GAIL Q4 net rises by 66.5 per cent
New Delhi: The state-owned gas transmission and marketing company GAIL (India) has registered a 66.5 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2007.

The company's net profit stood at Rs681 crore inb Q4 up from Rs409 crore in the corresponding period last year. The company's turnover went up to Rs3,883 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007, up from Rs3,660 crore for the corresponding period in the previous year.

GAIL's profit for the entire year 2006-07 stood at Rs2,387 crore up from Rs2,310 crore in 2005-06.

The company's turnover for the year under review went up 11 per cent to Rs16,047 crore from Rs14,459 crore in the previous year. The board of directors of the company has recommended the payment of a final dividend at the rate of 20 per cent on the paid-up equity share capital of the company for the financial year 2006-07.
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Murdoch to tie up with Sun Group to launch Sun daily
Mumbai: Rupert Murdoch is planning to launch the Sun newspaper in India through a tie up with Chennai-based Kalanithi Maran, owner of the Sun group.

The Sun, the flagship publication of Murdoch's News Corporation, is in talks with Maran's Sun group to launch an English tabloid in the country. In India the tabloid is likely to be called Sun and would be introduced in south India. The partners planned to launch it in other markets later, they added, but did not reveal the time frame for the launch.

Sun TV recently indicated that it would raise Rs2,000 crore to finance its expansion and would enter into new businesses like aviation.

The company is also in the process of getting into distribution of content through mobile phones, Internet, IPTV and radio.
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L&T gets order from UAE
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has received a Rs215 crore order from the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority. The order is for supply and installation of 33 kV power cables and fibre optic cables for inter-connections between substations.

L&T will supply and install the cables as per the specification of international consultant, Lahmeyer International Gmbh. The underground cabling contract includes design, manufacture, supply, installation as well as testing and commissioning of the cables, including associated civil works, covering 11 substations in the eastern region of Abu Dhabi for the reinforcement of power distribution network. The contract will be executed within 18 months.
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Holcim hikes stake in ACC
Mumbai: Swiss cement company Holcim has acquired an additional 3 per cent stake in ACC Ltd, which takes its entire stake in the Indian cement manufacturer to over 41 per cent.
Holcim bought 60 lakh shares through bulk deals, paying Rs900 per share from a clutch of domestic and foreign investors, according to the National Stock Exchange filings.

Holcim bought into ACC when it acquired majority stake in Ambuja Cements India. The company had made an open offer at Rs370 per share of ACC in 2005, hoping to take its shareholding to over 51 per cent. As on March 31, 2007, Holcim through its holding arm Holderind as well as though Ambuja Cements India in which it owns majority stake, had a stake of more than 38 per cent in ACC. Holcim also holds close to 30 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd (earlier Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd).
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Tata Tea enters into joint venture with Chinese tea firm
Kolkata: Tata Tea has entered into a joint venture company with Chinese state owned tea company, Zhejiang Tea Import & Export Company (ZTIE). Tata Tea will hold a majority stake in the tea company.

The joint venture agreement was signed in China between Tata Tea and ZTIE which is also the largest green tea exporter of China.

Tata Tea will own 70 per cent of the registered capital of the joint venture company and the project will come up at an initial investment of $16 million (Rs70 crore) to be funded by a mix of equity capital and borrowing said a press release by Tata Tea.

The joint venture company will be located at the Economic Development Zone of Anji County and will be engaged in the manufacture and marketing of green tea polyphenois, other green tea extracts, cold and hot water soluble instant tea, liquid tea concentrates and other value-added tea beverage products.

According to Tata Tea Anji County is also called the "China Town of Bamboo" and "China Town of White Tea" and the new factory will be located in the heart of green tea producing areas.
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Maruti eyes commercial vehicle segment
Chennai: Maruti Udyog is eyeing an entry into the commercial vehicle market in India which it finds very attractive. However, the company officials said it would first study the study the commercial vehicle markets before deciding to enter it.

Suzuki has 1-1.6 litre engine commercial vehicles in its portfolio that would suit India and the company also has the advantage of a network across the country. Suzuki has around 20 per cent market share in China in the commercial vehicle segment.
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RIL to enter into Rs500-cr deal with BSNL
New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries (RIL) will sign a five-year communications solutions deal with Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) worth Rs 500 crore. As per the deal, BSNL will link all undertakings of the group during this period, connecting 2,500 petrol pumps, about 15,000 retail outlets, 14 manufacturing units, all its upcoming SEZs and provide global connectivity to RIL.

BSNL will provide mobile, basic, broadband services, leased lines, virtual private network (VPN), multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) and enterprise solutions to RIL. It will also provide the bandwidth for RIL's captive network, which interconnects all its outlets and offices. Sources also said that the contract would involve providing about 60,000 mobile connections to RIL employees, which could be scaled up later.

Mathew Oommen, who joined RIL in September 2006, is expected to look after all telecom and IT activities of the group, including the execution of the contract with BSNL.

Oommen was earlier the chief technology officer of Anil Ambani-owned FLAG Telecom.
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Four telecom majors vie for railway GSM project
Kolkata: Four telecom majors Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Reliance Communications (RCOM), Bharti Airtel and BSNL are vying to build a special mobile network, GSM-R, for the railways' own requirement covering 63,000 km of tracks for two lakh employees.

RailTel Corporation (RailTel), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Indian Railways, has decided to implement two projects. The first involves building the GSM-R network while the second involves creating a closed user group (CUG) for two lakh-strong railway staff. RailTel is yet to invite EoIs for the CUG project.

Railway officials said GSM-R will be a dedicated network for the railways with special features. This will be an additional telecom-network layer over the existing ones offered by these operators.
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