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ONGC makes huge gas find in the KG basin
New Delhi: Indian oil major, the Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has made a huge gas discovery in deep-sea Bay of Bengal, with initial reserves being assessed to be in the range of 4 to 6 trillion cubic feet.

ONGC struck gas in the the Krishna Godavari Basin block KG-DWN-98/2, which lies adjacent to Reliance Industires' D6 block, where 11.9 trillion cubic feet of certified in place gas reserves have been struck till date. Officials said the gas find could be at least half the size of Reliance discovery.

While Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who is in Oslo, confirmed the gas find, ONGC officials said that formalities have to be completed before an announcement about the potential reserves can be made. As the company is now governed by the SEBI rules, reserves have to be first tested and then verified by Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (India's upstream regulator) before they can be quantified and announcements made.

ONGC had acquired 90 per cent stake in the the Block KG-DWN-98/2 from Cairn Energy of UK for 135 million dollars in 2004. Cairn Energy, which still holds 10 percent stake, had in 2001 made oil and gas finds at four wells in the block - gas at prospect 'N', gas at prospect 'R' (now named Annapura), oil and gas in prospect 'P' and oil at prospect 'M'.

Cairn had established 0.75 to 1 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in Annapura and at least 200 million barrels of oil reserves in prospects 'P' and 'M'.

The previous finds and the latest find together would make up for at least 6 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, officials said.
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ONGC, Norsk Hydro to explore projects in West Asia, Iran and Cuba
New Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of ONGC, has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Norsk Hydro, a private Norwegian upstream company, whereby the two companies have agreed to cooperate in third countries, particularly in West Asia. The petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyer announced this from Oslo, where he is currently on a tour.

The two would also be looking at projects in Cuba and Iran, the minister said. He, however, did not elaborate on the kind of projects the two would be looking at in Iran. The MoU is one of the five agreements signed during the ongoing visit of the Petroleum Minister to Norway.

An agreement was also signed between the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) of India and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to enhance institutional cooperation as also to pursue interaction in the areas of research and development, and safety and training.

Further, ONGC has also entered into three agreements with Norwegian organisations in the areas of research and development.

In association with the Hyderabad-based National Geo-Physical Research Institute, ONGC has signed an agreement with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology to pursue cooperation in the area of reservoir modelling for enhanced oil recovery using fractals and 4D seismic.

Other areas envisaged in the agreement include cooperation in the onshore and offshore areas with respect to enhanced oil recovery and to develop the knowledge base for reservoir surveillance.

ONGC has signed another agreement with ROXAR Software Solutions to cooperate in the area of integration of real time data monitoring systems with log modelling and geological model update process.

The final agreement is between ONGC and SINTEF to collaborate in the areas of occupational health, safety and the environment.
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Access deficit charge: DoT asks TRAI to consult Govt. before deciding
New Delhi: In an unprecedented move, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to share its views on the issue of Access Deficit Charge (ADC) with the Government before taking any decision.

Fixing ADC so far has been under the purview of the telecom regulator and the intervention by DoT on the matter could be an indication of it being made a policy issue.

TRAI is currently working on revising the deficit charges and has conducted open house discussions with the industry. ADC is a levy imposed by the telecom regulator to fund unviable telephones in rural India.

The issue has raised considerable controversy within the industry over the last two years, since more than 95 per cent of the fund collected from private operators is passed on to the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for its rural obligations. The ADC kitty at present is Rs5,000 crore.

Private operators have objected to the deficit charge on grounds that BSNL may be using the fund for subsidising its cellular business. The telecom regulator had indicated bringing down the total ADC fund from the present level and also a change in the way it was being collected.
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Govt to shed eight per cent stake in Maruti
New Delhi: The Government has decided to offload eight per cent stake in Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) to public sector financial institutions. At the current market price of Rs513, the sale of the stake will fetch Rs1,092.69 crore to the Centre. The Government currently holds 18.28 per cent stake in MUL, which will come down to 10.28 per cent after the sale.

The decision to offload eight per cent stake was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) here on Friday.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, the Defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee, said the eight per cent stake would be sold to the public sector financial institutions through competitive bidding with the market price as the benchmark. Mukherjee, however, did not give any timeframe for the sale saying such a move does not have any specific time as the shares would be sold when the market is bullish.

Japanese automobile major Suzuki Motor Corporation, which holds controlling stake in Maruti, officially has the first right of refusal when the Government sells its stake in MUL.

The Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises, Santosh Mohan Deb, told reporters that the sale proceeds from Maruti would be utilised for the National Investment Fund and the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme that was approved by Parliament in the recently concluded monsoon session.
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IDC survey: HCL Info, TCS, Infosys emerge as top employers
New Delhi: HCL Infosystems, Infosys and TCS have emerged as the top employers in the IT segment, according to a survey conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC).

The survey lists out the top 20 employers, which includes Wipro, NIIT, IBM and Sun Microsystems.

While Infosys is unchallenged on brand equity and remains the company of dreams for the fourth year, the biggest surprise this year is HCL Infosystems, which showed dramatic improvement on employee satisfaction, said a press release. HCL Infosystems received the highest ratings.

