Hutch-Vodafone deal gets clean chit from ministry
New Delhi: Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran has given a clean chit to the Hutch-Vodafone transaction saying there was nothing wrong with the deal going by the licensing conditions.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board's (FIPB) meeting on the deal is yet to take place.

Maran however, said FIPB was the right authority to do the due diligence and go into details of the shareholding pattern.

Meanwhile, the two minority Hutch-Essar shareholders, Asim Ghosh and Analjit Singh, besides officials of Hutchison and Vodafone will meet Finance Secretary Ashok Jha tomorrow to clarify queries that the Finance Ministry may have.

Earlier in the day, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) indicated that the $12 billion Hutch-Vodafone deal is FDI compliant.
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Grasim FY07 net soars 89 per cent
Mumbai: Grasim Industries has posted an 89 per cent rise in consolidated net profit (after minority share) at Rs1,967.5 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007 (FY07) as compared to Rs1,040.64 crore in FY06. Total income has also increased at Rs1,4412.89 crore from Rs10491.91 crore in FY06.

According to a release issued by the company to BSE today, the company posted a 60 per cent increase in consolidated net profit (after minority share) at Rs558.53 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 (Q4FY07) as against Rs348.8 crore in Q4FY06. Total income for the quater rose to Rs4,185.2 crore from Rs2,993.46 crore in Q4FY06.

On a standalone basis, Grasim posted a net profit of Rs1,535.81 crore FY07 as compared to Rs863.21 crore in FY06. Total income increased to to Rs8,885.35 crore from Rs6872.55 crore in FY06.

The company has posted a standalone net profit of Rs474.49 crore in Q4FY07 as compared to Rs262.74 crore Q4FY06. During the quater, total income increased to Rs2,571.33 crore from Rs1,887.29 crore Q4FY06.
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Reliance Energy FY07 net up 23 per cent
Mumbai: Reliance Energy has reported a 23 per cent increase in net profit at Rs801.45 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007 when compared with Rs650.34 crore in FY06.

According to a release issued by the company to the BSE today, total income moved up to Rs6,575.25 crore from Rs4,607.88 crore in FY06.

The company posted a profit after tax of Rs237.42 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 as against Rs169.47 crore in Q4FY06. Total income increased to Rs1,889.67 crore from Rs1,224.45 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2006.
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Ceat to source tyres from China, Vietnam
Mumbai: Ceat Tyres is planning to outsource tyres from China and Vietnam to sell in India and has tied up with two companies in China for this.

Initially, Ceat had imported around a 100 tyres for quality and durability clinic tests for a six-month period. Based on the positive feedback, the company will import 1,000 units on a monthly basis said senior company officials.

Till now the company has been importing truck and bus radials from Pirelli's facilities in Egypt and Turkey which have been supplying 600-700 units on a monthly basis; but with the rise in demand for the product Ceat opted for other players in the international market.

The brands imported from China will be branded as the Economy range while the Pirelli tyres would be branded as `Premium' range.
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RNRL profit soars
Mumbai: The energy arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL), has posted a seven-fold jump in net profit to Rs7.34 crore in the fourth quarter of the last financial year from Rs1.03 crore in the corresponding previous period. Net sales, during the period, went up from Rs41 lakh to Rs56.3 crore. Earnings per share rose marginally from Re0.02 to Re0.05. For the 15-month financial year ended March 31, 2007, net sales stood at Rs150 crore, while net profit was Rs29 crore. The previous year's numbers were not available.
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Idea Cellular profit soars 133 per cent
Mumbai: Aditya Birla group telcom company Idea Cellular has posted 133.23 per cent rise in net profit at Rs132.01 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007, compared with Rs56.60 crore recorded during the same period of the previous financial year.

The company's total revenues rose to Rs855.54 crore during the reporting quarter from Rs584.86 crore recorded during the same period a year ago.

On a consolidated basis, the company posted a net profit of Rs193.42 crore, compared with Rs116.80 crore recorded during the same period a year ago.

The company's total revenues rose to Rs1,341.06 crore during the quarter under review, up from Rs865.87 crore recorded during the comparable quarter of the previous financial year.
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Tata Tele at war with DoT
New Delhi: Tata teleservices has openly challenged the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) finding that said that Tata Teleservices (TTSL) had the poorest record in verification of pre-paid subscribers.

The telecom ministry's sample survey found that Hutch and Reliance Communications have the highest percentage of verified subscribers, while Tatas were had the least number of verified users, at 73 per cent.

