ADC cut: BSNL appeals to TDSAT
New Delhi: Trai's announced 36 per cent cut in access deficit charges may run into rough weather with the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd filing an appeal with the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal contesting the revised regime.

The new levy is supposed to be implemented from April 1, and the TDSAT has scheduled a special hearing on Saturday.

The TRAI-initiated move would have brought down international long distance tariffs by 80 paise per minute.

ADC is a levy imposed on telecom operators to support rural telephony. Since BSNL has the largest rural subscribers, almost the entire fund collected is passed on to the PSU.

However, the telecom regulator has reduced the quantum of this fund accruing to BSNL from over Rs3,000 crore to Rs2,000 crore, which has hurt the company. BSNL officials said that the reduction in the amount was arbitrary and illegal.
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34 Indian firms on Forbes' list
New York: 34 Indian firms have found a place on the Forbes' list of 2000 corporate giants across the world with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation leading the pack. Most of the Indian companies are from the banking sector.

Leading the Indian charge is ONGC, placed at the top at rank 239, followed by Reliance Industries (258), State Bank of India (326) and Indian Oil (399).

Tata Consultancy is placed at the 1047th rank in the overall list, but leads the list of Indian software and service outfits. Following it in this category are Infosys Technologies (1130), Wipro (1233) and Satyam Computer Services (1874). Bharti Airtel is the only Indian telecommunications company to find a spot among 2000 global giants with a rank of 1149.

State Bank of India Group is top placed among Indian banks on the list and is ranked at 326, followed by ICICI bank (536), HDFC-Housing Development (1197), Punjab National Bank (1308), Canara Bank (1360), HDFC Bank (1376), Bank of Baroda (1585), Bank of India (1691), Indl Dev Bank of India (1767), Union Bank of India (1772). UCO Bank (1931), Syndicate Bank (1943), Indian Overseas Bank (1946) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (1974).

The top seven spots go to American companies, while two from Netherland and one from Switzerland are among the first ten companies. The top spot goes to Citigroup followed by Bank of America, HSBC Holdings, General Electric, JP Morgan Chase, American Intl Group, ExxonMobil (all American), Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands), UBS (Switzerland) and ING Group (Netherlands).
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M&M launches Scorpio in Morocco
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has launched the all-new Scorpio SUV and its single cab and double cab pick-up variants in Morocco. The company has appointed MediAuto, owned by the $2-billion GBH Group based in France, as the distributor. M&M is the first Indian auto major to foray into the country.

The vehicles have created a niche for themselves in Africa, including South Africa, Europe, France, Spain and Italy. The models with contemporary styling come equipped with a turbo-diesel engine and are available in the 4x2 and 4x4 variants.

The new Scorpio SUV is being launched in Morocco with 40 changes and improvements, all based on direct and extensive feedback from, amongst others, the North African market. The vehicles will be available in 2WD and 4WD variants. The Scorpio is a direct result of the innovative Integrated Design and Manufacturing (IDAM) process, where Mahindra & Mahindra tied up with global automotive suppliers at an early stage for concurrent design and development.
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Actis, Argon pick up 20 pc stake in Phoenix Lamps
Mumbai: Private equity investor Actis and its affiliates Argon India, Argon South Asia along with PACs, Actis India fund, Actis South Asia Fund and Actis Executive Co-Investment Plan LP have acquired a 20 per cent stake in Phoenix Lamps for Rs106.45 crore, taking their holding in the company to over 66 per cent.

The open offer to the shareholders of Phoenix Lamps was to acquire 56.03 lakh shares of Rs10 each, representing 20 per cent stake in Phoenix Lamps at a price of Rs190 per share, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The open offer takes the enterprise value of the company to over Rs532 crore.

Yes Bank was the manager to the offer.
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ADP to spin off brokerage div into publicly listed company
Hyderabad: US-based Automatic Data Processing Inc plans to spin off its brokerage services division into a separate publicly traded company. As part of this, its Indian subsidiary, ADP Pvt Ltd will shift 500 of its employees at its Hyderabad centre to the new entity. The employees will handle software development and BPO services for the new brokerage company named Broadridge.

The company has also decided to appoint its BPO divisions' head V Laxmikanth as the CEO of the India division of Broadridge.
ADP is a leader in employee services including HR, payroll and administration solutions. It also has a division to handle dealer services for vehicles. It has two centres in India - Hyderabad and Pune.
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Jet, Sahara to fly on Gulf routes next year
New Delhi: The government is planning to open up the aviation market to private airlines early next year. Also the government may allow private airlines like jet Airways and Air Sahara to fly on the Gulf route, which been reserved for state-owned Air India and Indian till now. The sector, which includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, is an important source of revenue for the two national carriers.

