Coal India opts out of DPSC race

Coal India (CIL) said that it is no longer interested in bidding for 57 per cent stake of Dishergarh Power Supply Company (DPSC) which had been put on the block by Andrew Yule.

A Coal India spokesman said the decision had been taken by the board of the PSU. He said that CIL had earlier expressed interest in DPSC because its subsidiary Eastern Coalfields (ECL) had been a major consumer of DPSC.

"We did not want to disturb the linkage to ECL in case there is a change in ownership. This is why we had expressed interest," the spokesman said.

But, CIL is of the view that there would be no disturbance in power linkage to DPSC irrespective of change in the ownership of the utility, whose command area included the coal belt in the Asansol-Ranigunj region.

The spokesman ruled out that the ongoing legal tangle was a cause for withdrawal.

CIL was among the 16 bidders for DPSC.

TCS wins contract from Infineon Technologies

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) a leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing firm has bagged a multi-year contract from Infineon Technologies AG (IFX), a semiconductor manufacturer.

TCS will operate and maintain solutions for the Infineon’s Supply Chain Management (SCM). The Infineon SCM Planning operations will be operated out of Munich, Germany and Bangalore, India.

Infineon CVP IT & CIO, Michael Schmelmer said: “By focusing on cost effectiveness and customer satisfaction, TCS brings to the table a very compelling delivery model which meets Infineon objectives and provides an excellent opportunity for being a long term strategic partner for IFX”.

Carol Wilson, VP and Global Head, HiTech Industry Solutions Unit, TCS said: “TCS is strongly building on its footprint in Germany, and we are convinced that we will be able to help Infineon optimize their operations and achieve their corporate objectives.”

Indian copper consumption may double by '12

Domestic copper consumption is likely double by 2012 to 1.1 million tonnes on the back of increased demand from the power sector, said S K Sharma, vice-president, marketing, Hindalco Industries.

“As such, transformers and wire cables are going to be two major contributors to the domestic copper demand,” Sharma said.

Sharma sees domestic demand for refined copper at 0.4 million tonnes in 2008-09 (April-March).

A sharp fall in copper prices in the last few months has led to an increased domestic demand for refined copper this year, he said.

Local copper prices have plunged nearly 50 per cent to current levels in line with global prices.

At 2:19 pm, MCX April copper contract was at Rs 189.95 per kg, down 2.02 per cent from Saturday’s close.

“Domestic copper producers are concentrating on local (copper) demand than exports this year (2008-09) as the prices have fallen sharply,” he said.

He was speaking at Metals Outlook & Market Trends conference held in Mumbai on Saturday.

Sharma further said that local demand had picked up recently mainly because users of recycled copper had started using refined copper.

On exports Sharma said, “Of the total production this year, domestic consumption would be around 70 per cent and the balance would be exports”.

In 2007-08, exports were around 52 per cent of the production, while domestic demand was around 48 per cent.

BoB, Union Bank cut lending rates

Two public sector banks – Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Union Bank of India – cut their benchmark prime lending rates (BPLRs) by 50 basis points to 12 per cent.

But the benefit will accrue to customers only in the next financial year since the new rates will be effective from April 1.

Currently, the prime lending rate of the country’s largest lender – State Bank of India (SBI) – is 12.25 per cent, or 25 basis points higher than the revised rate of BoB and Union Bank. SBI had slashed its PLR by 75 basis points to 12.25 per cent from January 1, 2009.

A Union Bank executive said that its decision was taken in response to the RBI’s cuts in repo and reverse repo rates.

Sodexho picks controlling stake in Radhakrishna Hospitality Services

Multinational food service major, Sodexho, picked up a majority stake in Radhakrishna Hospitality Services-the country's largest food service firm- in a deal to the tune of Rs 400 crore. The company is expected to make an official announcement regarding the deal later in the day. Both Sodexho and Radhakrishna Hospitality Services confirmed the deal.

Radhakrishna hospitality is the only organised player in the domestic food service space and is growing at a healthy 30%. Banking industry confirmed to ET that the promoters of Radhakrishna Hospitality sold controlling stake at Rs 400 crore, which mirrors the current revenue size of the catering business.

The company had earlier tried to rope in financial investors but couldn't do so due to differences with potential investors over pricing. Currently, talks are on for Radhakrishna Hospitality's core business of food catering. The talks, however, don't include the other businesses, such as supply chain and retail businesses, which are under RK Foodland.

Radhakrishna Hospitalisty has been talking to potential suitors for some time now. Last year, Radhakrishna Hospitality purchased the stake owned by Compass, a US-based food service firm, in a joint venture and is in the process of rolling out its international catering services.

"Radhakrishna hospitality was very strong in the international markets during 1989-99. We want to re-enter the international markets and scale up the intrinsic value offered by our brand in the global arena," top company offcials said.

GlaxoSmithKline decides to innovate packaging of its brands

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH), which has identified modern trade as one of its prime pillars of growth, has decided to innovate packaging of its brands sold through retail chains. The FMCG major is also evaluating the option to roll out some brands from its global stable exclusively for retail chains in India.

The strategy is in line with GSKCH’s plans to increase the contribution from modern trade to 10% of its turnover by 2010 from 4.5% now. "The slowdown has not impacted our business with retail chains. While the health and food drink (HFD) segment has traditionally been strong in East and South, the category is now emerging big across the nation," GSKCH general manager (CSD and modern trade) Adityea Kapoor told ET.

As per plans, GSKCH intends to launch a new package size for its malt-based HFD brand, Boost. While the Boost brand is currently available at a maximum pack size of 500 gm, the company will launch a special pack of 750 gm for retail chains. "The new Boost pack will hit the market towards end-April. We are working on such possibilities for other brands as well," said Mr Kapoor.

According to the GSKCH website, Boost enjoys 13% market share countrywide amongst all HFD brands, while in South India — the biggest region for the category — it commands 24% market share.

GSK globally has a strong modern retail expertise which is now being deployed in India as well. "We are even exploring options to launch some brands from our global portfolio, both nutritional and over-the-counter drugs, for modern trade in India. This apart, there is a lot of stress on developing our skill set in category management," Mr Kapoor said.

Incidentally, GSKCH had earlier undertaken packaging innovation for modern trade by launching a one kg pack of Chocolate Horlicks. "The consumers in modern retail have different needs. We are closely studying the consumers along with the retailers. Based on such studies, we plan to come up with newer products and packaging innovations exclusively for modern trade," Mr Kapoor said.

Dunlop looking to wind up Ambattur facility

Dunlop India is considering a proposal to wind up its closed tyre manufacturing facility at Ambattur in Tamil Nadu and sell the 32 acres.

