BSNL, MTNL to explore tie-up for underwater link
New Delhi: The government is exploring the possibility of launching a joint venture with Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam, for setting up submarine cable links for International Long Distance (ILD) service. Company officials said the PSUs have yet to finalise the equity ratio of the JV.

The new company would undertake all activities including issuing of tenders, awarding contracts and operating the undersea cables.

The move is part of the strategy of both the PSUs to have their own infrastructure and foray into the Rs4,200 crore international long distance market. BSNL has already chalked out plans to enter the ILD sector by 2006 and had recently signed a deal with Japan-based NEC Corporation for a 320 km under sea cable connecting Tiruchendur in southern Tamil Nadu and Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Currently, a large chunk of the ILD traffic of both PSUs is routed through the Tata-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL). Although private players such as Reliance and Bharti now offer international bandwidth, VSNL continues to account for most of the traffic on account of an agreement with the government, when the latter had disinvested its stake to the Tata group.
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Govt. to divest 8 per cent in Maruti to domestic banks, FIs
New Delhi: The Government has invited an Expression of Interest (EoI) from domestic public sector financial institutions and public sector banks for picking up 8 per cent stake in Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL). The Government currently holds 18.28 per cent of equity in MUL.

The sale is to be done through a competitive bidding process. The minimum bid value has been fixed at Rs10 crore and the maximum bid size is 2,31,12,804 shares, which is the number of shares being divested.

However, the Government has said that the present holding of a bidding institution in Maruti, and the shares transferred from the government to it, should not exceed 10 per cent equity of MUL on the date of such transfer.

The Government decision to limit the sale to banks and FI may imply that no other class of investors might be allowed in this round of stake sale. At the current price of Maruti's scrip on stock exchanges, the Government can raise around Rs1,500 crore from the sale.

The Maruti share ended the day at Rs662.70 on the BSE against a previous close of Rs657.75, while on the NSE the scrip closed at Rs662.75 from the previous close of Rs658.

SBI Capital Markets Ltd and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd have been jointly appointed as Advisors.
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Air Sahara bags cricket sponsorship rights
New Delhi: Sahara India Parivar's airline venture, Air Sahara, has bagged a four-year sponsorship deal from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for Rs313 crore, pipping rivals Reliance Infocomm, AirTel, Idea and state-owned Indian Oil Corporation to the post.

During the next four years, the Indian team is scheduled to play 44 Test matches and 110 One-Day Internationals.

This is almost four times the amount of Rs78.10 crore that Sahara had paid in 2001 to sponsor the Indian cricket team for four years.

BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi said Sahara could be paying more as 50 more days of cricket were likely to be added to the existing cricketing calendar. "Sahara is aware of this and accordingly has agreed to increase sponsorship money," he said.

Sahara will sponsor all of India's matches at home and abroad with the exception of ICC-backed tournaments like the World Cup and the Champions Trophy.
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Tata Daewoo to export trucks to Pakistan
Mumbai: Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, will export vehicles to Pakistan.

A Pakistan company Afzal Motors will import completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles from the Tata firm and assemble them in Pakistan.

The assembly plant in Pakistan has a designed capacity to produce 3,000 commercial vehicles a year on a single-shift basis. The assembly of Tata products, including the Novus range of trucks, will provide customers better vehicles at competitive prices, said a Tata Motors release.

The Tata Motors scrip closed at Rs623.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today, up 0.73 per cent.
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Wipro acquires Austrian chip design firm
Bangalore: Wipro Technologies has acquired NewLogic, an Austrian chip design firm for euro 47 million (Rs253.4 crore) in an all cash deal. The acquisition would strengthen Wipro's presence in the Bluetooth and the wireless local area network (WLAN) space.

Wipro, said it would pay euro 21 million upfront and the rest over a three-year period on achieving targeted financial conditions. The transaction is likely to be closed during the next one month.

NewLogic had revenues of euro 14 million for 2005 and brings to Wipro a headcount of 120 engineers and a 20-strong customer base that includes Philips, Infineon and Agere among others.

NewLogic owns intellectual property (IP) cores for complex wireless applications such as Bluetooth and WLAN.

NewLogic is ranked number one in wireless interfaces, WLAN and Bluetooth IP with a 10 per cent global marketshare in each.
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L&T gets Rs.1,300 crore order from ONGC
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has obtained a turnkey order, valued at around Rs1,300 crore, from the ONGC.

Last month, the company had won a turnkey project worth Rs1,000 crore from ONGC for construction of well-head platforms for the oil company's Mumbai High North and Bassein fields.

The current contract is for executing a `booster compressor' for ONGC's offshore project at Bassein gas field, 80 km north-west of Mumbai.
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Actis sells trading unit of Nitrex to Danish firm
New Delhi: Private equity company Actis has sold the trading division of Nitrex Chemicals, that holds a majority share of the domestic nitrocellulose market, to EAC Industrial Ingredients, owned by Danish firm East Asiatic Co AS, for an undisclosed amount.

