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GBN, TV 18 to launch news channel
New Delhi: Global Broadcast News (GBN), the soon to be launched news broadcasting company promoted by TV 18, Rajdeep Sardesai and a group of individuals, has signed a co-branding and joint marketing deal with Time Warner Group.

Under the terms of the agreement, GBN's soon-to-be-launched 24-hour news channel will be re-christened CNN-IBN.

The deal - first of its kind for Turner in Asia Pacific - may provide GBN an edge over its competitors in terms of content, technology and expertise in running new broadcasting operations.

As per the commercial conditions of the deal, the Indian company will pay the US broadcaster a mutually agreed annual royalty fee for using its brand and a share of the revenue. The Indian channel will have access to CNN's live breaking news and key feature programmes.

CNN-IBN, will build upon the strong foundation of TV18's news gathering experience and infrastructure in India, backed by CNN's extensive global news network.

The channel will be headquartered in New Delhi and will be supported by over 20 bureaus nationwide.

GBN, a TV 18 Group company, is a 74:26 joint venture between the TV 18 group and Sardesai, Sameer Manchanda and Haresh Chawla.

However, Turner will not have any equity stake and editorial control in GBN on its proposed news channel. This unique alliance will, for the first time ever, enable Indian viewers to view local news as well as relevant global news from CNN, the world's news leader, on the same platform.
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India could be a future threat to Microsoft: Bill Gates
Tel Aviv: Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates said that it faced growing competition from companies in China and India. At present the strength of those countries was in software services.

On a visit to Israel Gates said Israeli companies would also confront increased competition from China and India.

Gates said the technology drive in China and India would expand the global customer base for technology products.
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Tata Motors may assemble Indigo in Russia
Moscow: Tata Motors plans to introduce its Indigo sedan in Russia and hopes to complete negotiations within six to eight months. According to a media report, the company hopes to be able to assemble 30,000 vehicles in Russia.

The report quotes a company source as saying that the company is in negotiations with Russian partners and will initially import the kits for the Indigo from India. At a later stage, it has been suggested that the company may go for 100 percent localisation.

When the Indigo is launched in Russia, it will have to compete in a market that is currently occupied by the Renault Logan, Daewoo Nexia and the Hyundai Accent, the report says quoting a Russian business daily, Vedomosti.

This move by Tata Motors makes it the second Indian company to target the Russian market. Mahindra & Mahindra is slated to initiate the assembly of its Scorpio SUV in Russia in cooperation with a local partner, GAZ, which manufactures the Volga brand of cars as well as some light commercial vehicles.
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Microsoft India chief says no role for trade unions in IT industry
Kolkata: Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan said trade unions do not have any role to play in the IT industry in India and both the management and employees are well equipped to run the industry he said.

Recently, Left trade unions had demanded that employees should be allowed to form unions for protecting their rights.

Venkatesan was in the city for the launch of student PC programme in the State.

Under the programme, Microsoft India in association with Intel, would help students purchase IT hardware with the help of easy bank-finance. The focus of the programme is to create an IT talent pool and increase PC penetration in the State.
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HCL Technologies launches global integration of '.IN' domain
New Delhi: HCL has begun an initiative to integrate domain and e-mail infrastructure globally under '.IN' domain name. The Government also wants to evolve multilingual domain names in Indian scripts for easier browsing of the Web by masses.

According to communications and IT minister, Dayanidhi Maran, "The Government is evolving a roadmap for implementation of multilingual domain names, known as Internationalised Domain Names (IDN) under Devnagari and Dravadian scripts."

Maran said since the formulation of new .IN Internet domain name policy framework in October 2004 the registration of .IN domain names have grown from 6,500 names to 1,41,000 at present.

He said HCL Tech has become India's first major enterprise to integrate its domain name and email infrastructure globally under '.IN' domain name.

The move has integrated the company's 30,000 employees spread across 15 countries.
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SpiceJet offers masala fares at Rs.999
New Delhi: Spicejet has announced special launch fares of Rs999 for travel till November end, besides special fares of Rs1,299 for Delhi-Srinagar and Rs1,199 for Delhi-Jammu, subject to seat availability, the airline said in a release.

The regular fares would start from Rs1,599 on the Srinagar sector and Rs1,499 on Jammu sector, and the bookings have started today.

Under the prevailing civil aviation rules, all domestic carriers are required to operate to socially important sectors like Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, even if these are not economicall viable.
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L&T bags orders worth Rs.1,160 crore
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has bagged orders worth Rs900 crore from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and a letter of intent for Rs261 crore from the principal contractor of the Hyderabad airport project.

The NHAI orders include two build, operate and transfer (BOT) road projects in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

According to a press release from L&T in TN the road project of Rs525 crore involves widening of the existing two-lane road between Krishnagiri and Thoppurghat to four lanes on NH 7. The other project of Rs370 crore includes four-laning of a stretch from Jadcherla to Kottakota in Mehaboobnagar district of Andhra Pradesh.