According to the company Chairman, Mr P.K. Ruia, the 700 workers in the plant have proposed an early separation through one-time settlement allowing Dunlop to wind up the facility. The company is yet to take a call in this regard.

“If we agree to the workers’ proposal for an early separation we will be free to leverage the existing land asset for cash generation provided there is a buyer and even relocate the factory,” he said, adding that the existing land value at Ambattur was approximately Rs 10 crore an acre.

“However, we are yet to make up our mind on the proposal. Firstly, we have not taken any decision on either winding up the facility or relocating the same. Secondly, considering the meltdown in the real-estate market it might not be easy to locate a buyer for the land property,” Mr Ruia said.

Also he did not comment on the possibilities of the Ambattur facility.

Diebold in pact with SBI for ATM expansion

India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has placed an order for the largest automated teller machine (ATM) expansion project in the country’s. After the expansion is complete, SBI’s total ATM network will have grown to nearly 12,000 installations. Late in 2008, SBI proposed the largest ATM bid ever in India for 4,000 ATMs and awarded the majority of the contract to Diebold.

As part of the contract Diebold, the global leader in integrated financial self-service delivery, is providing SBI with its full-function model D450 ATM, which is specially designed for the Indian market. "The D450 ATM has the smallest footprint compared to the other ATMs in the Indian industry. Adding to SBI’s current network, the D450 will feature Diebold’s Agilis® XV 91X software and a 15" touch-screen" a statement issued by Diebold said. The order also includes ATMs with fingerprint biometric features for identity verification.

The contract also includes ATM site preparation and managed services. Currently, Diebold provides managed services solutions for more than 3,500 of SBI’s ATMs across India. It also offers remote monitoring of the ATM network 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The proposed sites are environmentally friendly and unique from a conventional ATM site. These sites will be designed for lower power consumption and maintenance costs, which will enhance operational efficiency. "With this project, Diebold is the leading provider of solutions in the ATM industry- including managed services. We will continue to provide solutions to address the specific needs of the Indian market," said Naresh Hosangady, Managing Director, Diebold India.

SBI had earlier announced plans to increase its ATM network to 25,000 by 2010. According to bankers most of the large banks in the west are unlikely to expand their ATM network.

TRAI slashes fee for telcos

Come April 1, and STD and local calls from mobiles in India will become up to 20% cheaper. This is after mobile service providers follow a directive from telecom regulator Trai to slash the fee they pay each other to move calls between networks by a third.

The lower tariff will also apply to third-generation telecom services when they are launched. At present, if a Bharti Airtel subscriber calls a Vodafone user, Airtel is liable to pay 30 paise per minute to Vodafone as termination charges. Reducing it to 20 paise/minute — as directed by Trai — will lead to a direct reduction in mobile tariff.

However, calls made to India from overseas will cost a bit more (less than a cent/minute) from April, as Trai has allowed Indian telecom companies (telcos) to charge foreign operators up to 33% more for terminating overseas calls in India.

Till now, Indian rules did not allow local telcos to charge more than 30 paise per minute for bringing calls into India. Trai has now increased this to 40 paise per minute. For Indian telcos, this will mean an extra revenue of over Rs 300 crore. Trai has asked all telcos to pass on this extra earning to customers by reducing ISD tariffs.

India is divided into 22 telecom circles and calls within a circle are carried only by state-owned BSNL, which charges 20 paise per minute. The regulator has slashed this to 15 paise per minute. This would benefit private operators but will mean a loss of revenue for BSNL.

Trai has also decided not to alter the current ceiling of 65 paise per minute for carrying long-distance calls within the country. For instance, if a BPL customer in Mumbai makes a call to a mobile user in Chennai, and if BPL does not have the requisite infrastructure to carry this call, it pays up to 65 paise per minute to a third operator such as Bharti or Reliance Communications to carry this call to Chennai.

KPTL secures an order worth Rs 385 crore

Kalpataru Power Transmission (KPTL) said on Monday that it has secured an order worth Rs 385 crore for laying crude oil pipeline for
Mundra-Bhatinda pipeline project.

For the project is being set up by Hindustan Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL), a joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and L N Mittal Group, KPTL will lay 550 km of 28 /30 /48 pipeline for transportation of crude oil from Mundra to Guru Govind Singh Refinery at Bhatinda.

HCL ties up with Korean co to launch ATMs for Indian banks

HCL Infosystems on Monday announced a tie-up with Korean major Nautilus Hyosung to launch customised Automated Teller Machine (ATM) solutions for India banks with a special emphasis on service-offering for rural areas.

"With just 38,000-plus ATMs in India serving a population of over 1.2-billion, there is going to be a huge demand for ATMs in India. Self-service banking is going to grow in the country," HCL Infosystems Chief Operating Officer (COO) J V Ramamurthy told reporters here.

Initially, HCL Infosystems will import ATMs as semi-knocked down (SKD) kits, then move to completely-knocked down (CKD) kits, and eventually as a part of indigenisation start manufacturing the whole units in India," he said.

The initial assembly will be done at HCL's plants in Puducherry and Uttarakhand, Ramamurthy said.

Nautilus is a leader in the ATM business with over 40 per cent market share in Korea and will offer the Indian banking sector a range of products and services as the country expands its ATM penetration.

DLF to invest Rs 3500 cr in Chennai, Hyderabad

Real estate developer DLF is planning to invest over Rs 3,500 crore in various residential and commercial projects in and around Chennai and in Hyderabad.

Each project will be developed through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which would have equity capital from DLF, joint venture partners and through internal accruals, said K K Raman, head (homes), DLF Home Developers.

The company had acquired land for the proposed projects in the last 2-3 years.

DLF recently raised Rs 720 crore by selling bonds to insurance companies. In March, the company disclosed plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore from selling bonds. In the last three months, it raised Rs 3,000 crore to retire short term debt from the consortium of nationalised banks.

J Subrahmanian, executive director – southern region, DLF Commercial Developers Ltd, said the company had proposed a housing project under the premium category on 100 acre behind Siruseri, on the IT corridor. The Rs 1,200-crore project is expected to be completed in the next 31 months.

The company is also planning to develop plots and bungalow at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, on 250 acres. The project would involve Rs 450-500 crore and developed in a phased manner over the next 3-4 years. Around 2,500 homes would come up in the area.

The project is slated to be launched in the next 2-3 months and will be completed in 24 months from then. A 1,000 sft flat would cost around Rs 18.5 lakh, he added.

Subrahmanian said the company would invest another Rs 400 crore in the IT SEZ at Manapakkam here, which is coming up at an investment of Rs 1500 crore. DLF has already invested Rs 1100 crore and has developed 2 million sft in the first phase.

The SEZ has a total 7.2 million sft of land in the SEZ and would house companies like IBM, Nokia, and Accenture.

