Parliament passes Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2006
New Delhi: The Lok Sabha passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2006 on Monday after a discussion. The Rajya Sabha approved this Bill on March 21without any debate.

The Bill seeks to give a legal validity to the MCA-21 project, which is a major e-governance initiative of the ministry of company affairs. The Rs300-cr MCA-21 project is expected to bring about more efficiency in the administration of the Companies Act. This project mandates and facilitates online filing of statutory documents by companies. The Bill also provides for issuance of director information numbers (DIN) to directors of companies.

"MCA-21 is a revolutionary step that we have taken and approved. There would be e-filing of returns and documents. This would reduce the interface between the Government department and public. The MCA-21 would also deal with frauds. There are also adequate safety measures to ensure the security of data furnished by companies," Mr Prem Chand Gupta, Company Affairs Minister, said in the Lok Sabha. The Minister announced that 1.5 lakh directors had already obtained DINs.

This Bill was necessary as the Companies Act 1956 does not contain adequate enabling provisions to support certain online processes that have since become available due to technological advancement and are essential for the successful implementation of the MCA-21 project.

On the issue of a law for limited liability partnerships (LLPs), Mr Gupta said that this was under the consideration of the Government.
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Wipro buys CAD firm Quantech in all cash deal
Bangalore: Wipro Technologies, the IT services division of Wipro, has acquired US-based Quantech Global Services in an all-cash deal. The size of the deal was not revealed, however, but Wipro is likely to pay around $10.2mn (Rs46 crore) as upfront cash payment.

The transaction has also been structured based on the earn-outs on achieving the agreed financial targets over a three-year period.

Quantech, which provides computer aided design (CAD) and engineering services was started in 1990 and reported revenues of $12.7mn (Rs57 crore) for the '05 calendar year. It has centres in US and two in India at Hyderabad and Bangalore with a total employee strength of 500.

The deal is expected to close in three-weeks time and revenues will start flowing in for Wipro in the current quarter of FY07.

The last buyout for Wipro was cMango for an estimated $20mn (Rs90 crore). It had recently acquired entities like Austrian-based firm NewLogic for $56mn (Rs252 crore) and mPower for $20.8mn (Rs94 crore).
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Assam Company picks 50 pc stake in Aussie O&G firm
Kolkata: The city-based Assam Company Ltd has acquired a 50-per cent stake in the Adelaide-based oil & gas exploration Austin Exploration Ltd.

Assam Co is engaged in tea business and has recently ventured into oil and gas exploration in Assam. Through Austin Exploration the company would start exploration in Australia and the US, where it Austin holds exploration licence for four blocks, two each in the US and Australia.

Exploration in these four blocks is likely to start by the end of this year, according to Jajodia.
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Lupin signs licensing deal with Italian firm
Mumbai: Lupin has signed a licensing agreement with ItalFarmaco, a leading Italian pharmaceutical company. As per the agreement, the company would exclusively market their cardiovascular critical care product, Enoxaparin Sodium Injection, in pre-filled syringes under the brand name `Lupenox` in the Indian market.

Earlier in March 2006, Lupin's wholly-owned subsidiary, Lupin pharmaceuticals, entered into an agreement with Chester Valley Pharmaceuticals, United States, to promote Atopiclair Nonsteroidal Cream to pediatricians.

In February, Lupin and Aspen Pharmacare Holdings of South Africa signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a 50:50 joint venture for the development, manufacture and global marketing (except US, South Africa & India Trade) of select anti-TB products.
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BSNL, MTNL likely to settle dispute over NLD charges
New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) may arrive at an early settlement on the national long distance (NLD) carriage charges dispute. The two parties are working on a mechanism to settle carriage charges in a routine manner.

BSNL had reportedly asked MTNL to cough up about Rs900 crore as outstanding dues for 2005-06, on account of charges for carrying NLD traffic and access deficit charge. Even as the dispute was yet to be settled MTNL invited bids from various operators for carrying its NLD traffic.

Till date, BSNL has been the NLD carrier for MTNL.
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VSNL refutes USTR charges
New Delhi: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) has strongly refuted a recent United States Trade Representative (USTR) office report that accuses the company of creating an artificial shortage of bandwidth and inflating prices. In its rebuttal VSNL says that the report does not take into account several submissions made by it on the issue.

"VSNL wishes to lodge an objection against the non-transparent nature of the Section 1377 process. The 2006 report characterises the views of a narrow segment of US operators, yet provides no factual information supporting those views. Conversely, VSNL had submitted data on this topic several times to USTR in written submissions and during face-to-face meetings; yet the 2006 report neither acknowledges VSNL's inputs nor addresses the extent to which these data refute the views of commenting US operators," VSNL said in a letter to the Assistant USTR for industry, market access and telecommunications.

