Bharti ties-up with Wal-Mart for retail
New Delhi: Bharti Enterprises led by Sunil Mittal-led has signed an agreement with world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores for a foray into the retail business. The two companies has signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly explore business opportunities in India, a company statement said.

The MoU will allow the two companies to study and evaluate the retail market in India and identify business opportunities together within the existing guidelines.

Bharti was earlier in discussions with British retailer Tesco and Carrefour of France, but negotiations with them did not fructify.

The statement said while Bharti would manage the front-end of the retail business, Wal-Mart would take care of the supply chain, logistics and other back-end operations.
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Domestic retailers gear up for Wal-Mart challenge
Mumbai: Indian retailer Pantaloon Retail India is game to take on the impending competition from Wal-Mart.

Pantaloon plans to scale up Big Bazaar stores to 100 by December 2007, before any international retailer opens up its store here said Kishore Biyani, managing director, Pantaloon Retail India Ltd (PRIL).

He said that with the entry of foreign players, modern retail will soon corner upto 25 per cent of Indian consumer spend.
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India Today to come out with English daily
New Delhi: The India Today group plans to launch an English language daily in New Delhi early next year.

"The paper is expected to be launched some time early next year," said Aroon Purie, Group Chief, Living Media group that publishes the magazine India Today on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit, organised by the World Economic Forum and CII. He said the group was confident of establishing a foothold in the market. He said the newspaper would be launched from Delhi first and any further expansion could be considered subsequently.

Apart from the India Today group, which has interest both in print and electronic media (through the TV Today network), others planning an entry into the Delhi market include Zee-Bhaskar combine's DNA.
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RComm launches animated cricket with CricGenie
Mumbai: Reliance Communication (Rcomm) has launched 'CricGenie,' an animated simulation of cricket matches for its subscribers. Reliance mobile subscribers can now watch a match in progress in animated simulation format and the new feature is available in the R-World option, the Anil Ambani-owned company said in a release here.

Dhruva Interactive, a Bangalore based company specialising in mobile games has designed the application. Apart from playing the game as it unfolds on the field, the CricGenie feature would offer match schedules, statistics, news, results, trivia, ranking s etc, the release said.

The feature is priced at Rs 25 per India-playing match day and all A-grade match days. For other match days, mobile users can get CricGenie at only Rs 10. CricGenie is supported on most colour handsets, the release added.
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UTV Software to sign television JV with Astro Multimedia
Mumbai: UTV Software Communications is entering a television joint venture with a unit of Malaysia's Astro All Asia Networks Plc.

Astro Multimedia International (BVI) Ltd. and UTV would hold 50 per cent each in the venture, which would operate in India, south Asia and south East Asia, the company said in a statement. The joint venture would focus on developing content and operating TV channels targeted at the 15-25 age group, UTV said. Astro, along with Indian media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and software firm Value Labs, had bought three private FM radio companie s in January. UTV had also agreed to sell its children's cable and satellite TV channel, Hungama, to Walt Disney Co., but had spelt out its intention to remain in broadcasting through joint ventures with foreign companies.
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Reliance City gas to price its gas cheaper than LPG
New Delhi: Reliance Industries said its City gas would be cheaper by almost 33 per cent against liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) being supplied by oil PSUs said Mukesh Ambani, chairman, RIL, on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit here. RIL has applied for city gas distribution licence in 100 cities and is awaiting finalisation of the City Gas Distribution Policy by the government. The petroleum ministry has given final touches to the policy for laying natural gas pipelines and setting up city gas distribution networks with a view to protecting consumer interest and assuring adequate returns to investors.
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SAIL nod for projects worth Rs670-cr
New Delhi: PSU steel major Steel Authority of India has given in-principle approval for five projects costing Rs670 crore during October 2006, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
Sail has approved the Rs279 crore installation of 650 tonnes per day Air Separation Unit and the Rs28 crore installation of electro-magnetic stirrer at Bhilai Steel Plant.

Modernisation and capacity enhancement of Merchant Mills at Durgapur Steel plant would be undertaken at a cost of Rs119 crore, while Rs20 crore would go into construction of new coke oven gas holder at Rourkela Steel Plant and Rs124 crore for installing a turbo blower at Bokaro Steel plant.

Sail would fund the projects through internal sources and money would be raised from the market to meet any balance funds. Sail would make efforts made to keep the overall debt to equity ratio to 1:1.

Sail has also submitted proposals for renewal of mining leases for Chiria iron ore mines. Three of the six leases are under deemed extension and the other three are under litigation between SAIL and the Jharkhand government.
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Widex India to expand operations
Kolkata: Widex India that specializes in makes hearing aids has launched new product 'Inteo' in the Indian market. The company is embarking on an expansion plan by opening more dispensing centres across the country. The company plans to set up a computerised shell manufacturing facility at an investment of Rs10 crore said T S Anand, managing director of Widex India. By 2010, the company planned to have 100 centres in India.