The company has rented out the area and is earning around Rs 8 crore a month, said Subrahmanian.

DLF is also developing a luxury mall on 5 acre with an investment of Rs 250 crore in Chennai. Besides a 300-room premium business class hotel at Siruseri is also coming up with an investment of Rs 150 crore.

In all, the company is developing around 12 hotels across the country with an average investment of around Rs 150-200 crore. This would take the total room inventory to 3000 in the next 2-3 years, Subrahmanian said.

In Hyderabad, the company is developing three malls with an investment of Rs 600 crore, one group housing project for Rs 400 crore and a Rs 150-crore plot development project.

KEC International bags orders worth Rs 3.65 bn

KEC International a global leader in the power transmission EPC business, has bagged orders worth Rs 3.40 billion from Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and one order worth Rs 250 million from Central Organization for Railway Electrification (CORE), Allahabad.

The first order worth Rs 1.85 billion from PGCIL is for the supply & construction of 400 kV D/C (Twin) Kameng – Balipara & 400 kV d/C (Quad) Balipara – Bongaigaon Line (Part-I) associated with North East – Northern / Western Interconnector-I. The line is to be constructed in the state of Assam 90% and Arunachal Pradesh 10%. The total length of lines is 127 Kms and the project is scheduled to be completed by November 2011.

The second order worth Rs 1.55 billion from PGCIL is for the supply & construction of 400 kV D/C Gandhar – Navasari Line, LILO of 220 kV D/C Kawas – Navasari & 400 kV D/c Navasari – Navi Mumbai Line (Part-I) associated with ATS Mundra Regional System for WR. The line is to be constructed in the state of Gujarat 90% and Maharashtra 10%. The total length of line is 251 Kms and the project is scheduled to be completed by December 2011.

The third order worth Rs 250 million from CORE, Allahabad for design, supply, erection, testing & commissioning of 25 kV A.C. Single Phase, 50 Hz. traction overhead equipments, switching stations, booster transformer stations and L.T. supply transformer stations including foundations, structures and all ancillary equipments for Pathankot (Excl.) - Jammutawi (Incl.) station of Ferozepur Division of Northern Railway under RE Project, Ambala. The total length of line is 100 RKM / 243 TKMs and the project is scheduled to be completed by September 2010.

``KEC has been bagging orders from various geographies in the last few months. Bagging orders from PGCIL has reinforced our position as World`s leading player in the power transmission EPC business, `` said Ramesh Chandak, managing director & CEO, KEC International.

KEC has bagged worth Rs 10 billion domestic orders since January, 2009.

Bharati Shipyard bags Rs 281cr defence contract

Ship building firm Bharati Shipyard today said it has bagged a Rs 281-crore contract from the Ministry of Defence for supplying 15 interceptor boats for Indian coast guard.

These vessels are lightweight specialised high speed crafts used for patrolling and interception, Bharti Shipyard said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

With this contract, the order book of Bharti Shipyard has crossed the Rs 5,000 crore mark and now stands at Rs 5,093 crore, the company further said.

The private sector firm designs and constructs various types of sea going, coastal harbour, inland crafts vessels and it currently owns five shipyards in the country.

Shares of Bharti Shipyard were trading at Rs 49 at BSE in morning trade, down by 0.41 per cent over the previous close.

Intel, TSMC form tech alliance

Intel Corp will develop its low-cost chips for ultra-small laptops with Taiwan's TSMC for a range of electronic devices, helping both firms expand into new markets amid a deepening global recession.

Intel has long insisted on making its own microprocessors, but is increasingly bringing in partners to help it tackle new markets and boost its product range. There was market speculation Intel would outsource the production of chips to trim costs as demand dries up.

The world's top chip maker said on Monday it plans to put its Atom -- the brains of ultra-small laptops -- on single chips that behave like an entire computer, a computer on a chip.

But Intel stressed it will not transfer its highly prized manufacturing process technology to TSMC.

Some analysts said Intel might be trying out TSMC before embarking on more full-fledged outsourcing. Neither company provided targets, specific products, or timeframes for their tie-up.

"For them to come to the decision to outsource manufacturing of any product that they design is a monumental change in their mindset," said Patrick Wang, a Wedbush analyst. "Intel could be testing the waters with TSMC."

Intel has been keen to expand beyond personal computers into the rapidly shifting world of gadgets but it "has in the past been frustrated in its efforts," PiperJaffray analysts wrote.

Australia economy on brink of recession

Australia's economy unexpectedly shrank for the first time in eight years last quarter as chastened consumers chose to save rather than spend, reviving pressure for yet more monetary and fiscal stimulus.

The Australian dollar slid while bill futures surged as investors wagered the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) might come to regret its decision this week not to cut rates and so now would have to do so in April.

"A massively, massively weak number and this is the necessary condition for the first leg of a recession," said Joshua Williamson, a senior strategist at TD Securities.

The common definition of recession is two successive quarters of contraction in gross domestic product and the last time Australia suffered that was in 1991.

"Global weakness has now extended well and truly to Australia and should add to expectations for more aggressive rate easings in coming months, especially given the RBA's decision yesterday to keep rates on hold," said Williamson.

Investors rushed to price back in the prospect of a 50 basis point cut in the 3.25 per cent cash rate when the RBA next meets on April 7, and suggested it could approach 2.0 per cent by mid-year.

Areva T&D bags order worth Rs 60 crore

Areva T&D bags order worth Rs 60 crore; stock soars 4%Areva T&D India Ltd, the Indian arm of French energy firm Areva SA has signed a contract worth Rs 60 crore for Hybrid Gas-Insulated Substation with Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (RRVPNL) for Indira Gandhi Nagar substation (Jagatpura) at Jaipur.

A company official said, that this is the first 145 kV hybrid GIS order for AREVA T&D in India and only the second order of its kind in the country.

Under the arrangement, the company will design, engineer, supply, erect and commission on turnkey basis the Hybrid GIS Substation for RRVPNL, including the supply of Transformers and Protection System and Automation.

The contract also includes annual maintenance for three years after commissioning.

The scrip of Areva T&D closed today at Rs 174 on BSE, up 4% compared to previous close of Rs 168. The shares touched an intraday high and low of Rs 177 and Rs 170 respectively.

Same Deutz-Fahr group to expand India facility

Italy based Same Duetz-Fahr group (SDF), a leading global manufacturer of agricultural machinery, will be expanding its production base in India.

Addressing presspersons here after launching its premium brand Deutz-Fahr, Francesco Carozza, Chairman, Same Deutz-Fahr India, said the current installed capacity at the company’s plant located in Ranipet (Tamil Nadu) where the group was producing tractors of 40-70 hp and 3 and 4 cylinder engines was 6,300 units and 15,000 units respectively. These would be increased to 11,000 and 20,000 respectively by 2011. In 2008, the total tractor production in Ranipet rose by 28 per cent to 4,000 units, he said.

