Reliance Q3 net drops 15 pc to Rs.1,776-cr
Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) has reported a 15-per cent drop in net profit for Q3 of 2005-06 to Rs1,776 crore, from Rs2,091 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

The company said the fall in profits was due to the 45-day partial shutdown of its Jamnagar refinery for maintenance during October-November 2005, as a result of which refining margins came down to US$9.10 a barrel against US$10.40 a barrel in the previous quarter. The volume of crude processed also came down to 6.70 million tonnes during the period from 7.95 million tonnes in the previous quarter, the company said.

However, the net sales during the period climbed to Rs18,168 crore from Rs17,768 crore in the third quarter of 2004-05.
The profit before tax stood at Rs2,138 crore against Rs2,504 crore in the corresponding previous period.

Reliance posted a net profit of Rs6,567 crore for the nine-month period, up 24 per cent from Rs5,280 crore in the previous corresponding period.

Net sales during the nine months stood at Rs56,669 crore, up from Rs48,212 crore in 2004-05.

The fall in profits was higher than the market had expected. The market had forecast a 6-8 per cent drop in RIL profits due to the refinery shutdown. An analyst opined that there was unlikely to be further selling pressure on the RIL counter when markets open on Thursday.

The index heavyweight RIL share fell by Rs16.15 (1.78 per cent) to close at Rs893.55 on the BSE on Tuesday from Monday's close of Rs909.70.
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Ashok Leyland to launch luxury bus 'InterCentury Luxura'
New Delhi: Hinduja company, Ashok Leyland is planning to enter the luxury bus market with the launch of its top end vehicle 'InterCentury Luxura' by the second quarter of 2006-07.

The company would first launch the bus in the metros in the southern markets as well as in Maharashtra. The Luxura would be competitively priced at around Rs50 lakh depending on the variant.
The 12-metre long Luxura has a seating capacity of 45 (with 36 being optional) and has some of the latest features that comply with the European safety norms.
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Volvo's launches the FMTipper; trucks unit grows by 65 pc
Bangalore: Volvo's truck division in India has posted a robust 65 per cent growth last fiscal with 600 trucks being sold, according to Volvo India managing director Eric Leblanc.

He said the company is upbeat about the growing demand for multi-axle trucks in India and expects a healthy growth in India over the next two to three years.

The company has now launched its new FM Tipper. The company is planning to focus on consolidation of loads in the market and is optimistic about outgrowing the market for multi-axle trucks in India, which at present stands at 70,000.

The company's sales in the country have grown to Rs600 crore, and it is looking at expanding business here in terms of outsourcing of components and IT services.
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Alfa Laval receives orders worth Rs.1.5 crore from Indian Navy
Mumbai: Alfa Laval (India) has received orders worth Rs1.5 crore from the Indian Navy for supplying centrifuge systems for their new ships. The centrifuge systems are capable of meeting shock, vibrations and noise level requirements, according to the company. They are also in consonance with several naval standards involving special inspection and quality plans and checks by classification societies.
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TV 18 raises Rs.40-cr for its new channel
Mumbai: Television Eighteen India said its group company Global Broadcast News (GBN) recently concluded a Rs40-crore private equity-financing round with Leverage India Fund, managed by IL&FS Investment Managers (IIML) to fund its newly launched general news channel CNN-IBN.

The channel has been launched in a co-branding agreement with Turner International, which has the well known CNN channel apart from innumerable other channels.
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IVRCL receives Rs 477.43 cr worth of orders
Mumbai: IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects has received orders worth Rs477.43 crore for construction of roads and pipelines.

The company said the orders involved integrated improvement-cum-performance based maintenance on Alwar-Sikandra Road and Pachpadra-Ram ji ki Gol Road in Rajasthan at a cost of Rs109.64 crore and Rs150.09 crore respectively.

IVRCL would also undertake water and environmental projects at a cost of Rs154.95 crore as well as building projects worth Rs62.75 crore as per the secured orders, it said. The company has bagged these orders in November and December 2005.
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Renault-Nissan team scouts for parts from India
Pune: Renault-Nissan Purchasing Organisation (RNPO), the common buying company for the Renault and Nissan alliance worldwide, is planning to source components and aggregates worth 100 million euros from India in the next couple of years.

