Jet picks up Air Sahara for US$500mn
New Delhi: With the board of Jet Airways formally approving the deal, Jet Airways has acquired Air Sahara for US$500mn.

"The deal has been done after doing thorough due diligence. The acquisition will give us economies of scale and will help improve revenues," said Naresh Goyal, chairman, Jet Airways.

"Jet Airways will get parking slots, infrastructure, all other facilities Air Sahara has in the country subject to regulatory approvals. Pilots, technical staff, cabin crew will also be a part of Jet Airways now," added Goyal.

The acquisition will enable Jet to raise its market share to about 50 per cent in the domestic aviation sector. The deal will have to be vetted by various authorities including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

IT/call centre database launched — first of its kind in the world
New Delhi: India's information technology and call center industry, through its association NASSCOM, has launched a database for its workforce on Wednesday, which it hopes will boost data security. The initiative comes after reports of data theft surfaced last year.

According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) the database is a world first for the IT industry. Its Web address is: www.nationalskillsregistry.in.

Officials said that companies would now be able to track the career backgrounds of employees and that the data base would also help law enforcement agencies tackle data theft.

A report by NASSCOM and consultancy firm McKinsey in December forecast India's business services and information technology exports would surge by more than 25 per cent a year and reach US$60bn by 2010. The sector directly employs a million people, and indirectly about three times that number in jobs ranging widely from transport and security to catering and housekeeping.

The database containing personal and work-related information would enable employers to verify a staff member's credentials while police would be able to track the background of workers.
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Prestige group to invest Rs.2000-cr
Bangalore: The Prestige group said Wednesday that it would invest Rs2,000 crore for the year 2006. The raisings, to be made through internal accruals and debt, would enable the group to begin construction of a 413 apartment complex called 'Kensington Gardens,' in Bangalore.

The funds will also be utilised for the setting up of IT special economic zones project. The group would also start operations in Cochin, Chennai and Hyderabad soon.

The Rs190 crore 'Kensington Gardens' would be ready by 2008, officials said. They also said that the Prestige group would finish constructing 20 shopping malls across the country by 2011.

Officials said that they are also developing two special economic zones (SEZ), one for Cisco and the other for HP. The group had already received central government approval for acquiring land to construct these SEZs. The group is also setting up a golf resort on Bellary road at a cost of Rs620 crore.
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GM unveils the Aveo and a sportier version of the Optra
New Delhi: General Motors Corp. on Wednesday launched three new cars in India, including a hatchback model, in its bid to boost sales in one of the world's fastest growing automobile markets.

The hatchback model, the Chevrolet Aveo U-VA, is powered by a 1.4-liter gasoline engine, while the second model, the Chevrolet Aveo sedan, has a 1.6-liter gasoline engine.

The third car is a sportier version of the sedan, the Chevrolet Optra, with a 1.8-liter gasoline engine. The company would announce the prices of the three models later.

Hatchbacks make up more than 75 per cent of India's 1 million-a-year car market.

General Motors already has a hatchback model in India. It also produces the Opel Corsa range of models, the Optra sedan and the Chevrolet Tavera, a sport utility vehicle, at its factory in the western state of Gujarat.

In 2005, General Motors sold 30,837 cars in India, an 18 per cent increase over the previous year's sales. This year, the company is aiming to sell 50,000 cars.
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Italian engine maker VM Motori to source parts worth Rs.1,000-cr by 2010
Mumbai: Italian diesel engine maker VM Motori SpA is planning to source auto components worth Rs1,066 crore from India by 2010. The components would include cylinder heads, water pump, pistons, camshaft and crankshaft.

"India offers us good quality, cost-effective components. We are planning to cut our production and source components from low-cost markets such as India and China. By 2010, our sourcing from India would touch euro 200 million," said Giorgio Garimberti, chief executive officer, VM Motori SpA.

VM Motori has identified the New Delhi-based Continental Engine as the company's first vendor. It is in the process of selecting other suppliers, said Garimberti.

