Hyundai plans R&D centre in Chennai
Chennai: Hyundai Motor Company plans to set up a research and development centre in Chennai within the next two years. According to senior company officials the company needs a global template solution for its IT support in the supply and demand chain and the country was the natural choice because of the country's IT expertise, availability of talent and CMM level 5 certification. The company would employ about 1,000 people, mostly engineers, at the R&D centre.

The development of IT solutions for the manufacturing process would help improve the quality of output and act as a `digital marker' that would check if each stage of the process is meeting standards. As far as customer relationship management is concerned, it could help the company increase its leads by about 15 per cent and an integrated inventory solution would help the company access data about its customers whether the unit was purchased directly or through a dealer.

The centre would come up after the second manufacturing facility that the company would be setting up next year.

The second facility, coming up at its existing plant near Chennai, would double the current manufacturing capacity of 3,00,000 units per annum.
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Grasim introduces new fabrics
Chennai: Aditya Birla Group company Grasim Industries has introduced five new fabrics that would be `the look of the season.' The launch is backed by an ad spend of Rs 2 crore, which would be spent from mid-September to end-November.

The company says the new fabrics, launched after extensive research and feedback from trade partners, include Medova a polyester-and-modal based product available in many colours; Plural a blend of polyester, modal and wool; Juventus, a poly wool product; Caramel a softer fabric and Luztor a lustrous fabric. The fabrics are priced between Rs300 and Rs1,000 a metre.

The company is investing close to Rs75 crore in the Bhiwani plant for modernisation, technological upgradation and in areas of design development.

The size of the apparels market is about Rs4,500 crore of the Rs 9,000-crore textile market, with over-the-counter retail comprising the rest.
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Videocon may sign MoU to takeover Daewoo by month-end
Mumbai: The Videocon-led group of companies that has been selected as the preferred bidder to buy out Daewoo Electronics Corp of Korea is expected to sign a preliminary MoU by end-September and the deal may be concluded by the year-end.
Negotiations between Videocon Industries, with its partner, the US fund Ripplewood, and the creditors of Daewoo Electronics, are progressing well, sources close to the deal said.

Venugopal Dhoot, Videocon chief, referring to reports on Videocon's acquisition of Daewoo said that his company had only signed a non-disclosure agreement. He clarified that the company had not yet signed any agreement for acquisition of the Korean outfit.

The shares of Videocon Industries closed at Rs405 .65 on the BSE on Tuesday, a 0.05 per cent rise since Monday's closing.
The creditors of Daewoo, including Woori Bank and Korea Asset Management Corp, hold 97.6 per cent stake in the Korean company, after it came under a debt-restructuring programme, when its insolvent parent, Daewoo Group, was put under a workout programme. The creditors have been seeking to sell the controlling stake in the Korean firm since November 2005.
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NIIT starts management courses
New Delhi: NIIT is setting up project `Imperia,' that will offer management education with centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Three IIMs - Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Indore will make their executive development programmes available at six remote learning centres in the country on the technology provided by NIIT. The classes would be run after-working hours and on weekends enabling the students to continue with their jobs and pursue education simultaneously. Under the system, the faculty would operate from an in-house studio located within the campuses of the IIMs and the students would undergo interactive sessions through two-way live video and audio and other related software to replicate face-to-face teaching.

Prof Bakul Dholakia, director, IIM-Ahmedabad said under this system, using the same faculty resources, the IIMs can train three times the number of students as against a real class. Initially, two programmes from each of the participating IIMs would be offered.
These include three General Management programmes for professionals with a minimum experience of three years, six years or 10 years, from IIM Indore, Ahmedabad and Calcutta, respectively.

A programme on Strategic Business Communication from IIM Ahmedabad, a course in Applied Finance from IIM Calcutta and a programme on Sales and Marketing Management from IIM Indore will be offered.

It is planned to have 75 remote classrooms in the next five years with an investment of Rs20 crore.

The duration of these courses range from four months to one year and the fees from Rs54,000 to Rs1,94,000.
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Patel Engg acquires Mumbai-based engg co
Mumbai: Patel Engineering has acquired a majority stake in the Mumbai-based Michigan Engineers (MEPL). MEPL is an urban infrastructure company specializing in underground works and foundations, atypical dredging, bridges, specialised sewer rehabilitation works and other heavy civil works. Patel Enginnering with its speciality in micro-tunnelling will find in MEPL a platform to leverage the joint skills of the two companies and bid for urban infrastructure and sewerage projects.
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Aurobindo gets FDA nod for Citalopram
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma has obtained the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Citalopram oral solution 10mg/5ml. The company already has USFDA approval for Citalopram of 10, 20 and 40 mg strengths in tablet form.

Citalopram is indicated in the treatment of depressive disorders. In a press release here on Tuesday, the company said the latest approval opens on opportunity of over $4-million market additionally to it. The latest approval takes the total USFDA approved products of Aurobindo to 30, inclusive of tentative approvals, the release said.
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ONGC may tie up with Petrobras
New Delhi: ONGC is ready to sign an understanding with Petrobras and the Brazilian Government to mark the entry of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) into that country. OVL is picking up 15 per cent stake in Brazilian oil field BC-10 Block.

