Qualcomm, Reliance meet ends in stalemate
Mumbai: The eight-hour meeting on Thursday between Qualcomm Inc and Reliance Communications in Mumbai ended in a stalemate, said sources. The meeting was held on the issue of the royalty which Qualcomm charges on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) handsets.

Reliance Communications wants the royalty decreased. Reliance Communications has also applied for the rival GSM technology in the prime circles of Mumbai and Delhi.

The Qualcomm CEO and Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communications, would meet over dinner again on Tuesday, possibly to continue the discussions. Qualcomm, while unrelenting on royalty charges, has shown some willingness to offer concessions, as a variable of volumes generated by Reliance. They said that Qualcomm might agree to negotiate with equipment manufacturers and look at lowering the cost element of handset prices based on volumes.
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ICI India to sell uniqema biz
New Delhi: ICI India is selling its uniqema business to UK-based Croda International for Rs260 crore. The sale will include the transfer of a portion of its factory based in Thane, along with 200 employees and will be completed before the end of this year.

This follows ICI Plc's decision to sell its global uniqema business to Croda International Plc. The annual sales for ICI India's uniqema (surfactant\oleochemical) business for the last year was about Rs150 crore, with over 60 per cent of the products going to textile industry. Croda has a small presence in India and this acquisition will enhance the size of its Indian operations.
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Tata to make big investments in TN
Chennai: The Tata group is planning to make investments in Tamil Nadul. Recently senior officials of the company held discussions with the Tamil Nadu Government officials on investment opportunities for the group in the State.

The delegation was led by R.K. Krishna Kumar, director, Tata Sons, and a member of the group corporate centre, which charts strategy and direction for the group. The Tata group is reportedly interested in investing in desalination projects, integrated townships and a heavy vehicle centre. The Tata group's interest in the state come after the Union Communications and IT Minister, Dayanidhi Maran asked the Tata group chairman, Ratan Tata, in Delhi to examine investment opportunities in Tamil Nadu. Ratan Tata is said to have responded favourably and assured the Minister that a delegation from the group would visit the State to study the options available.
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GE Healthcare ties up with Manipal Health
Bangalore: Medical diagnostics company GE Healthcare has roped in Manipal Health Systems as its India partner for its ongoing global clinical studies on its diagnostic products. These are imaging agents being tested for diagnosis in oncology, neurology and cardiology. In the study starting in September, a GE integrated development centre (IDC) equipped with GE medical devices is to be set up at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore.

Using its doctors as investigators, Manipal will conduct 1,000 scans a year, initially contracted for three years, and return the raw data from these imagings to GE, according to top officials of the two companies.

Dan Peters, president & CEO of Medical Diagnostics at GE Healthcare, told the press that the data from the first IDC in Bangalore would be part of a series of worldwide clinical trials spread across the US, European countries and Latin America. The trials will use GE's scanners, viz. LightSpeed VCT, PET/CT scanner, dual head gamma camera with CT and twin speed high-definition MR imaging. The hospitals chain of the Rs280-crore Manipal Health Systems would be referral points.

The $15-billion GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric, the $153-billion US giant.
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Marriot pact with Unitech
New Delhi: Marriott International has entered into a long-term agreement with subsidiaries of construction company Unitech to manage three Courtyard-branded hotels here. Marriott said the 199-room property in Gurgaon and the 210-room property in Noida would open in 2008 the 250-room hotel in Kolkata would open in 2009. It said that the Courtyard-branded guest rooms are generally larger than those offered by other hotels in its category and would offer oversized work desks, two telephones, a data port, high-speed Internet access, an in-room safe and an in-room coffee service.

At present, Marriott International has presence in Mumbai, Goa and Chennai, among other cities, and plans to open hotels in Hyderabad and Bangalore soon.
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Praj Ind plans industrial biotech foray
Pune: Ethanol major Praj Industries (PIL) is laying out a Rs20-crore expansion plan, including entry into the industrial biotech space. The company is also enhancing its R&D capabilities and the blueprint for expansion is expected to be ready in three months, said the chairman of the company Pramod Chaudhari. Praj will move into an independent R&D facility to tap the nascent industrial bio-tech space, he said.

The company, which has bagged an order from a US-based group for setting up two corn-based ethanol plants, is simultaneously preparing to meet more demand from the US and has shortlisted some companies in the US/Europe for acquisition. He said the companies would have local engineering expertise.

