GAIL likely to infuse additional funds in Dabhol project
New Delhi: GAIL (India) may infuse additional funds into Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Ltd (RGPPL), the erstwhile Dabhol project on a request by the government.

Earlier, the company said that it would invest another Rs500 crore in the project provided it was given the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal of RGGPL.

Now though GAIL plans to wait for the Government to take a final call on hiving off the LNG terminal, the company will continue to make the first claim on it. However, in case the terminal is not hived off, the infusion of additional funds will not have any adverse impact on GAIL's finance, as GAIL will get returns on its investment, they added.

GAIL holds 28.33 per cent equity in RGPPL, which has under it a 2,150-MW power plant and a five-million-tonnes-per-annum LNG terminal and re-gasification facility.

RGPPL requires Rs 450 crore for revival of power plants and Rs565 crore for the LNG works, but it does not have the money to pay the contractors.

The Government was considering the option of hiving off the LNG terminal and selling it in order to expedite the revival of the Dabhol project.

RGPPL holds both the assets of the power project - the 2,150 MW power plant and the five millions tonnes LNG.
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L&T files 80 patents
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro's electrical and electronics division filed 80 patent applications in 2006-07. While the company's Powai campus in Mumbai accounted for 52 of the patents, the rest came from its Mysore campus. With this, the tally of patents in L&T's electrical and electronics division has touched 247, the company said. The patent applications have been filed on innovations made on a variety of low voltage indigenously developed switchgear products like air circuit breakers, moulded case circuit breakers, tooling solutions and switchboards.
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Royal Orchid to set up budget hotel chain
Bangalore: Royal Orchid Hotels plans to set up a chain of 50 budget hotels across India under the brand "Pepper Mint" by 2010.

For this purpose, the company has floated a fully-owned subsidiary AB Holdings under which the budget hotels will be managed. Of the 50 locations planned, 11 are through a tie-up with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. These locations are Chandigarh, Pune, Nagpur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Tirupati, Bhopal, Agra, New Jalpaiguri (West Bengal), Darjeeling and Jaisalmer. Through this tie-up, it is learnt that ROHL will get these properties on a 30-year lease for development and running of budget hotels.

The company has finalized two other properties in Hyderabad and Bangalore on which construction work has begun. The company is also in talks with developers and property owners in other major cities for development of these hotels and talks are in advanced stages.

Sources said the project may cost Rs700 crore. These hotels will have around 90 rooms each.
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Partnership firms required to file e-returns
New Delhi: Additional categories of tax payers will now be required to file e-returns.

The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram on Saturday said all partnership firms liable to tax audit would have to file their returns electronically for assessment year 2007-08 (financial year 2006-07).
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Reliance Comm provides 7.37 lakh rural lines as part of USOF
Chennai: Reliance Communications has provided telephone connections to over 7.37 lakh new subscribers in 203 short distance charging areas covering over 40,000 villages as on March 31, 2007, as part of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

The schemes introduced by the company in these areas include three-year free incoming with new fixed wireless phones (FWP) at Rs 1,299; Two -year free incoming with new FWP at Rs 999; Two-year free incoming with renewed FWP at Rs 699 and full talk time using top up vouchers of Rs 75 and Rs 275. All these schemes charge 80 paise a pulse for a call. Further, local calls are charged 80 paise for three minutes for fixed line and WLL (mobile) and Reliance handsets while it is 80 paise a minute for other mobile handsets.

Inter circle calls carry a flat rate of 80 paise for 30 seconds across categories while intra circle calls attract 80 paise a minute on fixed line and WLL (mobile) and 80 paise for three minutes on a Reliance handset.
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Bharti, to build Asia-US link with global telecom players
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel has signed an agreement with global telecom companies in Kuala Lumpur to build the first high bandwidth optical fiber submarine cable system from South East Asia directly to the US. The cable system, known as the Asia-America Gateway (AAG), will be built at a cost of about $560 million. The cable project is spearheaded by 17 telecommunications companies viz., AiTi, AT&T, BayanTel, Bharti, BT Global Network Services, CAT Telecom, ETPI, Maxis, PCP Company, PLDT, Saigon Postal Corporation, StarHub, Telekom Malaysia, Telstra, TNZL, Viettel and VNPT.

The birth of AAG cable system will compliment existing high bandwidth cable systems in the region. In addition, the AAG cable system will provide the much-needed diversity against traditional routes to the US, mainly carrying broadband traffic. This is important considering recent earthquakes that took out almost all cable systems in the region.

