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Ratan Tata warns 'vested interests' hurting country's progress
Mumbai: Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, has said that strong ''behind-the-scenes'' manoeuvering by vested interests in the private sector, would hurt the country's progress, stop reforms and makes policies ''toothless and ineffective''.

''India is suffering from a very strong influence of vested interests, regrettably sometimes this is more often than not from the private sector...Vested interests and political pulls are the two things that today I think, are hurting the country's progress (and the reforms process),'' said Tata, who is also chairman of the Investment Commission.

''Because what then happens is the policy gets modified, manipulated, changed so that it either serves vested interests or hurts the people, which eventually makes that policy sort of toothless and ineffective.''

Tata regretted that ''there is behind the scenes stopping (of) reforms in a spurious manner, because reforms help some, hurt some.''

''If you are truly a nationalist,'' he said, ''it should not matter whether it hurts you so long as it is fair and moves the country forward. But, regrettably, human nature is not that way.''

Analysing impediments to the reform process, he said, ''What we are doing is a lot of back-stepping and rolling back. What is happening is sometimes the policy is being compromised to an extent where it had no strength or is ineffective.''

A major shortcoming in the policy was the absence of a holistic view, he said, adding: ''We are just treating things based on sometimes knee-jerk, sometimes short-term views. Sometimes it is worthwhile to look at the whole policy and re-write that policy since things have changed.''

Asked about the situation in the labour sector, role of Left and handling of the oil-pricing issues, Tata said, ''I think certainly we cannot keep the subsidies at a level where government deficits become huge, endangering the prosperity of the nations. I think sometimes along the line there has to be hard recognition of some facts.''

However, he was confident about the vision of prime minister Manmohan Singh, saying, ''What I think needs to be done is already being advocated at the level of the prime minister or at the level of the finance minister.''
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Bhel mulling foreign tie-up to enhance technology levels
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) may go in for technological collaboration with Alstom in order to set up 800-1000 mw thermal power plants. The maximum capacity of Bhel plants is 600 mw as of now.

"In the next couple of days, Bhel will formally announce the transfer of technology agreement with a foreign company for an 800-mw 'supercritical' thermal power plant," minister of state for heavy industries Santosh Mohan Dev said. However, he did not disclose the names of the foreign companies Bhel is negotiating with because of a confidentiality clause.

According to sources, Bhel has liked the Alstom technology most. However, Bhel is also in talks with some Japanese companies in case the deal with the French power equipment firm does not materialise. Bhel already has a technological tie-up with Siemens for manufacturing turbines. It is now looking at boiler technology so that it can set up power plants of 800-1000 mw capacity at home and abroad. According to A.K.Puri, CMD, Bhel, the company would invest Rs1,000 crore over the next two-and-a-half years to enhance its capacity.

Bhel is also thinking of floating an independent subsidiary to look after its international operations.

Dev said discussions were on with the finance ministry to strengthen the Exim Bank so that it could finance Bhel projects abroad. While there is sufficient funding available for Bhel projects within the country from the Power Finance Corporation and the Rural Electrification Fund, the company requires more funds to expand its overseas projects. A 500-mw power plant, for instance, costs around Rs1500-1600 crore.

Dev said the order book of Bhel was full for the next two to three years.
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L&T obtains `in-principle' approval for share buyback programme
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has obtained an in-principle approval from its shareholders for the buy back of its own shares and securities. The company, however, has given no specific reason, size or time frame for its possible buyback programme.

According to the chairman and managing director, A.M. Naik, the company was not thinking of a buyback now, but was seeking permission so that there would be an option over the next couple of years to implement a buyback in case the need arose.

The company has a capital expenditure plan of Rs600 crore for the current year, Naik said.

Under its new constant portfolio review process, the company has divested some of its businesses and acquired some others, Naik said. L&T has acquired 65 per cent in Zubair Kilpatrick, a West Asia-based company, which is in the operation and maintenance of electromechanical systems for building utilities and complements the capabilities of L&T's construction division in Gulf region.

The company has also completed its strategic plan for 2004-10 with the help of Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) that will help launch L&T into a global multinational; this plan has been launched under the programme "Lakshya" and the implementation also involves the consultant, he said.
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Siemens to implement GSM-R system on 2,200 km of rail networks
New Delhi: The Indian Railways has awarded two additional GSM-R (Global Systems for Mobile Communications-Railways) contracts to the Siemens Communications Group, which will allow the company to equip 2,200 kilometres of the rail network with GSM-R technology.