The group plans to introduce a 65-75 hp platform with a Tier III specification engines for the export markets.

According to Shripad Shidore, Managing Director of the Indian company, the localisation process of the 50-70 hp tractor platform was completed in 2008. Initially these tractors were produced exclusively for the export markets in Europe, the U.S. the Middle East and Africa and the company would now produce these tractors for the Indian market under the Deutz-Fahr brand.

The thrust on agriculture, combined with the growing demand for modern technology, provided an opportunity for SDF to introduce its premium German brand, Deuts-Fahr tractors in India.

This brand, targeted at progressive farmers, would strengthen SDF’s position where the group would continue to sell its current products in 40-60 hp range under the Same brand, Mr. Shidore said.

Govt may allow share swap with foreign cos

The Indian government plans to allow Indian companies to enter into share-swap deals with foreign firms to facilitate merger and acquistion activity that has been hampered by a severe credit crunch, said an official with the commerce and industry ministry.

The shares offered in such cash-less exchanges could be of another company within the group that is not party to the deal, the official said, requesting anonymity. Pricing norms for such transactions will be framed by SEBI after the proposal is approved by the department of industrial policy and promotion.

Recently, the possibility of allowing such deals was discussed by government departments when the Bangalore-based DSP Technology sought FIPB nod for issuing shares to its holding company, the Israel-based DSP Group, and settle the purchase by accepting shares of a third Indian company NXP Semiconductors, owned by DSP Group. In 2007, DSP Group had acquired global cordless and IP terminal business of Netherland-based NXP, resulting in the transfer of NXP's Indian arm to DSP.

The department of economic affairs in the finance ministry had supported the proposal, subject to it meeting SEBI's valuation guidelines and honouring tax liabilities involved in the transaction.

As per the current FDI policy, cash-less issue of shares through instruments such as warrants requires the approval of the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB).

The FDI policy, in its present form, does not make an explicit mention of foreign firms needing an approval from the FIPB in the case of a share swap. In such cases, the companies involved need to obtain RBI's approval, as required under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

While RBI has been liberal in approving such deals till recently, the central bank has been directing all recent share-swap applicants to FIPB. However, the board has not approved many such proposals due to the absence of policy guidelines.

According to the policy on share swaps being worked out by the government, such deals will be allowed between Indian and foreign companies with FIPB approval.

"If the government forms a consistent policy for foreign investments
into Indian companies via share swap deals with foreign companies, it would cut out a lot of time involved in getting approvals. The government can decide valuation of shares on the basis of independent valuations of the Indian company and the foreign company's shares," said Akil Hirani, managing partner of Mumbai-based law firm Majmudar & Co.

Tata Power may face difficulties in paying debt

Tata Power Co, India’s biggest private electricity generator, might face difficulties in repaying $850 million debt used to buy stakes in two Indonesian mines as coal prices decline, analysts said.

A slide in thermal coal prices to the lowest in eight months may cut Tata’s dividend from PT Bumi Resources, affecting its ability to pay debt, said Shruti Mehta, Mumbai-based analyst at Finquest Securities Pvt.

Tata Power said if coal prices remain below $60-$65 a metric tonne, it “may put pressure” on loan servicing, although it expected prices to remain above this level.

“Benchmark Australian coal prices have fallen in the last few days,” said Mehta. “Indonesian coal trades at even lower prices and this may hurt Tata Power’s dividend earnings from Bumi this year and affect their debt repayment.” Mehta plans to review her “outperform” rating on Tata Power next week.

Power-station coal prices at Australia’s Newcastle port, a benchmark for Asia, last week declined 14 per cent to $65.32 a metric tonne, the lowest level since the week ended June 15, according to the global coal NEWC Index. Declining demand for coal amid the global recession has prompted producers in Australia and South Africa to curb production.

Tata Power doesn’t expect to have difficulties repaying loans as coal prices are expected to stay above $70-$72 a tonne, the company said in a statement today in response to e-mailed questions from Bloomberg News.

“Since many existing coal contracts were priced in the last 3 to 6 months, if the coal prices remain below $60-$65 for the next 6 months it may put pressure on servicing of the loans taken at our investment subsidiary level for the acquisition of interest in Indonesian coal mines,” Tata Power said. “However, experts’ views are that in the medium term coal prices will remain at $70-72 levels and not fall below that.”

Tata Power agreed to pay $1.3 billion in March 2007 to buy a 30 per cent stake in two coal mining units owned by Bumi, Asia’s third-biggest coal producer.

HPCL in talks to run RIL's petrol pumps

India’s largest refiner, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is in talks with public sector oil marketer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) for a tie-up to run the former’s fuel retail outlets, closed a year earlier.

HPCL has issued a limited tender to five merchant bankers to advise it on the deal.

Last year, RIL closed 1,400 petrol pumps — 900 owned by the company and the rest managed by dealers — after losses mounted to unmanageable levels, with fuel prices rising (crude oil touched an all-time high of $146 a barrel in July).

At the time, RIL was charging Rs 4-5 a litre more for petrol than the public sector oil marketers, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and HPCL, and still making losses on sales. The state-run marketers also lose money selling petrol and diesel at government-dictated prices, but are compensated by tradable government bonds and discounts from public sector oil producers such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

Private companies such as RIL and Essar Oil do not get such compensations and so, had to close their retail outlets.

“HPCL can recover the losses it makes on selling oil for less than the cost price from the government, so it is feasible for the public sector marketer to run RIL’s closed petrol pumps,” said a person familiar with the situation.

HPCL officials declined to comment. RIL did not respond to emails on the issue for two days.

“HPCL could lease RIL petrol pumps. This will also help RIL earn a return on its assets,” the source said.

By a rough estimate, RIL invested Rs 4,000 crore to set up its petrol retail chain. About 50,000 people were affected when the company closed the pumps.

Reliance plans 1,000 Delight stores in 2 yrs

After food and grocery stores, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail is giving a big push to its non-veg retail chain, Delight, by launching new stores and products, say sources in the know.

The reason: Non-veg products deliver margins upwards of 20 per cent, compared with the 10-15 per cent margins in food and grocery retailing. Also, data show that 75 per cent Indians above 15 years of age are non-vegetarians.

Early last year, Delight stores faced protest from fishermen when its stores were opened in Andhra Pradesh. But the company has moved on and opened over 100 stores in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, among other places, sources say.

Delight Proteins, the formal name of this subsidiary, plans to open 50 new stores in the next three months and over 500 by the end of this calender year. By the end of 2010, it plans to open 1,000 stores, sources say.

