Infosys Q3 profit up 31 per cent - ups yearly forecast
Bangalore: India's second-largest software exporter, Infosys Technologies Ltd, reported a 31 per cent jump in quarterly profit and also pitched its full-year earnings forecast a bit higher on Wednesday.

Infosys, which ranks behind Tata Consultancy Services in India's US$17bn software and office service industry, increased its annual earnings-per-share growth forecast to 30.7-31.3 per cent from an earlier 29.4-30 per cent.

Bangalore-based, Nasdaq-listed Infosys posted Rs649 crore in net profit for the third quarter ended December, up from Rs497 crore a year ago. Revenue also rose to Rs2,532 crore from Rs1,876 crore.

Infosys said its profit was hurt by about US$2million because of the rupee's volatility. The 2.3 percent depreciation of the rupee during the quarter resulted in a benefit of US$10.3 million, but the company lost US$12.6 million on hedging costs.

Company officials told a news conference that it had hedged for US$300 million.

"Client additions continue to be strong," chief executive officer Nandan Nilekani said. Infosys, which has nearly 50,000 employees after net staff hires of 3226 people last quarter, added 36 new clients in the quarter, taking its total client base to 454.

The company plans to hire 3400 people in the quarter ended March in gross hires, about 1000 more in the current year than its estimates three months ago. It has also made 6500 offers for campus recruitments due in the second quarter of the year to March 2007, officials said.
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Boeing to invest US$185mn in India
Mumbai: The Boeing Co. will invest US$185mn in facilities in India and also source Rs850 crore in products and services over a period of 10 years, India's civil aviation minister said on Wednesday.

The Chicago-based aerospace company will spend US$100mn on a repair, maintenance and overhaul facility and US$75 million on a pilot training facility, with a further us$10 million on other facilities, Praful Patel told a news conference.

State-run Air-India also on Wednesday finally placed a firm order with Boeing for 68 aircraft.

"The introduction of these aircraft will allow Air-India to expand and modernise its fleet, effect cost savings and add new long-range routes," Air-India Chairman V. Thulasidas said at the joint news conference.

The Indian cabinet in December approved Air-India's plans to buy up to 68 aircraft from Boeing, subject to final talks on price. The proposal was referred to a ministerial group to work out details, including a price reduction.

The aircraft are valued at more than $11 billion in total at list price, according to a statement from Boeing. When Air-India's board approved the purchase of 50 aircraft last April, the deal was valued at $6.9 billion.

The final value of the deal was not disclosed on Wednesday, but Thulasidas said the $1.9 billion worth of goods and services that Boeing will buy represented about 30 per cent of the value of the order.

Boeing said it would also look at India's participation in design and manufacture of aircraft parts in the long term.

"We have done a deal with HCL Technologies for software for the 787, and we will be doing more such deals," Alan Mulally, chief executive, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told the news conference.

Boeing has an existing deal with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., a research deal with the Indian Institute of Science, and software services agreements with Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Wipro Ltd.

The Boeing order comprises 23 777s - including eight long-range and 15 extended range aircraft - and 27 of the wide body Dreamliner, due to enter service in 2008. Air-India Express, the budget airline, will receive 18 737-800s.

Delivery of the aircraft will begin in November 2006.

Boeing has said it expects India to buy 490 aircraft over the next two decades as cheaper fares and growing traffic fuel demand. India's domestic air travel market is forecast to grow more than 20 per cent a year over the next five years as incomes rise in Asia's third-biggest economy and fares fall as new discount carriers launch in an increasingly crowded space.

Air-India and the domestic state carrier, Indian Airlines, are scheduled to make an initial public offering later this year.
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Jet Airways may close Sahara deal at US$560mn
Mumbai: Jet Airways Ltd. India's largest domestic airline, may be close to buying out Sahara, the No. 2 private carrier, in a deal worth US$560mn, according to media reports on Wednesday. If the deal comes through, it would create the largest domestic airline in terms of fleet, turnover and valuation.

UB group, which runs private carrier Kingfisher Airlines, had also bid for Air Sahara, but had subsequently withdrawn from the race.

Other reports however quoted unnamed Jet officials as denying the deal and saying that Jet was not at all interested in Air Sahara.
Officials of both airlines were not immediately available for comment.

Air Sahara had said in September last year it was exploring opportunities for alliances and partnerships to help fund expansion and that adviser Ernst & Young had put its enterprise value at US$750mn to US$1bn.