The AAG cable system is designed to provide upgradeable, future proof transmission facilities that support Internet and e-commerce.
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UK's Weetabix enters India
New Delhi: UK based 'The Weetabix Food Company' plans to launch its wholegrain breakfast products in India and is talking to Reliance Retail and Fortis Healthcare for marketing tie ups.
The Indian breakfast cereals market is estimated at $20 million-and is dominated by US based Kellogg's and Baggry's .

Weetabix will have a presence in 35 cities to begin with and plans to tie up with 4000 stores to market the products.

Weetabix products are wheat wholegrain based. The company has a $780 million turnover from its operations worldwide and has five manufacturing facilities in United Kingdom besides North America and Africa.
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RIL to reduce output of LPG
New Delhi: Reliance Industries, which recently converted its Jamnagar refinery into an export-oriented unit, has informed the government that it has decided to reduce LPG production by around 1 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa) from mid-2008.

The company plans to reduce LPG production to around 1.6 mmtpa from mid-2008.

RIL is one of the significant producers of LPG in the private sector. Together with Essar, it produces 2.6 million tonne of LPG every year, where Essar's contribution is stated to be between 0.3-0.1 million tonne per year. Shortage of LPG is a politically sensitive issue and the government has had to initiate several steps in the past to maintain regular and routine supplies of LPG for the domestic market.

The country requires about 10.7 mt of LPG per annum -10 mt for domestic consumption and about 0.76 mt for auto LPG. In 2006-07, both public and private sector refiners in India produced 8.4 mt of LPG while public sector OMCs had to import 2.3 mt to bridge the gap. The annual LPG production capacity of public sector OMCs is around 5.7 mt.
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Cognizant to hire 18,000 IT professionals
Tiruchirapalli: Software firm Cognizant Technology Solutions will recruit 18,000 IT professionals by the year end in addition to the present 38,000 workforce said company officials.

The company officials said though there were enough IT professionals available the availability of quality professionals was becoming a problem.

The company was taking multi-pronged approach to redress the constraint by running a training academy, organising job fairs and selecting people from institutions like Board of Apprenticeship Training, Ministry of HRD. Cognizant is also more interested in tier II cities like Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore and Kochi.

Almost fifty per cent of the firm's staff are from southern India. The company's foreign locations included two units in the US, one in China, one in Toronto, Canada and another at Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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COAI flays Trai for poor service
New Delhi: Private telcos, which are upset with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for which forced them to pay for interconnection with BSNL, are blaming the latter for poor quality of mobile services.

They said, "Network congestion is due to lack of Points of Interconnection (point where different networks meet) provided by BSNL. We have no option and the fault is with BSNL," the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) told the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which is hearing a matter on call congestion.

The COAI further blamed Trai for formulating wrong policies on the interconnection front, saying the regulator had put the onus on private operators to get interconnection with BSNL and also bear the entire cost of the exercise.
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BSNL, MTNL slammed by CAG
New Delhi: BSNL and MTNL have been flailed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) who said that the organizations failed to execute projects in time, and their non-professional attitude which resulted in loss of over Rs1,000 crore to the exchequer.

The CAG's performance audit on the telecommunication sector, submitted before Parliament on Thursday, said though the department of telecommunication was given a licence in February 2000 for operation of cellular services, it started services only in 2002 resulting in huge losses.

It said that non-availability of recharge coupons in western circle in UP resulted in loss of potential revenue of Rs275 crore to BSNL.
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Chinese small car may be launched in India
New Delhi: Chery Automobiles, China's largest car-maker, may team up with Delhi-based International Cars & Motors Ltd (ICML), makers of Sonalika tractors, to introduce a small car in India next year.

ICML has been negotiating with several car manufacturers to introduce the right kind of compact car. ICML plans to launch a premium hatchback in the Rs 3-4 lakh price range, the fastest-growing car segment in India.

Chery, which is made in Iran, Russia, Malaysia, Egypt and Pakistan, is keen on a footprint in India in its bid to become a large Asian car-maker. The company has a bouquet of small cars that suit the Indian market. It dominates the compact and hatchback segment in China and specialises in the small-car technology currently in demand in India industry sources said.

They said ICML is planning to manufacture Chery products at competitive prices from its tax-free production facility at Amb in Himachal Pradesh where the 24 per cent excise break will translate into a major price gain for the ICML-Chery alliance.

ICML-Chery will be competing for the A2 segment which accounts for 80 per cent of the passenger car market, up from 54 per cent in 2003.

Chery is targeting sales of more than one million cars by 2010, of which 40 per cent would be driven by overseas sales.
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