Delight has also set up a research and development laboratory for non-veg products and is looking at launching semi-processed foods and ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook variants in fish and meat, to drive higher volumes, sources say. “Non-veg has good business potential and margins are over 20 per cent. Besides, the store size is around 200 sq ft, which is why the company can scale it up quickly,” said a source.

When spoken to, a Reliance Retail spokesperson said: “Our pilots in states like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Karnataka have received good response. We will strengthen our presence in these states and explore other markets.” He did not comment on the company’s store plans as well as products.

“The percentage of revenues from Delight is very small. It can account for up to 10 per cent of Reliance Retail’s total revenues after a couple of years,” said a source.

As noted earlier, the big majority of Indians eat non-veg food. But few organised chains operate in this space due to the delicate supply chains and processing involved. Though the Godrej group has a first-mover advantage with its Real Good products, very few chains, such as Spencer’s, Spinach and Hypercity, sell non-veg products.

Govt declares new service tax policy for SEZ units

The Finance Ministry recently came out with a new notification on the levy of service tax for SEZ developers and units.

As per the new norms, SEZ developers and units will get an exemption on service tax. However, they will have to first pay the service tax, and then file for refunds.

The norms also state that the claims can be filed within 6 months of actual payment of service tax.

Tax experts say the move is fraught with complications, and could increase the procurement cost for developers and units. It also means the money will take a while to come back to the SEZ's kitty.

In addition, SEZ Commissioners will decide on which operations are entitled for service tax exemption.

Experts say this move will give the commissioners significant discretionary power.

But the controversy does not end here. The new notification effectively makes a change to a taxation rule for SEZs which are covered under a separate act. Experts say this could well become another bone of contention.

India gains 3 places up in world tourist map: WEF

India has moved up three places on the list of the world's attractive destinations, but is still at a low of 62nd position in the global ranking, which is topped by Switzerland, according to a report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) today.

Switzerland is followed by Austria, Germany, France and Canada in the top five of the annual 'Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report' for 2009, which features a total of 133 countries.

India has moved up from its 65th position last year, but is still below its neighbour China, which has moved up to 43rd place from 52nd in 2008.

"India is ranked 11th in the (Asia-Pacific) region and 62nd overall, up three places since last year. As with China, India is well assessed for its natural resources (ranked 14th) and cultural resources (24th), with many World Heritage sites, both natural and cultural, rich fauna, and strong creative industries in the country," WEF said.

The country also has quite a good air transport network, particularly given the country's stage of development, and a reasonable ground transport infrastructure, it added.

However, some aspects of its tourism infrastructure remains somewhat underdeveloped (ranked 73rd), with very few hotel rooms per capita by international comparison and low ATM penetration.

DLF gets Rs 203 cr refund from Haryana govt

Realty firm DLF has been refunded the licence fee amounting to Rs 203 crore by the Haryana government for its proposed real estate projects in Gurgaon.

"Yes, we have refunded Rs 203 crore as license fee out of the total demand of Rs 240 crore raised by DLF for its projects in Gurgaon," District Town Planner (Head Quarter) P P Singh said today.

DLF had demanded refund of Rs 240-crore licence fee for its commercial projects and IT park proposed to be set up in Gurgaon. "The company had proposed to set up commercial projects at an area of 120 acres and an IT park in 30 acres in Gurgaon," he informed.

Singh further informed that the department had received applications from several real estate companies for seeking the refund of licence fee in 50-60 projects in Gurgaon alone. However, he refused to divulge the names of companies which demanded refund of fee from the state government.

He said in the last two years, the state received licence fee amounting to Rs 3,000 crore when the realty sector was booming and now, out of Rs 3,000 crore, the state received a demand for the refund of Rs 600 crore from the companies.

Haryana used to collect licence fee in the range of Rs 400-500 crore per annum, but because of the sudden boom in the real estate market in the last 2-3 years, the collection reached a whopping Rs 3,000 crore.

Turner, Warner Brothers to launch channel in India

Turner International today joined hands with Hollywood's leading studio Warner Brothers to launch a news 24-hour English Entertainment channel in India, its top revenue market in Asia Pacific region.

This is the second entertainment channel from the Turner International in March after it launched Hindi 24-hour channel 'Real' earlier this month.

Turner International, which already has a bouque of channels in India -- ZEE Turner, CNN-IBN, Real and HBO -- will position this new offering 'WB' as a new Warner-branded channel for India featuring blockbuster motion pictures and hit television series. It will be available in India from March 15, 2009.

"The channel will showcase programming licensed from Warner Brothers International Television Distribution (WBITD). Together with HBO, WB expands Turner's English entertainment package in India. It will be distributed by Zee-Turner and will be available on both DTH, and Cable and Satellite platforms", Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific Inc President Steve Marcopoto said in a conference.

Warner Brothers International Television Jeffrey R Schlesinger President said, "India is an important growth market. But it will take quite a while for India to be our fastest growth market than it is now."

Nirula's divestment stalls as suitors find price unpalatable

Following the sharp decline in valuation of retail businesses, the divestment of Nirula’s, the New Delhi-based fast-food chain, has hit a major roadblock due to substantial differences over its worth.

A Malaysian buyout fund, Navis Capital Partners, has put the company on the block and has appointed NM Rothschild to advise it on a possible sale.

Quite a few potential suitors have walked away, saying the asking price is too high to justify the transaction in the current scenario. Navis had acquired a majority stake in the company for an enterprise value of around Rs 115 crore in May 2006.

“While the asking price was around Rs 250 crore, suitors were not willing to go above the previous level of around Rs 120 crore,” said a leading banker who was involved in the discussion on behalf of a buyer.

Sources in Nirula’s said the Malaysian firm was actually asking for upward of Rs 450 crore.

Nirula’s is expected to report an operating profit of Rs 12.5 crore in the current fiscal. Last year, the company reported an operating profit of a mere Rs 70 lakh, against operating losses of Rs 4.2 crore in 2007 fiscal. Nirula’s is targeted to post annual revenues of around Rs 94 crore in the current financial year.

Aurobindo gets USFDA nod for anti-depressant

Drug major Aurobindo Pharma on Wednesday said it has got tentative USFDA approval to market escitalopram oxalate tablets.

They are the generic equivalent of Lexapro tablets, an anti-depressant manufactured by Forest Labs and are prescribed for the treatment of depression associated with mood disorders.

The market size for this drug is approximately $2.6 billion, for the year ending September 2008, according to international research agency IMS.

Aurobindo will manufacture these tablets in 5mg, 10mg and 20mg forms. The company now has 92 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) that have been approved in the US market.

SanDisk faces business risk due to Satyam crisis

The world's largest supplier of flash memory cards, SanDisk, is facing problems like project delays and productivity loss owing to the current crisis at distressed IT firm Satyam.