RNPO purchases 70 per cent of the alliances' requirements of machinery, equipment and components valued at over US$33bn annually from its global community of suppliers and has been surveying the Indian market for a variety of commodities for the past six months.

The Renault-Nissan alliance manufactures car models like Nissan, Infiniti, Renault, Dacia and the Renault Samsung and has approximately 10 per cent of the global auto market, putting it among the top four car makers in the world.

The company plans to initially source components of lower end models and lower end technology. Sourcing of higher technology and aggregates for the premium models will happen only in the second phase after the combine is convinced about the merit of this market.
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Bosch India to double headcount
Bangalore: Robert Bosch India plans to double its headcount in India to 6,000 by year 2010, a senior company executive said. The 100 per cent subsidiary of the Bosch Group, a leading global manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods and building technology, opened a new facility here today, which is its biggest development centre outside Germany.

The Koramangala facility of the company houses 2,200 employees. Bosch India has three other facilities in Bangalore and the current total strength of employees is 2,900. The company is all set to meet the growing demand for the development of high-end technology in India, its officials said.

The company is also looking out for a second location in India as part of its risk mitigation strategy, which will be put into operation this year.
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Ranbaxy enters into co-marketing pact with Swiss company
Mumbai: Ranbaxy Laboratories has entered into a co-marketing agreement with Swiss specialty biopharmaceutical company, Ferring International, for its product Desmopressin.

A structural analogue of the pituitary hormone Arginine Vasopressin, the drug is indicated in the treatment of Nocturia, a condition commonly seen in paediatric and geriatric patients. The co-marketing arrangement aims to leverage the company's significant marketing and distribution strengths to maximise patient coverage within the country and the product will be sold under the brand name 'Adiuretin'.
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Jagran eyes acquisitions
New Delhi: Jagran Prakashan, a leader among publishing houses plans to invest Rs298 crore towards its expansion plans in the country. Of this amount, the company would spend Rs80 crore for acquisitions of, and strategic investments, in other journals and magazines.

To fund the expansion and acquisitions, Jagran is tapping the capital market in the third week of this month with its maiden initial public offer of 1.15 crore shares, which is estimated to fetch the group Rs400 crore.

Jagran Prakashan chairman, Mahendra Mohan Gupta said 'Dainik Jagran' Hindi newspaper is planning to acquire dailies and magazines, he said.

The group has set up an internal selection committee to screen the offers already coming from various newspapers and magazines, he said.
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Jain Irrigation gets Rs.16.9 crore water project order
Mumbai: Jain Irrigation Systems' plastic piping division has bagged an Rs16.9 crore order for rehabilitation of water distribution system for the Karnataka Urban Water Sector Improvement Project.

The project, which is funded by the World Bank, is spread out in five zones at Belgaum, Hubli-Dharwad and Gulbarga in Karnataka and will provide continuous pressurized drinking water supply to consumers 24 hours a day, all-year round.
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Larsen & Toubro subsidiary gets Rs.96.5 cr order in Oman
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro's Muscat-based subsidiary, L&T (Oman), has received an order worth Rs96.5 crore order from the ministry of regional municipalities environment and water resources (MRMEWR) for the construction of a sewage treatment plant including a sewerage network at Willayat Nizwa, Oman.

The work on the sewage treatment plant, which will have a sewerage network extending over 48 km, will commence in March 2006 and L&T Oman is scheduled to complete the assignment in 18 months, the company said.
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Oracle to increase headcount, expand in non-metros
Mumbai: Global IT company, Oracle, has said that it planned to increase its headcount in India to 10,000 in the next eight months and also plans to expand to other non metros.

According to company president, Charles Phillips, the current headcount in India is 8,600 people spread across six cities, which would be increased to 10,000 in next eight months. Oracle will increase its presence in nine non-metro cities including Ahemdabad, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Pune and Vishakhapatnam.
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Nipuna signs €7mn deal with German co.
Mumbai: Satyam Computer Services BPO arm, Nipuna, has signed a €7 million deal with a German animation company, 4K Animation GmbH, for various animation projects.

