Chinese steel company plans integrated plant in India
New Delhi: Chinese state-owned Sinosteel Corporation is looking at possibilities of setting up an integrated steel plant in India having an annual capacity of 3-5 million tones. The company is currently doing the groundwork required for a project of this scale and hopes to finalise the location and other details within the next two to three months. Unlike Posco and Mittal Steel, Sinosteel is not rigid on the issue of allotment of an iron ore mine as a precondition for setting up the plant. The company has held discussions with the Jharkhand and Orissa governments and the company's president, Tianwen Huang, would be visiting India in November for further deliberations. Sinosteel India is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese company.

Sinosteel is one of the largest global traders in iron ore, steel and other steel making inputs and equipment. According to mining industry sources, the company is currently buying around 8-10 million tonnes of iron ore from India annually.

Going by the thumb rule of Rs2,500 crore to Rs3,000 crore investment per million tonne of greenfield steel capacity, the investment required could be to the tune of Rs10,000 crore or more, industry sources said.
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Videocon to acquire Daewoo Elec
Mumbai: A consortium led by Videocon Industries has inked a deal to acquire Korean company Daewoo Electronics Corporation for about Rs3,200 crore. Videocon's consortium partner is Belgium-based holding company RHJ International.

An MoU was signed on October 20, between the Videocon-consortium and creditors of Daewoo, including Woori Bank and Korea Asset Management Corp. The creditors hold 97.6 per cent stake in Daewoo, after it came under a debt-restructuring programme, following its insolvent parent, Daewoo Group, being kept under a workout. The creditors have been seeking to sell their controlling stake in the Korean outfit since November 2005.

According to sources the Belgian company and Videocon will each own about one-half of the consortium. Others said Videocon may end up having a majority stake in the company.

Videocon would fund the acquisition through a combination of debt and equity and is currently sitting on cash surpluses of about $300 million.
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India Cements net up 20 twenty times
Chennai: India Cements has posted a 27 per cent increase in turnover for the quarter ended September 30 over the corresponding period last year while net profit jumped 20 times.

The company's profit after tax of Rs117.32 crore during the quarter under review was higher than the highest annual profit of Rs 87 crore recorded in 1998-99.

The company expects continued growth in demand and firm prices for the next 24 to 30 months, despite additional capacity coming up in the southern region. India Cements itself will add another 2 million tonnes a year of capacity by December 2007, at its existing plants and is also setting up grinding units - where clinker produced by it will be converted to cement either by mixing with fly ash or slag - in north Chennai and in Maharashtra.

The additional 2 million tonnes a year of capacity of the company would come up at a capital cost of Rs300 crore.

India Cements' accumulated loss was Rs30 crore at the end of September 2006, which would be wiped out in October itself. Earlier, the company had said it would wipe out the balance losses in the third quarter of the year.
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Ranbaxy gets marketing rights for Swiss gastro drug
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories has obtained the exclusive rights to market Sanvar, the new chemical entity (NCE) drug of Swiss biopharmaceutical company Debiopharm Group, in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The injectible molecule is a synthetic analogue of a naturally occurring hormone and is used in the treatment of gastroenterological problems.

Sanvar can be stored at room temperature allowing immediate administration, which advantage it enjoys over competitors. The drug is currently undergoing Phase III clinical trials in the US where it holds orphan drug status; Debiopharm is expected to file for approval in early 2007.
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Leyland, Bosch to set up design centre in India
Chennai: Ashok Leyland and Bosch plan to invest Rs4 crore each in a new design centre that would come up at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

The `Ashok Leyland and Bosch Centre of Excellence in Engineering Design' will house the recently formed Department of Engineering Design. The department will conduct B.Tech and M.Tech courses in engineering design.

Dr Albert Hieronimus managing director of MICO, Bosch group's flagship company in India said that the new design centre would produce a crop of talented design engineers which Bosch could later "harvest".

R. Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok Leyland and president, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), noted that India could not hope to be competitive by merely relying on its "low cost" advantage, but needed to innovate.
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Balmer Lawrie to expand its Chennai CFS
Chennai: Balmer Lawrie & Co is planning to expand the capacity of its container freight station (CFS) in Chennai and is developing an additional area of seven acres adjacent to the existing CFS in Manali, in Chennai allow storage/handling of larger number of containers.

The company is investing Rs12 crore into the expansion which includes the cost of the land . Work has begun and is expected to be completed before the year end. The new facility will generate revenue in the present fiscal itself, says a company press release.
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TCIL Q2 net up 32 pc
Hyderabad: Transport Corporation of India (TCIL), has registered a 32.12 per cent increase in net profit at Rs6.54 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2006, as compared with Rs4.95 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Total revenue for the quarter was up 25.79 per cent at Rs272.79 crore, compared with Rs216.86 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The company is planning to invest Rs450 crore over the next four years in expanding its fleet strength, setting up additional warehouses and acquiring pre-owned ships.

The company would set up five modern warehouses, one each at Gurgaon, Pune, Bangalore, Nagpur and Kolkata, with an investment of Rs150 crore. Each of the warehouses would have a 2 lakh sq ft capacity, equipped with temperature control systems and cold storage facilities that would cater to clients that are into FMCG and telecom among others company officials said.
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Starbucks to enter India with Biyani
New Delhi: Starbucks, the world's largest coffee chain, has finalized plans to enter India. The Seattle-based iconic brand is said to have signed up with Kishore Biyani's Planet Retail Holdings (formerly Planet Sports) to enter India, resting speculations about the company's partner in the country.

Planet Retail will be the master franchisee for the Starbucks brand in India and other South Asian markets. It is already the licensee for Starbucks in Indonesia. The first Starbucks coffee outlet will open in India early next year. The other modalities of the deal are still being worked out.

Planet Retail Holdings, Starbucks' franchisee, is one of the leading lifestyle retailers in India. At present, the company's portfolio includes stores like Planet Sports, Sports Warehouse and The Athlete's Foot in the sports lifestyle segment. In the lifestyle retailing segment, it is the licensee for brands such as Marks & Spencer, Guess, Next and Women's Secret.
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