In its annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for 2008, Nasdaq-listed SanDisk has stated it is facing risks due to the situation at Satyam, which is the system integrator for installing a new ERP system for the memory disk maker.

SanDisk has warned investors that the design and implementation of the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at the firm could take longer than anticipated and put further strain on its ability to run business on the older existing ERP system.

"...our current system integrator, Satyam Computer Services is experiencing financial difficulty which has resulted in some project delays and loss of productivity," SanDisk said in its 10-K filing to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).

The memory cards maker further said that if Satyam is to lose key personnel, declare bankruptcy or unable to perform at the expected level, SanDisk would have to engage a new integrator, which would likely result in significant delays in implementation and additional cost.

BPCL puts public issue plan on hold

India’s second largest state-run refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), has delayed plans for a unit to raise money from the public because of the current volatile market conditions, the company said on Tuesday.

Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd, a joint venture (JV) between BPCL and Oman Oil Co., is in discussions with private equity investors to raise money for the Rs10,400 crore refinery it is building in Madhya Pradesh, the company said in an emailed statement. The 6-million-tonne-a-year refinery is likely to start commercial operations around January, according to the statement.

“Suitable investments will be sought from these investors at a time that is beneficial for the project,” the refiner said in the statement. “Until then the funding would be arranged by Bharat Petroleum.”

A group of lenders has agreed to provide Rs6,400 crore to the company for the refinery, according to the statement. The company may consider raising money from the public in the future when the market improves, according to the statement.
The Indian share market lost more than half its value in 2008 and this year so far it has dropped 12.7%, as global economic concerns have forced investors to flee equity markets.

Hindustan Zinc bets big on the silver

With silver seeing stronger gains than gold and analysts expecting it to keep outperforming its costlier counterpart in future, Anil Agarwal-controlled Hindustan Zinc is betting big on the precious metal. The company is investing Rs 3,200 crore to enhance its smelters, captive thermal power plants and mines. Once the expansion is completed in 2013, it will catapult the company to the position of the top Asian silver producer, with a capacity of over 500 tonnes.

Hindustan Zinc COO Akhilesh Joshi said, "We are increasing the silver production capacity to 500 tonnes by 2013, which would boost the company's revenues. Also, the revenues from silver would also be significant in the future.'' Currently, UK-listed miner Kazakhmys, whose main assets are located in Kazakhstan, holds the top position in Asia.

Hindustan Zinc's mines are located in Rajasthan, from where it extracts zinc and lead. And from further processing of lead comes silver, whose capacity as of now stands at 100 tonnes. Currently, according to World Silver Survey, the world's largest primary silver producer is Mexico's Fresnillo, followed by Vancouver-based Pan American Silver Corp. In 2013, Hindustan Zinc will be among the world's top six.

Along with this, the revenue mix at Hindustan Zinc too will change. While Zinc will continue to be the largest contributor, the gap between lead and silver will narrow, if silver prices were anything to go by. In 2005-06, revenue from silver stood at Rs 30 crore, while that from zinc and lead stood at Rs 3,246 crore and Rs 176 crore respectively. In 2007-08, Zinc clocked a turnover of Rs 6,074 crore, lead at Rs 833 crore and silver at Rs 158 crore.

The annual demand in India for silver is about 3,200 tonnes, of which over 75% is met through imports, around 20% from secondary silver, 2.5% from Hindustan Zinc and 1.7% from Hindalco Industries.

Silver--50% demand for which comes from industries--is used in electronic equipments, medical and solar energy equipments, among others. However, like gold, silver too is attracting investors, with the metal being regarded as a safe-haven. With investment opportunities in stock markets and real estate waning due to the ongoing slowdown, interest in gold and silver has risen. According to industry body Assocham, gold prices are likely to touch Rs 17,000 per 10gm by August and silver to Rs 24,000 per kg.

NTC finds no buyer for Finlay mills, again

The sale of National Textile Corporation's 10.4-acre Finlay Mills at Parel seems to be jinxed. For the second time in the past three months, the public undertaking failed in its attempt to hive off this prime property.

On Tuesday, only one bidder - Tamil Nadu-based Christy Textiles Products Pvt Ltd - turned up at the NTC's headquarters at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai. However, its bid was rejected because it submitted an earnest money deposit (EMD) of just Rs 1 crore when the tender document stipulated this amount to be Rs 100 crore.

NTC had set a reserve price of Rs 710 crore for this mill. In December, when bids were first opened, the highest offer was just Rs 405 crore made by Mumbai-based developer D B Realty (Nine Paradise Hotels Pvt Ltd). At that time, NTC had fixed the reserve price at a hefty Rs 1,065 crore. D B Realty's bid was rejected on the grounds that it was much below the reserve price.

Looking at the real estate market conditions, NTC was forced to reduce the reserve price by 30% when it decided to reinvite the bids. "The property market is bad. We will wait for another three months before we bring this mill back on the market,'' NTC's chairman and MD K Ramachandran Pillai told TOI.

It is not known what price the sole bidder, Christy Textiles, quoted on Tuesday, because its bid was not opened after officials found its papers not in order.

This is the sixth NTC mill to be put up for sale in Mumbai. Three years ago, at the height of the property boom, the corporation sold five of its mills in central Mumbai, which fetched it Rs 2,200 crore.

HCL Tech bags Rs 393-cr IT contract from NIC

HCL Technologies has won a whopping Rs 393-crore contract from National Insurance Company (NIC) in a deal keenly contested by top Indian IT companies as well as multinationals.

The contract is a seven-year partnership that involves implementing a slew of software applications and maintaining them, besides supporting the insurer’s IT infrastructure.

HCL said it was the largest IT deal in financial year 2009 in the domestic market and also one of the largest engagements in the insurance sector. NIC has over 1,000 branches and 10,000 employees using IT in these branches.

For HCL, the bulk of the revenue will come from deciding which applications are best suited for the insurance company, designing the data centre where these applications will be hosted, and implementing the software and networking for users, HCL senior vice-president Kiran Bhagwanani said.

HCL will implement a core insurance solution similar to the one banks currently use for the insurance provider. Apart from the solution, it will also implement 18 other applications for verticals like customer relationship management, human resources and business analytics.

"NIC was looking for a strategic IT company that could partner them for seven years, roll out the applications as well as operate them," Mr Bhagwanani said, terming it a transformational project for all the insurer's business processes. The design and implementation is expected to take 18 months after which the project will go into the maintenance phase,
wherein HCL will operate and run the applications.

India is one of the few markets that is still growing for global IT providers. In 2008, the Indian IT market grew by 13%, according to research firm Gartner’s latest data.