Claiming that Widex enjoyed a market share of 60 per cent to 70 per cent in India Anand said the company had recently opened the Widex Academy in Bangalore to train dispensers and audiologists on modern intricacies of hearing aids.

The company would also start foreign training programmes in Canada and Shanghai. Widex started operations in 1996 in India.
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BASF to stop Thane plant operations
Mumbai: BASF India said it plans to stop its operations in the agrochemicals plant in Thane as part of rationalisation measures undertaken by the company, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. There is no adverse impact of a material nature arising on account of this discontinuance and alternative arrangements have been put in place for supply of agrochemical products to its customers, the company said. BASF India manufactures expandable polystyrene, leather chemicals and auxiliaries, textile chemicals, agrochemicals at Thane.
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Godrej looks for acquisitions in China, Brazil
New Delhi: Godrej Industries is looking for acquisitions in China and Brazil and other emerging markets in the hair colour and household insecticide segment.

The other emerging markets include African countries like Nigeria. The Godrej group had acquired companies in UK and South Africa and about 25 per cent of the revenues in the FMCG goods segment are coming from the export market.

The FMCG market has been growing at 15 per cent and the company expects to better the industry growth. Company officials said increasing input costs like packaging and freight cost have forced the FMCG companies to hike prices of products. The company had already increased its soap prices earlier. The company is developing about 20 million square feet of properties including Maharashtra, Hyderabad and Bangalore and several have been completed.
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Revenues from K-G basin expected from 2009-10: RIL
New Delhi: Reliance Industries says it will start attaining revenues from its natural gas discoveries in K-G basin from 2009-10. The company has found 'large quantities' of gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhra coast. It has drilled 32-33 wells and made more than 25 discoveries.

RIL had early this month filed a revised development plan with upstream regulator directorate general of hydrocarbons, doubling its estimates to 80 million standard cubic metres of natural gas from its K-G basin finds.

RIL's subsidiary Reliance Petroleum is building a 27 million tonnes refinery near the parent company's existing 33 million tonnes refinery in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
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Toyota Kirloskar to finalise new plant by mid 2007
New Delhi: Toyota Kirloskar Motor said it hopes to finalise plans of setting up a new plant by the middle of next year and is mulling over the small car project in the country. Though the company has not shelved the small car plans for India it has not crystallised anything on this front and was weighing various options. Earlier in September, the company said it would launch a small car in the next 2-3 years as part of its strategy to grab 10 per cent share of the Indian automobile market by 2010.
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Biocon to launch new anti-arthritis drug in next 4 years
New Delhi: Biocon expects to launch a new anti-arthritis drug in the next 3-4 years in the Indian market, which could prove to be a multi-billion dollar opportunity for the company. The company is almost through with the Phase II clinical trials of the new molecule (T1H) and in the 18 months we expect to start the Phase III trials.

The Phase II clinical trials for the molecule have been done in India, but in the phase III we are looking at global trials, she added. The company, which recently launched a new cancer drug, is also looking at about $100 million of revenue from the canc er drug in the next 10 years.
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Syschem India to launch APIs, intermediates
Mumbai: Syschem India has decided to enter into the pharmaceutical business with the launch of its own active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates. The company has lined up 3 new molecules from the leading therapeutic categories, which will be manufactured at the company's manufacturing facilities. The marketing of these APIs would be done to the leading pharmaceutical companies, the company said in a statement.
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Tata Power Q2 net up 60 pc
Mumbai: Tata Power Company has posted a 60 per cent surge in net profit after tax for the second quarter at Rs202.32 crore compared to Rs125.67 crore for the year-ago period. Total income for the latest quarter rose 16.58 per cent at Rs1,279.17 crore against Rs1,097.21 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Prasad Menon, managing director, Tata Power, said, that work on the 250 MW coal-based power plant and 100 MW diesel generating sets for Mumbai were progressing well and the company has commenced work on 120 MW project in Haldia, 100 MW wind power plants in Maharashtra and 1,000 MW Maithon project.

The state government has nominated Jayant S Kawale as its nominee on the Tata Power's board of directors in place of Sanjay S Bhatia.
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HZL awards captive power plant project to Bhel
New Delhi: State-run engineering company BHEL said it has bagged a Rs129 crore captive power plant project from Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL). The power plant would cater to requirements of HZL's unit at Jawar mines at Udaipur in Rajasthan. The project, the third consecutive one from HZL, entails design, engineering, manufacture, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the plant, it said. BHEL had earlier executed a turnkey order for two units of 77 MW each at HZL's captive power plant at Chanderia lead zinc smelter plant in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. It is also executing another order from HZL for one unit of 80 MW at the same plant, it said.
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Hong Kong's job search portal to expand operations
New Delhi: Hong-Kong based job search portal Recruit.net plans to invest about $3 million over the next year in India to set up a software development facility and expand its presence in the country. Company officials said the facility will be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2007.

Recruit.net has recently launched its India specific job portal 'Recruit.net India'. The search engine will index job listings around India from multiple sources including job recruitment sites, newspapers, companies and executive firms and enable job seekers to instantly search multiple sites.
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