Government may give more autonomy to PSEs
New Delhi: The prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has asked public sector enterprises to learn from their private sector counterparts and seize opportunities for mergers, acquisitions, amalgamations, takeovers and creating new joint ventures. This indicates that the government may give more operational flexibility to PSEs in terms of financial and managerial decisions. The government also seems to want more PSEs to go public as Dr Singh said, "It may be useful for more public enterprises to be listed on the stock exchange, as this would enhance professionalisation of the board of directors and empower the independent directors."

Dr Singh said the induction of independent directors on the boards of PSEs would ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness in decision-making processes. He said the government planned to pay greater attention to how independent directors are identified and ensure that they are independent professionals who bring with them both expertise and a reputation for good governance and high professional conduct he said.

He said revitalisation of the public sector was an integral part of the Government's strategy for promoting "inclusive growth.

He added that the total number of loss making PSEs had fallen from 79 to 58 last year and urged the Board for Reconstruction of PSEs to come forward with time bound programmes for the revival of sick PSEs.
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M&M wins bid for Punjab Tractors
New Delhi: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) had edged out Ashok Leyland in its bid to acquire a controlling stake in Punjab Tractors. Sources said that the sale has been verbally agreed to and will be signed, barring any last-minute glitches.

M&M bagged the bid at about Rs 360 per share, and is acquiring about 43 per cent stake in the Chandigarh-based tractor firm for close to Rs 1,000 crore in an all-cash deal.

The 43 per cent stake includes 29 per cent owned by private equity firm Actis and 14.2 per cent by the Delhi-based Burman family.

M&M is said to have emerged the highest bidder and appears to have upped the bid after three days of negotiations, as the bidding deadline closed on Monday.

Ashok Leyland was edged out as it had laid out certain preconditions for the acquisition.

Industry analysts said that the pre-conditions might have had to do with the receivables condition of Punjab Tractors and a roadmap for acquiring further stake in commercial vehicles firm, Swaraj Mazda, in which Punjab Tractors has 14 per cent stake.
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RPG Group to invest Rs2,500 crore on retail expansion
New Delhi: RPG Group plans to invest Rs 2,500 crore in retail expansion across the country during the next four years through its retail venture, Spencer's. The company would invest around Rs1,000 crore in the first phase of expansion that will end in 2009. For the second phase, it would invest an additional Rs1,500 crore till 2011.

The company would raise funds for the planned expansion through a mix of resources, including private placements and internal accruals.

To fund the expansion the company is considering a public issue and a fresh listing of its retail venture.
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HTIL says deal is FDI-compliant
New Delhi: Hutchison Telecom International has said that allegations by an Indian consumer group that the Hong Kong-based company held more stake in mobile firm Hutch-Essar than what was permitted under the FDI policy was not true.

Consumer group Telecom Watchdog had filed public interest litigation in the Delhi High Court alleging that HTIL was holding more equity than the 74 per cent FDI cap in Hutchison Essar through benami transactions.

HTIL said it believes Hutchison Essar is FDI compliant and the transaction will not affect such FDI compliant status.

Telecom Watchdog has claimed that foreign holding in Hutch-Essar was 89.03 per cent.

Max India Chairman, Analjit Singh who holds around 8.75 per cent stake while the Hutchison Essar MD, Asim Ghosh, with 6.25 per cent stake said that they are the sole owners of their stakes in HEL.

Telcom Watchdog has alleged that the equity held by the two individuals was being held on behalf of HTIL.
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Fiat cars to be available only at Tata-Fiat dealerships
Mumbai: Fiat India plans to sell its cars exclusively through the Tata-Fiat chain of dealerships.

Till now the company has been selling its models using the existing 41 outlets of the Tata-Fiat dealership chain and has now proposed to link the remaining 38 `Fiat' channels to the Tata-Fiat chain.

The Tata-Fiat retail rollout is a culmination of the Tata-Fiat alliance with one of them being the joint sales of Fiat and Tata cars from a single retail roof. As of now, there are 41 dealerships and 19 are soon to be added to raise the total to 60 outlets across the country.

In March 2006, Fiat Group and Tata Motors announced a distribution and marketing agreement and since then Fiat has sold 2,084 units (March 2006 - January 2007). With the introduction of various Fiat models such as Fiat Palio (face-lift), Fiat Grande Punto and Fiat Linea, sales are expected to move up from the larger number of outlets.
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VW to assemble engines at Chakan near Pune
Pune: Volkswagen AG plans to assemble engines at its proposed car manufacturing facility at Chakan in Pune and will look at production once it gets volumes.

The company opened a temporary office at Baner a month ago and has begun looking for suppliers. It has also installed a small planning unit.

The Chakan facility, located over 230 hectares of land, and involving a total investment of Rs 2,400 crore is poised to begin production of up to 1,10,000 cars annually by 2009. The company's business plan suggests that the Passat will be the first model to roll off the assembly line but the company is also working on other possibilities.
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Tata Tele to expand with Rs3,500-cr investment
Mumbai: Tata Teleservices (TTSL) is planning to invest Rs 3,500 crore in the next fiscal for expanding services across the country.