Both the contracts are worth double-digit millions, said a company release.

Post implementation of the contract, train engineers, conductors and stationmasters in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir will be able to communicate with one another through a new mobile system, it said.

GSM-R will support conference calls between multiple people, for example, and assure a stable connection, regardless of weather conditions.

In addition, pressing a single key will enable the train engineer to automatically contact the control centre at the nearest station via his GSM-R mobile handset without having to dial its discrete number.

In addition to installation and start-up, the contract also includes services, such as personnel training and system maintenance for the next three years.
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Royal Enfield eyes defence market overseas
Chennai: Royal Enfield, which manufactures the famed `Bullet' motorcycles, is gearing up to participate in the growing Defence market, both in the country and abroad.

While the current year's domestic 'institutional sales' is expected to go up to 2,000 vehicles from 1,500 last year, a beginning has been made overseas with the sale of 15 motorcycles to the Sri Lankan air force a few months ago. Some African and SAARC countries have expressed interest in buying the motorcycles as well.

Company officials said that Royal Enfield also intended to bring in a new bike by 2007.
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BPL Mobile reduces STD rates for subscribers
Mumbai: BPL Mobile has introduced a reduced STD rate of Re1 per minute for its customers calling into either BPL or Hutch subscribers across India.

Only a few weeks ago had Hutch announced its intention to acquire BPL Mobile's operations. Observers see this as a precursor to retaining BPL Mobile customers and preparing them for eventually entering into the Hutch fold.

Both post-paid and pre-paid BPL Mobile users, who number 2.6 million, can subscribe to this facility for a monthly payment of Rs25. Hutch has almost nine million subscribers.

He added that BPL Mobile has aggressive growth and expansion plans for the year.
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Emami to diversify into jatropha cultivation
Kolkata: FMCG company Emami Ltd is diversifying into the cultivation and extraction of the biofuel jatropha, its Chairman, R.S. Agarwal has said.

The West Bengal Government has already offered 300 acres of land to the company in Birbhum district he said. Emami has also entered into a technical tie-up with IIT, Kharagpur. Agarwal said that the company would start a trial project on 50 acres.

Meanwhile, the company is looking at acquiring foreign brands or entering into arrangements with foreign brands in the personal and healthcare sectors. The company has chosen Ernst & Young to scout for a partner. The company was also looking at domestic brands and hoped to acquire some brand by the end of this year, Agarwal said.

The company is also entering the Bangladesh market in a big way. It had already set up a wholly owned subsidiary, Emami Bangladesh. A production unit will be set up at a cost of Rs10-12 crore.

For the year ended March 31, 2005, the company registered a turnover of Rs218.85 crore and net profit of Rs29.4 crore. In the current financial year turnover is expected to grow by 13-15 per cent and net profit by 30-35 per cent.

The Emami group, which produces newsprint through the company Emami Paper Ltd, is also making a fresh investment of Rs350 crore to add new capacity of 300 tonnes per day at its Balasore (in Orissa) plant.
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Ammana Bio Pharma to make ethanol from sorghum
Hyderabad: Ethanol supplier Ammana Bio Pharma Ltd has set up what it claims to be the country's first unit to derive ethanol from the grain crop sorghum (Sorghum bicolour).

The company was investing Rs20 crore in the project and expects to generate revenues of Rs6 crore a year. In a press release, the company has said that ethanol would be produced from sweet sorghum, which is also called `camel' among crops, owing to its wide adaptability and resistance to drought. Traditionally, ethanol or fuel alcohol is derived from molasses.

The huge demand-supply gap has forced firms to look for innovative methods of producing ethanol. Sweet sorghum, unlike sugarcane, can be harvested in 100 days compared to the first cut of sugarcane, which requires 11 months.

The company, which supplies ethanol to majors such as IOC, BPCL, RIL, HPCL, Ranbaxy, UB and McDowell, said the new unit would be self-supported with co-generation by using captive bagasse and press mud for achieving zero discharge of effluent.

Sweet sorghum is sown with seed and just 7.5 kg is enough for a hectare of land. With a potential to make 7,000 litres of ethanol per hectare, sweet sorghum has high potential. The total demand is 5,000 lakh litres, while the existing production is only 1,840 lakh litres.
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