Infosys Q1 net up 50 pc
Bangalore: Software major Infosys has reported a robust 49.2 per cent rise in net profit at Rs794 crore for quarter ended June 30, 2006, against the corresponding period of the last fiscal, on the back of outsourcing and a continuously depreciating rupee.

Infosys has reported revenue growth of 45.6 per cent at Rs3,015 crore, with Q1 revenues growing sequentially by 15 per cent compared to Q4 of last financial year. Infosys has also revised its guidance upwards projecting its revenues to grow by 40.2-40.7 per cent in 2006-07 to be in the range of Rs13,350 crore and Rs13,400 crore, well above the 28.7-30.7 per cent year-on-year growth forecast in April.

It forecast full-year EPS at Rs124.51-Rs125.74, up 38.3-39.6 per cent from a year ago.

Infosys CEO, president and managing director, Nandan M Nilekani, has attributed the company's performance to robust business growth and depreciation of the rupee. He said the upward revision was due to the fact that business performance had been more robust than anticipated in April and the rupee had depreciated against three major currencies -- euro, pound and dollar.
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Century Textiles to cut workforce at Mumbai mill
Mumbai: Century Textiles and Industries is planning to reduce its workforce at its textile facility in Mumbai, to around 2,000 employees from the current level of 7,000 through a voluntary retirement scheme.

The company is also planning to reduce the number of looms to 500 at the factory in order to make it more viable, said Kumar Mangalam Birla, director, Century Textiles at the company's annual general meeting.

Birla said running a mill in Mumbai was not viable because of octroi and other taxes which have impacted the company's competitiveness adversely. He said the workforce at the mill would be downsized and for this the company has started persuading workers to retire under the VRS scheme.

The company is evaluating a proposal to set up a textile mill in Bharuch, Gujarat. It is also exploring the possibility of setting up a 1.5 mt cement grinding facility in Murshidabad, West Bengal.
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Satyam ranked No. 2 outsourcing vendor
Hyderabad: The Brown-Wilson Group has ranked Satyam Computer Services as the number two outsourcing vendor globally based on its annual survey of over 870 IT and ITES companies worldwide.

In 2005 Satyam was ranked at number 19. This year, Satyam also figured as the leading Indian provider. The Brown-Wilson survey analysed 872 outsourcing vendors in 63 countries. Its results will appear in the Black Book of Outsourcing, a highly endorsed publication. The survey measured CEO Commitment, Human Capital Performance, Corporate Direction and Leadership Impact.

Other factors included Management Performance, Client and Employee Satisfaction and Organisational Excellence. Satyam's overall score was 93.4 (out of 100).
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Tata Motors to roll out upgraded Ace: targets exports markets
New Delhi: Tata Motors is rolling out an upgraded version of the Ace mini truck with an eye on the expsorts markets. The company is already exporting the mini truck to Sri Lanka.

The company is working on a higher payload, high power version of the Ace for the markets it plans to tap by next fiscal. According to company officials the target markets for Ace include South Africa, Thailand and Indonesia apart from the SAARC countries.

The upgradation will include providing the truck with a more powerful engine and adding features like power steering and air-conditioning. The company, which currently manufactures the Ace at its Pune plant, sold 30,000 units in the last fiscal after the launch in May 2005. The company has hiked the production capacity to 60,000 units at Pune while going in for a greenfield plant at Uttaranchal.
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Maruti in JV with Japan's Bellsonica
Mumbai: Maruti Udyog is setting up a joint venture with Japanese company Bellsonica to manufacture auto components. MUL, in which Suzuki Motor Corp has a majority 54.2 per cent shareholding, would hold 30 per cent in the joint venture named Bellsonica Auto Component, which will have a paid-up capital of Rs120 million ($2.6 million).

The joint venture would commence operations in November 2007 and would supply components to Maruti's cars and Suzuki's motorcycles.
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Rajesh Exports to tie up with overseas retail chains
Bangalore: Jewellery maker Rajesh Exports is planning to sign agreements with at least two-three mega retail chains overseas, according to a top company official.

The official said the company is in an advanced stage of discussions with four-five retail chains in the US, the UK and Australia and would be able to enter into agreement with at least 2-3 within three months.

Once the deals are struck, it would take three more months for the firm to commence shipping of custom-made, requirement-specific jewellery for the retail chains.
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Aurobindo obtains USFDA nod for Didanosine tablets
Mumbai: Aurobindo Pharma has received tentative approval from the US FDA for Didanosine tablets (Chewable) of strengths 100mg, 150mg & 200mg. This is the first generic version approval given by US FDA for the anti Aids Didanosine chewable tablet. The product will be available for purchase under the PEPFAR. The company manufactures both API and formulation for this generic. With this approval, the ARV product portfolio of the Company has increased to 17.

Didanosine helps prevent AIDS virus from reproducing. It is used in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. Didanosine is the version of VIDEX an anti-HIV medication manufactured by Bristol Myers Squibb.
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Himalaya Drug signs pact with IDEI
Bangalore: Herbal drugs major Himalaya Drug Company has entered into an agreement with International Development Enterprises India (IDEI) under which the two companies would encourage small farmers to grow herbs needed by Himalaya with complete financial and technical support to buy back the produce.