Government and public sector enterprises are typically one of the largest IT spenders in the country. Telecom, financial services and retail are the other big spenders, but the global slowdown has impacted spends in some of them. Government spending is relatively less impacted by the recession as the government usually aims to compensate for the reduced spending by private companies.

Dunlop to reopen Shahgunj plant on Friday

Dunlop India Ltd said that the management has decided to reopen the Shahgunj plant from March 6 after three months of suspension of work announced on November 30.

The company in a statement said it would reopen the maintenance and engineering division initially with 229 workers to begin repairing and refurbishing of the plant.

The remaining workers would be inducted later in different departments in a phased manner, it added.

The management said it hoped to sort out all pending issues with the labour unions after the commencement of the repairing and refurbishing.

The reopening would also be without any pay-cut as the matter was under discussion with the labour unions.

The tyre-maker said a few bankers had given assurances on disbursal of the working capital needed for running the plant on a sustained manner.

It said that the West Bengal government on its part has informed that the relief and incentives applied for were under active consideration.

Dunlop had sought VAT benefit and a loan close to Rs 100 crore from the state government.

Pfizer expands agreement with Aurobindo to 44 drugs from 5

Pfizer has expanded its agreement with Aurobindo to 44 drugs from five drugs. It has acquired rights to 39 generic drugs in the US and rights to 20 generic drugs in Europe and 11 in France. Vikas Dandekar of Pharmaasiannews.com reports in detail.

Sandoz of Novartis is the only company that has taken a full fledged dip into the world of generics. Pfizer is also taking this unconventional method, and so far as Aurobindo is concerned, the biggest thing that will happen is that eight of its US-approved FDA facilities, which were lying underutilized for some time now, will get utilized and as Aurbindo Chairman has also mentioned, it will give them some amount of earnings ability.

Out of these 39 products, most of are beaten down generics but a few will be high revenue earners.

Kelvin Cooper of Pfizer said that a few of them are big-sized but they did not want to give details about specific products. But obviously, when Greenstone of Pfizer is becoming the front end for Aurobindo’s product, it will definitely be a good reputation product and it will definitely have a better stint.

Hotel booking facilities for Rajdhani passengers soon

Passengers travelling on Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express would now have the option of booking a hotel along with their railway ticket with Eastern Railway tying up with a hotel in New Delhi.

"Rajdhani passengers who want to stay in Delhi overnight can now get their hotel booking along with their railway ticket. We have tied up with Ginger Hotel in New Delhi," ER General Manager Deepak Krishan told reporters.

Talks were on for tie-ups with other economy hotels and retiring rooms at other destinations, Krishan said, adding similar tie-ups with luxury hotels could be considered if passengers so demanded.

Asked whether the slashing of airfare following reduction in ATF prices would see a drop in Rajdhani fares to keep it competitive, Krishan said fares of the Rajdhani had not been hiked when there was a airfare rise in the past. "We, therefore expect some loyalty from the passengers now."

He said surveys were constantly been carried out to find out the demands of the passengers.

"Some want Rajdhani to leave here at 7.00 pm to reach New Delhi at 8.00 am the next day. For that, we need to fence a large stretch of the route for high speed. This could be done at almost zero cost if the state governments come forward to help," Krishan said after flagging Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express on its 40th anniversary run on Tuesday.

Tata to bring Nano to Europe by 2011

Tata Motors plans to bring the Nano, the world's cheapest car, to Europe by 2011, the chairman of India's biggest vehicle maker said on Tuesday.

But the European version of what has been dubbed the "people's car" would be different from the one to be sold in India because it would have to meet different safety and emissions standards, Ratan Tata told reporters at the autoshow.

"It will not be the same car but it will still be very, very affordable," he said.

Tata Motors begins selling the Nano in its home market next month for less than $2,000.

Tata said it was too early to put a price tag on the European version, to be called Nano Europa.

Tata Motors will be bringing two other models to Europe in the coming years. In 2010, it will introduce an electric car. A year later, it will roll out the Prima, a premium sedan that was unveiled by Tata at the autoshow.

Tata Motors already sells four models in Italy, Spain and Poland. They include a hatchback and a pick-up truck.

Race for acquiring Orissa Sponge gets more intense

The race for acquiring the resource-rich Orissa Sponge has got more intense. Bhushan Steel, the Neeraj Singhal-controlled company, is expected to come out with a counter open offer by Saturday, according to persons familiar with the development.
Bhushan Steel’s offer is the third open offer to the retail shareholders of Orissa Sponge, a company jointly promoted by Dr P K Mohanty and the Bhubaneshwar-based Ipicol. While the Sanjay Singhal-controlled Bhushan Power was the first to come out with an open offer at Rs 300 per share, on Wednesday, Monnet Ispat made an offer at Rs 310.
Saturday is also the last day for submitting counter bids for Orissa Sponge.
Bhushan Steel is being advised jointly by IDFC-SSKI and JM Financial for the open offer, which could likely indicate a close fight for Orissa Sponge’s captive coal mines and iron ore mines.
Monnet Ispat had earlier bought IDFC’s stake of 5%, apart from acquiring another 10% from the promoters, according to people close to the development.

KEC International bags orders from Power Grid

KEC International on Thursday said it has secured two orders worth Rs 227 crore from Power Grid Corporation for supplying power transmission equipment.
In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said it has received two 765 kV S/c projects in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and in Punjab and Haryana from PGCIL.
"We are delighted that our order pipeline is flowing continuously. Power Grid Corporation is very important customer for us,'' KEC International Managing Director and CEO, Mr Ramesh Chandak said.
The two orders are worth Rs 124 crore and Rs 103 crore, the filing added. The first order is for the supply and construction of 765 Kv S/c transmission line to be constructed in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The total length of lines is 135 Kms and the project is scheduled to be completed by February 2011, it added. Further, the second order is for supply and construction of 765 kV system in the state of Punjab and Haryana.
The total length of lines is 160 Kms and the project is scheduled to be completed by May 2011, it added.

TCS extends contract with Singapore Airlines

Tata Consultancy Services recently announced that it has been chosen by Singapore Airlines to provide IT services for three years for a suite of applications used by the Singapore Airlines Group of Companies
After the end of the existing term, Singapore Airlines went through a formal vendor selection process and chose to partner TCS based on the firm's strong capabilities in offering integrated IT services to support a range of processes and applications across the airline, a TCS release said.
For the past 12 years, TCS said it has successfully helped the airline improve efficiency, reduce operational and maintenance costs enabling productivity gains in its applications space. Under the agreement, TCS would continue to manage a significant portion of Singapore Airlines' IT systems including 24x7 business critical application ranging from passenger reservations to flight operations.
"TCS' rigorous metrics-based management model and airline domain expertise will ensure increased responsiveness for Singapore Airlines customers and its application rationalisation programme will help the airline minimise costs, reduce risks and increase business agility'', it said.

