Reliance finds oil in Krishna-Godavari basin
New Delhi: Reliance Industries has discovered oil reserves in the Krishna-Godavari basin of the Bay of Bengal close to Reliance's gas rich D6 block in the basin.

"Reliance has submitted a discovery note (and) in our technical assessment yes it has found oil,'' said VK Sibal director general of the directorate of Hydrocarbons.

He, however, said it was too early to make an estimation of reserves and an assessment of commerciality of the discovery can only be made once the find was tested.

The company is in the process of exploring various blocks in KG basin and if there is any certified commercial oil discovery in any of its blocks, it will inform the regulatory agencies as well as its shareholders, according to its notice sent to BSE and NSE.
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Royal Classic Mills exports to go up by 15 per cent
Chennai: Royal Classic Mills, manufacturers of 'Classic Polo' shirts expects its exports to rise by 15 per cent this year and touch Rs115 crore during the current fiscal according to R Sivaram executive director of the company. The company has already exported apparel worth Rs72 crore up to November last, he said.

The Tirupur-based apparel exporter's current turnover stood at Rs225 crore in 2006 and is expected to cross Rs500 crore by 2007, when it would come out with an IPO, he said.

Royal Classic Mills entered the inner wear segment in a big way this year and launched five brands of men inner wear, including two premium brands.
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Era Constructions to set up PEB materials plant
Mumbai: With an eye on the pre-engineered building (PEBs) material industry, Era Constructions (India) is investing Rs85 crore for setting up a manufacturing plant in Uttaranchal.

According to the company the plant would be set up at Pant Nagar through a separate entity being promoted by the company. The project will enjoy tax benefits such as excise, sales tax and income tax exemptions under the benefits given by the state Government for the development of the state.

The facilities would include continuous welding, bending and sharing machines to produce pre-engineered building materials, it added.

According to market estimates pre-engineered building material industry is expected grow from Rs450 crore to Rs2,500 crore by 2011.
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Natco Pharma enters into pact with US company
New Delhi: Natco Pharma has signed a letter of intent (LoI) with US-based Akorn Inc to develop and supply two abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) oral tablet drugs for cancer patients suffering from nausea and vomiting.

The two ANDAs drug product will focus on the anti-emetic market that has a current market size of approximately US$800mn, it said. Natco will develop and manufacture the drugs while the US company will be responsible for marketing and distribution in hospitals, clinics and home healthcare markets in US and Canada.
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Garware Shipping secures contract from British Gas
Mumbai: Garware Shipping Corporation has received a Rs23 crore contract from BG Exploration and Production India (British Gas), under which it will supply its platform supply vessel (PSV) 'M V Everest' to the company for their operations.

Garware Shipping acquired the supply vessel 'M V Everest' from Norway last week.

The contract with British Gas, for an initial period of one year, has two extension options of six months each.
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Archies to launch new retail chain
Mumbai: Archies is planning to launch a new chain of retail stores, Stupid Cupid, for fashion accessories and premium gifts which will provide another choice to prospective customers, said the company.

The company would be opening five new stores by the end of this financial year and another ten stores in the next financial year. Initially, the stores would be opened in Delhi and the NCR and thereafter it will open such stores in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and other metros.

According to the company, Archies Limited currently owns 55 stores and has another 133 stores in the pipeline.
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Perot Systems to increase headcount by 25-30 per cent
Noida: IT services company Perot Systems plans to increase its headcount in India by 1,500 to 1,800 in 2006, a growth of 25 per cent to 30 per cent. At present the company employs 6,000 people.

Perot Systems, which had a joint venture with HCL till December 2003, has been growing its headcount in India by 25 per cent to 30 per cent ever since it bought over the Indian partner.India accounts one-third of the total workforce of the company.

The company has also announced the launch of its IT infrastructure management operations from its Noida and Bangalore facilities. Perot has inaugurated a new campus spread over 25 acres in Noida which will house its infrastructure services division.
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Spice plans manufacturing unit in HP
Chennai: Spice, a group company of the US$250mn M Corp Global, is planning to set up a manufacturing facility in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh by the end of next year, a top executive of the company said on Tuesday.

The company is working out the investment that would go into the plant and other manufacturing details.

The company recently launched four models of its mobile sets in the Tamil Nadu market. The company is planning to sell five lakh to one million sets by March next and its focus would be to sell more of 'entry level' mobile sets in the country.

The company has launched its mobile sets in West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Western and Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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Mastek introduces new IT solution for insurance cos.
Mumbai: Mastek has launched a new software solution Elixir, on the insurance policy administration platform, in India.

The company says Elixir is a perfect solution aimed at insurance companies that want to launch innovative hybrid products in the shortest time. It says the IT solution will improve the efficiency of the distribution network of insurance firms and enhance competitiveness.
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Kavveri Telecom bags orders worth Rs.5.77 crore
Mumbai: Kavveri Telecom Products, which manufactures communication cables, has bagged orders worth Rs5.77 crore from Alcatel and World Space Corporation for the supply of its products to them.

