Reliance-ADAG's DTH foray gets in-principle approval
New Delhi: The Reliance-ADA Group headed by Anil Ambani has received in-principle approval from the government to enter the direct- to-home (DTH) service.

Sources said the letter of intent (LoI) for the group's foray into DTH has been given to Blue Sky Magic, a company of the Reliance-ADA group.

In the LoI, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is understood to have asked the company to complete formalities including the bank guarantee and licence fee. ADAG's entry into DTH is expected to spice up the DTH market that already has four players, including latest entrant Tata Sky, a joint venture of Tata and Star. Doordarshan and Essel Group promoted Dish TV have already established their presence.
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BSNL mobile subscriber base crosses 20mn mark
New Delhi: The mobile subscriber base of BSNL crossed the 20-million mark in August.

The state-owned telecom major witnessed the highest addition of about 22 lakh in Uttar Pradesh in August.

While the Tamil Nadu circle added over 17 lakh subscribers, Kerala added over 16 lakh, according to a release issued by BSNL today.
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Singhanias to untangle cross holdings
Kolkata: The Lakshmipat Singhania branch of the Singhania family is restructuring its business empire and group companies are parking cross-holdings in standalone investment firms.

This branch of the Singhania group has companies with a combined turnover of close to Rs5,000 crore. These include JK Industries, JK Paper, JK Sugar, JK Agri Genetics, Fenner India and JK Lakshmi Cement.

The move to restructure group investments is an effort to have more focussed manufacturing companies and will also help untangle cross-holdings. "We are demerging in a way that the manufacturing companies do not have cross-holdings. We want the manufacturing companies to concentrate on their core businesses," said top sources in the group.

They, however, did not say whether this pointed to a formal division of the family's assets. Each group company is being run by one family member.

Hari Shankar Singhania is the chairman of JK Paper and JK Industries, while Bharat Hari is chairman of JK Sugar and JK Agri Genetics. Raghupati Singhania, the youngest brother, is in charge of Fenner India and is vice-chairman of JK Industries. Vineeta Singhania is looking after JK Lakshmi Cement and Ashim Investment.

The two sons of Bharat Hari Singhania, Harshpati and Vikrampati, are also running units. Harshpati is looking after JK Paper while Vikrampati is handling JK Sugar and JK Agri.

The Singhania family has a separate branch, under the brother of Lakshmipat Singhania, comprising Kailashpati Singhania, his son Vijaypat and grandson Gautam Hari, promoters of the Raymonds empire.
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GE picks HCL to set up development centres
New Delhi: General Electric Company (GE) has picked HCL Technologies to set up and operate global development centres (GDCs) in India and China over the next three years. GE selected HCL as one of its partners after due diligence conducted by the GE team.

Details regarding the deal size or the nature of the contract were not released. "This is a significant win for HCL as it leverages our vast domain and deep technology expertise," said Ravi Reddy, vice-President and head of enterprise consulting services division at HCL America.

Industry sources said that the agreement with GE could fetch revenues of over $50 million for HCL. HCL has signed five major deals since December 2005 and all of them have been above the $50-million mark. HCL Technologies reported 31 per cent growth in revenues to Rs4,388 crore and 27 per cent increase in net profit from to Rs773 crore for 2005-06.
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Volkswagen to set up manufacturing plant in Maharashtra
Pune: Volkswagen has entered into an agreement with the Maharashtra Government to locate its Indian greenfield car manufacturing plant in Chakan at the outskirts of Pune. The company is said to have been given in-principle approval for 400 acres. Under the terms of the agreement, the State Government will hand over the land by November.

"The company wants to action its India plans as quickly as it can and what swung the deal in Maharashtra's favour is the fact that we were able to locate the right land for them and allot it within a month," the sources said. "The company is planning to start production by November 2007."

The company will invest an estimated Rs2,500 crore in the facility and will initially manufacture small cars for the market, eventually broadening its portfolio to include models for other segments.
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OVL inks pact to operate two Cuban blocks
New Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), has entered into production sharing contracts (PSCs) with CUPET, the State oil company of Cuba, for two offshore exploration blocks, N-34 and N-35. The blocks are located in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cuba.

Spread over 4,300 sq km, the blocks are in a very favourable geological set-up and are estimated to hold considerable hydrocarbon resources. The contracts were signed on September 9 at Havana. The Cuban Government has the option to take 20 per cent participating interest in these blocks. OVL will operate the block.

The exploration period is spread over a period of six years in three phases. In May this year, OVL had acquired 30 per cent participating interest in six exploratory blocks in offshore Cuba from Repsol YPF, which holds 40 per cent participating interest; 30 per cent participating interest is with by Norsk Hydro.
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Ranbaxy obtains USFDA approval for diarrhoea drug
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories has received approval from the USFDA to manufacture and market Loperamide Hydrochloride and Simethicone tablets.