This, according to sources, could be ratification of the agreement entered into by OVL and Royal Dutch/Shell for the transfer of 15 per cent stake to the Indian company.

Earlier, this year OVL had entered into a shareholder agreement with Shell, which assigned 15 per cent stake in BC-10 to the former. The shareholdings in the partnership, once all the formalities are completed and approved by Brazil's National Petroleum Agency, will stand at Shell 50 per cent, Petrobras (35 per cent) and OVL (15 per cent).

In April, ONGC had said that OVL had originally bought ExxonMobil's 30 per cent stake in BC-10 for $330 million. It had committed another $490 million as its share of development cost. However, Shell, as the operator of the block, had the first right of refusal on any stake sale in the venture by partners. It exercised its pre-emption right and now, OVL is buying half of that stake. Shell continues to be the operator of the field.

The field are estimated to hold 400 million barrels of oil reserves and have potential to produce 1,00,000 barrels per day.

ndications are that OVL would pay about $170 million for buying a 15 per cent stake in a Brazilian oil field from Royal Dutch/Shell. OVL planned to spend another $234 million as its share of the cost involved in bringing the field to production by the end of 2009.
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Duncans Industries steps into BIFR fold
Kolkata: Duncans Industries, the flagship company of the G.P. Goenka Group, is being referred to the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The board of directors of Duncans Industries has decided to make the referral because the total accumulated losses of the company have completely eroded its net worth.

Duncans Industries has operations in fertiliser and tea and has been facing an adverse situation for the last few years following its dispute with the Union Government over the Retention Price Subsidy (RPS) scheme. The company clocked a turnover of Rs173.36 crore as on March 31, 2006, but ended with a net loss of Rs798.89 crore because it provided for Rs446.94 crore - the disputed subsidy amount - in the profit & loss account.

As a result its total accumulated loss jumped to Rs954.40 crore as against Rs155.50 crore on March 31, 2005. The March 31, 2006, balance sheet of Duncans Industries has shown a negative net current asset of Rs239.39 crore. The company fought a futile legal battle against the Centre at the Allahabad High Court on the RPS issue. Subsequently, its Special Leave Petition was also disallowed by the Supreme Court.

In another significant development, Duncans Industries has decided to make a foray into the cash-rich real estate development business which is being seen as a desperate attempt to change the fortunes of the company.
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Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts to break-even in two-three years
Bangalore: Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP) is increasing production of manual transmission parts to 2.3 lakh units next year and plans to wipe out losses of around Rs70 crore in another two-three years.

Company officials said the increase in production will also depend on the small car project of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, expected to be finalised in another six months. The company may need to invest another Rs40 crore for expanding the existing capacity.

TKAP is also expected to start making profits this year itself. Currently, TKAP produces 1.7 lakh units of gearboxes utilising 95 per cent of the existing capacity.

Toyota has invested around Rs 400 crore in two plants for manufacturing transmission parts. The total revenue of TKAP is around Rs500 crore for 2005-06.

TKAP is a global resource for the International Motor Vehicle project, making and supplying R type manual transmission to seven vehicle assembly plants of Toyota across the world. It is also considered the first Indian auto transmission component maker who will be a global source for a tier 1 component.

Toyota Motor Corporation officials had earlier said that India could turn out to be its lowest-cost manufacturing centre in the world because of its competitive cost of manufacture, abundant engineering talent and strong tooling industry.
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Dish TV targets 4mn subscribers by 2009
New Delhi: Essel Group promoted Dish TV is planning to increase its subscriber base to 4 million by 2008-09, an increase of about 200 pc against its current subscriber base of 1.38 million. The company has started a massive advertisement and marketing drive, backed by an investment of Rs500 crore on procuring technology for value-added services alone.

According to estimates by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, DTH would have 10 million subscribers by 2010 while other industry projections have put the figure for digital TV - which includes DTH , IPTV and digital cable - will have 15 million by 2012.
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Reliance Comm plans global footprint
New Delhi: The Reliance-Dhirubhai Anil Ambani Group is planning to expand operations globally. The company is planning to bid for mobile licences abroad and for providing high-end business process outsourcing services. Company officials said Reliance Comm is planning to extend the value-added services it offers in India to other parts of the globe. It will offer high-speed Internet and extend its next generation telecom network services to other countries through strategic partners.

The company also plans to take Internet protocol television (IPTV) and other media services to consumers in foreign markets after it launches them in India.

To carry these services, the group will set up three broadband cable networks: one from India to China through Nepal; two, an undersea cable between Asia and the US; and three, an extension of its Falcon cable from the Maldives to East Africa. Industry analysts put a $1 billion price tag to these three cable systems.

The group is also eyeing mobile licences in Kenya, Bhutan and Morocco.
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