SAP India to invest Rs115 crore to expand operations
Mumbai: SAP India plans to invest €20 million (Rs115 crore) in expanding its India operations. The expansion entails augmentation of its software development activity, setting up centres of excellence, and a chain of 22 SAP training centres across the country.

According to the German software company India is one of its eight strategic markets globally. Currently, the South-Asia region contributes 13 to 15 per cent of SAP revenues worldwide, with India accounting for a large part of it. SAP has been growing in India at around 50 per cent in revenues annually. In the first quarter of the current fiscal (from January to March) SAP acquired 94 new customers while in the second quarter it has so far 70 new customers. The company had acquired 180 customers in the whole of the previous fiscal.

The company will be signing on new distributor partners in India also. The company is signing up IBM as partner, in addition to Hewlett Packard, which is its existing national distribution partner. Through these companies SAP plans to create a network of 100 resellers. This year SAP has opened new offices in Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. It also plans to open an office in Ludhiana soon. The new areas of focus for the company in India are retail, utilities, telecom, banking and financial services sectors apart from SMEs.
Back to News Review index page  

Telecom dept asks for details on Reliance's GSM foray
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the company for more details on its proposal to launch GSM cellular services. It has said that Reliance Communication may have release part of its CDMA spectrum if it wants to foray into GSM cellular services and

Reliance Communications has applied for radio frequency in the 1,800 Mhz band used for GSM cellular services. While the application is for Delhi and Mumbai, the company, which is the largest CDMA player in the country, is looking to roll out a nationwide GSM network.

DoT officials said Reliance Communications may completely switch over to GSM-based mobile services and exit CDMA.

Market watchers said that the Reliance's move to switch to GSM comes after discussions with Qualcomm, the proprietor of CDMA technology, to reduce its royalty failed. CDMA industry sources said that the company was charging a higher royalty in India compared to other countries like China.

The Ministry of Communications is also understood to have informally requested the US based Qualcomm, the promoter of CDMA technology, to consider revising its royalty charges.
Back to News Review index page  

Suzuki Motor Corp to make India an export hub
Tokyo: Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) plans to turn its Indian operations as an export hub in the near future. Osamu Suzuki, chairman and CEO of SMC, said that the company would use its subsidiary in India, Maruti Udyog, to manufacture newer car models with the aim of exporting them to other markets.

"We will be looking to commence manufacturing of new models at Maruti for this purpose," said Suzuki said on the sidelines of the India-Japan Business Summit being held in Tokyo and on the eve of World Economic Forum's East Asia Summit.

He also added that Suzuki did not intend to increase its stake beyond the present 54 per cent in Maruti.
Back to News Review index page  

HZL bags `Golden Peacock' award
Hyderabad: Vedanta Resources Plc's subsidiary Hindustan Zinc, which is the country's largest integrated producer of zinc and lead, has been awarded the `Golden Peacock Environment Management Award - 2006'. The company won the award for its ISO 14001 certified Visakhapatnam plant amid stiff competition. The World Environment Foundation (WEF) gave the award for using environment friendly techniques in industrial activities.
Back to News Review index page  

Carborundum to acquire 49-per cent stake in Chinese company
Chennai: Carborundum Universal (CUMI) plans to acquire 49 per cent stake in Jingri Industrial Diamond Company, China, for $4.9 million (Rs20 crore). An agreement to this effect was signed between the Chennai-based Murugappa group company and the parent company of Jingri, China Engineering and Exploration Bureau (CEEB). Jingri will issue shares to CUMI to give the Indian company the 49 per cent stake.

The joint venture rechristened as `Jingri CUMI Super Hard Metal Company Ltd' would set up a 2,000-tonne bonded abrasives plant in China. CUMI will supply the technology for the abrasives plant. It will also be involved in the management of the business as the JV partner, the company said.

Jingri is among the bigger synthetic diamond manufacturing companies in China with an installed capacity of 120 million carats. The company also has a joint venture with Hyosung of Korea, which manufactures diamond saw blades. Another subsidiary of the company produces a range of products that use synthetic diamonds. Jingri's consolidated turnover for 2005 was $10 million (Rs45 crore).
Back to News Review index page  

Italcementi to invest Rs800 crore in India
Mumbai: The fifth largest cement maker in the world Italcementi, will invest Rs800 crore over the next two years in various greenfield and acquisition projects in India. The Italian company has already spent Rs1,200 crore in India having acquired Zuari Cements in 2000 and Sri Vishnu Cements in 2001.

