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Indo-US
CEO's forum set up
Washington: India
and United States have established a CEO forum, composed
of ten chief executives from each country to create a
high-level private sector forum to exchange business community
views on key economic priorities.
While Ratan N. Tata would be the Indian chair, Paul Hanrahan
of AES Corporation would lead the US side.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George
Bush held discussions with the corporate captains of the
forum after their joint press briefing following their
one-on-one talks at White House.
According to a press release by the US Department of State,
the forum is expected to "serve as a channel to provide
senior-level private sector input into discussions and
formulation of economic policy".
Both the Governments would take help from the input of
this forum to "make progress on key issues that will
enhance economic growth and job creation and promote bilateral
trade and investment by harnessing the energy and expertise
of private sector leaders."
The chief executive officers represent a cross-section
of industrial sectors, particularly those that have a
stake in improving the commercial climate between the
two countries, stated the release.
The CEOs, which are the members of the forum are:
India: Ratan N. Tata - Indian Chair, Dr. Pratap C. Reddy
(Apollo Hospitals Group), Baba N. Kalyani (Bharat Forge
Ltd.), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon India Group), Deepak
S. Parekh (HDFC), Ashok Ganguly (ICICI One Source), Nandan
M. Nilekani (Infosys Group), Yogesh C. Deveshwar (ITC
Ltd.), Analjit Singh (Max India Group) and Mukesh Ambani
(Reliance Industries Ltd.).
U.S.: Paul Hanrahan (AES Corporation), Warren R.
Staley (Cargill Inc), Charles Prince (Citigroup), William
Harrison Jr. (JP MorganChase), David M Cote (Honeywell),
Harold McGraw III (The McGraw-Hill Companies), Thomas
J. O'Neill (Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd.), Steven Reinemund
(PepsiCo Inc.), Christopher Rodrigues (Visa International),
Anne M. Mulcahy (Xerox Corporation). (ANI).
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GAIL
reconstitutes original EPC consortia for Dabhol LNG terminal
New Delhi: In a major move towards early project completion,
GAIL (India) Limited has managed to reconstitute the original
engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) consortia
for the Dabhol LNG terminal.
The consortia, according to a GAIL statement here on Monday,
will undertake completion of the unfinished work under
the active supervision of two project management consultants
being engaged in this regard. Alongside, National Thermal
Power Corporation (NTPC), GAIL's partner in reviving the
mothballed Dabhol power project, is also roping in GE
for completion of the power plant facilities.
After the construction of the LNG terminal was abandoned
in June 2001, the Indian lenders engaged Tractabel of
Belgium to assess the condition of the facilities and
develop a preservation regime for the entire project.
In April 2002, Punj Lloyd Limited was engaged to undertake
preservation of the project facilities. Since then, the
mothballing arrangement is continuing.
Originally, an Enron affiliate, Lingtec, was awarded the
main EPC contract for constructing the LNG (liquefied
natural gas) terminal along with the requisite marine
facilities. Lingtec, in turn, had awarded two EPC sub-contracts.
The first EPC sub-contract, involving regasification,
tankage and utilities at the LNG terminal, was awarded
to a three-party consortium comprising Kvaerner and Whessoe,
both of the U.K., and Punj Lloyd.
The second sub-contract, pertaining to the marine facilities,
namely, the jetty, the approach channel and the breakwater,
was awarded to a consortium of Besix of Belgium and Kier
of the U.K. At the time the construction work was abandoned,
the facilities were complete to the extent of about 75
per cent.
In the absence of an engineering database, issues relating
to ownership of the intellectual property rights (IPRs)
of the technical documentation of the project were major
bottlenecks in restarting the construction activities.
With the reconstitution of the original consortia, these
problems now stand solved to a large extent.
The GAIL statement said that the terminal contractors
were generally satisfied with the state of preservation
of the facilities and the balance work was targeted for
completion by July 2006.
