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Gail seeks stake in Caspian gas pipeline project
Mumbai: Gail, India's domestic gas supplier, hopes to acquire a stake in a US$5.7bn natural gas pipeline stretching from the Caspian Sea to central Europe. The move would mark a broadening in the company's overseas ambitions from strategic forays designed to strengthen India's energy security.

Nabucco, formed by companies from Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria to build the 3,300km pipeline, is expected to announce its decision on Gail's expression of interest' by December.
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Kalam asks for development of 150-seater passenger jet
Bangalore: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has advocated the design, development, production and marketing of an Indian-made 150-seater passenger jet for the domestic as well as the global market.

Delivering the fifth J.R.D. Tata Memorial Lecture at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) here on Aerospace Technologies: Past, Present and Future, Kalam said the country's aerospace and scientific community had the capabilities to design, develop and operationalise state-of-the-art passenger jets in a cost-effective manner.

"The Indian aerospace and scientific community has developed domain expertise in producing the light combat aircraft (LCA), advanced light helicopter (ALH), advanced satellite launch vehicles such as PSLV and GSLV and strategic missiles with re-entry technology and supersonic cruise missiles. "With these strengths, India definitely has the ability to design, develop and operationalise state-of-the-art passenger jets in a cost-effective manner," Kalam told about 300 delegates comprising scientists, academics and experts from defence, space and research areas.

Quoting a study by a panel of experts on India's vision 2020, the president said the Indian aviation market would require in the coming years about 60 of the 300-plus-seater aircraft, about 30 of the 200-plus-seater aircraft, about 70 of the 150-seater aircraft and 65 of the 100-plus-seater aircraft.
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ONGC to market aviation turbine fuel
Kolkata: ONGC, the country's largest oil and gas exploration company, has received approval from the Union government to get into the aviation refuelling business. The government clearance will allow ONGC to market aviation turbine fuel (ATF). The company has also received permission for its plans to set up aviation refuelling stations in airports across the country.

ONGC is scheduled to start operations in both these areas in '06-07. The aviation fuel business is likely to be launched under a new sub-brand, 'OVaL Airfuel'. The oil exploration major recently entered the highly competitive oil retailing sector under a newly-created retail brand, ONGC Values (OVaL).

The aviation refuelling segment has so far been dominated by oil marketing companies, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HP). The domestic aviation industry is poised for a take off with a number of new budget airlines taking to the skies in recent months.

Meanwhile nearly 70% of production losses at Bombay High, the country's largest oilfield, are likely to be restored by the end of August, Subir Raha, ONGC chairman and managing director, said in Kolkata on Saturday.
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BSNL, MTNL contracts: Huawei may set up manufacturing unit
New Delhi: Chinese telecom equipment vendor, Huawei Technologies, eyeing contracts from Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), has said that it intends to set up a manufacturing base in India in case it was awarded these contracts.

"If we win the tenders from BSNL and MTNL, we propose to manufacture the equipment in India. We may do it directly, or tie-up with Indian companies," said Wenhe Gong, director, Huawei Technologies (India).

He also said that the company had not received any communication from the government with regard to security concerns about its US$100mn investment plans.

In March 2005, Huawei Technologies had applied for a licence to bid for tenders by state-owned telecom firms. The proposal also included plans to invest US$60mn to set up a plant in India.

"While we are yet to get an approval for the licence, we have met with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the Department of Telecommunications several times to discuss our plans. We believe the evaluation process is on, and this is normal for any foreign investment approvals. We are confident of a positive response from the Indian government," Wenhe Gong said.

He said the argument that India's strategic telecom networks would fall into the Chinese hands were far-fetched, as the company had independently supplied and installed telecom equipment and networks to the tune of over Rs2,000 crore to state-owned and private operators over the last couple of years.

"We are currently engaged in the process of laying the broadband network for BSNL. We have won the contract to set up a two lakh GSM network for MTNL and have supplied optical transmission for BSNL and fixed wireless terminals for both Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices. All these products have been tested and certified by the telecom engineering centre of DoT. We have sold equipment to the tune of over US$300mn to BSNL and MTNL," he added.

"We are a 100 per cent employee-owned company and have nothing to do with an military or intelligence agencies. We have a proven track record of providing customised communications network solutions and services to carriers to over 300 firms worldwide, including 22 of the top 50 operators.

According to him, Huawei was the largest Chinese investor in India, and employed about 1,000 people, 90 per cent of whom were Indians.
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Hong Kong trading company eyes Indian mining sector
Chennai: General Nice Resources (Hong Kong) Ltd, a Rs2,500-crore trading company, with interests in steel and related areas in Hong Kong, plans to expand its operations in India.

According to Jaffe Lau, Executive Director, General Nice Resources, India is on top of its list of priorities in expanding its operations in trading and mining areas. Announcing the opening of a liaison office here, Lau said that the company has interests in the entire gamut of steel industry including iron ore, coal and metallurgical coke. In the next few years over 40 per cent of its business operations would be associated with India. It is to facilitate this growth that the company has set up an office here.

Company officials said that initially the company is looking at technical collaborations in order to offer its expertise to merchant cokeries to set up coke ovens. It would also consider investing in such ventures.

It will also increase its supply of coking coal to India and support coal importers tie up stock financing to fund imports through Hong Kong-based banks. In the first year it hopes to make available about Rs350-crore of funding through this route. According to company officials, this will save importers at least 4 - 5 per cent in transaction cost on each shipment.

General Nice is among the largest merchant coke manufacturers and exporters in China. It hopes to export steel to India and use this as a platform to access markets in Sri Lanka and the West Asia, he said.
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Jharkhand renews Tata Steel's land lease
Ranchi: Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata on Saturday promised to work towards providing job opportunities to the people of Jharkhand, shortly after the state government renewed a land lease agreement related to the group's Jamshedpur steel plant.

"With the uncertainty of lease renewal behind us, I commit Tata Steel will work with you (government) for another 100 years or more to fulfill your wishes to raise the quality of life of the people of Jharkhand", he said soon after his company signed the Jamshedpur Land Lease (Renewal) Agreement for a 30-year period.

The lease agreement, having retrospective effect from January 1, 1996, has the same terms and conditions contained in the earlier lease document.

While chief secretary P P Sharma signed the agreement on behalf of the government, Tata Steel managing director B Muthurama inked it on behalf of the steel giant at the chief minister's residence.
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