Air Deccan reports Rs340cr loss
Bangalore: Deccan Aviation, which operates budget airline Air Deccan, has reported a net loss of Rs340.55 crore for the 15-month period ended June 2006. The company's revenue for the period stood at Rs1,236.39 crore while other income was Rs115.41 crore.

Capt G R Gopinath, managing director of Deccan Aviation, said various factors including the steep increase in aviation fuel price, introduction of 20 new aircraft and addition of 56 new routes and rising personnel cost impacted the performance of the airline for the 15-month period. The company's board has approved a proposal to raise $100 million to meet working capital requirement and aircraft acqusition. The company has signed a term-sheet to raise funds from a consortium of European banks.

With a fleet of 34 aircraft and 55 destinations as of June 30, 2006, the airline carried over 4.4 million passengers over the 15-month period, and has emerged as the second largest airline with a market share of 21.2 per cent in June 2006.
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Jet allowed to withdraw Rs1,500cr from escrow account
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has allowed private carrier Jet Airways to withdraw Rs1,500 crore deposited by it in an escrow account for acquiring rival Air Sahara against a bank guarantee of the same amount.

In January this year Jet Airways had signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent equity stake in Air Sahara.

As part of the deal, Jet had paid Rs180 crore for the revival of Air Sahara and Rs500 crore for Air Sahara shares besides depositing Rs1,500 crore in the escrow account opened for the purpose.

After the deal fell through - as Jet failed to get regulatory clearances by the deadline of June 21 as per the agreement - Sahara moved a court in Lucknow seeking to bar Jet from operating the escrow account.

The Supreme Court had, in August, transferred two petitions filed by Sahara in a Lucknow court to the Bombay High Court for hearing. Jet had already filed two separate petitions before the Bombay High Court.
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MSPL plans Rs1,500cr spend for wind energy
Mumbai: Flagship company of the Baldota group, MSPL plans to invest Rs1,500 crore for hiking its wind energy generation capacity to 300MW from the present 160MW by 2008-09.

MSPL which is mainly into iron ore mining, processing and exporting currently has its wind farms located in Karnataka and Maharashtra and the capacities at these farms will be increased along with addition of new capacities in Gujarat. The group's other company, Ramghad Minerals, is already into gold exploration and will invest Rs300 crore in gold mining over the next two years.
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Kumar Birla looks at retail foray
New Delhi: Now another big business group is planning a retail foray. It is the turn of the Aditya Birla group to plan an entry into retail. The company plans to invest Rs2 billion in the next five years for opening a mix of supermarkets and hypermarkets across the country.

The Aditya Birla group, headed by Kumar Mangalam Birla, is not looking at tying up with a global major and will go ahead on its own. The company is tying up project finances and hiring key resource people from existing retail majors like Shoppers' Stop and Pantaloon.

A key part of the group's strategy will be its focus on private labels products that are sold under brand names owned by the company. The initial roll-out is expected to begin within 15 months.

Barring branded fast-moving consumer goods, the Aditya Birla group's retail foray is expected to look at creating private labels in all categories such as food and groceries, apparel and homecare products.

Sources added that most of the sourcing would be from within the country, because the duty structure did not make imports a viable option.
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Nokia to increase hiring in India
New Delhi: Nokia of Finland is expected to increase its hiring in India. Nokia already employs 3,500 people at its plant in Sriperumbudur, on the outskirts of Chennai, 1,000 more than had been projected for the end of the year.

The company will also produce new handset models at its Indian factory, an official said on Thursday. Nokia's facility, which was set up in March this year, was also likely to make new mobile handset models in a bid to increase its stranglehold on the world's fastest-growing wireless services market.

Nokia currently produces about 10 handset models, most of them aimed at entry level markets.

Ultra low cost phones — less than Rs2,000 — are fuelling demand in cost-sensitive India, where more than 5 million new users are entering the 123.44 million customer-strong wireless sector each month.
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OIL set to acquire 25 pc stake in HPCL's Bathinda refinery
New Delhi: HPCL is roping in domestic exploration firm Oil India as its new joint venture partner for the proposed Rs17,934.61-crore Bathinda refinery-cum- pipeline project.

HPCL has offered 25 pc stake to OIL in the 9-million-tonne-per-annum refinery, hanging fire for the last eight years. This will mean an equity investment of Rs1,500 crore by OIL in the project to be funded through a debt-equity mix of 2:1.

The OIL board, which discussed the HPCL offer on September 5, has found the opportunity "attractive".

The refinery is estimated to cost Rs14,144 crore. HPCL has planned a 1,011-km crude oil pipeline from the Mundra port in Gujarat to the inland refinery location at Bathinda in Punjab that is expected to cost Rs3,790 crore.
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Bharti looks at acquiring more global telecom licences
Kolkata: Bharti is looking at acquiring more global telecom licenses and plans to invest $2 billion during the current fiscal for expansion of its telecom venture.

"We are open to more telecom licenses in the overseas markets and we are tracking the world. We will take up opportunities wherever we get it," Bharti Enterprises chairman and group managing director Sunil Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of the CII National Council Meeting.

Bharti Global, the offshore investment arm of Bharti, recently received a comprehensive license to operate 3G as well as 2G mobile services in Guernsey, an island located in the English Channel.

This is the third international telecom venture of Bharti. In May 2006, Earlier Bharti was granted a license to run comprehensive telecom services, including 2G and 3G mobile services and international long distance services, in Jersey through its subsidiary Jersey Airtel Ltd. In Seychelles Bharti is offering mobile and basic telephone services since 1998 under the Airtel brand through its subsidiary Telecom Seychelles.
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