Sahara, which began operations just months after Jet in 1993, is part of a US$12bn group owned by subroto Roy, with interests spanning finance, housing, power and media.
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Promod Haque, TV 18, Rel. Cap. invest in Yatra Online
Mumbai: Yatra Online, the country's first online and centralised travel services company, has secured initial funding from Reliance Capital, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Promod Haque's leading venture capital firm, and Television 18 group founded by Raghav Bahl.

According to a release issued by TV 18 to the BSE today, the investors are also committed to support Yatra through its subsequent stages of growth to make it the No 1 travel services company in India.

"Yatra will help businesses and consumers book airline, railway and bus tickets and reserve hotel rooms and car rentals by calling Yatra's call centre or by going to the website or by using their mobile handsets. Yatra will provide travel-related information, pricing, availability and reservations for airlines, hotels, railway, buses and car rentals across 5,000 large cities and small rural areas throughout India," the release added.

The service will be operational in the first half of 2006, the release said.

The founders of Yatra - Dhruv Shringi and Manish Amin - bring a combination of 45 years of travel experience and 15 years of online travel experience to Yatra. "Most recently, the founders worked together to help build and manage one of Europe's largest online travel business, Ebookers Pic, which was recently acquired by travel giant Cendant Corporation for $410 million," the release added.
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Oil India Ltd. to invest US$150mn in overseas ventures
Mumbai: OIL India Ltd (OIL) plans to invest US$150mn for overseas exploration and production activities in the coming fiscal.
The company is likely to get an oil block in Nigeria, said S.K.

Patra, director-exploration, OIL. Patra was speaking to the media at the Oceantex 2006, an international oil and natural gas conference here on Wednesday.

The company has already acquired two blocks in Libya, with an investment of US$40mn. One block in Gabon (West Africa) has been acquired with an investment of US$15mn, Patra said.

"OIL bid for Nigerian blocks is the second highest among all the bidders. But, the highest bidder, a Canadian company is reluctant to pay the signature bonus, which is obligatory condition for acquiring the block. Therefore we are hopeful in getting the deal," Patra said.

OIL is one of the oldest exploration firms in the country, with a significant presence in the north-east India. For foreign bids the company has joint ventures with ONGC Videsh Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
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Eighth Auto show set for big launch
New Delhi: The Eighth Auto Expo is all set to unveil new launches and big announcements by domestic and global automobile giants.

The commerce and industry minister, Kamal Nath, and the heavy industries minister, Santosh Mohan Deb, will inaugurate the event, jointly organised by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Auto Component Manufacturers' Association and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"This is the biggest-ever auto show held in India and amply demonstrates the country's growing stature in the automobile industry,'' the SIAM President, Madhur Bajaj, said while commenting on the six-day long expo.

The expo is expected to see business deals nearly double to cross the US$100mn (about Rs440 crore) mark this time.

"The response is enormous and we expect that business deals, valued around US$55mn in the 2004 edition, will cross US$100mn (this year),'' a senior CII official said.

Overall more than 1,000 participants, which include 300 from 22 countries, will be sharing space at the expo. The foreign participants include country-level participation from China, Germany, Italy, Taiwan and the UK. China is making its presence felt with as many as 60 companies setting up stalls.

A total of 24 vehicle manufacturers will also display their products, including futuristic cars. These include domestic biggies such as Tata Motors, Maruti, Ashok Leyland and Mahindra and Mahindra rubbing shoulders with global giants such as the Volkswagen group, Honda and Ford.
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Bosch to invest additional Rs.1,800 crore in India
New Delhi: Robert Bosch plans to invest Rs1,800 crore in its Indian operations in the next two years, focusing ondern diesel technology. This is in addition to Rs1,000 crore the company has already planned to invest in the 2004-07 period.

A major part of the new investments will go towards the expansion of the company's automotive activities in India, including additional investments in Mico, Bosch Chassis Systems (formerly Kalyani Brakes) and Robert Bosch India Ltd.

Of the proposed investment, Bosch is investing Rs550 crore in common-rail diesel systems. "We expect to see diesel's share in the Indian car and utility vehicle market to rise from 29 % to 37% by 2010," Bohr said, adding that the company delivered roughly 40,000 common rail diesel systems in India and expects that figure to increase to 600,000 units by 2010.

