Reliance prepaid offers Re.1/minute calls across the country
Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm has announced that calls from Reliance India Mobile prepaid calls would cost only Re 1 per minute all over the country.

The company terms the offer its New Year gift to its subscribers. Coming close on the heels of the Lifetime Validity Voucher, this aggressive plan will further increase the options for its subscribers say company officials.

The One-Nation Tariff would be applicable on e-recharge of Rs 1,100, inclusive of service tax. This e-recharge comes bundled with 1,100 free SMSs that can be sent to any phone within the country.

A similar plan is available for post-paid subscribers on `New Joy 499'. They can make calls from anywhere in the country to any mobile or fixed line phone for Re 1 a minute.
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Lenovo to take Bollywood route for increasing visibility
Bangalore: Chinese PC brand Lenovo, that acquired the IBM brand and product last year is planning to start sponsoring movies to create awareness about its brand and logo. Lenovo expects to tap the consumer segment soon with its PCs and notebooks.

Lenovo has tied up with director Madhur Bhandarkar to sponsor his forthcoming movie Corporate, where actress Bipasha Basu will be seen endorsing Lenovo's product portfolio, said company officials.

The company is already part of the popular KBC-2 (Kaun Banega Crorepati) quiz show on StarPlus channel.
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Chandigarh allots land to Wipro for Tech Park
Chandigarh: Chandigarh Administration has allotted of 30 acres of land to Wipro Technologies in the second phase of the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP). This makes Wipro the main anchor company of the second Phase of RGCTP. Infosys Technologies is the main anchor company of the parks Phase-I.

The second phase of RGCTP consists of 125 acres of land for IT companies, comprising about 70 acres of allotable area and large green spaces.

The Technology Habitat being developed by the administration through the Chandigarh Housing Board consists of another 125 acres of non-IT facilities. This is in addition to the 123 acres of land already part of the RGCTP Phase I and which has already been allotted to 10 IT companies, including Infosys and to DLF Infocity Chandigarh as the developer of the ready built space.
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Oil cos show interest in Shell's stake in Hazira unit
Ahmedabad: A number of oil and gas companies including ONGC, HPCL and Petronet LNG have shown interest in acquiring Shell's 2.5m tonne LNG terminal at Hazira, which went on stream in April '05.

A JV between Shell Gas and Total Gaz of France, Hazira LNG, had received its first LNG consignment less than eight months ago but had problems selling LNG in India as the price quoted was above the prevailing local gas price.

Shell is talking to various companies to sell off the entire terminal. However, the company may not recover its total investment of Rs3,000 crore in setting up the LNG infrastructure.

ONGC, which is interested in buying out Shell's 74 per cent stake is said to be the front-runner for acquiring the terminal.
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SMSing peaks on New Year's Day
Mumbai: Telecom operators are rubbing their hands in glee as their networks carried more messages than ever on New Year eve. To give an instance Bharti Televentures Mumbai networks recorded over close to 4m SMSs on December 31 and January 1.
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Kumar Birla to acquire Chinese phosphate firm
Mumbai: The Aditya Birla group is close to making another acquisition in China, three years after it acquired a carbon black unit in the country. The group is now in advanced stages of negotiation to buy the majority stake in a Chinese rock phosphate company.

Rock phosphate is used to produce phosphoric acid for ammoniated phosphate fertilisers, feed additives for livestock, elemental phosphorus and a variety of phosphate chemicals for industrial and home consumers.

In 2005 the Aditya Birla group acquired only one firm, St Anne Nackawic Pulp Mill in Canada, for Rs450 crore.

Sources say the Aditya Birla group will pick up a majority stake in the Chinese company, while the local promoter will hold the remaining shareholding.
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Pharma exports to cross Rs 21,000 cr in 2005-06
Mumbai: Domestic pharmaceutical exports growing at 30 per cent per annum are set to touch a new high of Rs21,685 crore this financial year.

The year's exports will push the drug sector's contribution to India's forex earnings to 7.75 per cent from the current 5 per cent. The growth in drug exports, despite the pressing generic competition in the global markets, is attributed to increased Anda approvals in the US market and contribution from uncoventional markets in Latin America, Australia and the emerging markets in the Middle East and African region.

Last year the country's pharma exports were valued at Rs17,052 crore, which was about 18 per cent up from the previous year.
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