document.writeln("

Steel majors lower prices
Mumbai: Domestic steel majors, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Essar Steel and Ispat Industries, have lowered steel prices by Rs1,500-2,500 on an average. The prices have been lowered on account of a correction in global prices due to liquidation of inventory across countries.

SAIL reduced prices by 4-8% while Essar and Ispat lowered them by 4-5. It is expected that the other two domestic steel producers, Tata Steel and Jindal Vijyanagar, would also cut prices in the next couple of days. According to SAIL officials, prices would start firming up in the next one to one-and-a-half months.

This is the third straight month when the steel companies have cut prices.

The steel market is seeing a decline in prices following inventory stockpiling and a lower demand from China. In fact, China has doubled its exports in the first five months of the year, leading to a surge in global supplies, instead of the earlier supply shortage.

Essar Steel officials said domestic steel prices are in line with international prices and therefore, any decrease or increase in domestic steel prices follows the international trend.
Back to News Review index page  

Maharashtra government issues notices to energy suppliers
Mumbai: Even as wide swathes of Mumbai went without power for the seventh day after last Tuesday's deluge, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has slapped show-cause notices on all four companies supplying power to Mumbai, following their failure to restore supply by Monday evening.

''The MERC notices to Reliance Energy Limited (REL), Tata Electric Company, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking and Maharashtra State Power Distribution Company seek an explanation for the week-long power crisis and were issued under the Electricity Act, 2003, and claimed deficiencies in 'standards of performance,''' said MERC chairman Pramod Dev.
''The first hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.''

Reliance Energy, the largest supplier of power to the suburbs, had another notice slapped on it on Monday with the Mumbai Suburban District Collector issuing a 24-hour notice to REL, demanding to know the steps the company has taken towards restoring power to alleviate inconvenience to the public.

The state government has meanwhile asked REL to shut down feeders in parts of Kurla, Goregaon, Andheri, Malad and other western suburbs due to safety concerns. Of its 4,050 transformers, Reliance has yet to restore 113 damaged in the deluge, while 50 remain inaccessible due to water logging.

Even to fix the 53 that are accessible, REL sought help from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, which has extended aid in the form of 50-odd engineers and five transformers. REL itself mobilised over 300 engineers from operations elsewhere in the country.

''We would have met the government deadline if not for the rains today,'' said REL Branding Head Yogi Vashishta.

''The notice is just a letter seeking an overall status report on the power status in the city. It has been sent to all companies,'' she added.
Back to News Review index page  

Global bandwidth prices set to fall 20 per cent by year end
New Delhi: International bandwidth prices in the country are set to tumble further once the sea-me-we-4 (smw-4) cable commences operations in October 2005.

The undersea cable will offer huge capacities from South East Asia to India to Middle East to Western Europe resulting in an average drop in tariffs by 20%, according to consortium members. Increase in supply of international bandwidth would automatically result in a drop in tariffs.

While the prices of bandwidth on westward route - Middle East to Europe may drop by roughly 20%, the drop in eastward routes may be higher as an overcapacity scenario prevails with Bharti's I2I and Tata indicom cables between Chennai and Singapore, members said.

The international bandwidth prices in India have gone down by 90% from a high of Rs16.37 crore five years back to the prevailing price of Rs18 lakh for E1 (2mb) level connectivity. For higher capacities like stm-1 (155 mb) connectivity the prices have fallen over 60 per cent from Rs21 crore per annum in 2001 to Rs8 crore per annum currently. Prices for ds-3 (45 mb) connectivity have also seen a 60% drop from Rs7.5 crore per annum in 2002 to Rs3 crore per annum currently.

Over the last three years post-disinvestment of VSNL, there have been as many as five price reductions. The last four reductions have happened over a period of 16 months, the member said. The current demand of international bandwidth in India is estimated to be around 16-18 gb. The current supply is estimated to be over 515 gb, largely concentrated on India - Singapore route.

The SMW-4 consortium consists of two Indian players, including Bharti and VSNL. Both Bharti and VSNL own one landing station each at Chennai and Mumbai respectively. BSNL has also announced plans to set up a cable between India and Singapore through the Andaman island. It will take 8-10 months for the BSNL cable to be in place if the laying process is done at a pace similar to VSNL's Tata Indicom cable.

