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Setback for Ranbaxy in Lipitor patent battle
New Delhi: A British court has upheld the exclusivity of the main European patent covering the active ingredient in Pfizer's cholesterol drug Lipitor but has ruled that a second patent was invalid.

Ranbaxy, which is into generic drugs manufacture had declared that its drug did not infringe on the Pfizer's patent

Ranbaxy plans to appeal against the decision. The verdict, if upheld on appeal, will mean Ranbaxy cannot launch a copycat version of the medicine until 2011.

In the US, a trial of issues similar to those heard in the UK took place in December 2004. A ruling is expected before the end of 2005 a statement from Ranbaxy said.
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Infosys Q2 profit jumps 35.57 per cent
Bangalore: Riding on the continuing outsourcing boom, software bellwether Infosys has reported a net profit of Rs606 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2005, a healthy 35.57 per cent jump over the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Infosys said its revenues grew to Rs2,294 crore, a 31.16 per cent year-on-year jump.

Infosys also revised upwards its revenue guidance, projecting it to be in the range between Rs9,361 crore and Rs9,383 crore, a 31.30-31.61 per cent growth, for the fiscal ending March 31, 2006.

The company's revenue reached $1 billion in the first half of the current fiscal against the $1 billion attained in the whole of fiscal 2004.

Infosys made the highest-ever recruitment for any quarter in its history with a gross addition of 8,026 employees, taking the total headcount in the company and its subsidiaries to 46,196 employees.
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TCS net up by 81 per cent
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reported an 81.27 per cent jump in net profit at Rs620.32 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 as compared to Rs342.19 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income has increased 22.30 per cent to Rs2,515.73 crore for the second quarter from Rs2,056.90 crore in the corresponding quarter in previous fiscal, according to a notice sent to the BSE.

The board of directors has also recommended second interim dividend of Rs3 per equity share of Re1 each of the company.

On a consolidated basis the company and its subsidiaries have posted a net profit of Rs693.71 crore this quarter as compared to Rs323.09 crore in the previous quarter.

Its total income has increased to Rs2,982.60 crore for the second quarter from Rs2,448.19 crore in the same period last year.
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Sterling Bio to expand operations
Mumbai: Sterling Biotech, which manufactures gelatins, is readying a Rs3,850 crore expansion plan.

The company has issued 'foreign currency convertible bonds' (FCCBs) worth $140 million (nearly Rs630 crore) and plans to raise $50 million (nearly Rs225 crore) soon from overseas markets.

The company's shareholders have authorised the board to borrow Rs3,000 crore.

The company's overseas plans include acquiring a gelatin firm abroad. With this acquisition Sterling Biotech would become the world's second-largest gelatin maker.

Sterling Biotech, is Asia's largest gelatin and is among the 'top 5' five gelatin makers worldwide.

The bonds of the FCCB issue are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and bear interest of 0.50 per cent per annum. The conversion price of the bonds is determined at Rs184.8694, about 24-per cent premium over the closing price of the company's stock on the pricing date. Barclays Capital was the lead manager, sole book-runner and underwriter to the issue.
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DoT deals Bharti Rs10-crore blow
New Delhi: The government has issued a show cause notice to Bharti Infotel for violating its ISP license asking it to explain why a penalty should not be levied.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has sent a notice, levying and recovering an amount of Rs10.10 crore, besides asking the private service provider to submit an additional performance bank guarantee of Rs3.6 crore.

Recently DoT inspected 13 subscribers of Bharti's internet leased lines and found they were receiving international voice calls. DoT says the set up was unauthorisedly used for receiving international calls routed through internet leased line provided by Bharti Infotel and further illegally switched to various subscribers.

DoT said that this illegal arrangement, which connected international calls to local number bypassing the switching networks have caused huge revenue loss to the government and other licensed telecom operators.

DoT has issued a notice to recover Rs10,10,07,639 from Bharti Infotel.

DOT has given Bharti 30 days to explain why the penalty should not be levied against them.
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Infosys on hiring binge in Q2
Bangalore: Software major Infosys virtually went on a hiring binge in the secodn quarter of the current fiscal.

The company hired 8,026 employees in the second quarter ended September 30, 2005,which is the highest-ever number of employees for any quarter in the history of the company.

Infosys and its subsidiaries have a total employee strength of 46,196 now.
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IA to hike fares by 10 per cent from next week
New Delhi: Escalating fuel bills leading to pressure on margins has led Indian Airlines to announce a 10 per cent increase in domestic fares from October 18.