The farmers could be linked up as suppliers of raw material for the company, according to IDEI chief executive officer, Amitabh Sadangi and Himalaya CEO, Ravi Prasad. The two companies also propose to open a training centre to impart training to selected farmers. Nelamangala and Bidadi villages have been selected in Karnataka to grow medicinal plants in about 600 to 700 acres of land.

The global market for herbal medicine is about $62 billion, but India's contribution was only $1 billion, he added.
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Orchid Chemicals gets USFDA nod for Cephalexin
Mumbai: Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has received approval from the USFDA for its ANDA (Abbreviated New Drug Application) of Cephalexin oral suspension. Cephalexin, an off-patent molecule, forms part of Orchid Chemicals' distribution alliance with US generic pharma major Par Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Orchid added that its Cephalexin capsules are already marketed in the US through partnership with Par Pharmaceuticals and following this approval, the number of dosage forms, oral solids and injections distributed by it in the US now stands at 12.
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JSW Steel to expand capacity
Mumbai: JSW Steel plans to expand its production capacity to 4 million tonne per annum (mtpa) from 2.8 mtpa this year. The pellet production would be increased 7 per cent at 9.70 lakh tonnes in the first quarter of 2006-07 as compared to 9.08 lakh tonnes in the first quarter of 2005-06, JSW Steel informed the BSE. The hot metal production grew eight per cent at 6.10 lakh tonnes as against the same quarter in the previous year while crude steel was at 5.60 lakh tonnes, up five per cent, as against 5.32 in lakh tonnes the first quarter of 2005-06.

The production of HR plates increased 83 per cent at 0.042 million tonnes for the quarter ended June 30, as compared to 0.023 million tonnes for the corresponding quarter of the previous year 2005-06.

However, the production of HR coil saw a dip of 52 per cent at 2.49 lakh tonnes in the first quarter this year as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year at 5.13 lakh tonnes and the galvanised products was at 0.132 million tonnes lower by 18 per cent as against 0.160 million tonnes in the year-ago period.
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Nestle's Uttaranchal plant kicks off
Mumbai: Nestle India has commissioned the initial phase of its seventh factory in Uttaranchal on schedule. The first dispatch of MAGGI 2-Minute Noodles rolled out yesterday.

Martial Rolland, chairman and managing director of the company said, "We had set ourselves very ambitious timelines. The completion of the initial phase in less than seven months is a new benchmark and reflects the capability, professionalism and dedication of our team."
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iGate Global posts loss in Q1
Mumbai: iGate Global Solutions recorded a net loss of Rs3.51 crore for the first quarter ended June as compared to net profit of Rs1.24 crore during the same quarter last year. Total income increased from Rs117.38 crore to Rs163.85 crore this year.
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Blue and Blues to set up retail shops in India
New Delhi: Blue and Blues brand has entered the Indian market and plans to invest about Rs10-12 crore over the next few years on retail expansion. The Italian leather accessories brand will open 18 exclusive Blue and Blues stores across India in the next three years and add new variety and range of products.

All the outlets would be company owned, and the company may also consider the franchisee model. The company is aiming at sales of about Rs35 crore in the next three years.

The company is also considering setting up a new manufacturing unit in north India to cater to domestic as well as export markets.
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Oracle to hire 2,000 more this fiscal
New Delhi: Enterprise software company Oracle plans to hire 2,000 more people for its Indian operations. In 2005, the company's headcount grew from 2,000 to 8,000. At present the company has 9,500 employees in India.

The company has invested around $2 billion in the country in last few years and has plans to expand further.

According to the company India and China are its two strategic markets. It has 6,000 technology and 500 application customers in India including State Bank of India, Maruti, Air India and LG. Oracle India's focus would be on mid-market and application space.
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HCL offers cost cutting tech solutions for BPOs
New Delhi: HCL has launched the first ever ICT infrastructure technology solutions targeted at the Indian BPO and ITeS sector. The solutions promise to cut costs to 40 per cent and also address security concerns. The range of products from HCL is among its series of Thinkline Solutions, each of which is targeted at a specific industry.

Leading the pack is the revolutionary HCL BPO PC which incorporates specific needs of the BPO segment.

Designed and developed at the HCL labs, the indigenously developed technology enables the operation of one PC in two securely isolated work environment and holds the potential of reducing IT spending per seat and infrastructure cost of a BPO centre.

The range of products includes complete end-to-end solutions covering computing, security, IP-VPN/contact centre, telecom, inhouse broadcasting, audio-video conferencing, training and printing.
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Infosys acquires Progeon stake from Citicorp
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies has acquired a 23 per cent stake on a fully diluted basis, comprising 87,50,000 equity shares of its BPO subsidiary Progeon Limited from Citicorp International Finance Corporation for Rs530 crore. A total of Rs309 crore after withholding taxes of Rs221 crore was remitted to Citicorp on June 30. As of June 30, 2006, Infosys holds 96.96 per cent of the outstanding equity shares of Progeon Limited Infosys said.
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Texas Instruments to set up R&D centre at Chennai
New Delhi: Texas Instruments (TI) the US-based wireless semi-conductor company, said it is setting up a new research and development centre in India, to enable the country reach its goal of 500 million mobile phone subscribers by 2010.

Gilles Delfassy, senior vice president, TI, met the IT and Communications Minister, Dayanidhi Maran to announce the new R&D centre in Chennai. Delfassy said the expansion of the existing wireless design presence is recognition of the importance of India to the global wireless market.
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