The orders entail supply of radio frequency (RF) products and antennas, the Bangalore-based company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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Kingfisher offers special fares to govt employees
New Delhi: KingFisher Airlines is providing special fares for government employees, and their immediate family members, to destinations covered by the private carrier. Armed personnel, employees of the Centre and the state government and public sector units are eligible under the scheme. The scheme covers parents, spouse and dependent children of these employees, said a company release.
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Lupin gets US approval for Cefprozil
Mumbai: Lupin Laboratories said it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market Cefprozil suspension.

After the announcement shares of Lupin rose higher by 0.9 per cent to Rs770 in a weak Mumbai market.
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Airtel to expand operations in Orissa
Bhubaneshwar: Mobile service provider Airtel is investing Rs250 crore in the expansion of its network in Orissa. This includes Rs190 crore that has already been put in by the company in the state.

Airtel has already expanded its services to 300 towns and is planning to cover 400 towns by March 2006.

The company recently launched its BlackBerry services in the state. BlackBerry services offer the business consumer a secure, integrated and innovative wireless access solution, a company release said. The company has said that it would build up a state-of-the-art network in the state, where its subscriber base has crossed 3 lakh in less than a year.

To begin with, the service would be available in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and would be launched in other key towns shortly, it said.
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Viagra launched in India
Mumbai: Pfizer Limited has launched its blockbuster drug Viagra in the country, seven years after it first hit the US market. The billion-dollar drug would initially launch in 30 cities.

The drug aims to treat some of the estimated 90 million Indians suffering from erectile dysfunction.

The company says it expects to capture 10 to 15 per cent of the market in the next two years. The company has estimated the market size of the drug at Rs750 million to Rs1 billion.

A 50 mg tablet of the Viagra comes priced at Rs463 and a 100 mg at Rs594, which is at par with prices in other Asian countries, but more than ten times the price of generic alternatives said the company.
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Videocon expands product portfolio
Bangalore: Videocon has launched a new range of products including washing machines and refrigerators. The company has launched the Konzerve series of fully automatic washing machines and new series of refrigerators and microwave ovens.

Videocon has come out with a new range of direct cool refrigerators as well as nine new models in the 215 litre and 180 litre capacities, company executives said.

The company has also introduced seven new advanced digital sensi-logic series of washing machines offering the consumer the benefit of selecting water levels during the wash cycle.

Videocon has also widened the microwave ovens portfolio by introducing five new models.
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Canon to open Care Centers in 32 cities
Chennai: Canon India is planning to open Care Centres in 32 cities and towns in the country by 2006 end.

The company says it has already established nine such centers, including one in Chennai. Canon India vice-president Alok Bharadwaj said, "These Care centres are an important part of our efforts to extend best service support to our customers." He was speaking after inaugurating the first such centre in South India.

Delhi and Mumbai will have eight care centres each, he said.

Canon Care Centres will provide single-point access to customers for all their service needs for cameras and printers. The centres will be equipped with trained service engineers to handle repairs and queries.
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GIC, Infinity launch film completion guarantee services company
Mumbai: Venture capital firm Infinity India Advisors has launched Infinity Film Completion Services (Infinity FCS) sponsored by General Insurance Corporation to offer film completion guarantee services to Indian and international film makers.

The new company will enable banks and financiers to advance funds to filmmakers through risk underwriting.

In addition to being the sponsor, GIC will act as the reinsurer of Infinity's completion guarantee services.
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Ten Sports says it will share feed with DD only in rural areas
Mumbai: Taj TV Limited, owners of sports channel Ten Sports, has submitted a proposal before the Bombay High Court saying that it would provide a feed of sports events to Prasarbharti in the rural areas as an interim measure pending their petition challenging Centre's guidelines on the issue.

Taj TV's lawyers said, public interest, with regard to the right to watch international cricket matches involving India, arises only in case of rural areas, because in those areas cable TV networks are by and large non-existent.

They said that in the metros, Prasarbharti cannot demand the `feed' (broadcasting signals) of cricket matches as cable TV is easily available there.

The court adjourned the hearing and the order is to be passed Wednesday.
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BEL looks to US industry for technologies
Bangalore: BEL is seeking two technologies from industries in the United States, pertaining to thermal imaging basic detection technology and image intensification technology. Both of these are night-vision technologies.

BEL said it has identified a few products where India and US can work together, as these technologies are not available in India.
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ONGC-CNPC win joint bid for stake in Syrian oilfields
New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corp and China National Petroleum Corp have won their bid to acquire the 37 per cent stake of Canadian oil company Petro-Canada in Syrian oilfields for €484 million.

This is the first time that Indian and Chinese companies had made a joint bid for acquiring oil properties overseas. So far both the state run companies often compete against each other in the race for acquiring overseas assets. The two companies will share equity in a 50:50 ratio.

In all eight firms were in the race for Petro-Canada's stake in the Al Furat venture in Syria.
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