The road projects will be developed through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) formed exclusively for each project, the release added.

In the Rs261 crore Hyderabad airport project, L&T has received a letter of intent for construction of a passenger terminal building from the principal contractor - China State Construction Engineering, Hong Kong.

Apart from this the company has also bagged a Rs495 crore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) in August 2005.
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Corporate results: RIL, Sterling Biotech, East India Hotels, SAIL, GAIL India, TVS Motor, SKF India, Bharti Tele Ventures, Patni

Reliance Q2 net rises 42 per cent
Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) has reported 42 per cent rise in its net profit for the second quarter of fiscal 2005-06.

The company's net profit for the second quarter ended September 30, 2005 rose to Rs2,481 crore as against Rs1,752 crore profit reported in the same quarter last year, an increase of 41.60 percent.

The total income of the company increased to Rs20,939 crore as compared to Rs16,460 crore in the same quarter a year ago, an increase of 27.21 percent.

The company's quarterly profit has been boosted by better petrochemical prices and good refining margins despite 45-days refinery shutdown early this month.

Sterling Biotech Q3 net up 57.53 per cent
Mumbai: Sterling Biotech has posted a 57.53 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 28.64 crore for the third quarter this fiscal as against Rs 18.18 crore for the same quarter last fiscal.

Total income grew 17.94 per cent to Rs 123.06 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 from Rs 104.34 crore in the year-ago period.

EIH net profit at Rs 8.03 cr
Mumbai: East India Hotels (EIH) has reported a net profit of Rs 8.03 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 as compared to a net loss of Rs 4.94 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income increased 27.26 per cent to Rs 160.60 crore for the second quarter during the current fiscal from Rs 126.19 crore in the same quarter during the previous financial year.

SAIL Q2 net falls 25 per cent at Rs 1,126.76 cr
Mumbai: The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has reported disappointing results with a 25.53 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 1,126.76 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 as compared to Rs 1,513.15 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Total income though increased 5.11 per cent to Rs 7,156.27 crore for the quarter from Rs 6,808.26 crore in the year-ago period.

Gail India Q2 net zooms 70%
Mumbai: Gail India has reported a 69.71 percent increase in net profit at Rs 774.18 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2005 as against Rs 456.16 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2004.

According to a release issued by Gail India to the BSE today, total income increased 21.62 percent to Rs 4,243.08 crore in Q2FY06 from Rs 3,488.62 crore in Q2 FY05.

TVS Motor Q2 net down 7 percent
Mumbai: TVS Motor Company has registered a 6.68 percent decline in net profit at Rs 31.95 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2005 as against Rs 34.24 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2004.

According to a release issued by TVS Motor Company, total income increased 8.49 per cent to Rs 815.36 crore in Q2 2006 from Rs 751.52 crore in Q2 2005.

SKF India Q3 net profit up 32 per cent
Mumbai: SKF India, India's leading bearings manufacturing and engineering services company,
has reported profit before tax at Rs.31.37 crore for the third quarter 2006(24.37 crore last year). The profit for the nine months of 2005 amounted to Rs.84.54 crore (630.0).

Net profit for the third quarter stood at Rs20.20 crore (15.29 crore). Net profit for the nine months stood at Rs.53.2 crore (409.1).

Net sales for the third quarter amounted to Rs.184.67 crore (147.63 crore) and
for the nine months to Rs.532.29 crore (418.12 crore).

Bharti results: lower than expected
New Delhi: Bharti Tele-Ventures, posted a weaker-than-expected 43 percent rise in quarterly earnings and the firm says it plans to increase its network expansion budget by 30 percent. The company's shares were down by 9 percent.

India has more than 6. 6 crore mobile customers, and the market is growing by 2.5 million users a month.

The penetration of mobile phone in the country is 7 percent in a population of over 1 billion. against a rate of more than 28 percent in China, the world's largest wireless services market.

Bharti which is 30.84 percent-owned by Singapore Telecommunications reported growth of consolidated net profit to Rs 521 crore ($116 million) in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenue rose 46 percent to Rs 2709 crore.

The numbers were lower than expected by the market and Bharti shares ended down 7.4 percent at Rs 311.95 rupees, while the benchmark BSE index fell 2.2 percent.

Bharti's average revenue per user (ARPU) for mobile services fell 3 percent to 476 rupees in the second quarter, compared with the first, and 5.9 percent over the year.

Patni reports 8.8 percent higher revenues
Mumbai: Patni Computer Systems higher revenues by 8.8 percent to Rs. 519.7 crore from Rs. 4,73 crore last year. Gross profit increased 9.1 percent to Rs179 crore from Rs 1,62.4 crore

Patni follows a January - December fiscal year. The current review covers the financial and operating performance of the Company for the third quarter ended 30 September, 2005.
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