document.writeln("

Balrampur Chini acquires Dhampur Sugar unit
Mumbai: Balrampur Chini Mills is acquiring an integrated sugar unit of Dhampur Sugar Mills at Rauzagaon in Uttar Pradesh in an all-cash deal for Rs182 crore. The Rauzagaon unit of Dhampur Sugar has a crushing capacity of 7,500 tonnes crushed per day (TCD) and 12 mw cogen power unit. Balrampur Chini has a crushing capacity of 29,000 tcd at its three units at Tulispur, Balrampur and Babhnan in Uttar Pradesh. There are plans for scaling up capacity to 47,000 tcd by the 2006-07 crushing season.

Dhampur Sugar Mills is planning to reduce its high-cost debt, through the sale and save huge amounts by way of interest cost. The interest outgo for the entire group is of the order of Rs40 crore per annum. Through this sale the company's balance will look better with the inflow of Rs182 crore from the sell-off. Dhampur is also planning to expand its power production. Dhampur has become almost a zero-debt company, will announce its borrowing and expansion plans in the next two weeks.

Reacting to the development, Balrampur Chini scrip closed higher at Rs88.70 against its previous close of Rs84.30, down 4.40 per cent on the BSE. Dhampur Sugar Mills closed at Rs157.70 up 15.15 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

Tally launches free insurance scheme for small businesses
Bangalore: Tally Solutions an accounting software company, is offering a free insurance offer to its customers in the small businesses segment who purchase the Tally 7.2 version. Tally has tied up with ICICI Lombard General Insurance to extend the limited period offer, aimed at expanding its new product.

Tally would provide insurance cover worth Rs5 lakh, which includes fire, burglary and cash-in-safe insurance. The offer is valid till December 15.

The software covers accounting solutions for complete book-keeping, value added tax, service tax and tax deduction at source compliance and a host of other features useful to the SMEs. Tally 7.2 was launched in March.

The company plans to launch modules of accounting software in the next six months. The modules would cover excise, payroll, job costing and point sales.

Tally also plans to bring out its software in non-English languages soon.
Back to News Review index page  

Welspun-Gujarat receives Rs.301-cr order from Algeria
Mumbai: Welspun -Gujarat Stahl Rohren has obtained a Rs301.5-crore order from Stroy Transgas (Canadian gas major) as the EPC contractor of Sonatrach, Algeria. Just a fortnight ago the company had received a Rs500 crore order from PGN, Indonesia a fortnight ago. With these orders, Welspun has an outstanding order book position of over Rs2,200 crore globally. The company is supplying pipes for the oil and gas sector.

The Stroy Transgas order requires Welspun to supply 163 km of 3LPE Coated onshore pipelines with outside diameter of 42 inch and wall thickness of 14.3 mm for the Gazoduc Sougueur-Hadjref Ennous project in Algeria. The pipe supplies are expected between February and July 2006. The company is expanding its pipe making capacity to 1.4 million tonnes of coated pipes per annum from 0.4 million tonnes by November 2005 at its Anjar facility.

Shares of Welspun Gujarat Stahl moved up by Rs2.45 to 101.35 on the BSE.
Back to News Review index page  

MS India enters lifecycle management with Visual Studio
Bangalore: Microsoft Corporation India is tied up with Visual Studio Team System in the lifecycle management space. The company's Hyderabad unit developed a part of this product.

A 35-member team at Hyderabad was responsible for the development of the automated solution TeamBuild and also a source code management system, which are integral parts of VSTS. This is included in the enterprise-ready development platform Visual Studio 2005.

As India is emerging as a software hub, developers here demand tools to help them increase their productivity, hence lifecycle management has become necessary for IT companies.
Back to News Review index page  

Nissan outsources non-core work to India
Bangalore: Nissan Motor Company's US operations has begun outsourcing non-core work to India. The outsourcing activity is restricted to one of Nissan's North American assembly plants in Smyrna in Tennessee, and is likely to affect about 150 jobs. The outsourcing is aimed at making Nissan more effective and efficient. The jobs have been outsourced to Genpact (formerly GECIS) facilities in Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Bangalore. This activity is part of an overall effort to find ways to make Nissan more effective and efficient. Genpact works in the area of sales & marketing analytics, financial services, finance and accounting information technology services.

Nissan did not reveal how much it would save because of such outsourcing activity. Nissan is also said to be keen to outsource infotech related jobs to India.
Back to News Review index page  

Fortis offers to pay DDA for Escorts land
New Delhi: Fortis Healthcare wants to have an out of court settlement with Delhi Development Authority. The latter has cancelled the lease on land occupied by Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHIRC). Fortis Healthcare has offered to pay DDA the land's current market value.

