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BSNL's mobile plan targets Govt. employees with Rs.100 monthly rental New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has launched a mobile plan with a monthly rental of Rs100 specifically targeted at Central and State government employees across the country. Employees of public sector undertakings can also avail of the scheme.

The new scheme called Plan 100 offers local calls within BSNL's network at Re1 a minute. Local calls to subscribers of other operator's network will cost Rs1.80 a minute. Short messaging within BSNL's network will cost only 50 paise while other SMS will cost Re1. The Rs100 rental being offered by BSNL is the cheapest offering from BSNL's stable yet.

In addition subscribers do not have to pay security deposits and activation charges under the new scheme.

BSNL is currently the third largest mobile operator in the country after Bharti and Reliance Infocomm, and has a subscriber base of over 10 million users. The new scheme is part of the state-owned company's objective to achieve 20 million cellular subscribers by the end of this fiscal.

BSNL's scheme will be effective from November 1 onwards.
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Pfizer Q3 net rises 62 per cent
Mumbai: Drug major Pfizer has declared a 62 per cent growth in net profit at Rs21.8 crore for the third quarter ended August 2005, compared with Rs13.4 crore for the corresponding previous period.

Company officials said operational excellence in supply chain, marketing, etc., had contributed to the 62 per cent growth in net.

Total income rose 15 per cent to Rs173 crore (Rs150 crore), the company told the BSE.

Pfizer has also taken a hit in the Mumbai floods when stocks of medicine worth an estimated Rs100 crore were destroyed. In a notice to the exchange, Pfizer said that its stocks lying at its warehouses at Bhiwandi had been badly affected due to the heavy rainfall in Mumbai on July 26 and the flood thereafter. "The company is in the process of lodging the claim with the insurers."

The estimated loss on account of the same has been placed at Rs2 crore (net of estimated insurance claim).

The company has received on account payment of Rs4 crore from the insurance company, Pfizer added.

The company official clarified that Rs100 crore was the total loss across different Pfizer entities and Rs2 crore was the net loss of Pfizer Ltd.
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Hyundai, Maruti hike cars prices

New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India and Maruti Udyog have announced that they would be increasing prices of their vehicles later this week.

Hyundai is increasing the prices of its mid-size sedan Accent and the premium hatchback Getz this week. The price of the Accent is likely to increase by about Rs7,000 to Rs8,000, while the hike in Getz prices would be marginal.

Maruti said it is considering a price hike in the current week. The company has not yet decided on the quantum of the hike or the models whose prices will be hiked.

The main reason for the price rise is the increased freight rate on account of the recent hike in diesel prices.
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Gujarat NRE Coke's Australian mine begins operations
Ahmedabad: Gujarat NRE Coke has said that its first Australian mine has begun commercial operations. The first consignment of coking coal to India would be despatched in November.

The colliery will initially start with a production of one million tonnes per annum (MTPA), which will be scaled up to two MTPA by next year.

The company has invested A$25mn (Rs85 crore) in the project and propose to invest another A$50mn (Rs160 crore) in the next couple of years.

The mine, Bellambi West Colliery at Russell Vale near Wollongong, is located in New South Wales region of Australia and is the oldest operational mine in Australia.

Coal will be imported from the Australian mine and washed in India before being processed into coke.
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Crocin Quick in trouble
Ahmedabad: Crocin Quick, the newly launched crocin variant has been prohibited in Gujarat and the Gujarat Food & Drug Control Administrator (FDCA) has written to the regulator, Drug Controller-General of India (DCGI), asking for a nationwide ban on the drug.

According to the Gujarat FDCA the Crocin variant, called Crocin Quick, has been prohibited in the state on the grounds that the product did not meet the accepted standards of drug dissolution specified for paracetamol and it had a prohibitive colouring agent, Titanium Dioxide.

Since the FDCA does not have the power to ban the product, it has prohibited it in Gujarat state and has informed DCGI and also the Drug Controller of Karnataka, where the drug is manufactured.

The DGCA further says that as the Crocin Quick formulation is outside existing pharmacopoeial standards, it could be considered as a new product needing clearance from the DCGI. But the company did not do that.

The company was not available for comments.

Titanium dioxide is an approved colourant for any coated tablet. This is patent and proprietary medicine, and had been cleared by DCGI as a coated paracetamol tablet.

Crocin 500 is the flagship OTC brand of the GSK Consumer Healthcare. The company has recently launched two more variant of this brands -Crocin Pain relief and Crocin Quick.
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Elgi Equipments bags two orders
Coimbatore: Elgi Equipments has secured orders from two steel plants for supply of centrifugal air compressors valued at Rs3.2 crore.

Elgi Equpments would be supplying `Elgi-Samsung' centrifugal air compressors to JSW Steel earlier known as Jindal Vijayanagar Steel, for its new sinter plant located at Bellary in Karnataka. The order valued Rs1.7 crore would be executed by Elgi Equipments by December 2005.

The other order from Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant under SAIL, which is upgrading its plant at Bhadravati in Karnataka, is worth Rs1.5 crore and would be executed by February 2006.
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Visaka Ind's cement sheets project gets eco clearance
Hyderabad: Visaka Industries (VIL) has obtained the necessary environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for its proposed cement sheets project.

The company is currently setting up a corrugated fibre cement sheets unit at Rae Baraeli in Uttar Pradesh.