According to the DQ-IDC Best Employer survey, growth opportunities emerge as the single-largest factor driving job satisfaction. Since 2001, this annual study has been conducted amongst IT companies and information is collected from both the HR departments as well from employees of the participating companies. The compiled data yields the scores used for the final ranking.

Compensation has ceased to be the only parameter for satisfaction for some time now and the trend continues this year as well. Smaller companies fare better on overall satisfaction. Larger ones continue to struggle despite great HR policies, IDC said.
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Tata Power, DVC sign up for Maithon power project
Mumbai: Tata Power has said it would hold a 74 per cent stake in Maithon Power Ltd with state-owned Damodar Valley Corporation holding the remaining 24 per cent stake. The private sector power firm has signed the shareholders' agreement and share purchase agreement with DVC for the proposed power plant that is estimated to cost Rs3,800 crore.

While Tata Power will contribute about Rs840 crore to the equity corpus, DVC will put in about Rs300 crore.

The project requires a 1200-acre plot and DVC has already acquired a significant portion of this. The project is likely to attain financial closure in June 2006.

According to plans, it will comprise two generating units. Of this, the first unit is scheduled to be commissioned in September 2009 and the second unit by March 2010.

The project is a greenfield coal-based generation project located at Maithon in Jharkhand. The site is about 250 km from Jamshedpur and Ranchi and 25 km from Asansol.

DVC came into existence on July 7, 1948, by an Act of the central legislature. It is the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India.

DVC stakeholders include the Union government and the state governments of Bengal and Jharkhand.
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Aditya Birla Group's cement despatches up 24.38 per cent
Mumbai: The Aditya Birla Group's cement production for August grew 22.92 per cent to 21.32 lakh tonnes while dispatches rose 24.38 per cent to 21.38 lakh tonnes over August 2004.

The Group's cement production for the April-August 2005 period was 114.08 lakh tonnes, higher by 10.39 per cent against 103.35 lakh tonnes during April-August 2004.

The dispatches stood at 113.69 lakh tonnes reflect a rise of 10.51 per cent against 102.88 lakh tonnes attained during April-August 2004.
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TVS Motor launches three new 2-wheeler models
Mumbai: The TVS Motor Company has announced the launch of three new 2-wheeler models.

These include the Victor Edge motorcycle, featuring a new125cc engine and the Star City, a freshly styled 100cc 4-stroke motorcycle. Also unveiled was the Scooty Pep+, which has a new 90cc engine.

While the motorcycles would be available nationwide, the scooterette would be initially available only in Maharashtra.

The new Victor Edge was priced a little above its 110cc variant.
All three products won't require the company to add any production capacity.
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ICICI Venture buys out Ranbaxy's allied chemicals buisness
Mumbai: ICICI Venture has acquired the allied business operations of domestic pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy Laboratories in an acquisition valued at Rs125 crore.

ICICI Venture and Ranbaxy concluded the deal recently and Ranbaxy is likely to make an announcement by the end of this week. ICICI Venture was the front-runner among potential buyers.

Mape Advisory Group, a boutique investment bank with significant focus on the pharmaceutical sector, has advised the company on its deal with ICICI Venture.

The allied business includes animal healthcare, fine chemicals and diagnostics. These three profitable businesses have been witnessing a slowdown in growth over the last few quarters, prompting the company management to divest them. Total sales for the allied business operations are around Rs150 crore.

Ranbaxy is also likely to sell part of the diagnostics business separately to Dade Behring. The US-based diagnostics major has an alliance with Ranbaxy for the diagnostics business. Ranbaxy Diagnostics started its operations in 1987 and provides services to clinical laboratories and blood banks.

The Delhi based Ranbaxy, which is now concentrating on its core business - pharmaceuticals - has been working on selling its allied businesses, as it started restructuring its operations.
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Daimler India to launch Actros trucks and new S-class Merc next year
New Delhi: Daimler Chrysler India on Thursday said it plans to launch its premium commercial vehicle, Actros, in India early next year and also intends to introduce the next generation S-Class Mercedes in the latter half of 2006.

"We are at the end of the homologation stage and will deliver the first Actros in early 2006. This would be in the completely built unit (CBU) format," the President of Daimler Chrysler India, Hans Michael Huber, said here on the sidelines of the SIAM Annual Convention.

He said the company sold 80,000 units of Actros globally last year, with the major markets being Europe and West Asia. The Actros trucks will compete with Volvo in India. According to sources, Daimler Chrysler would be coming out with two models of the Actros - a 33-tonner and a 40-tonner.

On the pricing of the new Mercedes S-Class, Huber said that it would be priced above the present S-Class price band of Rs60-65 lakh. This year the company has so far sold about 125 S-Class cars, which are priced at about Rs65 lakh.

Meanwhile, company officials said that Daimler Chrysler expects to buy auto parts worth 85 million euros from India in the current calendar year. In 2004, the company sourced parts worth 79 million euros from the country.
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