Reliance Info offers daily, weekly recharge options
Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm is offering prepaid recharge options with daily and weekly validity under its One Nation-One Rupee plan. The daily validity recharge costs Rs75 with talktime worth of Rs40 while the weekly option costs Rs275, with talktime value of Rs185.

The call charges under these plans are Re 1 per minute for calls to any location in the country.

On January 1, the company launched its One Nation-One Rupee plan at Re 1 per minute for calls to any phone within India. This package costs Rs1,100, carries talktime value of Rs750 and 1,100 free SMSs and has a validity period of 30 days.
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IOC declares Rs.5.8-cr loss in Q3
Mumbai: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has posted a net loss of Rs5.83 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 against a net profit of Rs1,286.76 crore that the company earned during the corresponding previous quarter.

The company's losses during the period were to tune of Rs136.87 crore before computing tax. It was the deferred tax provision of Rs140.84 crore that saw its net loss come down to Rs5.83 crore.

IOC saw its net sales during the period climb to Rs43,956 crore (Rs36,271 crore).

The IOC share price was marginally down on BSE today at Rs529.75 against Thursday's close of Rs532.90.

The under realisation during the quarter stood at Rs2,479 crore, double that of Rs1,208 crore a year ago. IOC's under realisation for the first nine months was up at Rs8,106 crore (Rs6,496 crore).

Similarly, the gross refinery margin (GRM) during the quarter was down at US$3.36 per barrel as against US$5.4 per barrel in the previous comparable period. For the nine-month period, the GRM stood at US$5.16 per barrel (US$6.6).

IOC's share of the total oil bond quantum of Rs5,750 crore could be around Rs3,200 crore, he said.

The refinery throughput during the quarter was up at 9.86 million tonnes (8.81 million tonnes) and pipeline throughput was at 11.73 million tonnes (10.26 million tonnes).

The raw material cost and purchase of products for resale during the nine-month period included Rs5,071 crore (Rs2,499 crore) towards discount from ONGC/GAIL/OIL, the company said. IOC has changed the method of valuation of crude from `FIFO' to `Moving Average' resulting in increase in inventory valuation and profit of Rs120 crore, the company said.
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Motherson Sumi to set up JV for mobile phone parts with German co.
Mumbai: Auto-ancillary company Motherson Sumi Systems is setting up a joint venture with Germany-based Balda AG for development of precision moulds, design and manufacture of parts and accessories for mobile phones at Chennai.

Balda AG is the world's second largest systems supplier of precision components made from high-performance plastics for the mobile-phone industry.

The joint venture will entail an investment of US$10mn in the next 12-18 months and will have shareholding in the ratio of 40:60 for the company and Balda respectively the informed the BSE.

The plant would be ready for production by the end of second quarter this year and the joint venture would supply parts to Balda's global customers.
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Orchid Chemicals gets US FDA nod for Cefoxitin injection
Mumbai: Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has announced that it received a formal approval from the USFDA for its ANDA (Abbreviated New Drug Application) for Cefoxitin for injection, 1 gm/vial and 2 gm/vial.

Cefoxitin is the generic version of Merck's Mefoxin. The company is launching this product in the US exclusively through Apotex.
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Marico to acquire 'Nihar' from HLL
Mumbai: Marico will has a pact with Hindustan Lever to acquire the latter's hair oil brand 'Nihar.'

Nihar has a current annualised turnover of about Rs120 crore spread over two segments - coconut oil and perfumed hair oils, Marico informed The Bombay Stock Exchange. The acquisition will strengthen Marico's presence in the hair oil category where it already has brands like Parachute and Mediker.
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Dabur India Q3 net up at Rs.57.97-cr
Mumbai: Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) major Dabur India posted a 34.40 per cent rise in net profit at Rs57.97 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 as compared to Rs43.13 crore for the corresponding period lat fiscal.

Total income increased 9.89 per cent to Rs405.85 crore for the third quarter of current fiscal from Rs369.30 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the BSE.

The company has posted a consolidated net profit after minority interest of Rs64.94 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 as compared to Rs47.21 crore in the corresponding quarter in 2004-05.

Total income of the group has increased to Rs543 crore for the reviewed quarter from Rs428.71 crore in Q3 2004-05.
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Pantaloon Retail forms joint venture with Gini & Jony Apparel
Mumbai: Pantaloon Retail (India) has formed a joint venture with Gini & Jony Apparel for setting up a retail chain for kids wear.

Pantaloon would hold a 50 per cent stake in the joint venture company, which is to be set up under the Gini & Jony brand name. Pantaloons Retail has also acquired a 33 per cent stake each in Capital Foods Ltd and Capital Foods Exports, companies, which manufacture and market ready to eat food items.

Pantaloon is also setting up a non-banking financial company (NBFC) and earlier this month announced an investment of Rs2,500 crore for building 14.5 million square feet of retail space in the country and setting up 51 malls in 29 cities across 14 states of the country through its subsidiary Kshitij.
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Indraprastha Gas to invest Rs.29.7-cr in Ghaziabad
Mumbai: Indraprastha Gas in order to further expand its gas distribution network has decided to invest Rs29.7 crore in Ghaziabad.

Indraprastha Gas, which supplies compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) in New Delhi, informed the stock exchanges that the investment proposal had been sanctioned by its board at a recently held meeting.

