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Union cabinet likely to award contracts to BHEL
New Delhi: The union cabinet is likely to award contracts to Bharat Heavy Electricals even as the Power ministry is dragging its feet on the issue.

Sources say the intervention of a higher authority, like the union cabinet or the committee of secretaries, is inevitable as negotiations between the department of heavy industry (DHI), the administrative ministry for BHEL and the power ministry have come to a dead end.

When the purchase preference policy was extended by three years till 2008, the Power ministry was exempted from it on the condition that they would place certain orders on BHEL at a negotiated price benchmarked through competitive bid projects every year.

The Power Ministry in its negotiations with DHI is maintaining that it is impossible to arrive at the price at which contracts could be offered to BHEL. The DHI on the other hand has maintained that it is possible to arrive at a mutually agreed formula.

The DHI has suggested that the price at which BHEL could be awarded contracts could be the price at which similar orders were placed after competitive bids.

On the other hand the power ministry maintains that if it awards contracts without competitive bids it would have to answer various authorities and shareholders of companies under it that are listed on the stock exchanges.
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OIL-IOC consortium enters into pact with Libyan co.
New Delhi: The Oil India (OIL)-Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) consortium has entered into a production-sharing contract with the National Oil Company (NOC) of Libya.

According to an official release, the OIL and IOC consortium had won the block in the EPSA Round-2 against fierce global competition.

OIL & IOC, the PSUs under the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, had formed a consortium last year to scout for opportunities in the E&P sector together, leveraging the respective strengths of the two companies.
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Madhucon bags Ingersoll- Rand 2005 award
Hyderabad: Madhucon Projects has bagged the Ingersoll-Rand Award 2005, given in recognition of the company's work in road construction, according to a statement by the company.

The company is procuring sophisticated computer controlled imported machinery costing over Rs190 crore for the construction of national highways and is executing national highway projects worth Rs1,890 crore.
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Samtel Color increases capacity
New Delhi: Colour picture tubes manufacturer, Samtel Color, is increasing its capacity from the present six million colour picture tubes (CPTs) to over 10 million by March 2006.

According to Satish Kaura, chairman and managing director, Samtel said, "The company is putting up a new line at Kota, Rajasthan to manufacture 21-inch super flat tubes."

The new line being put up at a cost of Rs160 crore would have a capacity to produce 2.5 million tubes per annum.

Samtel had recently set up a 29-inch super flat tubes line near Delhi, which is currently undergoing trial runs before the launch of commercial production shortly. This would make Samtel the first tube manufacturer to produce these tubes domestically.

Kaura said, "The market for 29-inch televisions is showing strong growth with the reduction in the price for these sets."

The 29-inch television category is estimated at about 0.7 million units this year and is growing rapidly.
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Ruia's mull tie up with Sumitomo Corporation for tyre manufacture
Kolkata: The Ruia group, which has acquired the beleaguered Dunlop India, is considering setting up a new tyre manufacturing plant in a tie up with Sumitomo Corporation of Japan.

Pawan K Ruia, chairman Ruia group, told reporters that Sumitomo, which owns the Dunlop brand across the world except India, had approached the Ruias for providing modern technological inputs required for up-gradation of the company's Sahagunj unit in West Bengal.

He said the company may set up a new plant manufacturing nylon tyre chord in collaboration with Sumitomo, adding that there was no need for a new location as there was enough surplus land available with the Sahagunj unit.

The Shahganj unit is spread over an area of 230 acres where the existing plant is covering hardly 75 acres.

The tie up could take the form of a JV or as a technological partner.
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Air India Express to carry ads on tailfins
Mumbai: Air India Express, the low cost subsidiary of Air India, is planning to generate additional revenues by selling space on its aircraft exteriors and interiors in an attempt to pass off the benefits to its customers.

Air India Express has decided to sell space on the tailfins of all its aircraft as well as on overhead luggage draws, food trays, snack boxes, serviettes and headrests the company said. Air-India Express has signed up a contract with city-based Network Media Solutions to secure advertisements.

Air-India Express now has three aircraft and another four would be added between February and April next year, airline officials said.

The bulk of the revenue would come from the aircraft exteriors because of high advertisement rates. The tailfins of the aircraft are generally visible at the airports during landing and take off and therefore ad rates are more for this area compared to aircraft interiors, according to the officials.

Foreign airlines have already introduced this concept. In the domestic sector Air Deccan was the first to carry advertisements on tailfins. NDTV, Sun Mircrosystems, Dainik Bhaskar and Zee are among the companies, which have signed up with Air Deccan for advertisements on aircraft tailfins, aviation industry sources said.
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Air India revamps image
Mumbai: As it acquires new aircraft to fight competition from foreign airlines, Air India is also trying to refurbish its image. The airline has tied up with renowned interior designers and fashion experts to give a new look to its aircraft interiors and change the uniforms of the cabin crew.

Towards this end the organisation has tied up with well-known branding house Aliagroup to spruce up the interiors of the aircraft, a spokesman of the airline said.

Air India has also shortlisted five fashion designers to provide new uniforms to cabin crew staff. They include Ritu Beri, J J Vallya, Tarun Tahiliani, Satya Paul and Lifestyle and luxury brand Ravissant.

Besides this Air India is also planning to have its own brand ambassador who could be a sports or Bollywood star.
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