Apart from a hike in economy and business class fares, there would be a proportionate increase in other promotional, excursion and check fares, which are available in three or four baskets in different sectors, according to an IA spokesperson.

After the hike, the regular one-way fare between Delhi and Chennai would touch Rs14,500, Delhi-Kolkata Rs11,000, Delhi-Hyderabad to almost Rs12,000 and Delhi-Kochi to over
Rs19,000. Delhi-Mumbai sector price would be over Rs9,700.

For Indian carriers, fuel accounts for almost 40 per cent of the total cost.

Other airlines recently have also hiked fares.
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Aviva Life to hire 7,000 more agents
New Delhi: Aviva Life Insurance, Dabur and Aviva Plc joint venture company, is planning to hire more agents next year. At present Aviva has 6,000 agents which will go up to to 40,000 in the next three years.

Aviva plans to hire 7,000 agents in the next fiscal, taking the total agent strength to 13,000. Another 7,000 agents would be hired in 2007-08, taking the total to 20,000. Plans are to double this number in 2008-09.

Two-thirds of Aviva's business comes from the bancassurance route. Now the insurance major wants to focus on on other channels as well.

Aviva is also planning to increase its number of branches to 72 from 40 at present.
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S Kumars announces 20 per cent growth in turnover
Hyderabad: S Kumars Nationwide Limited (SKNL), has announced a 20 per cent growth in turnover to Rs210.19 crore for the quarter ended 30th Sep 2005. The previous year's corresponding quarter figure was Rs175.62 crore. The company's operating profit rose to Rs33.18 crore (Rs15.72 crore) – a growth of 111 per cent. Profit after tax for the quarter stands at Rs21.09 crore. Operating margin has improved significantly to 15.8 per cent from 9 per cent.

Said managing director, Nitin S Kasliwal, "A robust domestic demand for our products backed by new initiatives on operational efficiencies has contributed significantly to our improved profitability."
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BSNL imposes addl Rs15,000 annual levy on private companies
New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has imposed an additional levy of Rs15,000 per annum on private telecom operators for providing them additional interconnect. The charge would be levied with retrospective effect has enraged the private operators.

A circular, issued by BSNL in this regard recently, also insists that operators make provision for HDSL modems and convert all passive links to active links.

The operators association, AUSPI, said in a letter to BSNL, "The charges fixed by BSNL are unilateral and arbitrary and have been done without any discussion with operators. This must be discussed with private operators and reasonable amount can be worked out and charges be accordingly fixed. There is no reasonable ground for levying the charge retrospectively".

The passive links are deployed by service providers for Interconnection with BSNL.
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Triveni engg Q2 net up 45 per cent
New Delhi: Triveni Engineering and Industries has reported a 45 per cent jump in net profit at Rs43.15 crore for the quarter ended September 2005, as against Rs29.76 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The company registered a jump of 50 per cent in its net profit at Rs67.78 crore in the first half of FY06 as against Rs45.53 crore in the same period last fiscal.
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CMC net drops 18 per cent
Mumbai: TCS' subsidiary CMC Ltd has reported an 18.46-per cent decline in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 2005 at Rs10.55 crore against Rs12.94 crore in the quarter ended September 2004.

Consolidated revenues grew 14.11 per cent for the quarter at
Rs210.01 crore against Rs184.03 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

The consolidated net profit of the company slipped by 16.28 per cent to Rs26.52 crore for the half year ended September 2005 against Rs31.68 crore in the corresponding previous period.

Total revenues increased to Rs425.20 crore, 13.38 per cent higher than Rs375.01 crore clocked in the corresponding period of last year.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, CMC Americas Inc, continued its better performance with a 45-per cent growth in revenues to $12.86 million for the half year ended September 2005 compared with $8.87 million in the corresponding period in the previous year. The growth in the revenues of CMC Americas is primarily attributed to increased embedded systems business.
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Titan introduces the Raaga Coordinate collection
New Delhi: Titan has introduced the Raga Coordinate, collection a new range of wrist watches specially designed for women. The company is hoping to rake up sales by 45 per cent based on the new collection in the festive season taking the total turnover up by 20 per cent to Rs720 crore this fiscal.

"With our range of Raga Coordinate designed exclusively for women, we hope that we will be able to sell around 40-45 per cent," a company official of Titan Watches said.

According to the company, the Raga Coordinate collection starting from Rs1,800 to Rs4,000, is a unique innovation to create multiple look from the same watch which can be either worn on the wrist or the neck. It is the 'many looks one watch' series.

During the festive season alone the company plans to spend Rs 7 crore on ads.
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