VVF to acquire Colgate Palmolive's USA facility
Mumbai: VVF, which is among India's biggest producer of oleochemicals and personal care products, is buying Colgate Palmolive's soap manufacturing plant in Kansas City, USA and plans to turn this facility into its headquarters for the North American region.

Colgate's unit will be closing soon and will reopen during the first quarter of next year with a startup work force to produce private-label soap for hotels and personal care products for other clients.

VVF plans to recruit more people as well as the customer base after reopening.

During 2006 the company expanded its capacities significantly at its Dubai plants and set up an office in Singapore.

This acquisition will allow the company to cater to demands for soap as well as other skin care and oral care products on a bigger scale than its existing facility in Ontario, Canada.

VVF does contract manufacturing for various brands like Johnson & Johnson, Henkel, Reckitt Benckiser, J L Morrison and Cussons. Apart from this, it also has its own soap brands, Doy, Doycare, Jo and Schiff.
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Thermax bags Rs383-cr orders for power plants
Mumbai: Thermax, the energy and environment engineering solutions provider, and its subsidiary has bagged two projects worth Rs383 crore from two cement majors for setting up captive power plants.

The company has received an order to set up a 50 MW coal or petcoke based captive power project for Rs243 crore and another order, worth Rs140 crore, is to set up a 25 MW captive power project, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The current fiscal order booking, with the aforesaid orders, exceeds 250 MW captive power plants valued at Rs1,000 crore. Back to News Review index page  

Oracle says India top priority; to invest more
New Delhi: India continues to be one of its top priorities according to US based IT company Oracle which plans to make additional investments in the country.

The company has recently opened 17 new outlets of purchase in smaller cities and towns and has invested $ 2billion in India since 2001.

The company said India stands in the fourth place in terms of revenue in the company's Asia Pacific revenues.
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Rajesh Exports bags order from Dubai
Bangalore: Rajesh Exports has received an order worth Rs226 crore for gold jewellery from Radha Krishna Jewellers, Dubai. The order is for the new festive collection developed by the R&D wing of the company and has to be completed by December 25 this year.
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Jindal Saw gets order from ONGC
New Delhi: Jindal Saw has received an order from ONGC worth Rs115 crore for 70-kilometre long pipes. The company emerged the lowest bidder for the connector casing business tender. It will be awarded the order within the next fortnight, according to a release by Jindal Saw.
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MSPL plans to sell carbon credits worth Rs200-250-cr
Mumbai: MSPL's 125-MW wind power project in Chitradurga, Davangere and Bellary in Karnataka has been registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The registration will enable the company to generate about 2.5 million certified emission reductions (CERs) from the developing countries through the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) route. Each CER stands for one tonne of carbon dioxide reduction and can be traded globally. According to the Kyoto Protocol, developed countries that are unable to curtail their emissions, have to purchase CERs through the CDM route. The company says intends to sell carbon credits valued at Rs200-250 crore in the international market to boost revenue.

MSPL is planning to ramp up the capacity to 300 MW at a cost of Rs750 crore by 2008 and is also planning to enter the capital market with an IPO.

MSPL Ltd diversified into wind power in 2001, which contributes around 10 per cent to the company's revenues.
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Tata Motors may outsource manufacture of small car to Canada's Magna
Mumbai: Tata Motors is in talks with Canada-based Magna International, one of the top five automotive component suppliers in the world, for contract manufacture of its much-awaited Rs1-lakh car.

If the deal is successful, Magna will make the Rs1-lakh car at a number of satellite manufacturing plants that will be set up for the purpose, said an official with one of the companies.

The feasibility of a Magna tie-up for contract manufacturing with Tata Motors lies in the sales goal that the Tata group company has, where it intends to reach the car across a scattered geography.

Tata Motors' is targeting sales of one million of its one-lakh cars and its West Bengal plant for the car will have a built-up capacity of 500,000 units on an annual basis. For the remaining 500,000 units, there are plans to set up satellite plants across the country at strategic locations that would make it cost effective to manufacture and sell the car in the shortest time possible.

Magna is likely to put up the majority of the plants because of its expertise in the field of contract manufacturing since 1979.

Magna has been doing contract manufacture for the likes of GM (Saab convertible), BMW (X3), DaimlerChrysler (G-Wagon, E-class-4WD, Chrysler 300C, Chrysler Voyager, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Commander).

Besides Magna, there are other automotive players such as Pininfarina of Italy and Karmann, Germany that take up similar contract manufacturing projects.
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Ramsarup Ind PAT rises by 53.28 pc
Kolkata: Ramsarup Industries,' which is second largest maker of steel wires after Tata Steel in India, Q2 profit after tax (PAT) has increased by 53.28 per cent to Rs8.17 crore (Rs5.33 crore) and for the half year it has gone up by 41.28 per cent to Rs18.38 crore (Rs13.01 crore). Net sales have increased by 12.16 per cent in Q2 to Rs272.12 crore (Rs242.61 crore) and during the half-year it has gone up by 29.74 per cent to Rs 584.34 crore (Rs450.38 crore). Export sales for the same period have grown by 326.18 per cent to Rs27.19 crore (Rs6.38 crore).

The company plans to complete its Rs52-crore ongoing expansion programme in the TMT and wire segments by December. The production from the expanded capacity will thus begin from the same month or from January. The expansion project at Shyamnagar in West Bengal will have capacity to produce about 80,000 tonnes of TMT and wires worth about Rs28 crore, while the other Rs24-crore expansion project at Kalyani in the State will produce an additional 24,000 tonnes of wires. Up to 50 per cent of the additional capacity is expected to commence by January 2007.
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Ranbaxy gets tentative US nod for syrup
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories has received a tentative US Food and Drug Administration approval to manufacture Cetirizine Hydrochloride Syrup. The total annual sales market for the syrup, prescribed for seasonal allergic rhinitis, is $146.3 million.

Cetirizine Hydrochloride Syrup will be produced at the company's dedicated liquid manufacturing facility located in Gloversville, New York, and will be launched following the final approval from the FDA.
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DaimlerChrysler may launch buses in India
Pune: Luxury carmaker DaimlerChrysler India has initiated a market feasibility study for its range of buses in India. With inter-city and intra-city travel on the rise and competitors such as Volvo making significant inroads into the domestic market with luxury buses, DCIL is said to be seriously considering an entry with its range of products, possibly by end 2007.

The company, which launched its premium Mercedes-Benz Actros truck in the market in June this year, is expected to complete the study by the second quarter of 2007.

Market sources said that the company has finalised its roadmap for its operations in India and that the commercial vehicle segment will play a key part of business growth in the years to come.
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HLL gives up tea parlour plans
Pune: FMCG major Hindustan Lever has shut down T Place, the first of the tea parlours that it set up in Bangalore, and has now abandoned the idea of getting into the branded tea chain business.

HLL launched the first T Place outlet at Koramangala in a large restaurant format, which presented the beverage in exciting new ways in contemporary settings. The company had also planned to leverage the health and wellness plank associated with tea drinking to promote the beverage, its major revenue earner.

HLL's plans ran into trouble after the franchisee downed shutters after he found it an unviable proposition to run.
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IDEA cuts night tariffs
New Delhi: Aditya Birla group company Idea Cellular has launched a new tariff plan for its pre-paid subscribers, under which it will offer cheaper calls between between 11 pm and 7 am.

The company would charge Rs46 rental along with the monthly recharge coupon and would provide free calls in the home network between 11 pm and 7 am, Idea said in a release.

The plan would also offer reduced STD rates of 99 paisa per minute and local mobile calls at 49 paisa per minute during these hours, the release said.
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