Reliance Energy, NTPC talk to NPCIL for nuclear foray
New Delhi: Reliance Energy and NTPC are talking to Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) for a foray into the nuclear power generation sector.

After the new Indo-US civil nuclear deal, NPCIL estimates India can add 20,000-40,000 MW of nuclear power generation capacity over the next 10 years or so if several more players, including private sector companies, enter the sector.

NPCIL said there is talk of adding 20,000-40,000 megawatts in 10 years and it would not be possible for NPCIL to achieve this kind of capacity on its own. It said it has had discussions with a number of interested players, including NTPC and Reliance Energy, who have plans to enter nuclear generation as and when the Government permits their entry into the sector.

NPCIL is the only firm permitted by the Government to generate nuclear power.
The country's nuclear power generation capacity, currently pegged at 3,310 MW, forms less than 3 per cent of the country's total installed generation capacity of about 1,20,000 MW. Thermal power meets 70 per cent of India's requirements, while hydro contributes about 24 per cent at present.

NTPC, the country's largest generation company, also has a plan to set up a 2,000 MW capacity nuclear plant by 2017.
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Electrotherm launches TMT steel reinforcement bars
Ahmedabad: Electrotherm India has launched Electro TMT plus steel reinforcement bars. The bars will be manufactured at its Rs 440 crore fully integrated steel plant in Samakhiyali in the Kutch district of Gujarat.

"The thermo-mechanically treated steel bars will be made at our Rs 440 crore in Kutch," director of the company Avinash Bhandari said. He said that the plant also consists of induction furnaces, ladle refining furnaces, a separate line for stainless steel making, rolling milling for rounds, TMT and wire rods and others," he told reporters.

The company has invested Rs165 crores in the project which will have a total steel/cast iron capacity of 3,00,000 TPA (tonnes per annum). Bhandari added that the project was being financed by a consortium of banks headed by the Bank of India.
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ONGC to restore output from Mumbai High
New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation plans to restore 2,70,000 barrels per day of crude oil output from Mumbai High fields by June, said the company chairman and managing director Subir Raha.

"We expect to restore the output to level before the July fire (which destroyed a crucial facility on the field) by June,'' he told the press. He said the fire at one of the facilities in Mumbai High fields would pull down the company's annual output to 25.1 million tonnes from the targeted 26.5 million tonnes. Mumbai High output would be restored by June 30 with the revival of NA platform and installation of a FPSO. Revival of production has been started and a production level of 218,000 bpd has been achieved.

A fire on July 27 gutted a Mumbai High North platform which dropped Mumbai High oil and gas output to 20 per cent. Gas supplies were restored to 7.5 million standard cubic metres per day within a week while oil supplies continued to be crippled for a mon th before 70 per cent of the lost output was restored.
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Telephoto to acquire AGS' properties
Mumbai: Telephoto Entertainments is acquiring the entire share capital of AGS Properties Development India, a Chennai based company, which builds multiplexes.

AGS will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. The board of Telephoto has decided unanimously to invest a maximum amount of Rs8 crore in AGS, with the money to be raised by way of loans and advances after the proposed investment, it added.

Telephoto Entertainments, based in Chennai, is better known as the Revathy-Suresh Menon promoted production house.
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Mazda initialises NRC crystalliser system
Mumbai: Engineering company, Mazda has commissioned the acid absorption crystalliser system, for which it had bagged a Rs1.33 crore order from NRC Ltd that manufactures and exports textile grade rayon yarn, nylon tyre-cord fabric. The non-polluting system, which consumes low amount of utilities is evolved using the company's research and development facilities and technical consultancy from abroad.

The company's order booked position is approximately Rs22.5 crore.
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Ruchi Soya's GDRs raise $60 million
Mumbai: Ruchi Soya Industries, an edible oil and soya foods company has raised
$60 million through its global depository receipts issue that will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and traded on the Euro MTF market.

The issue consists of 8.87 million GDRs, each representing one underlying equity shares in the company and priced at $6.76 each, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The GDRs were placed through the book building exercise and ICICI Securities acted as the sole book runner on this transaction.