Flag Telecom's much-awaited Falcon cable, which will cover a similar footprint like SMW-4 is expected to be set up by January 2006.

The sea-me-we-4 submarine cable network would span about 20,000 km, approximately half of the circumference of the globe, linking 14 countries, including Singapore to France via Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Italy, along with 16 landing points.
Back to News Review index page  

Rs.2,120-crore orders for BHEL from APGenco
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged two orders worth Rs2,120 crore from the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGenco).

The contracts involve supply and installation of the main plant package for 500 MW each of the Vijayawada and Bhoopalapally thermal power stations in Andhra Pradesh, BHEL said in a release.

While the Vijaywada project is extension of an existing power plant and is scheduled for completion in 39 months, the Bhoopalapally plant is a greenfield project and targeted for commissioning in 41 months.

BHEL's scope of work in these contracts envisages design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of steam turbines, generators, boilers, associated auxiliaries, electricals as well as controls and instrumentation (C&I) systems.
Back to News Review index page  

HCL launches 'PC for India' at Rs.9,990
Chennai: HCL Infosystems Ltd has launched its `PC for India,' a basic functionally rich PC priced at Rs9,990.

Supported by the `best assured' quality, HCL's PCs come with Linux operating system, 1 GHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 40 GB hard disk, 15-inch colour monitor and other standard specifications. It will be ready to support applications like word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, web browsing, two-mail clients and audio video playback. It will also come with multilingual fonts like Tamil.

Describing the low-cost PC as the most important product from its fold, Ajai Chowdhry, chairman and chief executive officer, HCL Infosystems Ltd, said that 'PC for India' is an affordable PC for the masses without compromising on quality, specification, functionality and service support.

With the introduction of low-cost PC, HCL Infosystems Ltd is expecting a huge demand for its PCs and planning to expand production capacity from the present 6,50,000 to one million units.

The company has already invested about Rs8 crore at its Pondicherry facilities where the expansion is expected to be completed by September.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Tea to raise investment limit by Rs.500 crore
Kolkata: Tata Tea is raising its investment limit by Rs500 crore, keeping in mind future expansion and acquisitions.

The company has mentioned in its annual reports that keeping in view the need to quickly take advantage of any acquisition or expansion opportunities through the company's subsidiaries it has become necessary to enhance the limit for making such investments. Tata Tea would place the resolution for shareholders' approval at the company's forthcoming annual general meeting.
Sources said, the investment limit was to the tune of Rs900 crore currently.

Company officials said that if the proposal is approved by the shareholders, the investments that the company will make will be in the shares/securities of Tata Tea (GB) Ltd, UK and Tata Coffee. Tata Tea (GB) is the holding company through which the company acquired The Tetley Group. At present, the company holds 98.58 per cent of the paid-up capital of that company including about 14 per cent held through a wholly owned subsidiary.

In Tata Coffee, the company currently holds 50.67 per cent of the paid-up capital.

The resolution would also seek to empower the board of directors to decide and finalise the terms and conditions of such investments in securities.

Tata Tea would also seek shareholders' approval for raising the limit for investment by foreign institutional investors in equity shares of the company from 24 per cent to 35 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

Two petitioners opt out of COAI's petition against Walky services
New Delhi: The bid by GSM operators to support BSNL against the alleged bypass of access deficit charge by the 'Walky' fixed wireless services, offered by Tata Teleservices, received a setback as two of its members have opted out of the intervention petition filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) against Walky services.

Idea Cellular, in which the Tatas hold a 33 per cent stake, and Aircel, the leading mobile operator in Tamil Nadu, are the two entities opting to keep away from the petition.

COAI executives said the incident had no "serious consequences" on the unity between all GSM operators in the country.

Earlier, COAI had said FWT services such as Walky, were offering the advantage of mobility while collecting ADC charges on the basis that the service was a fixed service.

"These services, which could be used throughout the service area, were creating a non-level playing field for cellular services," the association said.

The GSM body had also taken up the issue with the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), the body representing CDMA and fixed-line players.

In a letter to AUSPI, COAI said, "If CDMA-based FWT providers were unable to give a separate numbering scheme for fixed wireline and fixed wireless, or unable to strictly confine the FWT to the premises of the subscriber, then, these services would be treated as WLL (M) for all purposes, including IUC charges and interconnection arrangements."
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Steel and Jharkhand settle land lease deal
Ranchi: Following a bilateral meeting between Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda and Tata Steel officials the 10-year old land lease controversy between Tata Steel and the Bihar and Jharkhand state governments has been resolved.

