Satyam bags Nissan NA order
Chennai: Satyam Computer Services has been selected by the $80-billion Nissan North America to be its sole information technology service provider. Even though Satyam officials declined to provide a value for the five-year deal, sources said it could be above $100 million (over Rs450 crore).

B Rama Raju, co-founder and CEO, Satyam, told newspersons that the company will provide maintenance support for Nissan North America's entire application management system.

This is the second the second major automobile client that Satyam Computers has won in the last three months. In January, Satyam bagged a $150-million (Rs650 crore) five-year deal from General Motors through a partnership with tier-I vendors Hewlett Packard and Capgemini.

Satyam has set up as a dedicated 50,000 sq ft facility for the Nissan project in Chennai with 350 employees to be deployed, and increased to 750 in the next three years, Raju said.

Officials at Satyam said the company took over the assignment from another company, and the deal comprises multiple business functions from product development to supply chain management, manufacturing to sales and marketing across multiple technologies, they said.
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Siemens venture capital arm to set up shop in India
Mumbai: German engineering major Siemens group's €700 million corporate venture arm Siemens Venture Capital (SVC), will soon start its activities in India.

SVC's goal is to identify and finance investments in emerging and innovative technologies and market opportunities to enhance the core business activities of Siemens and create attractive returns on the capital invested.

The investment focus covers critical infrastructure technologies in the field of information and communications, medical solutions, automation and control, power, automotive technology, transportation systems, and lighting, a company statement issued here said.
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Jet, Sahara extend March 24 deadline
Jet Airways and the Sahara group have extended the deadline of March 24 by three months for completing the acquisition of Air Sahara.

According to a joint statement issued by Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal and Sahara chief Subrata Roy the two had agreed to extend the term of the share purchase agreement by 90 days and the enterprise value of the deal remained the same ($500 million).

This ends speculation that Jet Airways was negotiating hard to bring down the price of the acquisition as it was not clear if it would get the entire air traffic rights and airport infrastructure of Air Sahara.

Jet Airways now gets the time to get all the required regulatory approvals and sort out contentious issues like the transfer of Sahara's parking slots and air traffic rights. The agreement to extend the deadline came after daylong negotiations between the Jet Airways and Sahara brass in New Delhi.
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Ram Ratna Infrastructure gets 20 projects to set up multilevel parking
Chennai: Ram Ratna Infrastructure, part of the Rs1,000 crore Mumbai-based Ram Ratna Group, has signed 20 projects in South India for its multi-level parking solutions, according to Balachandran Dharmen, senior group vice-president, Ram Ratna Group.

The parking solutions range from a 2-car unit for bungalows and individual residences to a 50-car module for shopping malls and commercial complexes. One of the modules, the tower parking system, can provide parking for up to 50 cars in a space of 450 sq ft, which otherwise can accommodate three cars.

The company will manufacture the modules in technical collaboration with Dae Jin, a South Korea-based manufacturing firm, at a facility near Mumbai.
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MRTPC gives clean chit to Colgate
New Delhi: Colgate Palmolive (India) has been cleared by the Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) on charges of unfair and restrictive trade practices filed by a consumer of Dabur India's `Lal Dant Manjan'.

The Commission came down hard on Dabur, saying that the application was motivated and filed at the behest of Dabur India and that no particulars of any unfair trade practice were observed in the complaint.

The Dabur consumer, in the complaint, alleged that he came across circulars distributed to dealers and retailers by Colgate Palmolive, which contained "false and misleading remarks and statements" disparaging the Dabur product.

Colgate Palmolive, on its part, filed a reply where it claimed that the complaint was frivolous and without any merit. It also said the Dabur consumer had suppressed the fact that Dabur's Lal Dant Manjan contained tobacco, the use of which had been prohibited in toothpastes and powders by an earlier Health Ministry notification.
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L&T board approves FCCB issue
Mumbai: The Larsen & Toubro board of directors has approved the raising of foreign currency onvertible bonds/international depository receipts in one or more tranches, amounting up to $300 million (over Rs1,300 crore) for various purposes, including "business acquisitions." This will be subject to the approval of shareholders and other regulatory approvals as maybe required, said the company in a statement to the stock exchanges.