Nitrex, the former nitrocellulose manufacturing and trading division of ICI India, was created by Actis and the management team of the division through a management buyout in 2004 in one of the of first management buyouts in the country.

In its first full fiscal year of operations 2004-05, Nitrex generated net sales revenue of Rs94.5 crore demonstrating strong performance in the nitrocellulose business where it has made significant inroads into new export markets. The company is targeting revenues of Rs110 crore next year.

The trading division of Nitrex, which EAC has acquired, is engaged in agency and distribution activities, supplying raw materials and chemical products to manufacturing industries.
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Hyundai increases Santro prices
New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India has increased the prices of its flagship Santro compact car by Rs7000-12,000 across all the four variants citing rising costs.

After the hike the Santro XK (S) will be available at Rs3,39,999, Santro XL (S) at Rs3,62,999, Santro XO (S) at Rs3,88,999 and Santro AT (S) at Rs4,36,324.
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TVS Motor launches 150 cc `Apache'
Chennai: TVS Motor Co has launched Apache, a 150 cc motorcycle targeted at the youth. Priced at Rs52, 490, ex-showroom, Chennai, the company believes that the Apache will set benchmarks in the growing premium segment of the motorcycle market with respect to acceleration, performance, style, and ride handling.

The company will roll out the bike on a national scale by January-end or early February 2006. In four months of its launch, the company expects sales to be in the region of 20,000-25,000 a month.

According to the company the motorcycle had been designed and engineered with youngsters in the 18-25 age group looking to buy a motorcycle in mind.

Apache has a 5-speed gear and its engine is powered by 13.5 brake hp. The intake and exhaust surge technology allows for fast pick-up and responsive acceleration while the inductive digital ignition enables consistent fuel economy and good engine response. The Apache will have black alloy wheels which would roll out of the company's Mysore plant.
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Ramsarup Industries to enter T&D biz
Kolkata: Ramsarup Industries plans to enter the power transmission and distribution business within the next two years. Ashish Jhunjhunwala, chairman-cum-managing director of Ramsarup Industries said a large portion of the company's revenues is generated from the steel wires it supplies to the power sector.

Leading companies such as Power Grid Corporation, L&T, KEC and Kalpataru Transmission among others, are its major clients.

He said all future expansions of the company would be only in the power sector. In this context, Jhunjhunwala said Ramsarup Industries would like to be a player in the power transmission and distribution business.

The company has not yet applied for a license but has firmed up plans to enter the business in at least two years' time.
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Infy to increase headcount in China
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies is looking at China as a source of software engineers and will start recruiting from Chinese campuses from February 2006. At present Infosys has 330 employees in China who have been hired laterally from other companies.

The company would estimate its exact requirements once it assesses the students.

Infosys recently trained some 100 undergraduates from various Chinese Universities at its Global Education Centre in Mysore as part of the MoU between the company and the Chinese Government.

About 80 of these students received 'A+' grades while the rest were assessed at 'A' grade, the company said, adding that it indicated the availability of good talent pool in China.

Infosys plans to invest US$65mn in expanding its Chinese operations over the next five years.
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Infomedia gets into BPO space
Mumbai: Infomedia India, publishers of the Yellow pages and niche magazines, plan to acquire two business process outsourcing (BPO) firms. These include UK-based Keyword Group and Bangalore-based Cepha Imaging Systems, for US$7mn (approximately Rs32 crore).

Infomedia will acquire the entire stake of Keyword Group from its promoters and a 21 per cent stake in the Indian company, in which Keyword holds a 49 per cent stake.

As part of the deal, the company will acquire the remaining 30 per cent stake from the promoters over a period of time. The acquisitions, which are funded from its internal accruals, are subject to regulatory and mandatory approvals.

Cepha employs around 220 staff and Keyword has around 40 personnel and mainly utilises the services of freelancers.

The acquired companies will function as independent entities and will help Infomedia consolidate its position in the US$250mn publishing BPO market, which has been posting a 30 per cent annual growth, in the country.

Infomedia has entered four new cities in the last six months and is also planning to bring out directories for tier-II cities, like Jaipur, Vijayawada, Chattisgarh and Orissa.
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RIL wants MTNL connection
Mumbai: A few weeks after the Bombay High Court gave its approval to the Reliance demerger, the Mukesh Ambani-controlled RIL has decided to switch off all landlines belonging to the Reliance Infocomm service at Maker IV, Nariman Point, Mumbai.

The company holds its regular board meetings in that building. Dhirubhai Ambani, when he was alive, had his office in the fourth floor. The decision to snap Infocomm landline connections, therefore, is a powerful symbolic move.

MTNL executives said the company has already signed agreements for 250 lines for the Reliance office at Nariman Point in south Mumbai.
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