Tata Motors to keep project in Singur
Mumbai: Tata Motors do not plan, as of now, to shift the proposed small car project from Singur in West Bengal, where the State Government is facing protests against acquiring farmlands for the project.

Ravi Kant, Tata Motor's m anaging director, said though the Orissa Government had offered land for the project, there was no change in the company's plan to roll out the car by 2008.

He said according to information available the State Government has already received sale consent for 927 acres out of 997 acres needed for the project.

He said the ground reality was different from what was being said by those opposing the project. There are definite plans for project-affected people to make them employable, he said. He said, "Singur would become a mini-auto city." As many as 70 vendors would set up shop along with the factory, he said. The project brings in investment of Rs 1,000 crore to Singur.

He said that initially, the Rs 1-lakh car would be available in a petrol version. It would be a five-seater, slightly less spacious than the Tata Indica.
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Satyam to set up global development centre in Egypt
Hyderabad: IT services provider Satyam Computer Services has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Egypt to set up a global development centre (GDC) in Smart Village, Giza in Cairo, Egypt.

The centre will accommodate about 300 resources over the next two years and serve as a technological development and software support facility for Satyam's West Asian customers.
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DaimlerChrysler may launch Chrysler in India
New Delhi: DaimlerChrysler is now contemplating bringing its Chrysler range of vehicles as into India. Chrysler makes top of the line passenger cars, which include the popular Crossfire, the Sebring sedan, PT Cruiser, Town & Country and Chrysler Asper.
The company sold over 5 million Chrysler vehicles worldwide last year.

DaimlerChrysler is also planning to enter the premium range of trucks after successfully launching its Actros tipper trucks for the mining industry in India. It has sold 37 of these and plans to foray into the tractor trailer segment, for which market studies are on.

The company also plans to source more components from India for its operations in other countries like Japan, Germany and the US. The company's sourcing from India has grown at an annual compounded annual growth rate of 20 per cent over the years and it will significantly go up in the coming years.

DaimlerChrysler India sold 1915 units in 2005, and expects its sales to grow at 15-20 per cent over the next few years.
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Honda to produce more scooters
Bangalore: Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India will increase production of its scooters by 20 per cent and introducing new variants next year in an attempt to push up its scooter sales.

Honda Motor Company's head for South West Asia, Mr Masahiro Takedagawa said the production of scooters had taken a hit because of the increase in production of motorcycles. Honda has three models in India- the 150cc geared scooter Eterno, the 102cc ungeared Activa and the motoscooter Dio.

The growth in the scooter segment has slowed down considerably, but recent announcements by Bajaj and TVS to re-enter the segment is being seen as an indication of the untapped opportunity still existing in the market. Honda's Activa and Dio sell over 35,000 units every month, while TVS with its 90cc gearless Scooty sells the next best with sales of over 25,000 units.
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ONGC may pay Rs100-cr for unfinished work
New Delhi: ONGC may have to pay close to Rs100 crore for defaulting on commitments on oil and gas exploration blocks awarded under the New Exploration Licensing Policy.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) plans to penalize exploration and production companies like ONGC and Reliance Industries Ltd for not meeting the work commitments.

ONGC is in talks with the authorities concerned to resolve the issue for nine exploration blocks. As per initial estimates ONGC had to pay a fine of about Rs400 crore for not meeting the work commitments for five deepwater blocks out of the total nine blocks in question.

While ONGC has agreed to relinquish five deepwater blocks, it proposes to seek extension for two shallow water blocks and plans to finish the ongoing drilling activities in two other blocks before taking a final call, an official said. Earlier, extension was given after giving a justification for not meeting the work commitment. However, now the companies have to give extension fees and cash payments as per estimated liquidity damage if they want to seek an extension.
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BHEL to make $2bn worth of global purchases
New Delhi: India's largest power equipment supplier Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), is ready with a war chest of up to Rs10,000 crore (about $2 billion) for takeovers in the US and Europe and for expansion in those companies.

The state-run major has amended its article of association recently for the purpose.
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REL to invest in Rs50,000 crore by 2012
Mumbai: Reliance Energy controlled by Anil Ambani will invest Rs50,000 crore over the next five to seven years for several power generation projects and is planning to add up to 10,000 mw by 2010-12.

The group has lined up close to a dozen projects, which will take the company's installed capacity to around 18,000 mw. The company also plans to enter the nuclear power sector and has been in talks with several global majors for partnerships.

The projects include two 1,000 mw plants in Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu, a 4,000 mw plant in Orissa, for which the memorandum of understanding is yet to be inked, and 2,000 mw of hydel projects in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal.

The group recently acquired the defunct 620 mw Rosa project in Uttar Pradesh from the Aditya Birla group. The Rosa plant's capacity is being doubled to 1,240 mw with REL investing around Rs5,600 crore in it.

The company is also putting up two merchant plants of 1,000 mw capacity each - one in Tamil Nadu which will be based on imported coal and a captive mine based project in Jharkhand.
However, the company's 7,500 mw Dadri project is still hanging fire for want for gas supplies.

Gas for the Dadri project was to come from Reliance Industries Krishna-Godavari basin. However, the issue is now in court with RIL refusing to sell gas at $2.98 mmbtu as per the agreement between the two companies.
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R-ADAG in talks with US equity funds for Hutch acquisition
Mumbai: One of US top private equity funds Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR), is in talks with the Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) to form a partnership that will bid for Hutchison-Essar.

KKR will join the Texas Pacific Group and Blackstone, who have also been holding talks with the Anil Ambani group for a similar partnership.

These developments intensify the suspense surrounding Hutchison-Essar. Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based owner with a 67 pc stake, is said to have indicated its inclination to sell.

Last week, Texas Pacific along with Malaysia's Maxis made a bid for 100 pc of Hutchison-Essar at an enterprise value of $13.5 billion. The bidders approached Canning Fok, chairman of Hutchison Telecom International, the parent of Hutchison Essar, who was in India on a brief visit. The bid was turned down.
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Bharti Teletech inks deal with Polycom
New Delhi: Bharti Teletech has tied up with the unified collaborative communications solutions provider, Polycom, Inc to distribute its voice and video conferencing solutions in India.

This is the company's third such distribution alliance after its tie-ups with Thompson to manufacture and markets GE phones and Motorola for sale of US major's GSM mobile phones and accessories.

The company is targeting revenues of up to $50 million in the next two years through this Polycom deal. The partnership will help Bharti Teletech enhance its position in the voice and video conferencing market by combining its domain expertise and extensive distribution network with Polycom's market-leading voice and video offerings. Officials said the two companies would jointly develop products that were India-centric to cater to the requirements of small businesses and individuals.

Polycom will be able to offer a select range of products through Bharti Teletech's network of 40,000 retailers across cities and towns. Bharti Teletech will distribute other product offerings from Polycom through its network of over 100 institutional distributors spread across the country.

Bharti Teletech will provide instant service support through its countrywide network of 146 authorised service franchisees. The company also shares close associations with over 6 active OEMs dealing in IP- based systems and will leverage on its large base of over 1000 corporate customers for promoting Polycom's IP solutions.
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