Nipuna will work jointly with 4K Animation on animation projects for a Hollywood film, 3D animation for a TV production and commercials, and will deliver these projects from its delivery centres in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

4K Animation focuses on the development and production of innovative digital special effects and 3D character animation for film and TV productions, the company said.
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MTNL plans to apply for NLD licence
New Delhi: PSU telecom company MTNL is planning to apply for a national long distance (NLD) licence to Department of Telecom (DoT), in an effort to bring down its STD call charges for its basic telephony customers in Delhi and Mumbai.

Sources said MTNL has shown keenness for an NLD licence because of the recent licence fee cut for NLD to Rs2.5 crore and also to get rid of the carriage charges it pays to private and other NLD operators to carry its STD traffic.

If MTNL has its own licence it would not have to pay any carriage charges as it will carry its STD calls on its own network, which would result in significant STD tariff cuts for its basic telephony users.
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Samtel Colour posts Q3 net loss of Rs.3-cr
New Delhi: Decline in prices of colour picture tubes has led to Samtel Colour, the Delhi-based manufacturer of colour picture tubes, registering a net loss of Rs3 crore for the third quarter of this fiscal against a net profit of Rs20.86 crore during the previous Q3.

Samtel has also reported a dip in total revenue by 20.15 per cent to Rs192.72 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2005 as compared to Rs241.38 crore in the third quarter of previous fiscal.

The domestic revenue declined to 150.6 crore in comparison with Rs199.5 crore during the third quarter last fiscal, the company statement said. However, the revenue from exports increased to Rs42.1 crore in the same quarter this fiscal as against Rs41.9 crore in the year-ago period.
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Hero Honda is still global No 1 in motorcycles
New Delhi: Hero Honda is still the 'World No. 1' for five years in a row by selling a record number of motorcycles in the calendar year 2005.

The company sold a total of over 29 lakh motorcycles in 2005 compared to 13,00,899 motorcycles sold in 2001, a growth of 123 per cent in the five-year period, the company said in a statement.

The company had introduced three new motorcycle models during the year - Super Splendor (125 cc), Glamour (125 cc) and Achiever (150 cc), and also entered into the scooter segment by introducing its first scooter model- Pleasure, which will be available in the market shortly.
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Energy Development bags new order
Mumbai: Energy Development Company, based in Karnataka has received an order worth Rs38 crore from Himachal Futuristic Communications for supplying and installing conductors.

The order is expected to be completed within 15 months, the company said.

HFCL's principal activities are manufacturing telecommunication equipment, optical fibre cable and developing software for telecom and other applications.
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Geometric Software makes Teksoft its marketing arm
Mumbai: Geometric Software Solutions Company has appointed US-based Teksoft Inc as its strategic marketing arm and distributor of its software products. Teksoft has also been given additional responsibility for the company's desktop software products to effectively leverage channel management.

The company acquired Teksoft Inc in January 2005 and has had a business relationship with the latter for ten years, that is prior to its being acquired, and is Teksoft's CAMWorks development partner, the company said.
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Aztec reports 114 per cent higher Q3 net
Mumbai: Aztec Sotware and Technology Services has posted a 114 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 at Rs9.96 crore as compared to Rs4.65 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

The consolidated revenue grew 107 per cent to Rs52.98 crore for the third quarter this fiscal as against Rs25.59 crore in the year-ago period, the company said.

The consolidated figures include the results of Aztec Software and its subsidiaries.
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Intel to launch rural specific comp
Mumbai: Global chip giant Intel will introduce a special India specific computer in the next few months.

Intel Senior vice president Anand Chandrashekhar said the trials for the rural-India specific computer have been completed and the company is working on some technical aspects of it. He said the company would soon make an announcement in this regard.

The company also launched its mobile dual core processor laptop technology "Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology," the key components of which were designed by company's Indian team.
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