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Hindujas to acquire Fiat's 15-per cent stake in Ashok Leyland
Mumbai: The Hinduja family is planning to acquire Fiat India's stake in Ashok Leyland. Fiat owns 15-per cent shares in the truckmaker through a London-based investment firm that in turn holds a controlling stake of 51 per in Ashok Leyland.

The Hinduja family and Iveco, a part of the Fiat group and also Europe's leading truck maker, had acquired the investment firm, Land Rover Leyland International Holdings Ltd (LRLIH), in 1987. The Hindujas hold nearly 70 per cent in LRLIH, while the balance is with Iveco.

Iveco's holding translates into a 15 per cent stake in Ashok Leyland. The Hindujas will shortly acquire Iveco's 30 per cent stake in LRLIH. Sources close to the developments said the Hinduja family's move to scale its holding in Ashok Leyland was in step with a plan to increase the company's presence in the country.

Dheeraj Hinduja, the son of Gopi Chand Hinduja, is expected to take over the business of Ashok Leyland as part of the family's plan to hand over responsibilities to the next generation.
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Jet Airways awaits approval to fly overseas
Mumbai: Jet Airways (India), is looking at the possibilities to commence services to Asian, African and European destinations, and is currently awaiting the approval of the US Department of Transportation for the US service.

At the company recently held annual general meeting, chairman Naresh Goyal said that Jet Airways had placed orders for 10 Airbus 330 aircraft – of the 200 and the 300 types – to meet Asian, African and European destinations and 10 Boeing 777 aircraft for longer haul destinations including the UK and the US.

The company would also lease two new Airbus 330 aircraft for international operations and evaluating financing opportunities for fleet expansion.
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Ranbaxy to market Lupin's TB drug in Africa
Delhi: Ranbaxy has announced an in-licensing agreement with Lupin Laboratories to market the latter's tuberculosis drug in West and North African markets. Ranbaxy will market Lupin's TB brand 'Akurit', a fixed-dose combination, complying with WHO norms of dosage requirements and safety, in these markets.

Ranbaxy will market the brand in Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Chad and Congo, a company statement said.

The alliance will leverage the combined strengths of the company's global marketing and distribution network and Lupin's international expertise in the management of tuberculosis, the statement said. TB has recently been declared as an emergency in Africa.
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TCG asserts right to majority claim over Haldia Petro
New Delhi: The Purnendu Chatterjee Group (TCG) has asserted its claim over a controlling stake in Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) on the first day of the final hearing of the ownership dispute with the West Bengal government. The hearing of the case before the Company Law Board (CLB) will continue on Wednesday.

The Chatterjee Group wants to reverse the West Bengal government's 7.5-per cent stake sale in HPL to Indian Oil Corporation for Rs150 crore, as the state had dishonoured its commitment to sell its stake to TCG earlier. CLB had upheld the stake sale on August 5, subject to its final order.

TCG told the CLB that as per the JV deal with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), it has a right to control the company even if it did not meet its commitment of bringing Rs107 crore to HPL initially and anther Rs500 crore later. The agreement also says that appointing the board's chairman should be by consensus.
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Merck to invest $15 million in marketing
Mumbai: US multinational pharmaceutical research and formulations giant, Merck & Company, has set aside over $15 million (Rs65 crore) to expand its market reach activities. The company will invest mainly in hiring field personnel for making its products available in more cities.

The company plans to more than double its sales force by the end of the year. Last week, the company introduced its first product - Zienam, a patented product of Merck & Co in India while Aggrastat, a cardiovascular drug, is to be launched soon.

Though these products are not covered under the current Indian Patent Law, there will be four more products coming to India in the near future as they have been registered already,

The new products of MSD Pharma to be introduced in the country include Invanz, an anti-biotic, Cancidas, an anti-fungal and two vaccines, Pneumovax anti-pneumonia) and Varivax (anti-chicken pox). The company is also exploring the possibility of getting into marketing alliances with other Indian companies.