The Jharkhand government has agreed to renew the land lease for another 20 years, the renewal of which had been pending with the present Bihar government from August 1995.

According to the understanding between the steel major and the Jharkhand government, the former would pay Rs150 crore to Jharkhand government in lieu of the violation of the provisions of the previous lease agreement made with the Bihar government under schedule IV land.

Chief minister Arjun Munda told reporters that the draft of the lease renewal was yet to be finalized and would be ready by August 15.

He said payment of Rs150 crore to be made by Tata Steel would be spent on developing infrastructure for the proposed National Games in Ranchi in 2007.

The chief minister said Tata Steel as part of its social responsibility agreed to contribute Rs25 crore per year to the state government for paying premium amount to the insurance companies to provide medi-claim policies to the families below the poverty line (BPL).
Back to News Review index page  

Maruti's Alto car gets a makeover
Chennai: Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) has introduced the new Alto, with new exteriors and interiors at the same price as the current one.

According to company officials, though the value has been enhanced, the prices of the new Alto remain unchanged. The ex-showroom (Delhi) prices of different variants of the Alto are: Alto Standard - Rs2.42 lakh, Alto LX - Rs2.78 lakh and Alto LXi - Rs2.98 lakh.

According to company officials, Alto has witnessed a growth of over 108 percent during 2004-05. The new Alto comes with clear lens headlamps and new tail lamps that improve its aesthetic appeal. The new lamps, coupled with a dynamic new front grille and bumper, combine to give the Alto a more purposeful and performance oriented stance, the officials said.

Improved interiors include new fabric, to give the interiors a younger, brighter appeal. The super-cool AC now comes with convenient rotary controls, for a more contemporary look and easier operation. Two new colours have been added to the Alto's rich range of colours, with Caribbean Blue and Wine Red join the existing Silky Silver, Pearl Silver, Midnight Black, Bright Red, Brilliant Yellow and Superior White to enhance the choice available to customers.
Back to News Review index page  

Airlines waive cancellation fees levied on tickets
Mumbai: Air-India, Indian airlines, Jet Airways have decided to waive cancellation fee levied on tickets following disruption in the flight schedules due to torrential rains lashing the city since last week.

An Air-India spokesperson said the fee of USD 125-150 charged for cancellation or rebooking for travel from India to US and Europe has been waived considering that the rains have adversely impacted the travel plans of the passengers.

"Passengers proceeding to US or Europe and other destinations wanting to change travel dates may approach the nearest AI office or revise booking or reservation without the payment of the applicable fee," A-I public relation director Jitender Bhargav said.

An Indian airline spokesperson said no cancellation or service fee is being levied since July 26.

Similarly, jet Airways Chief operating officer Peter Luethi said "we are levying no cancellation fees since last Tuesday".
Back to News Review index page  

Hyundai offers relief for rain damaged vehicles in Mumbai
Chennai: Hyundai Motor India has announced a 50 per cent discount on spare parts and labour charges as well as other free services to its customers in Mumbai, whose vehicles have been damaged by the heavy rains.

According to a company press release, Hyundai customers who seek direct repair of their vehicles (without claiming insurance) will be offered a 50 per cent discount on the maximum retail price of spare parts and labour charges. Even customers who claim insurance will be able to avail themselves of a 50 per cent discount on charges that are not covered by insurance.

Hyundai will also provide services such as anti-rust treatment, shampoo and dry cleaning of the interiors and replacement of soiled floor carpeting of affected Hyundai vehicles free of cost.
The company has tied up with 12 towing services in Mumbai to speed up the process of moving damaged vehicles to Hyundai workshops and service centres.

To reduce customer inconvenience, Hyundai has arrived at an arrangement with insurance companies to allow its dealers to expedite insurance claims.
Back to News Review index page  

Corporate performance: TVS Motor Company, Hero Honda, Pitti Laminations, Northgate BPO, D-Link, HCL Peripherals

TVS Motor Company exports up
TVS Motor Company, based in Tamil Nadu's Hosur district, recorded a 102 percent growth in exports in July 2005 over the same period last year, and also a rise in the sales of its scooty and motorcycles in the same period, a company release said.

