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After Changi, Hochtief too exits airport reconstruction bidding process
New Delhi: With Changi Airport opting out of the bidding process for restructuring the Delhi and Mumbai airports, now German major Hochtief Airport GMBH too has expressed ''unwillingness'' to participate in the bidding process. Hochtief had partnered Indian majors L&T and Piramal Holdings to bid for the Mumbai airport alone.

However, the other six consortia have confirmed participation.
The resistance from the two foreign majors pertained to the condition that a hefty penalty could be imposed on the foreign partner, as it would be responsible for operations, in case performance standards were to fall.

Under the Operation Management and Development Agreement (OMDA) of the bid document, the selected consortium along with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) would have to carry out mandatory capital projects at the Delhi and Mumbai airports by March 31, 2010.

The entire modernisation is expected to cost Rs2,800 crore for Delhi and Rs2,600 crore in Mumbai.
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Trent to invest over Rs.100 crore towards expansion plans
Mumbai: Trent, the retailing chain of the Tata group, has said that it would invest more than Rs100 crore over the next 2-3 years in order to increase the presence of its flagship retail chain outlet 'Westside' and hypermarket 'Star India Bazaar' across the country.

According to company officials, the company will open 6-8 outlets of Westside every year over the next 2-3 years, with an eye to expand to newer cities, apart from increasing presence in existing ones. The new cities where stores would come up include Lucknow, Kanpur and Coimbatore. Currently Westside has 18 stores in 11 cities. According to officials, it took approximately Rs4-5 crore investment per store. Trent had plans to open two more 'Star India Bazaar' hypermarket stores, other than their existing one at Ahmedabad, at Bangalore and Mumbai. Investments per store of Star India Bazaar ranged between Rs6-8 crore.
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Passenger car sales pick up in August
New Delhi: Putting a brake on a declining trend for the previous two months, passenger car sales in the domestic market picked up in August to register a 14.8 per cent jump, as compared to the same month last year.

According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) today, two-wheeler sales also recovered to post 17.91 per cent growth in August compared to the same month last year.

Total domestic passenger car sales in August 2005 stood at 72,165 units against 62,845 units in the same month last year, SIAM said.

The upward growth of car sales was led by Hyundai Motors India, which recorded 50 per cent jump in sales during the month, while market leaders Maruti Udyog also registered 12.39 per cent growth.

Sales of the other leading player in the compact and mid-sized car segment, Tata Motors, however, continued to be down with a marginal decline of 3.38 per cent at 11,218 units in August as against 11,611 units compared to the same month last year.

The market was hit hard in July by rains and floods, especially in Maharashtra and Gujarat. The auto market also faced the impact of win factors of VAT implementation and new emission norms in April thereby affecting June sales.

The cumulative sales of cars in the April-August period this year increased by 5.32 per cent at 3,32,159 units as against 3,15,370 units in the corresponding period last year.
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TVS Motor launches two motorcycle variants
Kolkata: Two-wheeler major TVS Motor Company Ltd has announced the launch of Victor Edge and StaR City motorcycle variants.

The company has also said that it is looking at a revenue growth of 15-20 per cent this fiscal. In 2004-05, the company notched up revenues of Rs2,900 crore.

According to TVS Motors, the company's motorcycle sales are growing at around 20 per cent per month against the industry average of between 15 and 20 per cent. With the launch of StaR City, TVS Motor is hopeful of growing much faster in the economy segment for motorcycles. Victor Edge has been designed for the executive segment and its variants will be available in the Rs40,900-43,000 range.

StaR City, priced at Rs33,900, has been positioned for the economy segment. The company hopes to sell around 30,000 units of Victor Edge and 50,000 units of StaR City every month.

Company officials also said that in addition to the two motorcycle variants already launched, the company would introduce another motorcycle variant under the Fiero brand in the months ahead.
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Ranbaxy enters Italian market through subsidiary
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has made its foray in the Italian market through a wholly owned subsidiary, Ranbaxy Italia S.P.A.

The subsidiary will be introducing high-quality generic medicines from its extensive international product portfolio in this market by early 2006. The decision to set up the subsidiary will enable the company to consolidate its presence in the Top five European pharmaceutical markets. Currently, it is present in 21 of the 25 EU countries. Italy is the fourth largest pharmaceuticals market in Europe after Germany, the UK and France with a total market size of US$16.5bn.

The Italian Government has been encouraging introduction of generics to bring down the healthcare costs. Hence, this segment is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. "Additional impetus will come from the expiry of some blockbuster drug patents, expected by 2008-2009," said the statement the Ranbaxy statement.
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Titan Energy in JV for lead-free solar battery
New Delhi: Titan Energy Systems Ltd has entered into a joint venture with Austrian company EN-O-DE and German company Blitzstrom GmbH for the manufacture of lead-free solar batteries in India.

All three companies would have equal stake in the U$5mn venture called AGIRE - Austrian German Indian Renewable Energy. Under the arrangement, EN-O-DE would provide technical expertise to Titan for the manufacture of the batteries, which would be marketed by Blitzstrom worldwide.

The batteries would be manufactured at Titan's existing facility in Secunderabad and their capacity would range from 1 kW to 100 kW.

EN-O-DE has used the Vanadium Redox Energy Storage System invented in Australia to develop the technology for `Vanadium Instant Energy' - termed Vanie.

The joint venture would produce Vanie under the trade name `BE-TITAN'.
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GE Shipping sells double hulled tanker
Mumbai: The Great Eastern Shipping Company has signed a contract to sell its 46,346 dwt vessel 'Jag Prakash.' The double-hulled tanker was bought in early 2003 from Hanjin Heavy Industries, Korea, the shipping company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The vessel is intended to be delivered to its new owners in the third quarter of the current fiscal, the company has said. According to the company, the company has identified an opportunity to cash in on the prevailing high asset values, keeping in mind its current order book of three similar ships.

The current fleet of the company includes 44 ships comprising 13 crude carriers, 17 product carriers, 2 gas carriers and 12 dry bulk carriers, it said.

The offshore fleet that consists of 32 vessels includes 18 offshore supply vessels, 2 exploratory rigs, 1 construction barge and 11 harbour tugs, it informed.
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RIL files demerger scheme in Mumbai High Court
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has filed the scheme for the proposed demerger of its power, finance, and telecom businesses in the Mumbai High Court, according to company officials. The company also proposes to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) by mid-October for shareholders' approval, officials said, as per the directive of the High Court.

At the annual general meeting last month, chairman Mukesh Ambani had set a four to six month timeframe for completing the demerger process.

As per the demerger scheme, RIL shareholders will get seven shares of Reliance Energy for every 100 held, and five Reliance Capital shares for every 100 held.

They will also get one share each of newly formed companies Global Fuel Management Services and Reliance Communications Ventures for every share held in RIL.
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