While SSKI acted as the Indian advisor to the transaction, it added. Ruchi Soya is known for its brands such as Ruchi Gold and Nutrela.
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TRF gets order from Bhilai Electric
Mumbai: Tata group company, TRF engaged in the manufacture, supply, installation and commissioning of engineered-to-order equipment and systems in the areas of bulk material handling and processing, loading and un-loading, has received an order worth Rs152.6 crore from Bhilai Electric Supply Company, a subsidiary of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).

The Kolkata-based company secured the order for a coal handling plant it informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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Punj Lloyd to raise $125 million through FCCBs
Mumbai: To finance its ongoing capital expenditures and international acquisitions Punj Lloyd, said that it would raise $125 million through issue of foreign currency convertible bonds, which will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Pursuant to shareholders approval, the company has entered into a subscription agreement with Citigroup Global Markets, London, for the issuance of FCCBs for $125 million.

The bonds will have a tenor of five years and a semi-annual coupon of 4.65 per cent. The bonds will be convertible into equity shares at a price of Rs1,362.94, which is a premium of 25 per cent to the BSE closing price of Rs1,090.35 as on March 02, 2006.

The proceeds from this offering will be used primarily to finance the company's ongoing capital expenditure, repayment of international debt, possible acquisitions outside India, investment in BOT projects and any other use as may be permitted under appl icable law or by the regulatory bodies, from time to time.
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Gail to pay ONGC-RIL-BG combine $4.6 per mbtu for PMT gas
New Delhi: Gail India will pay ONGC-RIL-BG consortium $4.6 per million British thermal unit for the gas it is buying from Panna-Mukta-Tapti fields for another two years. On the intervention of the Petroleum Secretary, M S Srinivasan, the consortium has agreed to continue marketing six mmscmd of gas to Gail till March 31, 2008, the sources said.

Though Gail would have paid $5.7 mBtu for the PMT gas as per the formula prescribed in production sharing contract, Srinivasan has prevailed on the consortium to sell the gas at the maximum price it was getting for the remaining gas.

R Srinivasan had convened a meeting early this week of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Reliance Industries and BG Group of UK consortium and GAIL where it was decided to continue with the present arrangement of selling six million standard cubic metres per day of gas from PMT fields beyond March 2006.
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Tata group evinces interest in nuclear power plants
New Delhi: Tata Group chief, Ratan Tata, said that his group would be interested in operating a nuclear power plant in the country if the Government allows.

He said that there were tremendous opportunities in the nuclear power sector and it will help in mitigating the huge power shortages the country was facing.

The group feels that India's landmark agreement with the US paves the way for opening up the sector to other players.

Nuclear power generation at about 3,300 MW meets less than three per cent of the country's total capacity of about 1,20,000 MW. Thermal power meets 70 per cent of India's requirements, while hydro contributes about 24 per cent.

NTPC, country's largest generation company, also has a plan to set up a 2,000 MW capacity nuclear plant by 2017.
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Computer Associates out of TCG JV
Kolkata: Computer Associates (CA) International of US has decided to walk out of the joint venture floated with The Chatterjee Group (TCG) as it has set up its own development centre at Hyderabad in India.

The joint venture, CA-TCG, was formed in 1999 for software development at the Salt Lake electronics complex near Kolkata. Since CA was unable to transfer technology to CA-TCG due to intellectual property (IP) issues, the company has decided to set up its own development facility at Hyderabad in India. This has already become the largest center of the company outside the US.

CA has 51 per cent equity in the joint venture, while the balance is held by TCG.
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Airtel introduces 'All for One' broadband plan
Bangalore: Airtel Broadband and Telephone Services, has launched the 'Airtel All for One' plan for its fixed-line customers.

Under the plan, Airtel fixed-line customers can call anywhere in the country STD or local at a flat rate of rupee one per minute, according to the company.

The plan is available at a monthly rental of Rs299 per month and also has a special tariff of Re 1 for three minutes for Airtel fixed lines to Airtel-fixed-line local calls.
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Telecom companies get 4-month extension for FDI compliance
New Delhi: Telecom service providers are getting a four months extension starting tomorrow to adhere to the 74 per cent FDI guidelines. The extension is also expected to throw light on complying with the operators' network security and operations aspect which prohibits remote access on their networks.