TVS Motor Company exported 9,012 units in July 2005.

The company sold 101,359 units of two wheelers in July 2005 compared to 100,224 units sold in the same period last year. The total motorcycle sales in July 2005 stood at 53,215 units, the company said Monday.

TVS Scooty sales reached 24,244 units in July 2005 compared to 22,501 units last year. TVS Scooty continues to be the market leader in the Scooterette segment, it said.

However, moped sales fell compared to last year. Moped sales were at 23,900 units compared to 24,765 units last year.

The company will bring two new variants of motorcycles to the Indian market this quarter, it said.

Hero Honda sales for July up 12 per cent
Hero Honda Motors on Monday reported a 11.8 per cent rise in sales in July this year at 2,30,050 units against 2,05,654 units in the same month last year.

Sales in the domestic market grew 10.7 per cent at 2,23,150 units (2,01,577 units). Exports for the company in the month stood at 6,900 units, up 69.2 per cent over 4,077 units in July 2004.

Sales in the first four months of the fiscal grew 12.6 per cent to 9,17,617 units (8,14,777 units).

Pitti Laminations Q1 turnover and net up
Pitti Laminations Ltd (PLL) has reported growth both in turnover and net profit for the first quarter of the current fiscal.

According to the unaudited financial results taken on record by the board on Monday, the company achieved a turnover of Rs15.79 crore for the quarter under review against Rs8.33 crore in the corresponding previous quarter, while net profit improved to Rs1.49 crore (Rs1.19 crore), yielding an EPS of Rs2.33 (Rs 1.92).

Northgate BPO revenue, net surge
Northgate BPO Services Ltd has recorded total income of Rs21.82 crore and a net profit of Rs4.06 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as against a total income of Rs5.97 crore and a net profit of Rs0.63 crore for the corresponding quarter the previous year.

This reflects a 266-per cent jump in revenues and 539-per cent in net over the corresponding year-ago quarter. The company had recorded a total income of Rs51.88 crore and net profit of Rs7.20 crore last fiscal.

During the year, the company's wholly-owned US subsidiary Axill launched shop2deal.com, an e-commerce shopping site and beta version of Globe7Soft Phone.

D-Link Q1 net down 21 per cent
D-Link has reported a 20.8-per cent fall in net profit for the first quarter ended June 30. The quarterly net profit amounted to Rs5.44 crore as against Rs6.87 crore reported for the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Additional R&D costs of Rs0.79 crore and service centre expansion cost of Rs3 crore dented profits, despite net sales rising by 9.4 per cent, according to a news release from the company.

Net sales amounted to Rs55 crore, up from Rs50.3 crore reported for the same year-ago quarter.

Earnings before interest depreciation and taxation for the quarter dipped to Rs8 crore (Rs9.8 crore).

Profit before tax was lower as well, at Rs6.45 crore (Rs8.58 crore), while provision for taxation went down by Rs0.76 crore.

HCL Peripherals sees Rs.360 crore revenue
HCL Peripherals, a unit of HCL Infosystems Ltd and manufacturer of computer products, expects an increase in revenue to Rs360 crore for fiscal ending June 2006, compared to Rs 260 crore last fiscal, according to the company's Executive Vice-President, Mr S. Pattabiram.

At present, the company supplies 80-85 per cent of its personal computer monitors to original equipment manufacturers (OEM), including its parent firm, and the balance to channel partners.

In the next couple of years, the company expects 60 per cent of its supplies to OEMs and 40 per cent to channel partners, he said. HCL Peripherals has appointed Ingram Micro as its all-India distributor for display products (various monitors).

This would help the company double revenue from channel partners to Rs 40 crore (Rs 20 crore) during the current fiscal, Mr Pattabiram told newspersons.

The tie-up with Ingram Micro would enable HCL Peripherals reach the length and breadth of the country. HCL Peripherals has 21 regional distributors and 760 dealer partners, and all of them would be integrated with Ingram Micro, which has around 8,000 channel partners and presence in every state, he said. According to Mr Pattabiram, the company's Pondicherry plant manufactures around 2,000 monitors a day, and this can be scaled up to 3,000. If Ingram Micro provides more volume, the company would set up an additional facility there, he said.
Back to News Review index page