Challenging this TTSL said the data sent by the company to the department for scrutiny had a compliance of 99.7 per cent. The deadline for verification of all pre-paid subscribers ended on March 31, 2007.

TTSL's corporate affairs President Ashok Sud said: "TTSL feels that it is unfair and indeed disturbing to have such comments and conclusions passed at this stage, without first giving the companies a chance to present their position."
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Reliance to auction KG basin gas for price discovery
Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) has decided to initiate the process of selling the gas found in the Krishna Godavari basin through an auction over the next few months. This is as commercial production of gas from the Krishna Godavari basin has to start in a year's time. RIL is likely to invite bids for the gas sale, which accounts for around 50 per cent of the country's current domestic production, after it receives the green signal from the government to proceed with the auction.

Earlier this month RIL said that it would be able to complete the process by June, after which the gas sale agreements would be signed with various customers.

However, the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) may end up spoiling the party, citing a possible violation of the gas sharing agreement between the two brothers. Sources close to ADAG see the auction as an attempt to deny them their share of the gas.

Currently, RIL is fighting a court case with NTPC on the price of gas. If RIL wins, it could end up extracting a higher price from both NTPC and RNRL. However, RNRL insists that it should continue to get the gas at the lower price.

RIL, on the other hand, maintains that the agreement with RNRL is now no longer tenable because the government had not accepted the pricing arrangement worked out between the two brothers. Meanwhile, RNRL has already gone to court with the demand that their share of the gas should be reserved for them.
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Dabur ahead of Colgate, HLL in oral care sales
New Delhi: Sales of Dabur India's oral care basket has grown faster than that of its MNC rivals Colgate and Hindustan Lever as its acquisition of Balsara brands two years ago has begun showing results.

AC Nielsen data for the April 2006 - March 2007 period shows that sales of Dabur's oral care brands (Babool, Meswak and Lal Paste) are ahead of Colgate's and HLL's brands both by value and volume.

Dabur's oral care brands recorded combined year-on-year value growth of 23.7 per cent ahead of Colgate (16.7 per cent) and Hindustan Lever Ltd (11.2 per cent). The overall Rs3,040 crore oral care category (toothpaste and toothpowder put together) grew 15.3 per cent during the year.

Within toothpastes, the star performer for Dabur was Babool, showing a 53.3 per cent value growth. By market share, however, Colgate's remains the clear leader with a share of close to 40 per cent followed closely by HLL's brands.
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TV 18 forms joint venture with HK PE fund
New Delhi: The Raghav Bahl led TV 18 group has formed a 75:25 global joint venture with Hong Kong-based private equity fund Saif Partners to float general entertainment and info-commercials' television channels. The scope of the joint venture is not limited to India.

In the first phase operations will start in India with Delhi as the base, future expansions would be lined up for markets in the Middle East, UK and USA, in partnership with local companies.

The Cyprus-based joint venture would be called TV 18 HSN Cyprus, set up with 75 per cent equity from Network 18 Holdings. The remaining equity shares would be held by Asian private equity firm Saif Partners whose strategic investors include US-based IT major Cisco and Japan's media and telecom giant Softbank Corporation.

The joint venture is expected to enter into strategic tie-ups with local players in the overseas markets. The long-term strategy is to establish a global network of channels with a presence in every major country.

The venture would be getting into general entertainment and info-commercial genre of television channels. It would straddle the areas of lifestyle programs, music, travel and tour options, cultural programs and other events such as concerts, docu-dramas, etc.

HSN India would be providing information regarding various product categories such as health and fitness, education, home and kitchen, consumer electronics, gifting etc through the channel which is likely to be named Home Shop 18.
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Tatas unlikely to sell Glaceau holding to Coke
Bangalore: Following a possible Coca-Cola bid for Energy Brands, makers of Glaceau wellness drinks, in which Tata Tea holds a 30 per cent stake analysts said the Tatas were unlikely to sell their stake in the water company by booking profit in the wake of a Coke bid, as it considers Glaceau to be a strategic play. On the other hand Tata Tea may respond by taking a larger role in the US company.

International media reports have speculated on a possible Coca-Cola bid estimated at around $3.5 billion before the end of the month. This is a whopping 40 per cent premium on Tata Tea's $2.2-billion valuation of the US company, when it picked up a 30 per cent stake for $677 million in August last year. The 30 per cent is jointly held by Tata Sons and Tata Tea.
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