In-principle nod given for AI, IA merger
New Delhi: The Government has in-principle approved the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines and the process will be completed this year itself, said the minister for civil aviation, Praful Patel.

According to him there would not be a holding company for the two airlines. Officials indicated that the merger would create a monolith that would be better positioned to take on global competition. Besides, with Air India keen on joining a global aviation alliance, the merger could provide additional benefits to passengers including access to far-flung areas of the country currently not served by any domestic airline.

While a roadmap for the merger of the two airlines will be finalised in the next few months, the timing for their initial public offering (IPO) still remained undecided, said the minister.
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TV18 to acquire 50 per cent stake in JobStreet
Mumbai: Television Eighteen India (TV18) plans to pick up a 50 per cent stake in JobStreet.com India, the Indian arm of JobStreet Corporation Berhad, an online recruitment company in Malaysia.

TV18 has signed a MoU with JobStreet Corporation and said it would initially infuse $2million in cash and provide `on-going media support' to the business. JobStreet is listed on the Mesdaq market of Bursa Malaysia.

"With this, TV18 has entered the e-recruiting market, growing fast in India. TV18 has been investing and building Internet franchisees in India. The Group owns online platforms - moneycontrol.com, commoditiescontrol.com, poweryourtrade.com and ibnlive.com. Also it recently announced the setting up of yatra.in, a travel services company, in partnership with Norwest Venture Partners and Reliance Capital.

Shares of TV18 edged down by Rs2.95 to Rs642 in Tuesday's trade on the BSE.
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Foster's beer may come under UB's fold
Bangalore: UB has said that the Asian operations of Foster's, its Indian operations might come into UB's fold if Scottish & Newcastle wins the bid to take over the Australian brewer's assets. Scottish & Newcastle is an equal shareholder along with Vijay Mallya and his associates in UB.

Scottish & Newcastle and a few others are bidding for the assets of Foster's, which has decided to exit certain Asian countries including India, Vietnam, China, Fiji, and Samoa.

Foster's has a brewery each in India (Aurangabad) and China and according to industry sources, it runs a profitable business in these two countries. The entire deal (Asian operations), according to sources in the industry, is worth over £80 million.

Scottish & Newcastle, which owns 37.5 per cent of UB, is also looking at launching its own brands in India through the joint venture.
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Sahara to operate with a new name
New Delhi: Air Sahara will soon operate as a 100 per cent subsidiary of Jet Airways, albeit under a new name. This will be the third name change for Air Sahara which commenced operations under the name of Sahara Airline.

Meanwhile, a 10-member team from Jet Airways would help Air Sahara in its operations till all regulatory approvals are received. The merger process is likely to be completed within nine months from regulatory approval being obtained.
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Jindal Saw bags $180-mn US order
New Delhi: Jindal Saw has won an order of $180 million from Houston-based Gulf South Pipeline Company to supply 250 miles of jointed and coated pipes, according to a press release by the company. The current order book of Jindal Saw from the US market alone is of the order of $400 million, according to the release.
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Prithvi Info to increase authorised capital
Hyderabad: Prithvi Information Solutions plans to hike the authorised capital from Rs20 crore to Rs30 crore. Alongside this, the company plans to seek approval for borrowing powers up to Rs400 crore that will enable the company to pursue overseas acquisitions. The company EGM will be held on April 29, to consider the option of raising funds through issue of FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds) up to $70 million for overseas acquisitions and further business expansions. Alongside, the company will issue of 9,03,850 equity shares equivalent to 5 per cent of the paid-up equity under the employee stock option scheme.
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Deloitte to double headcount in India
New Delhi: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu the audit and consultancy services company, said it would double its India headcount to 12,000 by 2010.

The firm, which is working on generating around nine per cent of its global revenues from India employs about 6,500 people across 13 locations in the country. It hopes to generate 25 per cent of its global revenues from the Asia-Pacific region and around 8-10 per cent from India alone.

The firm also plans to set up a "centre of excellence" in Mumbai, which would specialise in M&A deals and transactions in the country. The centre would also train personnel in auditing, consultancy, risk assurance and enhance its presence by bringing more firms under its umbrella for its niche services.

The company has invested around $50 million in India in the spheres of training personnel, programmes and technology over the past five years.
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Khaitans restructure holdings in 3 group cos.
Kolkata: The Khaitans of the BM Khaitan Group are restructuring their holdings in three group companies including McLeod Russel India, Kilburn Engineering and Williamson Magor Financial Services. Share transfers from one holding firm to another have been reported over the past few days.

Sources in the group said the exercise was aimed at clearing inter-corporate receivables and payables. The changes are in accordance with earlier loans given by one firm to another. The promoters are not changing their stake and their holdings in the three companies remain unchanged said company sources.

According to sources, approximately 10-15 crore shares of the three companies were transferred from one firm to another, with a three-day prior notice given at the respective stock exchanges.