Praj is expanding manufacturing capacities by setting up two additional workshops near the Mumbai port and plans 30 per cent addition to the existing manpower, he added.
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Aurobindo gets USFDA nod for Stavudine
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma has received tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Stavudine capsules in 15 mg and 20 mg dosages. The company said this is in addition to the 30 mg and 40 mg capsules already approved in July last year. The company said that Stavudine would now be available for consideration for purchase under the US President's Emergency Programme for AIDS Relief. The company manufactures both active pharmaceutical ingredients and formulation for this generic.
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GM to launch mini car Chevrolet Spark in 2007
New Delhi: General Motors is planning to enter the high-volume mini car segment in India with the launch of mini car Chevrolet Spark next year. The mini car would be launched in the first half of next year from its existing unit in Halol (Gujarat), even as it is yet to take a final decision on its second plant.

The company said the mini car would get the benefit of excise duty cut for small cars announced by the Government in this year's budget.

General Motors is in the process of increasing capacity at its plant in Halol and by the end of the years would have an overall production capacity of 85,000 units per annum. The company's current sales target for the year is around 45,000-50,000 units and it would utilise the additional capacity for the mini car.

The company recently launched sports car, Chevrolet SRV, with a starting price of Rs6.97 lakh ex-showroom in Delhi. Targeted at young professionals, the car is also available with `option pack' with additional features at a price of Rs7.51 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The car is based on the Optra platform and comes with a 1.6 litre petrol engine.
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VSNL in Rs1,000-cr capex for NLD backbone
Mumbai: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) will spend Rs 1,000 crore as capital expenditure for increasing the company's national long-distance (NLD) backbone, in the current year. The company may also spend an additional Rs1,000 crore depending on the way its retail broadband business takes off. The company's 250 points of interconnect (PoIs) will be doubled this year which will have a positive impact on its NLD business and also bring its operating costs down, by reducing dependence on leased networks. "We also have aggressive plans for retail broadband and can invest anywhere around Rs1,000 crore more," said Rajiv Dhar, chief financial officer. The company currently has over one lakh retail broadband customers.

VSNL's revenues would be around Rs9,500 crore this financial year, keeping in mind the income from its new acquisitions — Tyco Global Network and Teleglobe International, now incorporated into VSNL Singapore.

Out of the $2.1 billion revenues, $1.1 billion would come from voice, around $650 million from data and related services, and the rest from other services, said Dhar. Though VSNL's international businesses reported a net loss this year, its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation will become positive by the third or fourth quarter of the current year, and it will post net profit by 2007-08, he said.
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TCS to spend Rs1,300-cr on capex
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services expects to spend Rs1,300 crore in capital expenditure during the current fiscal, said Ratan Tata, chairman, TCS, said, speaking at the company's AGM on Thursday. Of this Rs1,000 crore will be invested in real estate for setting up more software development centres.

TCS plans to add over 30,000 employees this financial year. Its global delivery centres in Latin America, China and Eastern Europe will grow at accelerated rates, said the company's CEO and managing director, S. Ramadorai.

Ratan Tata said employee costs may rise because of demand and supply, replying to a question.
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Jet Airways wants Air Sahara to return Rs500-crore from escrow a/c
New Delhi: Jet Airways has said Air Sahara should have returned the Rs 500 crore paid as advance within a week of termination of the pact.

Jet argued that as per the Share Purchase Agreement, Sahara India had "undertaken, absolutely and unconditionally" to repay the advance amount of Rs500 crore if the deal failed.

Apart from seeking transfer of the cases initiated by Air Sahara in a Lucknow district court to Bombay High Court, Jet pleaded for a stay on the interim orders of the Lucknow court, which put a freeze on the escrow account opened by Jet Airways, besides preventing sale of Sahara's shares pledged for Rs500 crore.
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Maruti set to increase capacity at Gurgaon unit
Mumbai: Maruti Udyog will ramp up capacity of its new car assembly unit at Manesar (Gurgaon) to three lakh units in the next three-four years. Similarly, the diesel engine and transmission facility (in the Manesar complex) will be tripled to three lakh units.

The expansion is being considered after taking into account the production for Nissan models as Maruti is expected to produce more than one lakh cars for Nissan in another couple of years.

Nissan Motors wants a 1.3-litre, three-cylinder small car as its first made-in-India vehicle to roll out of the Manesar plant.

The maiden Nissan car, according to industry sources, is expected to hit roads in the first quarter of 2008. The new small car from Nissan will be used to address both the domestic and export markets.

Earlier this month, the two Japanese auto majors — Nissan and Suzuki — announced a global production alliance, which will see Nissan supply mini vans to Suzuki on an OEM basis starting from 2006-end.
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