Boeing plans to invest $280mn in India
New Delhi: The Boeing Company plans to make investments to the tune of $280 million in India for setting up an airplane maintenance facility and a pilot training centre.

The company is setting up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Maharashtra with an investment of $118 million. The venture would be set up near Nagpur and will serve as an MRO facility to the Boeing family of airplanes for the entire South East Asia.

Boeing also plans to double its long-term forecast for sales in the country to 856 planes worth $72 billion by 2026.

Last year, the company had estimated that India would purchase 470 airplanes worth $35 billion by 2025. Boeing's rival Airbus Industries last year predicted that Indian carriers would buy 800-1,000 planes through 2025.

Boeing now has confirmed orders valued at around $19 billion for 106 aircraft of various configuration, including smaller and large wide-bodied planes, to be executed by 2011.

Last year, Boeing received orders worth $15 billion from Indian carriers, including an order for 68 airplanes worth $11.4 billion from the state-run Air-India, the largest order in the country's civil aviation history.

Boeing has also received proposals from six Indian states including, West Bengal and Karnataka for setting up an MRO facility.
Back to News Review index page  

Volvo may pick up stake in Ashok Leyland
Mumbai: The world's second-biggest truck maker, Volvo AB, is said to be negotiating with Ashok Leyland for picking up a stake in the latter. The UK financial daily The Financial Times two weeks ago reported that Volvo was planning a series of acquisitions to broaden its product range.

Quoting unnamed sources the report in the daily said the board of Volvo's India unit would meet on Tuesday to consider a proposal to buy a stake in Land Rover Leyland International Holdings (LRLIH), the UK-based firm that holds a stake in Ashok Leyland for the Hinduja family. The Swedish company declined to comment.
Back to News Review index page  

BHEL to invest Rs1,600-cr on expansion
New Delhi: Engineering PSU, Bharat Heavy Electricals plans to expand power equipment manufacturing capacity to 10,000 mw annually at an investment of more than Rs1,600 crores. The manufacturing capacity of 10,000 mw is intended to meet the present indications of the likely power capacity addition target in the India's 11th Plan of over 62,000 mw, the company said. BHEL would be investing more than Rs1,600 crores to modernize and expand capacity of its facilities and added the enhanced capacity would become available by 2007.

BHEL would be willing to further enhance its capacity even beyond 10,000 mw to the levels required by the country's power sector. In the current expansion programme, the focus is on adding facilities for various products in its manufacturing units and for construction tools and equipment for erection and commissioning services at customer project sites.
Back to News Review index page  

Laptops gain favour at the cost of PCs
Mumbai: Indians are following the global trend of favouring laptop PCs against desk tops. The number of desktop PCs sold in the country fell 5 per cent during the first quarter of this financial year, even as the sales of notebook computers rose 16 per cent over the same period.

According to market research firm IDC's quarterly PC-market tracker for India, laptops also increased their contribution to nearly 2.2 lakh out of the total 12.5 lakh branded PCs sold in the country in the June quarter.

Year-on-year, the overall PC numbers were up 19 per cent while the consumer notebook category, which has seen continued price cuts, saw more than five times the volumes compared to same quarter last year.

The branded desktop market in the country is estimated to reach the 50 lakh market this year and is dominated by foreign brands like HP, Lenovo and Dell and by HCL, which lead in corporate sales.

However, most of decline in the quarter came from the commercial segment, with the number of home desktops remaining more or less the same as last quarter.
Back to News Review index page  

Metro AG to invest euro 300mn in India
New Delhi: Germany's Metro AG has announced plans to invest euro 300 million in India and open wholesale stores in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.
Back to News Review index page  

Ispat Inds plans 3MT pellet unit in Vizag
Kolkata: Ispat Industries plans to set up a three million tonne pellet plant in Vishakapatnam through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). Ispat would be one of the sponsors for the project.

Ispat is also looking at operational integration with Global Steel Holdings, its parent company, for better raw material management and cost optimisation.

The company is negotiating for foreign technology and will shortly finalise the technology partner. The three million iron ore pellet capacity plant is estimated to cost around Rs 800 crore and the project would be completed in 30 months from the zero date.

The company may also start a mining venture with the initial target of captive consumption.
Back to News Review index page  

Essel Propack acquires Packaging India
Mumbai: Essel Propack is learnt to have acquired Packaging India, a South Indian based packaging company. Packaging India has an annual turnover of Rs100 crore and is in the business of speciality packaging material.

The value of the transaction is not known.

The Essel Propack stock was nearly unchanged at Rs76.50 on the BSE on Tuesday.
Back to News Review index page  

Nagarjuna gets Rs114-cr order
Hyderabad: Nagarjuna Construction Company has secured a civil construction contract of Rs114 crore from Times of India Group for construction of new printing press complex at Airoli in Navi Mumbai.

The company said the project would be completed in 18 months.
Back to News Review index page  

Strides gets USFDA nod for AIDS drug Stavudine
Bangalore: Strides Arcolab has received tentative approval from the USFDA for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for AIDS drug Stavudine.

This is second ANDA approval obtained by the company for Stavudine capsules USP, 30mg and 40mg.

The application was reviewed under the expedited review provisions of the US PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) programme.

Three more applications are awaiting approval under the same programme and another four are being readied for application. Strides said six of its ARVs (anti-retroviral agents used against AIDS) have received WHO pre-qualification for Asian and African markets.
Back to News Review index page  

Suven, Eli Lilly sign pact for pre-clinical research
Hyderabad: Suven Life Sciences has signed an agreement with the US pharma major Eli Lilly & Company to collaborate on pre-clinical research of molecules in the therapeutic area of central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

Scientists from both companies will work together in a team, with the goal of identifying potent, oral compounds that selectively modulate the specified G-Protein Coupled Receptor for the target CNS disease.

Suven would receive payments from Lilly and potentially downstream payments if the identified candidates were selected by Lilly for further pre-clinical research and development.
This is the first true research collaboration with a global pharmaceutical company for Suven.
Back to News Review index page  

Genpact inaugurates recruitment office in Noida
New Delhi: BPO services provider Genpact has opened a recruitment office in Noida. The new premises will serve as the company's local hiring office, thereby creating an easy access for candidates from the region. Genpact will be looking at hiring over 400 employees over the next six months for its facility in Delhi and Gurgaon from the Noida recruitment office.

Genpact is actively tapping the talent pool across the country through its regional recruitment offices in Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Indore, Dehradun and Lucknow and expects to spread the initiative to cover over 20 cities over the next year.
Back to News Review index page  

Sony may acquire stake in Ten Sports
New Delhi: Taj Entertainment Networks, based in Dubai, which owns and operates the sports channel, Ten Sports, is talking to Sony Entertainment Television (SET) to offload a minority stake of 10 to 15 per cent in the company.

The deal would benefit Sony by giving it a sports channel in its bouquet, Ten would benefit from Sony's stronger distribution network.

The valuation of the deal was not divulged. Ten Sports is currently part of the Sony-Discovery bouquet and has been on the lookout for getting in private equity for a couple of years now. It was believed that Zee was in talks earlier for a similar equity deal.
For Ten this would also lead to a surge in both subscription and advertisement revenues. For Sony, it would mean an alternative platform to broadcast its cricket properties.

Taj Entertainment is owned by Bukhatir Investments Limited, a UAE-based conglomerate with interests in banking, construction, real estate, trading, information technology, sports and broadcasting.
Back to News Review index page