McLeod Russel India the world's largest tea producing company, is the second largest money-earner in the group. On December 31, 2005, the Khaitans held 52.62 per cent share in it. The Khaitan's holding in Williamson Magor Financial Services is 65.16 per cent (as on December 31, 2005) and 56.97 per cent in the Mumbai-based Kilburn Engineering (as on September 30, 2005).
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Bajaj Electricals approves Rs.30-cr capex
Mumbai: Bajaj Electricals has informed the BSE that its board of directors has approved capital expenditure of Rs30 crore to enhance the production capacity of its engineering and projects division. The company also said that Indu Shahani has been appointed as director on the board with effect from March 31, 2006. The Bajaj Electricals scrip gained Rs8.65 to close at Rs515.40 on the BSE.
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Tata Motors reports 13.7 rise in vehicle sales in 2005-06
Mumbai: Tata Motors has reported a 13.7 per cent increase in its total vehicle sales for 2005-06, at 4, 54,345 units from the previous corresponding 3,99,566 units. Domestic sale of commercial vehicles touched 2,14,950 units including M&HCV (medium & heavy commercial vehicles) sales of 1,28,714 units and LCVs (light commercial vehicles) at 86,236 units. Passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market grew by 5.5 per cent to 1,88,856 units.

Indica sales were up 5.7 per cent at 1,11,574 units and that of the Indigo range, higher by 0.2 per cent at 39,377 units. Sumo sold 33,213 units, a growth of 6.9 per cent, while Safari sales were up 47.9 per cent at 4,692 units.

For March 2006, Tata Motors' overall vehicle sales gained by 27 per cent to 56,406 units. Domestic truck sales grew by 33.3 per cent to 27,289 units (20,473 units for the year ago period) with M&HCV sales up 14.5 per cent at 16,312 units and that of LCVs, up 76.3 per cent at 10,977 units.

The company's passenger vehicle sales for March rose 13.1 per cent to 22,609 units. Indica sales were higher by 17.5 per cent at 12,989 units while that of the Indigo range increased by 1.8 per cent to 4,666 units. Sales of Sumo and Safari rose 13.8 per cent to 4,954 units.
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RINL profit falls
Visakhapatnam: Rashtriya Ispat Nigam's profit margins have fallen "due to the steep hike in raw material prices and price fluctuations", though the plant performed creditably during 2005-06.

Y Sivasagara Rao, chairman and managing director, said the company had registered the best sales turnover of Rs8,469 crore, a growth of 4 per cent. The plant produced 4.152 million tonnes of hot metal, 3.603 million tonnes of liquid steel and 3.236 million tonnes of saleable steel, with all the production units achieving capacity utilisation above 120 per cent.

However, he admitted that despite such excellent performance, the profit margins suffered substantially and the provisional net profit was likely to be Rs1,200 crore or so against Rs2,008 crore recorded the previous year.

He said the plant had to pay Rs450 crore more due to the hike in raw material prices and price slump contributed roughly Rs500 crore. Apart from this the company has cleared debts of Rs500 crore.
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Cairn Energy to enter refining
Mumbai: UK-based oil company Cairn Energy, which is planning to invest in the refining sector in India is studying various options and is having discussions with domestic companies for possible tie-ups.

Mike Watts, director — exploration and new business, Cairn Energy, said the company was keeping its options open as far as its refining foray in India is concerned. He refused to reveal the names of the domestic companies the company is in talks with. Cairn had announced its plans to sell at least 25 per cent of its shares in its Indian business through an initial public offer (IPO). The IPO might happen before oil production commences in its Rajasthan fields in 2008.

The company's oil discovery in Rajasthan, where the reserves have been pegged in excess of 3.5 billion barrels, is considered the biggest in the country in two decades.

The company has also upgraded recoverable reserves from Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya — three of the dozen discoveries in the Rajasthan block — by 20 per cent to 606-795 million barrels.
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Flextronics picks up stake in SemIndia
New Delhi: Flextronics the Singapore-based original equipment manufacturer has picked up a minority stake in the $3 billion semiconductor project, SemIndia, promoted by an NRI consortium. While Flextronics did not divulge amount of investment, the alliance will allow SemIndia to sell its semiconductor chips to Flextronics for use in cell phones, set-top boxes and personal computers.

Under the strategic partnership between the two firms, Flextronics will manufacture electronics products for SemIndia. The project, which has a 2:1 debt-equity ratio, will also have equity from the Andhra government.

The $1 billion equity will have $250 million each from the central government and strategic partners including Flextronics and $500 million investment will come from private equity investors. The $2 billion debt has been arranged from global and Indian financial institutions.

The project to be set up in Hyderabad will be in two phases, with the assembly and testing plant coming up in the first phase followed by the chip manufacturing facility.
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