DDA had cancelled the lease on the ground that the land had been given in 1982 at concessional rates when the hospital was run by a charitable trust. Escorts was to be a general public hospital with an obligation to provide at least 25 per cent of its beds to financially vulnerable sections of society. With the conversion of Escorts into a commercial entity about two years ago, the 1982 arrangement, according to DDA, was violated.

If the offer is accepted, Fortis, which recently acquired EHIRC for Rs 650 crore from Escorts Ltd, may end up paying an additional Rs 500 crore, according to estimates given by real estate consultants.

The hospital occupies about 33,396 sq yards in New Friends Colony, where the going rate is given as Rs1.5 lakh a sq yard.
Back to News Review index page  

Aurobindo AIDS drug gets USFDA approval
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma (APL) has received tentative approval of the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its anti-AIDS drug Lamivudine oral solution 10mg/ml.

The USFDA approval qualifies APL under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) programme, the company informed in a press release here on Monday.

Aurobindo Pharma has obtained seven product approvals under the PEPFAR programme. Lamivudine oral solution 10mg/ml is the first generic version approval of GlaxoSmithKline's oral solution `Epivir'. Lamivudine, an antiviral drug, is used to treat infections due to hepatitis-B and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Back to News Review index page  

TRAI rejects higher tariffs to BSNL, MTNL mobile networks by private players
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has objected to the tariff schemes of Idea Cellular and Hutch that involved higher charges for calling MTNL and BSNL mobile subscribers.

Private GSM operators Idea and Hutch had classified subscribers who terminate calls on private GSM networks as a separate class of subscribers for the purpose of applying differential tariff," a TRAI statement said here.

TRAI viewed such classification as arbitrary and inconsistent with the provisions of Telecommunication Tariff Orders. "Clause 10 of the Telecommunication Tariff Orders (TTO), 1999 provides that no service provider shall discriminate between subscribers of the same class and such classification of the subscribers shall not be arbitrary."

Following this, Idea and Hutch have withdrawn the differential tariffs and have reported compliance to the regulator.
Back to News Review index page  

Gulf Oil in pact with Indian Oil for car care products
New Delhi: Gulf Oil Corporation has entered into an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation for selling its car care products through the latter's retail outlets. Gulf Oil said this agreement between the two companies was expected to go a long way in offering value added products.

In the first phase, the car care products would be test marketed in five major cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. After successful completion, the products would be launched on an all-India basis.

The following products would be introduced into the Indian market: tyre inflate and repair, A/C neutraliser, glass and crystal cleaner, dash board polish, multi functional fluid, tyre black, and wax spray.
Back to News Review index page  

Sri Lankan Airlines ties up with Taj Hotels
Thiruvananthapuram: SriLankan Airlines and Emirates, have entered into a partnership with Taj Hotels Palaces and Resorts for Skywards, the frequent flyer programme of. Sri Lankan Airlines.

Under the partnership, Skywards members would receive 500 `miles' or points when they stay at any Taj property across the world. As an inaugural offer, Skywards members who stay at a Taj hotel will receive double points. This special offer is valid till November 15.
Back to News Review index page  

Syntel to expand in tier II cities, Chennai
Chennai: US-based information technology company, Syntel Inc, plans to acquire land in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra as a prelude to expanding its operations.

According to the company Chennai will be its main investment focus. The company plans to start the construction of a Rs100 crore campus facility at a 25-acre site at Siruseri on Old Mahabalipuram Road. The company had set up a similar facility in Pune earlier this year.

The company plans to acquire more land in tier-II towns in Tamil Nadu, particularly Coimbatore and Madurai, and also in tier-II towns in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Since the company would be seeking Special Economic Zone status for its facility, it would acquire at least 25 acres in each location.

The company is aiming to create land banks where there is potential for growth based on the availability of skilled manpower and infrastructure so the company will go `where talent is'. Also, the company gets the advantage of `first mover' and real estate is as good a way of investing its cash balance of about $120 million.

The leadership of the company is also shifting to India, where its board is soon expected to hold its meeting, the first in India for Syntel.

The Nasdaq listed company follows a January-December financial year, and in its third quarter its revenue was Rs263.25 crore ($58.5 million), a 25 per cent growth on its revenue of Rs209.7 crore ($ 46.6 million) in the prior-year period. Its market capitalisation is $900 million (Rs4,000 crore). It has set itself a target of reaching revenues of a billion dollars, market capitalisation of $5 billion by 2010, what it calls the 1-5-10 goal.
Back to News Review index page  

Rolta in agreement with Computer Associates
Mumbai: Rolta International has entered into a three-year pact with Computer Associates International to provide expert implementation, customisation and integration services to CA customers across North America.

CA will use Rolta's onshore and offshore resources to supplement services provided by CA staff across the full spectrum of CA's data security, network and systems management and service management solutions.

The company did not mention the size of the contract.
Back to News Review index page