As part of its expansion plans, the company will build a 5,500 tonne-per-day clinker unit at its plant in Yerraguntla which will be operational in 2008. A grinding unit will come up in Chennai and a captive power plant as well, both to be ready in 2007.
Back to News Review index page  

Wockhardt anti-epilepsy drug gets tentative nod from US FDA
Mumbai: Wockhardt has received tentative approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to sell anti-epileptic drug Divalproex Sodium delayed release tablets in the US which is the generic version of Abbott's Depakote DR. The patent on the product expires on January 29, 2008.

Wockhardt's subsidiary in the US, Wockhardt USA Inc will launch the product on the first day of patent expiration in the US market. The market for the product in the US is $802 million.

This would be the company's third US FDA approval in three weeks and the fifth this year. Wockhardt has 20 more products awaiting US FDA approval.

Divalproex Sodium will be manufactured at Wockhardt's bulk-drug facility at Ankleshwar and the tablets will be manufactured at the formulation plant in Aurangabad, both certified by US FDA.
Back to News Review index page  

Ciba Specialty, Virchow Group to enter into joint venture
Mumbai: Ciba Specialty Chemicals (India) has entered into a joint venture with Hyderabad-based Virchow Group for the production of Triclosan, an anti-microbial ingredient used in a variety of products, including cosmetics.

Ciba Specialty will hold the majority 51 per cent stake in the new company, which will produce Triclosan for the domestic and other Asian markets, according to Jimmy Bilimoria, v ice-chairman and managing director of Ciba Specialty.

Triclosan is used in toothpaste, soap, deodorants, and non-cosmetic articles such as shower curtains and technical textiles because it helps prevent the occurrence of oral infections, germ transfer, body odour, and material decay.
Back to News Review index page  

L&T signs jt venture agreement with Kuwait company
Mumbai: Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has entered into a joint venture agreement with a subsidiary of the Kuwait-based Bader Al Mulla group. The new venture will be known as `Larsen & Toubro Kuwait Construction WLL' and will be registered as a local company in Kuwait. The company will deal with construction projects in oil & gas, power and infrastructure, with a primary focus on electro-mechanical construction. Both companies hope to benefit from the construction boom in Kuwait, specifically in the sectors of oil refining and infrastructure development.

The joint venture was signed after A.M. Naik, chairman & managing director of L&T, led a high level delegation to Kuwait. The company was keen on developing long-term relationships with the industry in the GCC region, and was actively scouting for alliances with companies that shared its vision and had a complementary capability profile, a news release said.
Back to News Review index page  

R-ADAG may build Metro link to airport
Mumbai: Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) is talking to a consortium led by Anil Ambani group, which has bagged the contract for Mumbai Metro project, to provide direct rail link to the new airport terminal.

A consortium led by R-ADAG firm Reliance Energy and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has bagged the contract for the Rs2,356 crore phase-I of the Mumbai Metro Rail Project. The work on the 11 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor, which comes under Phase-I, will start this month.

The Mumbai Metro Rail Project involves three phases covering nine corridors at a cost of Rs19,000 crore.
Back to News Review index page  

Hutch to acquire Hindujas' stake in Hutch-Essar
Mumbai: Hutchison Whampoa has won the race for acquiring Hindujas' 5.1 per cent stake in the Indian mobile telephony major Hutchison Essar. Hutchison Telecom International, an arm of the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, will pay about $580-590 million (nearly Rs2,700 crore) to buy the stake, industry sources said.

The acquisition will take Hutchison's total holding in the Indian telecom major to nearly 40 per cent. The Ruais of the Essar group hold 33.6 per cent in the company.

The deal effectively values Hutchison Essar at nearly $11.5 billion (about Rs53,000 crore). Ambit Corporate Finance was the advisor to the Hindujas in this stake sale.
Back to News Review index page