for the Kolkata licence plus a carry cost.

Currently, Hutch-Essar has an all India subscriber base of around 8mn.

Usha Martin is owned jointly by Kotak and Hutchison. Post-buy out Essar's stake in the joint venture has moved up to 30.42%, valued at over Rs2367.96 crore, while Hutch's stake has come down to 53.1%.
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Telcon to expand in Saarc markets
Jamshedpur: Telco Construction Equipment Company Limited (Telcon), a joint venture between Tata Motors and Hitachi, has set its sights on the Saarc countries.

According to company officials, the company hopes to tap the rising demand for earth-moving and other heavy machines used in the construction sector in the Saarc region and its adjoining nations. The company plans to achieve a 30 to 40 per cent growth this financial year through this initiative.

The company currently holds a 55 per cent market share in excavators in the domestic market. In 2004-05, the company's turnover was about Rs1,000 crore. This year, it hopes to increase it to Rs1,400 crore. The company also plans to increase the production of its excavators from 2,000 machines last year to 2,500 this year.

Formerly a division of Tata Motors, Telcon was formed in 1999 to cater to growing demands for construction equipment. From a mere 800 machines then, the company today manufactures about 13 different types of excavators with capacities ranging from 7 tonnes to 120 tonnes.

The company has also launched its new-generation machines called the Zaxis series, which will eventually phase out the earlier EX series in the next five years.

The new machines have a fully air-conditioned chamber for the operator and the entire hydraulic system is IT-based, officials added.
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Gujarat NRE JV acquires additional coal mining leases in Australia
Mumbai: Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd has announced that its Australian joint venture company, Gujarat NRE FCGL Pty Ltd, has entered into an agreement to acquire the coal mining leases in the whole of old Avondale Colliery and part of Huntley Colliery in the Southern Coalfields of New South Wales, Australia.

According to information made available to the stock exchanges, the acquisition and development of the mines will cost about A$80 million (Rs260 crore).

With this, the investment by the Indian company in the New South Wales coal mines would cross A$100 million (Rs325 crore).
The acquisition, subject to Ministerial approval, also proposes to rename the colliery as NRE No 2 Colliery.

The leases being transferred comprise approximately 5,500 hectares within the Illawarra Coal Measures of the Sydney Basin-Wongawilli and Tongarra seams.

Both have been mined previously in the adjoining leases producing high-fluidity, low-phosphorus coking coal. The total recoverable reserves are expected to be in the order of 96 million tonnes. Four months back the company had announced that its NRE No 1 Colliery had started production ahead of schedule.

The production target by the joint venture company is 3.5 million tonnes by 2008.
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Essar and Chhattisgarh State to sign MoU for steel plant
New Delhi: The Essar group will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chhattisgarh Government on Tuesday for setting up a 3.2-million-tonne greenfield steel plant in the State, according to official sources.

The plant would be set up in Bastar district in two phases of 1.6 million tonne each and the detailed project proposal would be submitted to the State Government within three months of the signing of the MoU.

The total investment would be in excess of Rs6,000 crore, sources said and added that the State Government has already assured the company that it will be treated on a priority basis. The company has also been assured of full quantity of iron ore from the Bastar region known for its high iron containing ore.

This would be the fourth greenfield steel plant announced by the group during the past few months. The company has already committed to set up green field plants in Orissa (Rs10,271crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs15,000 crore), Jharkhand (Rs10,000 crore).
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SAP India to double its strength to 4,000
Bangalore: The Indian subsidiary of German business software solutions provider SAP AG will hire 2,000 engineers in the next 18 months to double its staff strength to about 4,000.

"We are ramping up the operations of SAP Labs India at an investment of euro 20 million (Rs1 billion) as part of our third phase of expansion," SAP AG executive board member Shai Agassi said on Monday. "The expansion includes doubling the headcount to 4,000 engineers by 2006," he added.

The German IT major has already invested euro 20 million in the first two phases of setting up and scaling SAP Labs India. This is SAP's largest development facility outside Germany and its fourth such globally.
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Bosch floats new JV for production of filters
Bangalore: Auto component major Bosch Group has formed a six-million Euro (Rs35 crore) joint venture with Germany's Mann+Hummel GmbH for development and production of filters for the Indian as well as export markets.

The joint venture, in which both the partners hold 50 per cent stake each, will produce fuel filter systems as well as oil, fuel, air and cabin filters at Tumkur in Karnataka.

The company's activities will be focused primarily on the Indian market, to provide optimum support with applications and supply of original equipment to the rapidly growing local automotive industry.
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Yamaha studying domestic scooter market
Pune: Yamaha Motor India is studying the Indian market for scooters for the possible launch of a new product line, company officials have said. It is also working on new engines and technologies for future motorcycles that will make Yamaha a key player in the premium segment.

The company's capacity will also go up from 3.5 lakh units to five lakh units in the next couple of years.

Meanwhile, the company is embarking on a plan to restructure its sales and service network, with at least 100 of the existing 400 dealers having to upgrade the hardware and software skills available in their dealerships.

The company is also on the verge of launching `Yamaha Point' service centres that will come up across major metros and State capitals beginning with Mumbai, officials said.

The 110-cc G5 will be formally launched in the second week of July with an ex-showroom price tag of Rs40,900 plus. This along with Fazer DX and LX, will be a precursor to a host of new models which the company says will transform the market from being utility-driven to pleasure driven.

Yamaha's exports, is on the rise with the numbers going up from 50,000 units last year to an expected 60,000 units in the current year. The company exports bikes largely to South America and the South-East Asian countries.
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