Gujarat Ambuja net up 284 pc
Mumbai: Gujarat Ambuja Cements' standalone net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2006, rose by 284 per cent, due to higher productivity and better price realisation. Net profit for the last quarter of its 18-month fiscal amounted to Rs338 crore, against Rs88 crore in the quarter ended December 2005. Net sales rose 72 per cent, to Rs1,329 crore from Rs773 crore, as the company sold 4.12 million tonnes of cement, 20 per cent higher than in the year-ago quarter.

Other income for the quarter was also higher, at Rs40 crore (a negative Rs7.6 crore), on account of exchange gains and profit on sale of assets.

Total expenditure rose by 48.8 per cent, to Rs850 crore, because of increased power, fuel and freight costs.

GACL plans to invest Rs3,350 crore over the next two years increasing its total capacity from 16 mt of cement to 22 mt through brownfield expansions; and its captive power capacity to 400 MW from 240 MW. The funds will come from internal accruals. The company will commission two plants of 1 mt each by April this year in West Bengal and in Uttaranchal.

The company's board announced a final dividend of 40 per cent, or Rs0.80 per share of Rs2 each. In addition to the two interim dividends in 2005-2006, this makes for a dividend of 165 per cent.

The board also approved the change in name of GACL to Ambuja Cements Ltd.
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Reliance Comm to invest $2.5bn in expansion plans
New Delhi: Reliance Communication plans to invest almost $2.5 billion in 2007-08 in expanding its telecom network to more number of towns and cities across the country. The company is also looking to launch new services, including Direct To Home (DTH) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) by the third quarter of next fiscal. On the proposed investments in its cellular network, Anil Ambani chairman of Reliance Communications said that the outlay for next fiscal would be much higher compared to this fiscal, which would end up at $1.75 billion by March 31, 2007.

While announcing the company's results Ambani said the Group would take a conservative stand in bidding for India's fourth largest mobile player. The company has also entered into a deal with Hutch, Airtel, Idea Cellular and Aircel for sharing infrastructure across the country and with State-owned MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai.

Reliance Communications posted net profit of Rs924 crore for the third quarter ended December 31 2006, up by 198 per cent, as against Rs310 crore posted during the corresponding quarter the previous year.
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DuPont to set up knowledge centre in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: DuPont, the global products and services company has announced plans to invest over Rs100 crore to establish its research and development (R&D) centre in Hyderabad called the DuPont Knowledge Center. This would be the company's first R&D Centre in India is expected to accommodate more than 300 scientists and other employees. It will be the sixth major DuPont R&D facility outside US, after Shanghai, China; Utsunomiya, Japan; Hsinchu, Taiwan; Wuppertal, Germany and Meyrin, Switzerland.

DuPont has appointed Dr Homi Bhedwar, as director for the India Knowledge Center.

Prior to relocating to Hyderabad, Dr Bhedwar held R&D leadership positions in DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies' businesses at the company's headquarters in Wilmington, Del., US.

The DuPont Knowledge Center in India will focus on discovery research as well as applications development in a variety of areas said DuPont senior vice president and chief science & technology officer Dr Uma Chowdhry. DuPont invests an average of $1.3 billion annually on global research and development in a diverse range of technologies for many markets including agriculture, automotive, construction, electronics, chemicals and industrial materials. It has more than 4,400 scientists and engineers.
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NTPC-Railways joint venture gets nod
New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a joint venture between NTPC and the Indian Railways for setting up a Rs5,352-crore thermal power plant at Nabinagar in Bihar to meet the requirements of the rail network across the country.

The joint venture company, Bharatiya Rail Bijlee Company, will execute the 1000 MW plant with NTPC holding 74 per cent equity while the Railways the balance.

The company will have a seed capital of Rs10 crore and an authorised capital of Rs1,605.75 crore. NTPC will make an investment of Rs1,188.26 crore while the Railways will chip in with Rs417.50 crore toward the equity.
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Aurobindo drug gets FDA approval
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma (APL) has received approval from USFDA for one more Cephalosporin, cefprozil oral suspension 125mg\5ml, 250mg\5ml from its range.
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Wyeth sued over Zosyn patent
Three generic pharmaceutical companies, including an Indian company have sued US pharma company Wyeth for unfairly delaying the entry of generic versions of a blockbuster drug.
Chennai-based Orchid Chemicals, Sandoz (Novartis' generic arm) and Abraxis Pharmaceutical Products (APP) have filed citizen petitions with the USFDA against Wyeth, after the pharma major filed a new patent on its blockbuster drug Zosyn, extending its patent life to 2023. The patent was set to expire this month.

Wyeth discontinued its original formulation for antibiotic drug Zosyn in November 2005 and subsequently launched a new version with a fresh patent, delaying for years the entry of generic players in the US market.

According to USFDA rules, a company is allowed to withdraw a product from the market only for reasons related to safety and efficacy. In case the product is withdrawn from the market, it is subsequently removed from the approved drugs' reference list, and therefore no pharmaceutical company can market a generic version of this same drug.

The generic drug players say Wyeth is trying to extend the patent life of the drug and prevent the entry of generic players in the market.

They say while Wyeth has added an excipient to its drug, other players should be allowed to market generic versions of the original formulation for Zosyn.

With annual sales of $892 million, Zosyn represents a significant opportunity for generic players. Orchid Chemicals, Sandoz and Abraxis pharma have already filed Abbreviated New Drugs Applications (ANDAs) in order to market a generic version of Zosyn's original formulation in the US.
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