The company declared a 32.5 per cent increase in net profit for the third quarter this fiscal at Rs29.32 crore as against Rs22.13 crore during the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
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Shree Renuka Sugars leases sugar unit in Karnataka
Mumbai: Shree Renuka Sugars has taken on lease a manufacturing unit of Alland Sahakari Sakkare Karkhane (N), of 1250 tonnes crushed per day capacity in Gulbarga district of Karnataka.

The lease is for a period of seven years starting from sugar season 2005-06 to 2011-12, the company said. The company's key manufacturing facility is at Munoli, near Belgaum and leased facilities at Ajara and at Mohannagar in Maharashtra.

Shri Renuka Sugars is an integrated manufacturing company with focus on sugar and allied products in power and ethanol.
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Bajaj Hindusthan raises US$255.6mn through GDRs, FCCBs
Mumbai: Bajaj Hindusthan has successfully raised US$255.604mn through the issue of 167,00,000 GDRs aggregating US$135.604mn and US$120mn through the issue of convertible bonds (both excluding the greenshoe).

The GDRs (each representing one underlying share) were priced at US$8.12 each (equivalent to Rs358/- per share). The zero-coupon convertible bonds have a tenor of five years and have a conversion price of Rs465.40/- per share, a premium of 30 per cent to the price of the present GDR Issue.

The GDRs and the convertible bonds will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Citigroup acted as the sole book-runner and lead manager to this transaction.
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ABG Shipyard receives US$29.7mn contract from Cyprus
Mumbai: ABG Shipyard, among India's largest shipyards in the private sector, has received a US$29.7mn contract from Cyprus-based Lamnalco for construction of three vessels.

The delivery period for the three anchor handling tug vessels for offshore applications, is 20, 22 and 24 months respectively for each from the date of payment of the first instalment by the buyer to the company, the company informed the BSE.

The company has already delivered five vessels to Lamnalco in the recent past and two more vessels are under construction for them at the company's yard at Surat.
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BT to manage Microsoft's global OneCall centres
New Delhi: British Telecommunications plc (BT) will from now on manage Microsoft's global OneCall call centre routing initiative. This will unify and manage Microsoft's contact centres into a single network based contact centre environment.

According to Michael Culleton, Microsoft's OneCall team director, "We selected BT to head up this programme based on their leadership and experience in contact centre technology and capabilities to manage a project of this scope globally.

The contract calls for an 18-month deployment schedule across 77 Microsoft call centres. The OneCall solution will enable Microsoft's call centres throughout the world to be centrally managed for call routing, leading to improved customer service levels and better use of call centre agents, the company said in a statement.
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Intel to offer training to 10 million teachers
Bangalore: Intel Corporation has announced that it would train an additional ten million teachers from developing nations in information technology over the next five years.

"The teachers would be given the knowledge of 'how, when and where' to incorporate technology tools and resources into the learning environment," Intel Corporation chairman, Craig Barret, said.

"Through our increased efforts, we have the potential of reaching a billion students in developing nations by the end of 2010," he said adding this new effort supplements US$100mn annual commitment of Intel to improve education for young people world wide.

As part of this programme the company will donate an additional 1,00,000 personal computers to classrooms in the developing nations.
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Four Soft to increase headcount
Mumbai: Four Soft that specializes in offering transportation and logistic solutions is planning to double its headcount over the next twelve months. The company would recruit 500 more people to take the total workforce to 1,000 in the next one-year.

The recruitment is in line with the company's new product strategy and integration plan of acquired entities, said Four Soft MD and CEO, Srikanth Palem.

The company says its immediate strategy is to hire experienced professional, campus recruitment and training workshops, which will help recruit employees who can contribute to a world class product.

Four Soft recently acquired UK-based DCS Transportation and Logistic Solution with operations in the UK, Netherlands, the US, France and Germany.
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Subex Systems to raise US$10mn through GDRs
Mumbai: Telecom software product company, Subex Systems, plans to raise US$10mn through issue of global depository receipts (GDRs).

The board of directors approved the raising of funds up to US$10mn by issue of GDRs, FCCBs or securities convertible into equity shares or such other suitable instruments, the company informed Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company says it is in the process of expanding and improving its product offerings by acquiring suitable companies in its space. The company is actively exploring acquisitions and the proceeds from this issue will be used to fund our acquisition programme, in part or in full it said.
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SICAL Q3 net at Rs.9.94 crore
Chennai: South India Corporation (SICAL) has announced the un-audited net profit for Q3 for the company was up 20 per cent from Rs8.27 crore last year to Rs9.94 crore as on Dec 31,2005.

Net profit for the nine months ending Dec 31, 2005 was Rs35.36 crore, an increase of 212 per cent from last year, according to SICAL press release.
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HC approves GE Shipping de-merger
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has approved the de-merger of offshore business of Great Eastern Shipping Company, comprising drilling services and marine logistics into a separate new company.

The company decided to restructure its businesses (shipping and offshore oilfield services) to harness their full potential, and chart a growth profile consistent with what their respective business environments offer, GE Shipping sources said.

The restructuring envisages de-merger of the entire offshore business consisting of drilling services, marine logistics, marine construction and port/terminal services, into a separate new company through a High Court approved process.

The de-merger will create two focussed companies, one in shipping and the other in the oilfield services thereby helping to unlock value for shareholders company officials said.
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