The project is being set up at an investment of around Rs30 crore with a capacity of 1,20,000 tonnes per annum. The proposed unit will provide employment to about 400 people directly and indirectly in the surrounding areas of Rae Baraeli, the release said.

The company said the project is expected to commence production in January next year.
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PCL, GAIL to set up gas distribution JV
Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) is floating a joint venture with GAIL India for distribution of gas in Maharashtra, excluding Mumbai. The company will be registered under the name of Maharashtra Natural Gas (MNGL).

BPCL and GAIL will hold 22.5 per cent stake in the company each, and 5 per cent of the stake would be with the state government or its nominees and the remaining 50 per cent is likely to be financed either through a financial institution or an initial public offer.

The gas would be distributed for domestic, commercial, industrial as well as transport purposes. The investment requirement for the project would be approximately Rs1000 crore.

The project is likely to go on floor by late 2006, or early 2007, according to company officials.
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Dolphin Offshore to offload stake
Mumbai: The Mumbai-based marine operation and construction company, Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India), is diluting its stake, to raise funds to the tune of Rs150 crore for financing overseas acquisitions and expansion of marine asset base.

The company is planning to dilute the promoters' stake to 60 per cent from the current 72 per cent. The company is also exploring options of private placement or issuing foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) or global depository receipts (GDRs).

However, there are no plans for a second public issue for the funds acquisition programme.

Other key players in the offshore segment are Great Eastern Shipping Company, Aban Lloyd, Seamec and Mercator Lines.

The offshore activities of Dolphin Offshore include diving, underwater services (air, mixed gas and saturation diving), fabrication, platform topside installation and marine constructions with rig repair services.

The company's clientele includes ONGC, L&T, IOC, HPCL, SCI, GE Shipping and Coast Guard.
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Zee Sports dumps cricket, happy to sponsor football
New Delhi: Cricket and cricketers really seem to be out of favour for the present.

In view of the ongoing chaos in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over elections and cricket rights, Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra, has said he will be happy promoting football in the country. He also said he would be happy if Zee did not get the telecast rights from BCCI.

Zee's newly created Zee Sports had bagged telecast rights from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for a 10-year period for around Rs300-325 crore.
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Welspun India to open hypermarkets
Mumbai: Welspun India is planning to open hypermarkets under Welspun Home Club brand.

These hypermarkets would focus on home furnishings and would be discount stores.

The company is set to open three Welspun Home Clubs in October in Mumbai, Thane and Delhi and plans at least 15 such stores in the next seven to eight months.

Each of these stores would be spread across an area of 10,000sq ft and is targeted at the mid-segment customers.

Welspun entered into organised retail last year with its premium brand, Spaces, and Welspun Factory Outlet, which caters to the mass market.

The company is also planning to introduce furnishing and upholstery under its Spaces brand.

Also on the cards are plans to have larger stores with a host of value-adds such as free interior designing consultation, interactive home-designing software and so on.

Welspun currently has 42 stores in 25 cities.
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Nahar Enterprises to expand retail chain
New Delhi: Punjab-based Nahar Industrial Enterprises, engaged in fabricating and spinning yarn, is planning to expand its garment retailing business in association with the brand Cotton County.

The company retails men's apparel through the Cotton County store chain in Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

It opened its first retail unit in October last year and currently has 28 stores.

The company plans to have 40 stores by the end of next month and 100 by the year-end. It will offer ladies' and children's apparel shortly.

Nahar Enterprises has also announced expansion plans of its spinning facility to take the number of spindles to 158,688 from the existing 120,288 and the number of looms to 426 from 306.

The company had a turnover of Rs 625 crore last fiscal, and is targeting Rs 825 crore this fiscal.

It hopes to clock a turnover of Rs1,000 crore by 2007.
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ONGC to process biofuels at its newer refineries
New Delhi: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), will focus on biofuel development in the new refineries that it is planning to set up.

ONGC is planning to process biofuels ground up at the proposed Andhra Pradesh refinery and is also looking at doing the same at its proposed refinery in Rajasthan.

ONGC has received government approval for building a 7.5-million tonne refinery at Barmer district in Rajasthan through a joint venture between its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) and UK's Cairn Energy.

In Andhra Pradesh, ONGC plans to set up an export-oriented refinery at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. The Rs5,500-crore venture will have a capacity of 5.5-million tonnes to 7.5-million tonnes a year. A Rs1,500-crore special economic zone, scalable to Rs3,000 crore, has also been proposed in the region.
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Hutch Essar acquires BPL biz from Essar Group for $1.15 billion
Mumbai: Hutchison Essar has entered into an agreement to acquire BPL Mobile (Mumbai circle) and BPL Cellular (Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) from the Essar group for around $1.15 billion. The amount includes cash consideration and assumption of debt.

Hutch Essar also said it had entered into a conditional agreement with Essar promoters Ruias to acquire Essar Spacetel Ltd, that has applied for telecom licences in seven circles independent of Hutchison.

Essar Spacetel has been valued at $ 6 million.

With these deals, Hutchison Essar will now have a presence in all the 23 circles in India with a subscriber base of 12 million.

According to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) for the month of August, Hutch had a 9.2-million subscriber base, yielding it a market share: 19.01 per cent and making it the third largest player in the GSM segment after Airtel and Idea Cellular.
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