The civil aviation ministry had proposed during a review of the civil aviation policy draft last year, an extension of the public sector monopoly over Gulf routes till 2010 - giving Indian and Air India two more years to benefit from restricted competition in this sector. However, officials of the ministry have now proposed, in the latest draft of the policy which was recently reviewed by civil aviation minister Praful Patel, that private carriers should be allowed to operate Gulf flights from next year.
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Salim`s Bengal projects may be split into two
Kolkata: Indonesia-based Salim group's twin projects — a chemical hub and a multi-product SEZ — may be split over two locations, following the government's decision to relocate from Nandigram in West Bengal in the aftermath of an incident earlier this month that left 15 villagers dead.

The West Bengal government is likely to shift the chemical hub project to Haldia since it requires proximity to a port. However, Haldia is not big enough to harbour both projects. The chemical hub would require 10,000 acres, while the multi-product SEZ would be spread across 12,500 acres.

The chemical hub is the government's first priority and officials said the government would try and accommodate the SEZ at the Haldia site also but if it is unable to do so would shift it elsewhere. Unlike Nandigram, which is hardly developed, Haldia has had a steady flow of investments, also implying that there is not much land available for new industries.
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VSNL may demerge telecom business
Mumbai: Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) may demerge its telecom business into a separate entity. The existing company is expected to continue as the holding arm of its huge real estate assets.

The proposed new company may be listed on the stock exchanges. The shareholding pattern of the new company, whose name has not yet been chosen, would be a mirror image of VSNL's.

This means the Tata group and the Union government will continue to hold 50 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively. The institutional and public shareholding will also continue at 24 per cent.

VSNL will see the Tata group transferring 26 per cent of its stake, of the existing 50 per cent, in favour of the government. The government's holding in VSNL is proposed to go up to 52 per cent from the existing 26 per cent.

The advantage of the demerger of the telecom business over the previous plan of spinning off VSNL's real estate assets is that it will attract lower stamp duty.
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TCS set to revamp quarterly results
Mumbai: India's largest IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is revamping the manner in which it publishes quarterly results to bring more transparency and rearticulate the company's brand strategy with an estimated Rs50 crore annual campaign.

Beginning this quarter, for the first time in corporate India, the $4 billion company will publish a separate operational results sheet along with its financial results.

The sheet will comprise a list of its ongoing projects benchmarked against 6-7 parameters. They would include details about whether the project was completed on time or not, whether it met with the quality expectations and whether the project cost was within that mentioned in the budget.

Analysts said the operational results sheet will provide investors an insight beyond numbers and said it was a good move.
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NIC, Bajaj Allianz offers $289 million insurance cover to Punj Llyod
Kolkata: National Insurance Co (NIC) and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance have jointly offered a $289 million (Rs1,250 crore) insurance cover to construction and engineering firm Punj Lloyd for ONGC's offshore platform redevelopment project at Heera oilfields in Bombay High.

Heera oilfield is located 80 km west of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea. The scope of work for the project includes surveys, design, transportation, installation, commissioning of four unmanned platforms, 70 km of submarine pipeline, laying of 25 km of composite cables and modifications of existing platforms.

The cover shields the project against natural hazards, normal risks and natural perils for dismantling, repair and reconstruction. The insurance will be in force for the entire 29 months that the project is on. It will also cover engineering mishaps like damage to pipelines and equipment while transportation of parts and equipment according to NIC officials.
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Reliance to build two new gas pipelines
Mumbai: Reliance Industries plans to build two gas pipelines in southern India according to the government. This could help the energy explorer supply gas from its deep-sea fields to retail consumers. Reliance Industries produces 80 million cubic metres of gas a day (mmscmd) by mid-2008 from its two fields in the prolific Krishna Godavari basin, off the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Oil Ministry said that Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure., a group firm, had submitted a proposal to lay a 670 km pipeline from Chennai to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. It also wants to build another 660 km pipeline from Chennai to Mangalore in the neighbouring state of Karnataka, via Bangalore, the ministry said. Reliance is already constructing a 1,400 km (870 mile) pipeline to transport natural gas from the deep-sea fields off India's east coast to the western regions of the country.
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