Bosch said it will also be increasing components sourcing from India, which last year stood at Rs400 crore. The company exports products like fuel injection, auto electricals and braking systems to Europe, North America and the far-eastern region.
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New S-class Merc to launch by month- end
New Delhi: The much awaited new S-class Mercedes-Benz will hit Indian roads in the last week of January, DaimlerChrysler India CEO and managing director Wilfried Aulbur said on Wednesday.

DaimlerChrysler plans to do brand focus shows in three cities beginning from January 25 starting from Mumbai. The three-day show in Mumbai will be followed by another showcase in Delhi between February 25 to February 28 and in Chennai from February 24 to February 27. The company has decided to skip the Auto Expo in Delhi this year.

A new feature of the S-class is a night view system that uses infrared lights (invisible to the human eye and more importantly to drivers in front of the S-Class) to illuminate the road ahead and beam back an image on the instrument cluster so it becomes much easier to see pedestrians, animals or anything else that may be on the road.
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HM's Lancer Cedia to debut at the Auto Expo
New Delhi: Hindustan Motors' Lancer Cedia is all set for launch at the forthcoming Auto Expo. The vehicle recently received the required homologation certificate.

According to Ravi Santhanam, MD, Hindustan Motors Ltd, "HM is all geared for the launch of the Lancer Cedia. All necessary approvals for the commercial launch of the vehicle have been obtained. Cedia has done exceedingly well on all the parameters tested upon."

The Lancer Cedia is being manufactured in collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Japan at the Hindustan Motors' Chennai car plant.
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Exide Industries net profits up 17.2% at Rs.431.9 crore
Kolkata: Exide Industries Ltd on Wednesday said its net profit has gone up by three per cent at Rs21.54 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2005, even as its gross turnover registered a 17.2 per cent increase at Rs431.9 crore compared to the same period in 2005.

The company in a statement said that the gross profit for the period under review was up to Rs53.31 crore, representing a 38 per cent rise over the corresponding period in '05.

In the nine month period ended December (April-December), the gross turnover rose to Rs1274.9 crore and net profit to Rs74.8 crore, representing a rise of 17 and 26.7 per cent respectively over the same period in '05.

The replacement battery business grew by 20 per cent. The industrial battery also showed robust growth expanding by 22 per cent for the period under review.
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MphasiS Q3 net up by 52 pc
Bangalore: Mphasis BFL has posted a 52-per cent growth in its net profit for the quarter ended December 2005 at Rs40.84 crore as compared to Rs26.85 crore in the corresponding period last year. Consolidated revenues for the quarter grew by 26 per cent to Rs242.45 crore from Rs191.8 crore.

Operating profit for the third quarter of financial year 2006 increased by 89 per cent to Rs42.39 crore over the corresponding quarter last year. Sequential growth in operating profit was 14 per cent at Rs5.13 crore. Revenues were up 7 per cent on a sequential basis.

Revenues from software services in the third quarter grew by eight per cent sequentially to Rs165.68 crore and by 41 per cent over the same period last year. Software operating profits rose 13 per cent sequentially.

Revenues from the BPO business recorded an eight per cent sequential growth to Rs76.77 crore, with a 19 per cent improvement in operating profit in the same period. The company added 11 new clients, nine in the software services and two in the BPO business.
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iGATE Q3 operating profit up 127 pc
Bangalore: iGATE Global Solutions Ltd said on Wednesday that its operating profits for the third quarter ended December 2005 grew by 127 per cent to Rs19.71 crore, from Rs8.66 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

However, the company's net profit dropped due to high provisions for diminution in the value of unspecified long-term investments.

Net profits for Q3 FY06 stood at Rs1.30 crore as against Rs15.84 crore in the corresponding quarter last year that included other income of Rs15.64 crores on sale of assets.

Revenues for Q3 FY06 were up 15.1 per cent at Rs165.15 crore as compared to Rs143.46 crore recorded in the same period last fiscal.

Sequential revenues were up 6 per cent, while net profits were down by about 77 per cent over the previous quarter.

The operating profit margin for the third quarter doubled to 12 per cent from the earlier six per cent. iGATE added 447 employees during the quarter, taking the total employee strength to 4,803 as on December 31, 2005. Phaneesh Murthy, CEO, iGATE, said, "Our existing customers, pleased with our execution, are contributing to our growth. We have put in place significant expansion plans in Canada and Japan."

iGATE added nine new clients during the quarter of which six are Fortune 1,000 companies. Revenues from the top 15 clients grew five per cent sequentially.

The company won a deal from the New York-based Asset Management firm to provide an integrated solution for fund administration processes.
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