Merck & Company, based in New Jersey in USA, is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to drug discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of vaccines and medicines in more than 20 therapeutic categories.
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Aurobindo Pharma gets US FDA nod
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma has obtained a provisional approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for the abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) of Setraline Hydrochloride in tablets of 25 mg (base), 50 mg (base) and 100 mg (base).

The company has said it would be able to market the product in the US market after the expiry of the Setraline Hydrochloride product patent and also upon final approval from the USFDA.
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Ban on nights for women only in two companies
Chandigarh: The Haryana state government has clarified it would not allow women to work in night shifts in just two companies — namely Convergys and Saffron Global — and that other call centres which already employ women at night need not worry.

According to the government BPOs are normally exempted from Section 30 of the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958, which bars companies from employing women at night, but the exemption is subject to certain conditions. The two companies failed to honour those, and thus the notice, she said.

The companies were unavailable for comment.
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Toyota's new plant to manufacture small cars
Bangalore: Automaker Toyota Kirloskar Motors, is setting up a second plant in Karnataka at a cost of Rs1,400 crore. The company plans to manufacture small cars at this plant.

Toyota has approached the Karnataka government with the proposal to set up a second plant in the state. The government is expected to consider the proposal early next month, sources said.

Currently, Toyota operates its car manufacturing plant in Bidadi, 25km from Bangalore, with 2,300 employees. The company owns 420 acre in Bidadi, of which it utilises only 110 acre. Toyota is expected to utilise the remaining 320 acre, by pumping in fresh investments, sources in the company said. Toyota's Bidadi plant, which started production in December 1999, has an annual production capacity of 60,000 units.
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Gecis renamed Genpact
New Delhi: India's largest BPO by revenues and employees, GE Capital International Services (Gecis), has been renamed as Genpact (Generating Impact).

Last year General Atlantic and Oak Hill acquired a 60 per cent stake in Gecis for $700 million in the biggest ever deal in the Indian BPO industry.

According to senior company officials one of the secondary reasons of changing the name of the company was that it was mispronounced as Jakis, which has a derogatory meaning in Hungary, where the company has one of its centres.

With the new identity, Genpact will also slowly reduce its dependence on its previous owner GE, which continues to own 40 per cent of the company.

Genpact expects to cross $1 billion in revenues by 2008 and will add 11,000 professionals during the period taking its employee strength to 30,000.
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Kanishk Steel to merge two group companies with itself
Chennai: Kanishk Steel Industries based in Chennai, plans to merge two group companies OP Steels and Avanti Oil and Steel Industries with itself and has called a shareholders meeting to approve the proposal.

Kanishk has just completed its 200-tonnes per day sponge iron plant at Gummidipoondi. The company has drawn up plans to set up a 12m-captive power plant that can run on the waste heat recovered from the sponge iron plant. The sponge iron plant project was executed at a cost of Rs24.50 crore and its product will be used as the primary raw material in making construction steel that Kanishk produces.

Kanishk's steel plant can today produce 60,000 tonnes a year of construction and structural steel, but is close to finalising plans to treble its capacity.
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Maruti plans to roll out new version of Baleno
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog will launch a new version of its mid-size sedan Baleno this week.

The new Baleno will come with added features and higher price tag. According to dealers, the Vxi (higher end) variant will come with a climate control feature, wider tyres, a redesigned rear lamp and an MP3 player and would cost around Rs 12,000 more.

The ex-showroom (Delhi) price of the current Vxi model is about Rs6.61 lakh. Meanwhile, the only change in the base variant (Lxi) of the Baleno would be the redesigned rear lamps. The price of the Lxi variant (which comes with a price tag of Rs5.79 lakh ex-showroom Delhi) would be unchanged.
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M&M plans to put up plants in Malaysia, Russia
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra is planning to set up a manufacturing facility in Malaysia and Russia for utility vehicles.

As of now, the company is exporting Scorpio utility vehicles to these two countries. The facility in Malaysia is expected to come up in a year while the Russian manufacturing facility will take more time to materialise.

The company will export completely knocked down (CKD) kits of Scorpio to these countries and then assemble these at the overseas facilities. M&M has a subsidiary in South Africa which takes care of the distribution of Mahindra utility vehicle in that country.
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