VSNL expressed concern that the 2006 report may be subject to "misinterpretation," particularly by persons in foreign countries, who may not be familiar with the Section 1377 process.

On the US operators' concern about "inflated prices" for international bandwidth in India, VSNL pointed out that the report did not provide any examples of recent price increases. "In fact, VSNL's rates have declined by over 90 per cent since 2000, and active regulation by Indian regulator TRAI of international bandwidth rates since last year should effectively eliminate any concerns about future price inflation," it said.
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Outsourcing: TUs plan stir
Thiruvananthapuram: Trade unions in the financial sector are gearing up for a nation-wide agitation against the move to source banking and insurance services and intend to observe May 16 as "anti-outsourcing day."

Office-bearers of the Kerala State Committee of All-India Co-ordination Committee of Unions in the Financial Sector said here on Monday that the demands included dropping of the outsourcing move; filling up of the thousands of vacant posts in banking and insurance sectors; and permanent employment to casual employees.
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New logo for Anil Ambani group
New Delhi: The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has released a new group logo with the word Reliance in capital letters in an entirely new font along with the lineage - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

A combination of blue and red colours is meant to convey solidity and the alphabet `A' in the Reliance name has been converted into two arrows arching upwards.

The new logo is meant to reflect the group's business interests from telecommunications to entertainment, urban infrastructure to financial services, and energy to a new area such as healthcare. The need, therefore, was to evolve a logo that did not reflect any specific product category.
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Aftek Q3 net up at Rs.26.1-cr
Pune: Aftek Infosys Ltd has registered net sales of Rs71.94 crore during the third quarter ended March 2006 against Rs50.76 crore for the quarter ended March 2005, registering a growth of 41.72 per cent.

According to an official release, operating profit during the quarter rose to Rs30.79 crore compared with Rs22.46 crore, up by 37.11 per cent.

Net profit increased to Rs26.14 crore from Rs17.61 crore during the same period. The earnings per share (diluted) stood at Rs2.87 on the face value of Rs2 per share.

For the nine months ended March 31, 2006, the company has registered net sales of Rs193.3 crore and a net profit of Rs64.3 crore.

Aftek is a player in the infrastructure, information and process enterprise business management solutions space.
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Infosys in major global hiring initiative
Bangalore: In a major global hiring initiative, Infosys Technologies Ltd, on Monday announced plans to recruit talent from colleges in the US and the UK.

The company plans to recruit 300 graduates from universities in the US this year, and 25 graduates from the UK next year, to create a diversified, global workforce for the company. Infosys now (as of March 31, 2006) has employees from 59 different nationalities. Currently, about three per cent of Infosys' employees are foreign nationals, and this has grown by 50 per cent in the last two years.

"As we expand our global presence, we need to attract bright talent from the local economies. It was with this in mind that we launched university-level recruiting programme in the US," said T.V Mohandas Pai, Member of the Board - Human Resources and Education and Research, Infosys Technologies Ltd. "We plan to run a pilot at top universities in UK this year for 25 positions. We feel college graduates from the US and UK offer unique skills and perspectives that will blend with the skills of our Indian employees to expand our capabilities in all areas," he added.
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Suzlon to raise Rs5,000-cr overseas
Mumbai/Pune: Suzlon Energy Ltd (SEL), the world's fifth-largest wind turbine generator (WTG), on Monday said it would raise Rs5,000 crore through overseas bond or depository receipts to repay debt incurred for the takeover of Belgium-based Hansen Transmission and capacity expansion of domestic manufacturing facilities.

Suzlon officials said that Rs 2,250 crore would be raised through Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), with the bonds likely to be offered in the April-June quarter. The company was looking at various options, including ADRs/GDRs, for raising the balance amount.

The FCCB issue, which could be this quarter, would be used for repaying debt raised earlier to complete the acquisition of Hansen. Earlier this year, Suzlon had acquired Hansen for 465 million euros ($520 million). Hansen has a capacity to roll out 3,600-megawatts (MW) of wind turbine gearboxes and 3,000 industrial gear boxes a year.

Meanwhile, Suzlon Energy Ltd, has posted a 41% growth in net profit at Rs360.16 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2006 as compared to Rs253.74 crore in the same period a year ago.

Total income increased 60.97% to Rs1579.60 crore during the quarter from Rs981.24 crore in Q4 of FY 04-05. For the year ended March 31, 2006, Suzlon has posted a 127% rise in net profit to Rs821.19 crore from Rs361.46 crore in the previous year.

Total income rose by 98% to Rs3857.74 crore from Rs1,940.76 crore in FY 04-05.
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