Gillette to revamp operations post-P&G takeover
Mumbai: Gillette India is adopting a new organisational structure after the Proctor & Gamble (USA) acquisition. Gillette's headquarters will now be relocated from Gurgaon to Mumbai, though it would continue as a separate legal entity in India.

As part of the re-organisation, Gillette would adopt P&G's global business unit (GBU), market development organisation (MDO) and global business services (GBS) structures.

The company will move away from business units based on geographical regions to units based on product lines. The MDOs will adopt global programmes to suit local markets and develop market strategies accordingly.

The global business units will bring together business activities such as accounting, human resource systems, order management and information technology.

Gillette would also relocate some of its employees to Singapore - P&G's regional headquarters and some to its new headquarters in Mumbai. To others affected by the restructuring it would offer VRS packages.

Gillette will also move from its current distribution structure to P&G distributors and would start following the July-June accounting year followed by the latter.
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NALCO hikes aluminium price
New Delhi: State-run National Aluminium Company (NALCO) has hiked the price of aluminium by Rs2,500 per tonne applicable on all aluminium products offered by the company.

According to company officials, the prices had been increased in view of the corresponding hike in the price of the metal in the international market, especially at the London Metal Exchange (LME). This is the third such hike by the company in less than a month.

Earlier the company had increased aluminium price twice in December 2005 and again on January 1.
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BHEL gets order from Allain Duhangan HEP
New Delhi: Engineering goods behemoth Bharat Heavy Electricals has won an order to supply equipment for the 192 MW Allain Duhangan HEP. This is the third project from the Bhilwara group, the company said. The company will be involved in designing, manufacturing and commissioning of Pelton hydro turbines and would take 30 months time to commission the project.

While the hydro sets would be manufactured at company's Bhopal plant, the state-of-the-art controls would be supplied by its electronics division in Bangalore, the company said.

BHEL has so far supplied and commissioned thermal, hydro and gas-based power generating equipment with a cumulative capacity of over 2,700 MW to several power projects promoted by independent power producers, the company said.
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HT Media in expansion plans
Mumbai: HT Media plans to spend Rs38.5 crore to fund its various expansion plans, including the launch of a business newspaper, expanding its Hindi newspaper in Madhya Pradesh and re-organising its Internet operations, HT Media told the BSE.

The company will provide a loan of Rs30 crore to its subsidiary, HT Music & Entertainment Company Ltd, it said.
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General Motors India launches Chevrolet Tavera 2006 NY edition
New Delhi: General Motors India has launched a new variant of Chevrolet Tavera priced at Rs5.99 lakh. The differentiating feature of this edition is its additional third row space and other luxury features.

The 2006 Chevrolet Tavera represents an extension of GM's commitment to exceed customer's expectations to its products and services, General Motors India president and managing director, Rajeev Chaba, said.
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Mirza Intl. bags gold award for high exports
New Delhi: Mirza International has received the Gold trophy in 'Overall Export Performance' category by the Council for Leather Exports for the year 2004-05. The company has been given the award for being 'the largest shoe exporter from India', in the leather footwear category. The company has shipped more than US$15mn worth of footwear to the foreign markets.
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Everest Kanto sets up subsidiary in Dubai
Mumbai: Everest Kanto Cylinder has decided to set up a wholly owned subsidiary company in Dubai for manufacturing high-pressure gas cylinders and other products.

Everest Kanto Cylinder manufactures high-pressure gas cylinders at its manufacturing units in Aurangabad and Tarapur. It also manufactures cascades for storage of CNG (compressed natural gas).
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Hindalco to buy Pennar Aluminium assets
Mumbai: Hindalco, the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, has decided to buy the aluminium rolling and conductor rod assets of Pennar Aluminium company from the Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Ltd (ARCIL).

The installed capacity in tons per annum for aluminium rolled products is 30,000 and for the conductors is 14,400 and the residual life is estimated to be more than 10 years.

Hindalco said ARCIL has accepted its offer for purchase of these assets situated at Pennar Aluminium's plant at Nagpur in Maharashtra.
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ABG Shipyard bags contract from Finnish co.
Mumbai: ABG Shipyard has received an order worth Rs275 crore from Finland-based ESL Shipping OY for constructing and supplying bulk carriers to them. The export order entails the construction of two 18,800 DWT (Dead Weight Tonnes) geared bulk carriers costing US$30.80mn each, totaling to US$61.60mn, ABG Shipyard told the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The vessels with a length and breadth of 155.40 metres and 25.20 metres have to be delivered in 28 months and 37 months respectively from the date of payment of the first installment.

Being an export order, ABG Shipyard is entitled for subsidy as per the prevailing shipbuilding subsidy scheme of Government of India.
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TRAI questions lifetime tariff plans
New Delhi: The telecom regulator, TRAI is asking some crucial questions to service providers on their offering of lifetime validity tariffs to see whether such plans would be viable in the long run.

