Tata Tea to restructure North India plantations
Mumbai: Tata Tea has posted a 2.6 per cent rise in quarterly net profit to Rs445.6 million ($9.5 million).
Tata Tea, India's biggest tea company will soon begin restructuring its plantations in northern India. The company has sold off all its plantations in Southern India.

The company said it wants to make its northern plantations more profitable and was considering various options such as alternate cropping, floriculture and fisheries.

While the domestic market for tea consumption is forecast to grow at about 3-4 per cent, Tata Tea's brands are growing faster.
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Sunil Hitech receives Rs5.36-cr order
Mumbai: Sunil Hitech Engineers has secured a Rs53.6-million fabrication and erection project contract from Tata Project Ltd in Rajasthan. Shares in the company were up 4.4 per cent at Rs 85.10 in a firm Mumbai market.
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Reliance Energy secures four coal-bed methane blocks: brother gets none
New Delhi: Anil Ambani's Reliance Energy-led consortium has won four coal-bed methane blocks, a source of natural gas, under the third round of offering by the government, according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. The consortium had bid for all 10 blocks.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, which bid for six blocks has got none. The GAIL-Tata Power and Coalgas-Deep Industries consortia have bagged three and two CBM blocks, respectively. British Petroleum made its debut in the E&P business by winning a block in West Bengal.

The 10 blocks, spread over six states, are estimated to have reserves of 586 billion cubic metres of gas, enough to fuel 8,000-10,000 mw of power generation.
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Maruti Q1 net rises 63 pc to Rs369.5-cr
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has reported a 63.1 per cent increase in net profit for the first quarter ended June 2006 at Rs369.5 crore, as compared to Rs226.4 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Total income during the period under review jumped by 20 per cent at Rs3,268.7 crore against Rs2,723.6 crore in the same period a year ago.
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Tata Motors - Hitachi JV to build new plant in WB
New Delhi: Telco Construction Equipment Company (Telcon), a 60:40 joint venture of Tata Motors and Japan's Hitachi Construction Machinery Co (HCMC), has decided to set up a new manufacturing plant at Kharagpur, West Bengal with an investment of Rs 250 crore. The facility would be spread over an area of 60 hectares with additional facilities for a vendor park. The facility will manufacture backhoe loaders, midi excavators, off-highway dump trucks, wheel loaders and large mining shovels.
Telcon has two existing facilities at Jharkhand and Karnataka, will help the company meet demand from both domestic and international businesses.

The plant will also house a research and development centre, to enable the company develop products for both domestic and international markets. It will generate employment for about 500 people, including both direct and indirect jobs, according to the company.
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Orchid Chemicals Q1 net almost doubles
Mumbai: Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has posted a 99 per cent increase in net profit at Rs14.59 crore for the quarter ended June 30, as compared to Rs7.33 crore for the corresponding quarter in 2005-06. Total income rose 18.63 per cent to Rs202.49 crore for the first quarter in 2006-07 from Rs170.69 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The group reported a consolidated net profit of Rs10.83 crore for the quarter ended June 30, as against Rs2.74 crore for the same quarter in FY 05-06.

Consolidated total income of the group increased to Rs 213.39 crore in Q1 this fiscal from Rs188.19 crore in the corresponding period last year.
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Nippon to set up manufacturing facilities in India
Chennai: Nippon Paint has said it would set up two manufacturing facilities in India - one at Chennai and another at Gurgaon. The plants are expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2008.

The company officials said India was the 16th country, where Nippon would be opening its manufacturing units. The company had a turnover of $3 billion last fiscal. The company plans to invest Rs80 crore in the next two years.

The company has launched its products in India and would be initially selling only a few products, imported from its manufacturing plants all over the world. It would introduce its products in the country in a phased manner. The company plans to appoint 50 exclusive dealers in South India of which ten would be in Chennai. These dealers would not only sell the products but also give the consumers advice on which paint to be used in their offices and houses.
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Everest Kanto plans to raise $50mn for China facility
Mumbai: Everest Kanto Cylinder which makes high pressure gas cylinders has said that it would raise up to $50 million through various securities or via private placement to fund investment to form a wholly owned subsidiary company in China.

The company's Chinese subsidiary — EKC Industries (Tianjin) Co, will manufacture high pressure gas cylinders and other allied products, the company informed the BSE.

The company has also set up another wholly owned subsidiary — EKC international FZE in UAE for doubling the existing capacity in that country. Production at the new unit is expected to commence in the third quarter. The project outlay of $8.5 million ha s already been tied up through term loans and internal accruals.

China currently has about 400 CNG stations and is expected to reach a level of 2000 CNG stations by 2010 in order to reduce their dependence on crude oil besides reducing vehicular pollution.
The shareholders also approved a dividend of Rs3.50 on shares of Rs10 each (35 per cent).
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BHEL commissions 500 MW thermal unit at Vindhyachal STPS
New Delhi: State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has commissioned the first unit of 500 MW unit at NTPC's Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station Stage III in Madhya Pradesh.