The company said funds are being raised to part-finance the requirements of the company towards capital expenditure for expansion/modernisation, working capital, investments in subsidiaries, infrastructure projects and for other growth requirements including business acquisitions.
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Torrent group merges power companies
Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad-based Torrent group has merged its three different companies in the power sector into one entity called Torrent Power.

This follows three separate companies — Torrent Power AEC, Torrent Power SEC, and Torrent Power Generation — setting up committees on January 24 to work out a new business model for the group's power business.

The reports of the committees recommended restructuring the operations of the company by way of a merger to form a new entity.

Last year, the group, which has interests in pharmaceuticals and power, had put the three companies in the power sector under a common umbrella brand name — Torrent Power.

The move says the group, is expected to help it leverage existing resources to enhance bargaining power and improve the ability to take advantage of the upcoming investment opportunities in the country's power sector.
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Federal Mogul to acquire Anil Nanda's stake in Goetze
New Delhi: Federal Mogul, the US automotive company, is acquiring the majority stake of its Indian partner, Anil Nanda, in the Rs465-crore Goetze India. The US company would be picking up an additional 24.64 per cent in the company from the Anil Nanda-promoted Joint Investments for about Rs130 crore.

Following the transaction, Federal Mogul's stake in Goetze will go up to 50.10 per cent. The date of the proposed acquisition is on or after March 28, and the mode of the proposed acquisition is by way of inter-se promoter transfer at a price of about Rs205-215.

According to the Bombay Stock Exchange Web site, Joint Investments has a stake of about 27.21 per cent in Goetze. Nanda's shareholding in Goetze will come down to around 2.6-3 per cent following the completion of the transaction.

Industry observers said the transaction would not spark off an open offer as this was an inter-se transfer between the two promoters.

Nanda was given controlling interest in Goetze India in January 2003 following his parting ways with elder brother Rajan Nanda, chairman and managing director of Escorts.

Goetze's stock price jumped 17.02 per cent on the BSE today, closing at Rs270.25, up Rs39.30 over yesterday's closing of Rs230.95.
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Drug import lands Biocon in trouble
Bangalore: The government of Karnataka has ordered an inquiry against Biocon for allegedly importing and marketing a neurological drug, methylcobalamin, from China without an import licence. Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister R Ashok informed the assembly that Biocon was marketing the drug in the country for the last seven years.

He said the state drugs controller detected the lapse on January 17 this year and a notice was issued to Biocon on January 27. Subsequently, Biocon obtained an import licence on February 10. He said an inquiry will be conducted to find out how Biocon managed to market the drug for the last seven years without a valid import licence.

Biocon said it had obtained a licence to manufacture methylcobalamin in step with a specific process. For commercial reasons, it revised the process and started manufacturing the product.

But the revised process was not updated with the Drug Controllers' offices and this was a procedural lapse on the part of the company.
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IT companies to hike salaries
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services are revising salaries with effect from April 1, said executives. Officials at Satyam Computer Services said the company was in the process of finalising the proposed hikes and will come out with the details on April 21, during the fourth quarter earnings announcements.

Infosys will also increase wages and may announce the details on April 14. An Infosys executive said contrary to some analyst reports there was little to suggest that wage pressures have eased.

Wipro another IT major hiked onsite salaries of its employees by 2-3 per cent with effect from January 1. This hike could impact the company's January-March operating margins by 50-60 basis points.

Wipro had earlier increased offshore salaries by 12-14 per cent with effect from November 1. These salary hikes together would have an impact of 100-120 basis points on the operating margins for the March quarter.

Wipro will detail its January-March earnings mid-April. The company does not give any earnings guidance.
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