VM Motori had set up its office in New Delhi in March 2005. The local office currently provides design and engineering services to component makers here. The 400-million euro VM Motori is specialised in the design and production of high technology diesel engines for global majors, including DaimlerChrysler and Hyundai.

Recently, the company celebrated the delivery of 500,000th engine to DaimlerChrysler.
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Sonata in US$5mn deal with US co.
Bangalore: Sonata Software has signed a US$5mn deal with Atlanta-based Church's Chicken, for complete outsourcing services such as remote infrastructure management, network and data centre management, help desk and application management. The deal is spread over five years.

Church's Chicken is present at over 1,500 locations in 16 countries and has sales of US$950mn. This chicken franchisee organisation plans to grow to 2,500 restaurants by 2010, said a company release.
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Wipro Q3 net up 27 pc - revenues up 30 pc
Bangalore: Wipro Ltd beat its own estimates and street expectations to post a year-on-year growth of 27 per cent in net profit and 30 per cent in revenues for the December quarter.

Wipro's net profit for the third quarter of this fiscal stood at Rs543 crore on revenues of Rs2,744 crore, against a net of Rs426 crore on revenues of Rs2,110 crore in the same period of last year.
"The quarterly results signal the next phase in Wipro's growth," said the chairman, Azim Premji.

Wipro crossed two significant milestones during the third quarter as its IT business crossed the annual run rate of Rs10,000 crore and its global IT headcount crossed 50,000.

For the quarter-ending March 31, 2006, Wipro expects revenues from its Global IT Services business to be US$510mn, a sequential growth of about eight per cent.

Revenues of Wipro Infotech, the domestic IT business grew by 17 per cent to Rs399 crore, while the Consumer Care and Lighting grew 20 per cent to Rs155 crore. BPO revenues grew by 12 per cent to Rs189 crore.

Wipro signed up 61 new clients during the quarter the highest ever in its history and added 5,189 people.
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HCL Tech Q2 net income up 40 pc
New Delhi: HCL Technologies has registered a 40.2 per cent increase in consolidated net income for the second quarter ended December 2005 to touch Rs181.1 crore, compared to Rs129.1 crore in the same period previous year. The company also expressed confidence that it would notch revenues of US$1bn in the current fiscal.

The company sees profit for the year until June 2006 rising 30-40 per cent on the back on increased outsourcing, and also expects two mega deals in the current quarter in retail and insurance sectors.

As per US GAAP, during the second quarter HCL's revenues rose 31.5 per cent year-on-year to touch Rs1,054.2 crore (Rs801.4 crore). On sequential basis, the revenues were up 8.6 per cent from Rs970.7 crore clocked in the first quarter of fiscal 2006. In the software services segment, gross revenues were up 27.3 per cent to Rs800 crore against Rs628.6 crore in the year-ago period, while BPO services revenues grew 22.4 per centBPO revenues stood at Rs133.9 crore in Q2 (Rs109.4 crore).

Revenues from infrastructure management segment increased 80.4 per cent to Rs120.2 crore during the quarter.
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Ranbaxy net profit down 62 pc
New Delhi: The net profit of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd fell 62 per cent to Rs259.1 crore for the financial year ended December 31, 2005.

The company also witnessed a two per cent drop in global sales to end the year at Rs5,195.6 crore. For the fourth quarter, consolidated sales fell one per cent to Rs1,405.5 crore while profit after tax fell about 57 per cent to Rs68.6 crore, compared to Rs156.5 crore recorded during the corresponding period last year.

Lower profit in the last quarter is also attributed to a US$5mn write-off after a branded product launched through a joint venture was withdrawn from the market.

Speaking to newspersons after the board meeting, Dr Brian Tempest, Chief Mentor and Executive Vice-Chairman, Ranbaxy was optimistic about crossing the US$2bn mark in 2007 and US$5bn by 2012.

The company is also aggressively eyeing acquisitions both in India and abroad.
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