Trai said that one of most important issues is whether lifetime can exceed the balance license period of the operators and if not, would the plans vary in their validity duration.

TRAI is also looking into the issue whether tariff schemes with lifetime validity would have long-term viability and sustainability.
TRAI has sought the views from all the stakeholders including industry and consumers to verify certain facts with regard to such tariff plans.

TRAI also sought views on whether such plans would have implications for the orderly growth of the sector and whether there would be a change in the tariffs in case of change in interconnect usage charge (IUC) regime and others.
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Infosys to invest Rs.150-cr in Kerala operations
Mumbai: Infosys Technologies plans to invest Rs150 crore in Kerala in a phased manner and raise its headcount there by 3,750 people in the state. Infosys started operations in Kerala in 2004 and now has 550 employees in the State.

It has said that it planned to invest Rs50 crore in the first phase to set up a campus in Thiruvananthapuram with a capacity for 1,250 people. In the second and third phases, Infosys will spend another Rs100 crore and raise capacity by another 2,500 seats, it said.
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KLG Systel deploys Rs.21-cr solution for UP power sector
New Delhi: KLG Systel has deployed an Rs.21 crore technology solution for managing the transmission and distribution of power in Uttar Pradesh and claims that this would result in the saving of over 50mw of power in the state in the coming year.

The company said the solution would help the State lower its aggregated technical and commercial losses by 12 per cent and improve UPPCL's top-line by bringing in 19 per cent extra consumers under billing.

The project covers over 9 lakh users in Lucknow, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Allahabad, the company said in a statement here.
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Bharat Forge Q3 net up 28.57 pc
Mumbai: Bharat Forge has posted a 28.57 per cent increase in its net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2005, at Rs53.27 crore as compared to Rs41.43 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal.

Total income during the quarter increased 33.48 per cent to Rs415.46 crore as compared to Rs311.25 crore in Q3 of FY-05, the company said in a release.
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Dwarikesh Sugar Q1 net up 34.85 pc
Mumbai: Integrated sugar company, Dwarikesh Sugar Industries has posted a 34.85 per cent rise in net profit to Rs7.63 crore for the first quarter ended December 2005 due to better realisation in sugar prices. The company's net sales grew 22.05 per cent for the quarter ended December 2005 to Rs40.37 crore, the company said.

The company has also raised US$12mn through the issue of 3 million global depository receipts (GDRs), listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Each GDR representing one underlying equity share in the company was priced at US$4.

"The commencement of the new green field project has enabled us to more than double our capacity.The full benefits of this expansion will accrue during the current financial year," chairman and managing director of the company, G R Morarka, said.
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HT Media Q3 net quadruples to Rs.16.3-cr
Mumbai: HT Media, a leading print media company, has registered a four-fold jump in net profit at Rs16.3 crore for the quarter ended December 2005, as compared to Rs4.5 crore for the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

The revenues were higher by 38 per cent at Rs225.8 crore in the third quarter this fiscal, from Rs164 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the National Stock Exchange.

The company says its performance was due to extended readership and circulation of its newspapers, resulting in more sales to national advertisers at better rates. Mumbai operations have delivered a strong performance with an extremely positive response to HT Mumbai launch.

Operating profit rose 81 per cent during the third quarter ended December 2005 to Rs40.8 crore from Rs22.5 crore in the third quarter ended December 2004.

Net profit for the first nine months of FY06 increased 88 per cent to Rs34.1 crore as against Rs18.2 crore in FY05.

For the nine months under review, revenue was at Rs610.1 crore, up 28 per cent from Rs475.7 crore during last fiscal.
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Hutch completes BPL acquisition
Mumbai: Hutchison Essar has completed the acquisition of BPL Mobile Cellular, which holds cellular mobile telephone licences for Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Hutchison had acquired BPL Mobile in July in a deal with an enterprise valuation of over Rs4,400 crore.

BPL Mobile Cellular had over 1.56 million subscribers. With the completion of the merger Hutchison Essar will have total subscribers of approximately 13 million.
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BEML diversifies into contract mining
Kolkata: Mining equipment manufacturer Bharat Earth Movers (BEML) has entered into a three-way joint venture with an Indian and Indonesian company for contract mining.

"BEML would hold 45 per cent in the JV, while the two partners, would control the remaining 55 per cent among themselves," said BEML chairman and managing director V R S Natarajan.

The JV is in the process of being formed and was awaiting approval of the government. Currently, the government holds 61 per cent in BEML, he said.

BEML has targeted to achieve a turnover of Rs5,000 crore by the year 2013-14. The company is projecting a turnover Rs2,200 crore during the current fiscal.
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