Sanyo to re-enter India, in JV with BPL
Bangalore: Japan-based Sanyo Electric Company and BPL have formally announced a new joint venture company, Sanyo BPL, which they hope to build as a leading consumer electronics company. BPL would transfer its existing business undertakings to the joint venture.

The business will comprise BPL's colour TV business, including manufacturing, sales, service, marketing and distribution infrastructure.

Sanyo BPL chairman and CEO Ajit G Nambiar said the rapid growth in the CTV market has offered a great opportunity to Sanyo BPL. BPL, with its existing brand equity coupled with sales, distribution, marketing, service and manufacturing infrastructure, could greatly leverage on Sanyo's technologies and R&D to enhance the product offering.

Keiji Oshima, president and COO of Sanyo BPL said the company's entry into India through a strategic alliance with BPL was a major step in Sanyo's plan to enter new international markets that offer scalability and volume.
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Nokia to set up global network solution centre in Chennai
New Delhi: The world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia has set up a global network solution centre in Chennai.

The centre will offer network operation services to its global customers, and will become operational in the first quarter of next year with a force of 100 professionals.

The centre will also provide services to its managed networks in Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa and would also serve Nokia's 3G customers outside India.

The company said the investment in the facility would be in addition to the US$150mn investment in the manufacturing plant, also coming up in Chennai.
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CFL to scale up its apparel production
New Delhi: Celebrity Fashions, which houses its collection in Indian Terrain stores, is scaling up its production capacity and will set up a new manufacturing facility in Chennai. The company is also planning to open 20 exclusive showrooms across the country.

The facility in Chennai will manufacture tops with a consolidated capacity of 920 machines. The factory that would start functioning by April 2006 and will have 265 new machines. 655 production machines shall be relocated from existing facilities.

CFL has also signed an agreement with Ambattur Clothing to acquire its undertaking. The acquisition would help CFL increase its trouser manufacturing capacity to six million pieces per annum after its operationlisation in March next year.

CFL also plans to enter the capital market on December 19 with an IPO of 45.5 lakh equity shares of Rs10 each through 100 per cent book building process. The issue closes on December 22, 2005.
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Kajaria Ceramics to hike capacity with investment of Rs.123 crore
New Delhi: Ceramic tile manufacturer, Kajaria Ceramics plans to invest Rs123 crore towards capacity expansion.

The company is hiking its capacity by 8.4 million square metres per annum to 26.4 million square metres per annum at its manufacturing facility at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan.

The company is funding the expansion partly through debt (Rs80 crore) and the balance Rs43 crore by way of internal accruals. The company's board has approved the issue of GDRs or FCCBs of up to US$30mn.

The company said that since the expansion was at a brown field site, the cost of incremental production would be substantially lower and enable the company to market part of the enhanced production in low-end markets without affecting the overall operating margin.
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Zydus Cadila files IND application for new molecular entity
Mumbai: Cadila Healthcare has filed its second IND (investigational new drug) application for the new molecular entity (NME) - ZYI 1, for treatment of inflammatory disorders, with the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

This anti-inflammatory compound has the potential to correct various pain related conditions and be a safe, potent pain reliever, the company said.

Zydus Research Programme's main focus has been on metabolic disorders, which include dyslipidemia, diabetes and obesity and inflammatory disorders.
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Dwarikesh commences operations at green-field project in UP
Mumbai: Dwarikesh Sugar Industries has started crushing operations at its green-field project in Bahadarpur, Uttar Pradesh. The company has increased the capacity of the plant to 12,000 tons per day (TCD) from the existing 5,500 TCD.

The company has also started its 9 MW bagasse-based captive power plant, which will cater to the entire power requirement for the new project resulting in significant cost savings.
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Cadila Healthcare in JV with Bharat Serums
Mumbai: Pharma major Cadila Healthcare has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Bharat Serums and Vaccines for manufacturing and marketing oncology products used in treating cancerous tumours.

Cadila has informed the BSE that it has formed the joint venture in order to develop, manufacture and market these products.
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Dolphin Offshore bags US$1.75mn contract from
Iranian co.
Mumbai: Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India) has bagged a US$1.75mn contract from the Iranian Offshore Engineering & Construction Company.

The contract entails providing air and saturation diving spread for its vessel 'Jascon-5' and to assist in installation of risers for its contract with ONGC, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The project is scheduled to be completed in three months time.
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Intel Capital completes investments in three Indian companies
Mumbai: Intel Capital, the venture capital arm chip maker Intel Corporation, said it has completed three investments in Indian companies from the recently announced $250 million technology fund.

The companies receiving investment from Intel Capital India Technology Fund are Mobiapps, Persistent Systems and Maya Entertainment, Intel said in a release here.

"Mobiapps is new to the Intel Capital portfolio, and Maya Entertainment and Persistent Systems are follow-on investments in companies that have been part of the Intel Capital portfolio since 2000," the release said.

Bangalore-based Mobiapps provides hybrid terrestrial and satellite technologies for commercial communications.

Mumbai based Maya Entertainment is a leading computer animation and visual effects studio for film and television while Pune-based Persistent Systems, provides outsource software product development services (OPD).

Early this month, Intel Corp created the venture capital fund to help stimulate technological innovation in India.
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Govt. disallows ONGC's Nigerian bid
New Delhi: The cabinet has disallowed Oil and Natural Gas Corp's bid for a stake in a Nigerian offshore oilfield, finance minister P. Chidambaram has said.

Sources said ONGC had won an auction for a stake in the yet-to-be developed Akpo oil and gas field, offering between US$1bn and U$2bn in December. Chidambaram declined to clarify whether the decision had been deferred or the proposal had been rejected outright.

However, the cabinet has allowed Indian Oil Corp and Oil India to bid for overseas oil assets, the finance minister said. The Govt. has also allowed ONGC to bid up to US$820mn for oil assets in Brazil.
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Reliance to supply aviation fuel to 12 airports
Mumbai: Reliance Industries, has been given a government contract to supply aviation fuel at 12 airports, an area dominated by state-run oil firms, according to a company official.

Federal agency Airports Authority of India (AAI) has selected Reliance for setting up aviation fuel service stations at 12 non-metro locations, out of 25 for which the company had bid.

The official said, "We are supposed to set up the infrastructure and run it for five years, after which it will be transferred to the AAI," he said.

State-run oil firms Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp had refused to participate in AAI's tender, opposing the entry of private players into the aviation fuel market.
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