No cut in royalty, says Qualcomm
New Delhi: Qualcomm has indicated that while it would not implement any royalty cuts on handsets it would look to bring down the cost of handsets through technological innovations. Dr Paul Jacobs the chief executive officer, of Qualcomm Inc in a meeting with Union Communications and IT Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, said the company would enable setting up of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) handset manufacturing unit in the country. The company also said that it was working towards enabling cheaper CDMA handsets apart from leveraging its research and development centres in India for Qualcomm's global requirement by increasing the headcount.

Dr Jacobs said that Qualcomm would come in with design, the latest chipset, and hardware with engineering resources to enable local manufacturing. While the company does not manufacture handsets directly, it gives licences to companies such as LG and Samsung to produce CDMA handsets. Maran is understood to have told Qualcomm to remove all bottlenecks hindering the growth of CDMA services in the country. The Communications Ministry had earlier indicated that high royalty charges being paid to Qualcomm were coming in the way of cheaper handsets.
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Pfizer Q2 net soars on extraordinary income
Mumbai: Pfizer has posted a 132 per cent growth in net profit for second quarter ended May 31, 2006. Pfizer's profit figures have received a boost from the sale of its Hyderabad facility and the local launch of new medicines.

Pfizer posted a net profit after taxation of Rs35.89 crore (Rs15.47 crore). Total income increased to Rs17.79 crore (Rs14.51 crore). The company's profits have grown on the back of operational efficiencies and the launch of Viagra (for erectile dysfunction), Lyrica (to treat nerve-pain) and Caduet (for blood-pressure and high-cholestrol).

The company has sold its Hyderabad plant for Rs12 crore. The valuation of another Pfizer plant at Chandigarh is also underway. Last quarter, Pfizer sealed a deal to sell-off its Ankleshwar plant for Rs5.75 crore.

Earlier this week, Pfizer formalised a global agreement with Johnson & Johnson to sell its consumer healthcare business for $16.6 billion. Popular brands such as cough syrup Benadryl and mouthwash Listerine would now move out of Pfizer's fold. Pfizer is yet to reveal how the global deal will play out in India, where these products are sold. The company's shares closed at Rs770.90, up 1.35 per cent on the BSE.
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Tanishq opens stores in US
Kolkata: Titan Industries' jewellery division, Tanishq, is looking at establishing the brand in the the US through the establishment of two stand-alone Tanishq flagship stores in cities on the eastern coast of the country. This pilot project is expected to be completed over the next six months.

The company already exports to countries in West Asia, which contributes 5 per cent to its total sales and now it plans to cater to the Indian population in the US and the American mainstream jewellery space through these stores. The products would be designed and crafted at the brand's manufacturing unit in India and then shipped off-shore. Tanishq does not plan to extend its network in the US through the shop-in-shop concept in departmental stores, although this is the model adopted for product sales in countries in West Asia.
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UK court rejects Ranbaxy plea on Lipitor
New Delhi: The UK Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by Ranbaxy Laboratories against last October's ruling that its atorvastatin product would infringe the main patent covering Pfizer Inc's blockbuster drug Lipitor. The court of appeals upheld the lower court ruling of October 2005 which held that Pfizer's European patent, number 409281, was invalid, but also found that Ranbaxy's proposed product would infringe Pfizer's patent 247633, which covers the active ingredient in the US firm's cholesterol-lowering drug. Ranbaxy in a statement said that it was evaluating this decision and will decide on its course of action shortly.
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Aurobindo gets USFDA approval for HIV drug
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma has announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has granted tentative approval for Abacavir oral solution, an anti-retroviral component used in the paediatric AIDS population treatment. This is the first generic version approval given by USFDA.

Abacavir sulfate oral solution is the version of Ziagen solution, an anti-HIV medication manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. The company manufactures both active pharmaceutical ingredients and formulation for this generic. With this approval, the company's anti-retroviral portfolio with USFDA approval has increased to 14 products. Abacavir is one of the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, a class of drugs that helps prevent AIDS virus from reproducing. It is used in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.
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Xenos Tech ties up with Hyundai, Ford
Coimbatore: Xenos Technologies (XTL), based in Coimbatore and part of the Pricol group, has entered into agreements with Ford India and Hyundai Motor India to supply Nokia car enhancement products. The company was recently appointed by Nokia as its channel partner for the supply of its car enhancement products. XTL said Hyundai would use Xenos' `Skaters' power windows in all Santro variants which come with automatic and semi automatic models for two doors and four doors. The product would come in different models to match the specification of the vehicles.

XTL also plans to supply security systems manufactured by it (XTL) to Ford. To Hyundai, XTL would supply power windows. Ford India plans to use XTL's anti-theft security systems that offered two different security levels.
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Rico Auto to invest Rs100-cr in new products, capacity expansion
New Delhi: Rico Auto would invest Rs 100 crore this fiscal towards introducing new products as well as capacity expansion at its plants. The company would be adding new `value-add' components to its portfolio this year such as aluminium engine blocks and heads.

The company has signed a licensing and technological assistance agreement with Teksid Aluminium of Italy the new products and foresees a huge market for these components in India.

Rico Auto has also tied up with the Germany-based Pierburg for technology assistance to produce water pumps and oil pumps. These components would primarily be supplied to Maruti for its new diesel engine project. Maruti plans to start making diesel engines in India by the end of 2006. Pierburg, part of Kolbenschmidt group, is a major producer of oil, vacuum and water pumps and emission control systems and is a leading supplier to most vehicle manufacturers worldwide.

With its product introduction plans in place, Rico Auto is targeting to grow its revenues by 25 per cent this fiscal. Last year the company had revenues of Rs678 crore.
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Legal battle rages over Jet-Sahara dispute
New Delhi: Jet Airways has asked for a stay on the order given by the Lucknow district court, which freezes the escrow account and restrains it from selling Air Sahara shares pledged to it for an advance of Rs 500 crore.

Questioning the jurisdiction of the Lucknow Court in hearing the application moved by Sahara and passing an interim order, Jet filed a petition in the apex court seeking transfer of the proceedings to the Bombay High Court where it had already instituted proceedings under the Arbitration Act.

Terming the injunction order passed by the Lucknow District Court as "mala fide" and "abuse of process of the court", Jet said the order has caused serious and grave miscarriage of justice and it would continue to suffer irreparable harm, loss and prejudice if the proceedings were not transferred from Lucknow to Bombay High Court.

Hours earlier Air Sahara filed a caveat to prevent any ex-parte hearing or order on the Jet petition.

The Jet petition was likely to come up for hearing before June 30 when the Lucknow District Court is scheduled to hear the Sahara plea.
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DoT issues 3-month deadline to Telcos to meet FDI security norms
New Delhi: The department of telecommunications (DoT) has sought a three-month deadline extension for telecom operators headed by ex-pat CEOs to adhere to security conditions in the new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy.

All telecom operators have to meet the security conditions by July 2. The extension of the deadline has become necessary as the Union communications minister Dayanidhi Maran has rejected committee of secretary's (CoS) proposal that the security guidelines for existing operators should be different from that for the new operators.

The current stipulations in telecom FDI norms disallow foreigners to be CEO/CTO of a company and make it mandatory for telcos to have their remote access in the country.

CoS had recommended that this should not be applicable to the existing telcom service providers who continue to function within the 49 pc FDI cap. However, the new operators or the existing telcos who want to raise FDI beyond 49 pc ( up to 74%) could not employ foreigners as CEO/CTOs, said the CoS recommendations.
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