Hindalco's net jumps 59 pc: promoters may raise stake
Mumbai: Hindalco has reported a 59 per cent increase in its first quarter net profit at Rs601.5 crore from Rs379.2 crore in the year-ago period.

Net sales moved up 94 per cent to Rs4273.7 crore from Rs2207.1 crore in the year-ago period. Other income stood at Rs77.6 crore (Rs33.5 crore) and improved prices and strong demand helped the company's performance.

A sharp increase in fuel oil, coal, pitch and bauxite costs exerted considerable pressure on margins while the company benefited from a decline in caustic soda prices.

Kumaramangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group said operational efficiencies, the thrust on value-added products and an innovative market-mix helped it, despite constraints in its copper business.

Aluminium contributed Rs1654.2 crore, while copper revenues had a three-fold increase at Rs2621.7 crore on higher copper prices and volumes.

Debu Bhattacharya, managing director, Hindalco, said prices of aluminium and copper would soften during the year.

During the current fiscal, the company has set a production target of 460,000 tonnes of aluminium and 360,000 tonnes of copper. Export target has been set at one lakh tonnes of aluminium and 1.60 lakh tonnes of copper.

The promoters of Hindalco Industries plan to raise shareholding in the metals company through the creeping acquisition route to protect it from a possible takeover.

At present, promoter holding stands at 25.95 per cent.
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Microsoft launches Rural Innovation Fund
Chennai: Microsoft India has launched a Rural Innovation Fund in partnership with International Development Research Centre (IDRC) with an initial seed capital of $200,000 (Rs90 lakh) — each partner contributing $100,000.

The fund would help local software application development vendors in smaller towns to create and provide localised applications and customised solutions for rural communities, said Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India.

The fund would be managed by a committee set up under Mission 2007, which is a national alliance working to make every village a knowledge centre. It would initially focus on telemedicine, education and agriculture — these have maximum interest in rural communities, he said.

The fund would help the local software industry by promoting individual or organisation endeavours towards low cost innovative applications.

Dr Basheerhamad Shadrach, senior programme officer, IDRC, a Canadian development organisation, said the fund would help smaller rural based companies and small innovators to help rural communities. The quantum of funding would depend on the idea proposed by the organization/company, and in January 2007, the Mission 2007 would be in a position to announce the scholarship/award of rural innovation.
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TCS China to start operations by September
Bangalore: Tata Consultancy Services wholly owned subsidiary in China, set up to offer BPO and IT services there, is expected to start operations by the first 12-18 months. The company has filed for a business licence and will begin operations by September this year.

TCS' Chinese subsidiary recently won an order from Huaxia Bank to implement a core banking solution.
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EIH announces 12 new projects abroad and in India
Kolkata: Oberoi Group company EIH Ltd, has announced 12 new projects in India and abroad. These include Oberoi brand luxury hotels and service apartments (both owned and managed), a world-class luxury train on the Rajasthan circuit, another luxury Nile Cruiser in Egypt with therapy cabins and a Flight Kitchen at Kolkata international airport. The group will also set up new luxury hotels in Bangalore, Goa, Gurgaon, Siem Reap (Angkor Vat) Cambodia, the Maldives Islands and Dubai. It will also build a world-class luxury train through a joint venture special purpose vehicle (SPV), in partnership with the Rajasthan Government and the Indian Railways.

P.R.S. Oberoi, chairman & CEO, EIH, said the three-mega hotel projects in Goa, Bangalore and Mumbai entail total investments of around Rs1,150 crore.

The company's recently announced 1:2 bonus issue and 1:5 stock split has been approved by the shareholders of the company.

The company's PAT rose 45 pc in Q1 at Rs24.68 crore against Rs17.06 crore for the corresponding period of last financial year. The total income of the company for the quarter stood at Rs203.35 crore (Rs155.67 crore), a growth of 31 per cent. Operating profit recorded a sharp increase of over 67 per cent at Rs71.70 crore (Rs42.81 crore).
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VVF to sell own brands
Bangalore: VVF, which has been mainly a contract manufacturer for companies like Henkel, Johnson & Johnson and Reckitt Benckiser, will also sell its own branded personal care products and invest over Rs200 crore in expanding its facilities. Apart from this the company is also actively scouting for brands for acquisition. VVF expects to nearly double its turnover to around Rs1,000 crore during the current fiscal year. The company expects to double its turnover in two years with 25 per cent of its revenues coming from marketing of its own products.