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Tata
Steel picks up stake in Australian coal project
Chennai: Tata
Steel is picking up a five per cent stake in the Carborough
Downs coal project located in Queensland, Australia.
Brian MacDonald, Managing Director, AMCI Australia Pty
Ltd., T. Mukherjee, Deputy Managing Director (Steel),
Tata Steel, and A. D. Baijal, Vice- President (Raw materials),
Tata Steel, signed an agreement to this effect in Jamshedpur
on Monday, according to a Tata Steel release.
The Carborough Downs coal project is majority owned and
operated by a subsidiary of AMCI Holdings Australia Pty
Ltd.
Tata Steel also simultaneously signed an off-take agreement
for a proportion of the production over life of the project,
the release added.
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Tata
Tea scouting for another overseas acquisition
Mumbai: Tata
Tea Ltd, which bought London-based Tetley Group for
271 million pounds ($475 million) five years ago, is on
the look out for another acquisition. According to Tata
Tea managing director Percy Siganporia, 54, the company's
main growth is going to be in non-black tea arena, especially
in green tea, herbals and fruit-flavored infusions.
Like market leader Unilever NV's Lipton unit, and the
Twinings business of Associated British Foods Plc, Tata
Tea is adding blends to counter slowing black tea sales.
Demand for specialty and herbal teas has risen as much
as 50% over the past three years in the UK, the second-biggest
tea consumer per capita. In the US, where 50 grams of
Imperial Tai Ping Hou Kuian green tea cost $31, the market
for specialty leaves is worth $750 million and is growing
by 6-10% a year, double the growth in the regular tea
segment.
Tata Tea's major shareholder, is the 126-year-old Tata
Group, with about 29%.
Tata Tea is under pressure to match the expansion of Lipton
and Twinings, the 299-year-old supplier of such teas as
English Breakfast and Earl Grey to Queen Elizabeth II.
London- and Rotterdam-based Unilever has introduced items
such as Quietly Chamomile and Ginger Twist to tap growing
consumer demand for healthy drinks, as well as higher
profits.
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Cairn:
Rajasthan fields have over 2.5bn barrels of oil
New
Delhi:
British firm Cairn Energy Plc plans to produce up to 150,000
barrels of oil per day (7.5 million tones) from its Rajasthan
fields by end of 2007. It estimates the fields to contain
over 2.5 billion barrels of reserves.
Cairn, which has made 12 discoveries in the Barmer district
of Rajasthan, is planning a oil production in small quantities
from its southern fields by mid-2006 and would develop
the northern fields by end of 2007.
"Cairn currently estimates the total oil in place,
in all its 12 existing discoveries to date in the Rajasthan
basin, excluding gas, to be in excess of 2.5 billion barrels,"
the company said in a press statement.
Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields in the northern
part of the Rajasthan block, which Cairn said have been
independently certified to be having 1.64 billion barrels
of oil reserves, are targeted to produce between 120,000
and 150,000 barrels of oil a day.
"Additional recovery from Mangala and Bhagyam using
enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques has the potential
to add up to a further 150 million barrels of reserves,"
it said.
The southern fields of Saraswati and Raageshwari would
produce up to 5000 barrels per day.
Cairn estimates development of Mangala, Aishwarya, Saraswati
and Raageshwari fields would cost 2.3 billion dollars.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) holds 30 per
cent interest in the fields and Cairn Energy the rest
70 per cent.
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Assocham
study: FMCG market to double by 2010
New Delhi: Fuelled by a surge in growth from rural
and semi-urban areas, the country's fast moving consumer
goods (FMCG) sector is set to double its market size to
Rs1,00,000 crore by 2010 from the present level of Rs48,000
crore, an Assocham study has said.
The Assocham study, which analysed the FMCG sector, said
the market penetration of the sector in rural and semi-urban
areas continued to be low, at less than 1%, offering huge
opportunity for growth as vast numbers of 128 million
households remained untapped.
It, however, warned that manufacturers of FMCG products
would face severe pressure on margins due to cut-throat
competition, especially to capture a larger share of the
growing rural and semi-urban markets.