The company also plans to spin off its cellular towers into a separate unit that may be sold at a later stage. The company has invested Rs 1,000 crore in the tower business so far and is in talks with six companies to operate its towers, said Darryl Green, CEO, Tata Teleservices.

The company's expansion plans include adding more cellular cites and reaching out to another 1,000 towns. Officials said if the company gets the spectrum, it will roll out 3G services as well. The company had earmarked an almost similar outlay for the current fiscal too.

TTSL has also applied for licences in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and the rest of the North East.

TTSL has nearly 16 million users in India.
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Tata Steel arm to acquire rolling mills in Vietnam
Mumbai: Tata Steel's subsidiary NatSteel had agreed to buy a controlling stake in two rolling mills in Vietnam for an enterprise value of around $41 million. Tata Steel said NatSteel would acquire 100 per cent of SSE Steel and 70 per cent of Vinausteel.

The deals, which would give NatSteel an extra 4,30,000 tonnes in annual capacity, were expected to be completed by June, Tata Steel said.
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Teledata Informatics bags order worth Rs73.6 crore from Bihar Govt
Mumbai: Teledata Informatics has won a contract worth Rs 73.6 crores from the Bihar State Electronic Development Corporation for the installation and maintenance of IT infrastructure and computer education services in 1,000 schools in urban and rural areas of the state.

The IT infrastructure installed in the schools would be on the basis of lease, maintain and transfer (LMT) for three years, The company told the BSE.
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IOC to set up a 15mn tonne refinery in TN
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) plans to invest Rs 25,000 crore for setting up a new 15 million tonne (MT) refinery and petrochemicals complex in Ennore in Tamil Nadu to cater to the export market. Four years ago IOC commissioned its Paradip refinery in Orissa, a senior official said.

The 15 mn tonne Paradip refinery is scheduled for commissioning in 2011 while the Ennore refinery is likely to be commissioned in 2015-16.

The refinery-cum-petrochemicals complex would be set up in joint venture with Chennai Petroleum Corporation. The company has not yet decided the equity structure.
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WNS acquires Marketics for $65 million
Bangalore: WNS (Holdings), the $300 million BPO services provider, has acquired Bangalore-based knowledge processing firm (KPO) Marketics Technologies for $65 million (around Rs290 crore) in cash.

WNS said it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire the privately-owned company in offshore analytics services.

Marketics is a four-year old company employing around 200 people, mainly based in Bangalore with an additional centre in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

Marketics has sales of close to $4 million. WNS expects to finance the transaction primarily through existing cash and cash equivalents.
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McDonald's India enters Eastern region with outlet in Kolkata
Kolkata: McDonald's India's first outlet in the Eastern region is expected to open on Kolkata today. The company has earmarked Rs 400 crore investment over the next three years of which 70 pc would be for expansion of the brand's presence and introduction of new formats, while 30 pc would be for the back-end operations.
McDonald's has also set up a regional distribution centre in Kolkata, which would cater to the restaurants in and around Kolkata.

The company plans to set up close to 20 restaurants in the next three years in the region said Vikram Bakshi, managing director, Connaught Plaza Restaurants, one of the two joint venture partners McDonald's has in India.
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GSM subscriber base expands to over 115 million
New Delhi: The GSM-based cellular industry has added about 50 lakh subscribers in February with Bharti Airtel having 30.74 per cent of the market share.

The all-India GSM subscriber base touched 11.53 crore at the end of February 2007 compared to 11.05 crore as on end of January 2007, according to a statement by the Cellular Operators Association of India said in a statement.

CDMA mobile figures are not yet out.

In February, the cellular subscriber base of Bharti touched 3.54 crore with additions of over 17 lakh users. BSNL had 2.54 crore subscribers with a marketshare of 22.07 per cent and additions of over 10 lakh subscribers.

Hutch-Essar has 2.53 crore subscribers, taking its market share to 21.98 per cent and Idea with a market share of 11.83 per cent has 1.36 crore subscribers in February.
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Caparo to set up Rs300 crore facility in TN
Chennai: UK-based Caparo Group's subsidiary, Caparo Vehicle Products India has entered into an MoU with the Tamil Nadu Government for setting up an Rs 300 crore state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at the industrial estate in suburban Oragadam. The facility will provide direct employment to 850 people and indirect employment to 1,150 people.

Composite materials and testing, fasteners, tubular products for automotive and aerospace and automotive braking systems would be manufactured at the Rs 300 crore facility.
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SC dismisses Cadbury plea for transfer of 'Fruity' trademark case
New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed confectionery major Cadbury India's plea to transfer Parle Agro's suit on a trademark row to Delhi High Court to avoid conflicting judgements.

The two companies are fighting over their trademarks in different high courts. Cadbury while seeking transfer of Parle's suit from Bombay High Court to Delhi High Court had sought a declaration that the word 'Fruity' was commonly used in English and Parle cannot claim exclusivity to a completely descriptive term.

Seeking dismissal of the transfer petition, Parle said its suit alleging infringement of its trademark was filed before Bombay High Court prior to Cadbury's Delhi High Court suit seeking injunctive relief.

Parle in its reply filed through counsel Syed Naqvi said it was "anxious to preserve, protect and enforce its intellectual property rights in the mark 'Frooti' which it had been using for more than two decades".
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