This would be the first extension granted to the telecom companies after the Government issued guidelines on the FDI increase to 74 per cent from 49 per cent both direct and indirect in November 3. They were given a four month compliance period.
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TCS to initiate branding exercise next fiscal
New Delhi: India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will begin a massive brand building exercise next fiscal.

The company has appointed a global company to work out the branding and positioning strategy for TCS in the global market. The company is expected to submit its report in a few weeks after which the strategy will be rolled out.

The global consultant would advise on the roll out, tagline, graphics and positioning of the TCS brand.

TCS has floated a subsidiary in China with Microsoft and three Chinese Government entities that would begin operations by June this year. TCS would have a majority stake and management control of the company which would focus not just on Chinese market but other geographies as well.
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3i Infotech to issue FCCBs to raise $50 million
Mumbai: 3i Infotech plans to raise $50 million through the issue of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs). The company plans to list the bonds on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The conversion price for the bonds has been fixed at Rs 230 per share. The offering was launched after market trading hours on March 02, 2006 and has been fully subscribed, the company said.

ICICI Securities Inc and UBS Investment Bank are acting as the lead managers and book-runners for this offering.
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AES announces $1.2billion investment plan in Chhattisgarh
Mumbai: US power major AES Corporation is planning to invest $1.2 billion to develop a 1,000 MW, coal-fired power plant in Chhattisgarh. For this the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chhattisgarh government according to a press release.

Upon operation, the plant would supply electricity to power deficit states in the country, the release added. It Indian subsidiary AES India has begun a feasibility study to identify the specific location and other requirements for the project.
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BSNL targets 6 crore new subscribers
Kolkata: PSU telecom giant BSNL is targeting to increase its mobile customer base by six crore within the next three years. The company will spend six billion dollars to purchase technical equipment for rolling out 3G services and expanding its GSM network.

Out of the new additions, about 25 per cent was expected to come from its proposed 3G services, the sources said. BSNL general manager (task force and mobile) Chinmay Mitra said the cost of the technical equipment for offering the services to six crore new subscribers would be about $6 billion.

BSNL has nearly completed deployment of Nortel switches for expanding its line capacity in eastern and southern zones to add seven million new subscribers in those regions.
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Neyveli Lignite to give 14 per cent dividend
Mumbai: Neyveli Lignite Corporation, engaged in the exploration of lignite deposits and power generation, has declared a 14 per cent second interim dividend for the financial year 2005-2006.

At the meeting held today the board declared the interim dividend and said it would be paid on or before March 31, 2006.
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Rain Commodities acquires US firm
Mumbai: Rain Commodities, a Hyderabad based cement producer, has acquired 100 per cent equity stake in US-based Rain commodities Inc (RCUSA).

Earlier, RCUSA had acquired 20.22 percent stake in GLC Carbon USA Inc from American Industrial Partners Capital Fund II, LP (AIP) for an aggregate price of 23.2 million Canadian dollars in cash. Through the acquisition of RCUSA, Rain Commodities now owns 20.22 per cent stake in GLC, which is in turn is the world's largest producer of CPC.

Rain Commodities is also one of the original investors in Rain Calcining, a company engaged in the business of Calcined Petroleum Coke (CPC).
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RPG bags Rs110-crore order
Mumbai: RPG Transmission (RPGT), a group company of the Rs8,450 crore RPG Enterprises, has bagged a Rs110-crore oder from Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL). The company's scope of work includes supply and construction of 166 km long, 765kV transmission line associated with Sipat Stage I transmission system, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

This transmission line is being set up to evacuate power from Sipat Super Thermal Power Plant at Sipat, Chhattisgarh to Seoni substation in Madhya Pradesh, it said.

With the orders the current order book of the company stands at around Rs350 crore.

The company said it had shown considerable growth in revenues and the order inflow in the current year. It said RPG Transmission is well poised to grow by leveraging on new opportunities and by improving operational efficiencies.

ONGC wants to acquire Cairns' Indian assets

New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corp is looking at the possibility of acquiring the Indian assets of British oil explorer Cairn Energy, ONGC chairman Subir Raha.

Government official said that ONGC had indicated a price for Cairn Energy's oil field in the western desert state of Rajasthan but Cairn felt it was too low.

The government official said the two sides have differed on the valuation of the oil field but added that talks between ONGC and Cairn may resume.
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