VVF's brands include Doy, Doy Aloe Vera, DoyCare, Jo and Shiff. The company will set up a new factory in Himachal Pradesh and is expanding its facility in Dubai. VVF already owns seven factories and is planning to set up more factories, including one in the South. Revenues from the company's own brands stood at around Rs85 crore during last year and are expected to grow to Rs120 crore this year. VVF also supplies oleochemicals based on vegetable oil from its factory in Taloja to companies such as Clariant, BASF, Huntsman and Cognis.
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Tata Tea exports grow 60 pc
Kolkata: Tata Tea Ltd has registered a 60-per cent growth in exports in the last financial year 2005-06. Export of the company stood at Rs155 crore in 2005-2006 a growth of 60 per cent in comparison to Rs97 crore registered in 2004-05. The growth in exports is a result of the merger of Tata Tetley into Tata Tea. The merger became effective April 1, 2005. Tetley caters in a large way to tea bag requirements in Australia, Poland, CIS and the West Asian countries.

The company which is planning to restructure its north Indian plantations has started planting several other crops in non-tea areas of its existing tea estates. All these crops have a commercial potential, which the company wants to exploit. The move is expected to "insulate" the financial health of the tea gardens from the vagaries of plantation and volatility of market prices. Tata Tea produced 44.3 million kg (mkg) of tea during 2005-06, which included bought leaf. In 2004-05, its production was 59.7 mkg and it included 27 mkg produced by the South Indian gardens. The North Indian estates registered an all-time high production of 37.7 mkg in the last financial year, which included bought leaf too.
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I-flex net up 133 per cent
Mumbai: i-flex Solutions has reported a 133 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2006 under the Indian GAAP. Net profit for the quarter amounted to Rs35 crore, up from Rs15 crore in the corresponding year-ago quarter. Revenues rose 47 per cent to Rs403 crore (Rs274 crore), driven by "a consistent streak of top tier wins" for the company's products such as FLEXCUBE and REVELUS as well as its services in the US, Europe and Japan, according to Rajesh Hukku, chairman and managing director, i-flex Solutions.

The cost of revenues rose 50 per cent to Rs251 crore (Rs167 crore). Income from operations grew almost two-fold, to Rs37 crore (Rs14 crore). Interest amounted to Rs7.8 crore (Rs5 crore) while tax amounted to Rs10 crore (Rs4 crore.)
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NTPC gets $300 mn loan from ADB
New Delhi: Philippines based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to extend up to $300 million loan to state-owned power major NTPC for its power generation programme without seeking government guarantee.

The loan was approved on Thursday by ADB's Board to finance NTPC's power generation capacity expansion programme and reduce India's power shortfall, the multilateral body said in a statement.

"The loan will be ADB's first time lend to a majority state-owned enterprise without a government guarantee under the bank's Innovation and Efficiency Initiative (IEI) through pilot financing instruments," the official statement said.

The loan will be provided in two parts. The first part is a loan of $75 million from ADB's own resources, and the second a loan through ADB's Complementary Financing Scheme (CFS) of $225 million to be underwritten and syndicated to commercial lenders.

The loan will help fund capital expenditure for two projects - the Sipat Super Thermal Power Plant in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, and the Kahalgaon Super Thermal Power Plant Stage II Project at Bhagalpur, Bihar.
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Infosys may soon finalise Kolkata campus
Kolkata: Infosys Technologies will finalise the rollout schedule of its 100-acre software campus in Kolkata after the West Bengal government comes up with a formal proposal that defines available land options and the price of such land said Infosys co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) Kris Gopalakrishnan speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)- a global non-profit network founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs back in 1992 for the advancement of entrepreneurship.

Infosys has not yet finalised the per acre cost of land proposed to be acquired here. The state government proposes to offer 100 acres of land to Infosys, 53 acres to Wipro, and 50 acres to ITC Infotech in this vicinity as the Rajarhat land is more expensive at Rs 1.5-to-1.8 crore per acre.
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TCS to expand to tier two cities
Bangalore: IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), plans to expand to tier two cities in the country and ramp up its operations.

TCS CEO and managing director S Ramadorai said TCS was looking at Hubli and Mangalore in Karnataka, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Nagpur in Maharasthra. The company has started operations recently in Kochi. For the next fiscal TCS had already completed campus recruitment in 180 colleges across the country, giving offers to 8,710 freshers.

TCS has planned a capital expenditure of Rs1000 crore on infrastructure and Rs300 crore on technology for the current year and ramp up manpower by over 30,000 which would work out to 22,000 taking into account the attrition rate said Ramadorai. The total addition in manpower adds up to 4000 to be hired in other countries. Currently TCS had 71,000 employees on its rolls.
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