Air Sahara operations affected as pilots go on mass sick leave
New Delhi: Air Sahara's operations were almost suspended on Sunday when a large number of its pilots went on mass sick leave. The airline had to cancel 30 flights after 30 out of the 280 pilots in the system reported sick.

Officials said that the airlines' passengers were not affected as they were accommodated on Jet Airways, Indian Airlines, and other airlines.

Air Sahara has a fleet of 27 aircraft that includes Boeing 737 and the smaller CRJ aircraft. The airline operates 134 flights offering almost 14,000 seats a day to 24 domestic and four international destinations.

Resentment among sections of the Air Sahara staff has been brewing since late January when Jet Airways purchased the airline for US$500mn. The deal, however, still has to be approved by the authorities. Sources indicated that the pilots were unhappy at the emoluments they would be getting from the new entity.

At the time of the buyout, officials indicated that Jet Airways was likely to retain the services of the senior management, pilots, engineers, and technical staff of Air Sahara.
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Bajaj Auto seeks more sops from Maharashtra
Pune: Bajaj Auto has said that the company would locate its proposed new greenfield plant for three and four-wheelers to Uttaranchal or Himachal Pradesh, if the Maharashtra State Government does not extend an attractive package of incentives.

Rahul Bajaj chairman of Bajaj Auto said Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh are offering a great package of incentives including central excise benefit and companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra and TVS have already started operations in these States.

The company will soon commence negotiations with the State Government for buying 200 acres of land at Chakan near Pune for the two new projects, with an estimated capital outlay of Rs500 crore.

BAL has firmed up plans to rejuvenate its three-wheeler business with a new range of products and is simultaneously planning to foray into the four-wheeled low cost goods carrier business.
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BCCL to hike coking coal output
Dhanbad: Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) which declared profits during the first nine months of the current fiscal has firmed up an investment plans to augment production of raw and washed coking coal.

The company has initiated steps for the development of a fast track greenfield underground project at Kalyaneswari in West Bengal to produce two million tonnes (mt) of `medium' coking coal and 3 mt of non-coking coal.

The chairman and MD of BCCL, Partha Bhattacharjee, said that the company had turned around from a near-bankruptcy situation in less than two years, following implementation of a recovery scheme in 2004-05. The company has been able to achieve the turnaround because of a favourable coal market situation and successful implementation e-auction of coal.

BCCL is the only company in the country producing medium grade and prime coking coal.
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Ranbaxy to announce US$400mn FCCB issue
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories will soon announce a US$400mn foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) issue tomorrow as it readies for acquisitions in Europe.

Besides setting its eyes on Betapharm Arzeniemittel GmbH in Germany, Ranbaxy is said to be close to acquiring Romanian firms, Terapia and Sindan.

The US$400mn worth of FCCBs are expected to be part of the war chest Ranbaxy will need for the Romanian targets and for Betapharm if it wins the bid. Ranbaxy is said to have offered the owners of Betapharm, 3i Group, as much as euro 500 million, 50 million more than Dr Reddy's euro 450 million.

Deutsche Bank and Citibank have been appointed to take care of the FCCB issue.

Late last year, Ranbaxy received a board approval for raising as much as US$1.5bn which the company had kept aside "as an enabling provision". The intent was to raise the money as and when opportunities arose.
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Honda plans to launch Civic
Mumbai: Japanese auto major, Honda Siel is planning to launch the Civic in India. The City model averages around 4,000 units a month and Honda plans to spend Rs700 crore to double capacity to 100,000 units per annum by 2010.

Officials said the company is currently focusing on the Civic and intentionally not increasing the capacity of Accord and City.

The Civic will bridge the gap between City and the Accord and is likely to be priced between Rs10-12 lakh.
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Orchid to file 25 ANDAs in 2006
Chennai: Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals expects to file 25 ANDAs (abbrievated new drug applications) and 25 DMFs (drug master files) over the next twelve months. This is double the numbers of filings last year.

K Raghavendra Rao, MD, Orchid, said on an average, the company plans to file two Andas and two DMFs every month over the next 12 months. This is against the 25 DMFs and 21 ANDAs it filed during the past two years.

In the current year, Orchid is expecting a 35-40 per cent growth in topline and tripling of its bottom line, mainly due to its focus on the more profitable regulated markets, primarily the US.
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Bharat Forge looks at more acquisitions
New Delhi: Bharat Forge (BFL), India's largest auto-components company, is looking at more acquisitions to complement organic growth.

The company wants to achieve global leadership by 2008. Part of that will be organic growth and some inorganic. In December last year, Bharat Forge gained control of its counterpart in China, a division of First Automobile Works, the country's largest vehicle manufacturer.

The deal with FAW Forging boosted BFL's capacity by 100,000 tonne, taking the total to about 600,000 tonne, second only to Germany's Thyssen Krupp.

BFL's acquisition strategy is guided by garnering customers and getting closer to its big markets. Besides, the outfit being acquired must have enough high technology to complement BFL's low-cost production base.
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