According to the study, the rural and semi-urban markets
presented a market size that is three times bigger than
the urban markets. It, however, has its own set of problems:
low per capita disposable income (which is half the urban
level), large number of daily wage earners, acute dependence
on the weather, seasonal consumption linked to harvests
and festivals, poor infrastructure like roads and power,
and inaccessibility to conventional advertising media.
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IOC
plans Chennai-Bangalore petro-products pipeline
Chennai: Indian
Oil Corporation Ltd plans to lay a petroleum products
pipeline between Chennai and Bangalore, and hopes to begin
work on an initial survey soon.
The company is all set to pump products into the Chennai-Tiruchi-Madurai
pipeline by the end of this month, and the first parcel
is expected to be received in Madurai on August 15.
The IOC's board has approved a feasibility study for the
Chennai-Bangalore pipeline. Simultaneously, the company
will approach the Railways for a discount on freight.
If the discount were more than 25 per cent then the pipeline
would not be viable, he said.
Company officials said the board had accorded "first
stage clearance" for the 290-km pipeline, which is
expected to cost about Rs250 crore. This will be followed
by a detailed feasibility report before the project is
taken up. IOC officials said, once the Chennai-Tiruchi-Madurai
pipeline is fully commissioned, it will do away with 25
tanker moves an hour (of 12,000 litre capacity).
In the first stage, the pipeline project will have a capacity
of 1.8 million tonnes a year and by 2010, when it will
be fully completed with a pumping station at Asanur, the
capacity will go up to 2.3 mt.
IOC also plans a pipeline between Manali, in north Chennai,
where Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, an IOC subsidiary,
has its refinery, and the airport in Meenambakkam. This
90-km pipeline will cost about Rs50 crore and touch Sriperumbudur
on the national highway to Bangalore before terminating
at Meenambakkam. This pipeline will be used to transport
aviation turbine fuel (ATF). ATF consumption at Meenambakkam
had increased from 700 kilolitres a day to 1,000 kl at
present.
IOC would also expand its retail presence throughout the
country and open a little over 1,000 outlets this year.
The marketing division's budget for the year is Rs2,400
crore of which Rs1,125 crore will be spent on the retail
sector in expanding, modernising and automating the outlets.
Private players are selling about 2,00,000 tonnes a month
of petroleum products against 75,000 tonnes last year.
IOC would also concentrate on direct sales to large consumers
and match the discounts offered by private players.
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Jumbo
to sell Mather & Platt to Wilo group
Bangalore: The Dubai-based Jumbo Group, managed by
the Manu Chhabria family, on Monday said it was close
to inking a deal to sell domestic pump manufacturer Mather
& Platt to Germany's Wilo Group.
Jumbo holds nearly 58 per cent stake in Mather & Platt,
and is expected to earn close to Rs75 crore for its stake
as part of the impending transaction.
Mather & Platt has its main manufacturing plant at
Chinchwad near Pune, and has three major business divisions,
which include fluid engineering (dealing in pumps and
pumping projects), fire securities solutions (supply of
equipment for fire detection and protection), and process
machinery business (manufacturing equipments and systems
for food processing).
Jumbo Group had decided to exit its Indian businesses
and has sold Shaw Wallace & Co, Shaw Wallace Agro
Chemicals and Hindustan Dorr Oliver in recent months.
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Tata
Sponge says to raise capacity
Mumbai: Tata
Sponge Iron Ltd has said that its board has approved
expansion of its sponge iron facility by 150,000 tonnes
a year to 540,000 tonnes.
It has also approved the installation of 18.5 megawatts
of power generation capacity.
The sponge iron expansion was part of the company's long-term
plan to enhance capacity to 840,000 tonnes in a phased
manner, it has said in a notice to the Bombay exchange.
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TCS
to merge three subsidiaries
Mumbai: The board of directors of Tata
Consultancy Services, which had met on July 15, 2005,
has approved the amalgamation of three unlisted, wholly-owned
subsidiaries with the company.