The new generation facility would add 12 million units of electricity to the grid of the power deficit state per day, BHEL said in a release here.

With the commissioning of the unit, the cumulative generating capacity of the power station would be 2,760 MW.

NTPC had awarded BHEL a contract for constructing two 500 MW power plants for the Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station Stage III at a total cost of Rs2125 crore.

BHEL said the second set is also targeted for commissioning in the fiscal 2006-07. On completion of Stage 101, the generating capacity of Vindhyachal STPS would be enhanced to 3,260 MW, it said.
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Nagarjuna Construction bags two more orders
Mumbai: Nagarjuna Construction Co has bagged two new orders worth Rs118 crore, one from Chhattisgarh Government for rehabilitation and upgradation of road (ADB Project) valuing Rs65 crore and another order from Madhya P radesh for construction of Sanjay Sagar Dam Project valuing Rs53 crore.
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NTPC gets $300mn loan from ADB
New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank has approved a loan of $300 million (nearly Rs1,380 crore) to state-owned power major NTPC to finance its power generation capacity expansion programme. ADB's own share of this loan to NTPC will be $75 million while the remaining $225 million will be provided by private commercial banks under complementary financing scheme said senior government officials.

The loan will help fund capital expenditure for two projects - the Sipat Super Thermal Power Plant in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh state, and the Kahalgaon Super Thermal Power Plant Stage II Project in Bhagalpur, Bihar. Together, these two projects will add 4,480 MW of electricity to the national grid between 2006 and 2009.
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Intel unveils Core two Duo processors in India
Bangalore: Global chip major, Intel Corporation has launched its Core two Duo processors in India.

Intel managing director, sales and marketing (South Asia), Ramamurthy Sivakumar said the processor is an "energy-efficient marvel", packing 291 million transistors yet consuming 40 per cent lower power.

Company officials said the 10 Intel Core Duo 2 and Intel Core 2 Extreme processors, are for consumer and business desktop and laptop PCs and workstations. They said the Core 2 Duo processor family consists of five desktop PC processors tailored for business, home, and "enthusiast users", such as high-end gamers, and five mobile PC processors designed to fit the needs of a mobile lifestyle.
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Ruia Group makes big investments in shipbuilding
Kolkata: Ruia Group will invest Rs1,250 crore to get into shipbuilding and coach manufacturing for underground railway systems.

The group would invest close to Rs1,000 crore in shipbuilding activities while the remaining Rs250 crore would be towards a metro coach manufacturing facility. The company is also contemplating a public offering of Jessop which in turn could be used to part finance the shipbuilding project.

The company has already applied to the state government for 1,500 acre land for setting up a dry dock for ship manufacturing in West Bengal.
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Dr Reddy's Labs Q1 more than doubles
Mumbai: Dr Reddy's Laboratories has announced a 108 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, at Rs131.81 crore as compared with Rs63.34 crore for the corresponding period last year. Total income (net of excise) increased 44 per cent from Rs536.32 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005, as compared with Rs772.18 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2006. The basic EPS per share of Rs5 was Rs17.19 for the quarter, compared with Rs8.28 for the quarter ended June 30, 2005.

On a consolidated basis, the group posted a net profit of Rs 128.92 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, against Rs 30.69 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005, an increase of 320 per cent. Total income was Rs1373.67 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, compared with Rs563.66 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005, an increase of 143.7 per cent. The EPS for the quarter was Rs16.81, compared with Rs4.01 for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
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GoAir to sign JV with Singapore company
New Delhi: Budget airline GoAir, promoted by the Wadias of Bombay Dyeing has decided to set up a joint venture firm with a Singapore Airline group company for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services in India.

The JV would have a 49 per cent holding by the Wadia Group while SIA Engineering Company 51 per cent.

The Singapore firm would manage the greenfield facility, the two companies said in a release.

The proposed JV company would initially offer line maintenance services at eight major airports and expand into more airports subsequently for both narrow and wide-bodied aircraft, the release said.

There were also plans to develop the JV firm into a Centre of Excellence for airframe maintenance of Airbus-320s and Boeing-737 (New Generation) and establishment of an aerospace engineering training institute.

GoAir chief Jeh Wadia, who deals with the aviation sector of the Group, said India was "perfect to be a lower cost MRO provider for both Indian and international aircraft".
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Microsoft announces $150 m investment in Pune
Pune: Microsoft plans to invest $150 million (Rs702.84 crore) in a mega software development centre in Pune, according to Arvind Kumar, IT secretary, government of Maharashtra.

When ready, this will be the single biggest IT investment coming into the city so far. TCS recently announced an investment of Rs 500 crore for Pune.

The state is also in discussions with other multinational IT companies like Hewlett Packard, IBM Intel and Advanced Micro Devices to invest in the state.

The hardware majors will be given the same fiscal benefits as the software ones.
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