Ranbaxy informed the BSE that it received approval for manufacturing and marketing the tablets in dosages of 2mg/125mg (over-the-counter).

Loperamide Hydrochloride and Simethicone Tablets (OTC) are indicated for controlling symptoms of diarrhoea plus bloating, pressure, and cramps.

Ohm Laboratories, Ranbaxy's US-based subsidiary, is engaged in the sale and distribution of generic and branded private label, OTC products in the US healthcare system.
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TRAI may review roaming tariffs
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has expressed concern at the high tariffs being charged by mobile operators for roaming services, and said that it might consider issuing a consultation paper to review the tariff regime.

TRAI has also shot down a proposal from state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, which had sought to charge a termination rate on all roaming calls.

BSNL had wanted a three way split of the revenues earned from roaming services whereby the operator on whose network the call terminates also get a share. At present, the revenue is shared only between the operator who owns the subscriber and the operator on whose network the subscriber is roaming. The operator on whose network the call terminates gets 30 paise a minute as per the interconnect charges.

BSNL had wanted a higher share for the terminating operator. TRAI said that such a move would increase the roaming tariffs. The regulator had earlier issued a consultation paper to discuss the issue. Private operators had opposed the proposal from BSNL.
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DoT to change norms for issuing fresh licences
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom is looking to change the guidelines for issuing fresh licences.

This means that the company which is seeking a licence or its sister firms should not have any cases pending with the DoT or other investigative authorities for any previous violations of the telecom licence agreement. The move comes US-based AT&T Communications applied to DoT for a long distance licence.

While one business arm of AT&T is under investigation for allegedly routing international long distance calls illegally, the existing norms do not prevent another business arm of the same company, AT&T Communication, from applying for a fresh licence. While DoT's empowered committee has in-principle decided to issue the letter of intent for a licence to AT&T, DoT sources said that measures are being thought of to plug the loophole.
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TV18 brings all channels under CNBC Universe
Chennai: TV18 has brought all its channels and portals under an umbrella brand called CNBC Universe.

CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, Moneycontrol.com, Commoditiescontrol.com and Compareindia.com comprise the CNBC Universe, which reaches out to more than 40 million affluent, decision-making adults. (This figure includes projected out-of-home viewership of CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz.)

Officials said according to TAM reports CNBC Awaaz accounted for more than 55 per cent of the new business audience since December 2004. Both CNBC Awaaz and NDTV Profit were launched in January 2005. CNBC Awaaz now has 38 per cent market share of business news, making it the country's largest business channel, while CNBC TV18 has 33 per cent. NDTV Profit's share is 19 per cent and Zee Business' 10 per cent. Zee Business was launched in mid-2004 on the direct-to-home platform officials said.

TV18 is also launching its personal finance portal moneycontrol.com in Hindi in six weeks. Three weeks ago, it added on compareindia.com in English and Hindi — this is a Web site that offers free information on various consumer goods.

On Awaaz, it has launched many new programmes that educate investors about commodities, consumer confidence and price indices that "are more reflective of reality" as they include more categories of consumables than the government-sponsored CPI and WPI, and an interactive `Guru' series on business, personal finance and investment-related issues.
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Diageo to introduce low priced Scotch in India
Mumbai: One of the oldest Scotch whisky brands in the world, Haig Gold Label (1824) from the house of Diageo, makers of Johnnie Walker whisky and the No 1 spirit manufacturer in the world has entered the Indian liquor market and will compete against premium domestic whisky brands such as Antiquity, Signature and Royal Challenge.

At Rs600 per bottle, Haig is the cheapest bottled-in-India scotch brand. The entry level price for bottled -in -India scotch brands is Rs880.

Teacher's Whisky, another brand in this category is priced at about Rs1,100. The prices of most of bottled- in- India scotch brands range from Rs900- 1,100.
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Acer gets FIPB approval to market IT hardware in India
New Delhi: One of the world's top four PC makers, Acer, has received approval from the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) to market IT hardware in India. The green signal from FIPB will enable the company to test and market its products in India.

Acer had a joint venture with Wipro initially but now wants to sell its PCs directly in the Indian market. The company has already been active in opening its branded showrooms in states like Kerala and Chhatisgarh. The company has set up its branded showroom in Kerala, while it has set up an exclusive Acer mall in Raipur. The company's focus is on offering low cost IT solutions to consumers in India.

According to industry officials, the move will bring in quality machines in the home PC and office PC segment.
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