According to a release issued by TCS to the BSE, the
three subsidiaries are Airline Financial Support Services
India, Aviation Software Development Consultancy India
and TCS Business Transformation Solutions.
"Since the companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries,
no new shares will be issued upon amalgamation,"
the release added.
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Daimler
Chrysler to launch Actros by year-end
Pune: Daimler
Chrysler India will launch the imported CBU - Actros
by the end of the year. The company would be coming out
with two models - a 33-tonner and a 40-tonner.
Both the models would be CBUs and the company was looking
at sales of about 100 to 200 vehicles per annum. Officials
said the pricing of the vehicles was yet to be decided
upon and their manufacture at Pune was not likely.
Mercedes Benz, for the first six months, had sold about
1,053 cars as compared to 923 vehicles last year.
As for the Maybach, the Rs6-crore car launched last year
in the country, about three vehicles had been sold so
far. The company had estimated sales of around seven to
eight vehicles for the first year of its launch.
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Corporate
Results: Hero
Honda, Orchid Chemicals,Nucleus Soft, MRO-Tek
Hero Honda Q1 net up 7.6 per cent at
Rs.204.4 crore
Hero
Honda Motors Ltd has announced a 7.6 per cent increase
in net profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2005, at
Rs204.4 crore against Rs190 crore in the same period last
year.
The country's biggest bike maker said turnover jumped
by 15 per cent to Rs2,007.6 crore from Rs1,745.2 crore
in the first quarter of last fiscal.
Meanwhile, the company's operating margin for the first
quarter saw a marginal decline of 1.8 per cent to 14.8
per cent, as compared with 16.6 per cent in the corresponding
period last year.
The company recorded an increase of 13 per cent in its
sales volume during the quarter, as compared with sales
during the corresponding quarter in the last year. The
company sold 6,87,567 motorcycles during April-June 2005,
as compared with 6,09,123 motorcycles during April-June
2004.
Orchid Q1 announces 1:2 bonus
Orchid
Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has reported a 56%
jump in net profit at Rs7.33 crore for the quarter ended
June 30, 2005 as compared to Rs4.69 crore in Q1FY05.
Total
income has decreased to Rs170.69 crore for the quarter
ended June 30, 2005 against Rs174.26 crore in Q1FY05.
According
to a release issued by Orchid Chemicals to the BSE, the
board has approved issue of bonus shares in the ratio
of 1:2, that is one bonus shares for every two shares
held.
Nucleus
Soft Q1 net zooms to Rs.8.6 crore
Nucleus
Software Exports has reported a 192-per cent rise
in net profit after tax (PAT) to Rs8.59 crore for the
quarter ended June compared to Rs2.94 crore for the corresponding
previous period.
Consolidated revenue for the quarter increased by 56.96
per cent to Rs32.84 crore from Rs20.93 crore earlier,
a company release said.
Earning per share (EPS) for the quarter increased to Rs5.34
from Rs1.83 earlier (adjusted for the 1:1 bonus issue
of shares allotted in August 2004).
The company added three customers during the quarter under
review, taking the total number to 99.
MRO-Tek Q1 net rises to Rs.3.5 crore
MRO-TEK
Ltd has announced revenues of Rs36.43 crore for the
first quarter of 2005-06 compared to Rs25.5 crore in the
same period last year.
Net profits came to Rs3.5 crore, compared to Rs1.4 crore
in Q1 last fiscal. The access and networking solutions
company added 15 customers who contributed Rs4 crore to
the quarterly revenues. ADSL modems and broadband products
were driving growth, said Mr S. Narayanan, Chairman and
Managing Director.
"Most of our customers are moving towards broadband
Ethernet technologies and our R&D investments of the
past few years are bearing fruit."
The company expects increased market share with increased
broadband usage. The company's customers include Bharti
Telecom, MTNL, Tata Tele among others.
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