L&T bags orders worth Rs 1,162 cr Q4, stock up 1.5%

Larsen & Toubro’s (L&T) buildings and factories operating company – part of its construction division – has bagged new orders aggregating around Rs 1,162 crores in the fourth quarter of 2008-09 for the construction of factories and residential projects.
L&T has bagged a major design and build order valued at Rs 605 crore from the Andhra Pradesh Rajiv Swagruha corporation for the construction of an integrated thematic township to be completed in two years time, according to the release by the company. It has also received major orders aggregating Rs 557 crore for the construction of cement plants and other strategic factory buildings.
The orders further enhances the order book of the company which has already secured major design and build orders in the airports, IT parks and commercial space.
The company has early this week announced that it has bagged three new orders worth Rs 1438 crore. Out of this, two orders worth Rs 1130 crore were booked in the Gulf region and a third, worth Rs 308 crore, was bagged from the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company.

IT Inc on Obama's outsourcing plan

Seems the current recession is turning US ‘inwards’. In the country, which taught the world lessons of `open economy', the demand for protectionism is getting louder. The pains of turbulent economy is making many Americans target outsourcing.
Giving his first speech to a joint session of the US Congress, the county's president Barack Obama said, “We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.”
If Obama follows through with the announcement in the budget, the move may hurt India's BPO sector as without the tax breaks, US companies may find it less attractive to outsource jobs to India.
Obama's conservative stance on outsourcing poses a threat to the growing Indian IT industry already reeling under the effects of a troubled global economy.
Here's over to how Indian IT is reacting to Obama's outsourcing plan.

Infosys
Reacting cautiously to US President Barack Obama's remarks on outsourcing, Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Infosys Technologies, said outsourcing had enhanced the competitiveness of US corporations and had created more jobs within the US economy.
"The US is a very open economy and a strong proponent of free trade globally. We are confident the US will not take any measure, which might hurt its global competitiveness," Infosys said.
"We need to wait for more details to understand Obama's statement," Infosys added. TV Mohandas Pai, board member and director, human resources at Infosys Technologies, said IT outsourcing was the least of Obama's worries. "Over 60,000 US jobs are being lost every month and reviving the manufacturing sector there is the target," he said.

Wipro
Wipro said in the current economic environment, it was imperative for global corporations to collaborate on technology and innovation. Wipro executive director and chief financial officer Suresh Senapaty said that policies of protectionism would only hinder the revival of the world economy.
He added, "We feel that in the current economic environment it is imperative for global corporations to collaborate on technology and innovation."

Nasscom
IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said it was heartening to note that Obama had supported the need to "avoid protectionism" in his speech.
"This is not the time for protectionism but for global collaboration, if the world is to come out of this economic downturn quickly. We hope that all other countries would support this and continue to be proponents of free trade," Nasscom said.
"Global outsourcing has helped (US) companies gain the vital competitive edge - time to market, transformation of businesses, integration of processes, reduce costs and enhance efficiency -- all of which are key drivers for revival of economic activity," it added.

Inflation at 15-month low of 3.36%

Inflation declined to about a 15-month low of 3.36% mainly due to fall in the prices food articles like fruit and vegetables, pulses,
and some manufactured items, raising hopes of cuts in the key policy rates by the RBI.
Wholesale price based inflation declined by 0.56 percentage points during the week ended February 14 against 3.92% in the previous week.
Yesterday, the government expressed confidence that the RBI may ease money supply further.
Replying to the debate on the interim Budget in the Rajya Sabha, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "I am fully concerned that increased public spending may put pressure on the government's borrowing programme and overall credit offtake in the economy."
Mukherjee said: "There is, however, scope for appropriate compensatory monetary policy options, (which) I am sure will be exercised by the RBI at the right time."

ArcelorMittal says no to merger, acquisition

After creating the world's biggest steel empire mostly through merger and acquisitions, NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal has decided to apply brakes on his takeover drive as a fallout of the global economic slowdown.
ArcelorMittal is the world's single steel company to have attained a size of over 100 billion dollars and most of the credit goes to its numerous merger and acquisition deals.
However, to tackle the changing market conditions, the company in a regulatory filing said, it is now "curtailing merger and acquisition activity".
In May 2008 ArcelorMittal, whose CFO and Lakshmi Mittal's son Aditya used to have an 80-page folder listing hundreds of potential M&A targets, had received shareholders' approval for expanding its equity capital to meet the firm's future M&A requirements.
The company's plans to go slow on M&As comes in sharp contrast to its earlier stated position of continuously being on the look-out for potential opportunities.
At an Extraordinary General Meeting on May 13, 2008, the shareholders had authorised the board to raise the company's share capital, so that it is in a position to issue shares for entering into potential growth opportunities such as M&As.

Govt reduces excise duty, service tax by 2 per cent

Giving relief to the industry reeling under the impact of slowdown, the Government on Tuesday reduced by two per cent rates of excise duty and service tax.
While the general excise duty has been reduced from 10 per cent to 8 per cent, the rate of service tax cut from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.
Four per cent excise cut announced earlier in the stimulus package in December will continue beyond March 31, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while winding up the debate on the Interim Budget in the Lok Sabha today.
The Lok Sabha later approved the Interim Budget by voice vote, amidst a walkout by the Opposition BJP and erstwhile supporters Left parties.
Mukherjee further said that duty on bulk cement has been reduced from 10 per cent to 8 per cent.

ONGC pares oil output target by 3.5%

The country’s biggest oil and gas explorer, Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has trimmed its crude oil output target by around 3.5% for the current financial year to end-March because of infrastructure shortages and technical issues, although the state-run firm expects production to rise next year as several new fields come on stream.
In its annual plan document for 2009-10, the company said crude oil production during 2008-09 was now expected to be 26.085 million metric tonnes (MMT) as against the earlier estimate of 27.054 MMT, hit mainly by a 0.611 MMT shortfall from its offshore assets and a 0.358 MMT shortfall from its onshore fields mainly in Gujarat.
“(The) main reasons for the shortfall...are non-availability of production infrastructure like floating production, storage and offloading vessel required for interim processing of crude, less number of development wells due to non-availability of rigs and the delay in integrated development of...fields in the east coast,” ONGC said in the document.
But the company, in which the government owns a 74.16% stake and was the first to discover oil in India in the 1960s, has marginally increased its production target for 2009-10 by 0.865 MMT anticipating crude oil production from Bassein & satellite, Neelam & Heera, Assam, Ahmedabad and Mehsana fields.
ONGC said it expected to produce 22,248 million metric standard cubic meter (MMSCM) of natural gas in 2009-10, slightly down from a revised estimate of 22,287 MMSCM in 2008-09 but higher than its original estimate of 21,668 MMSCM for the year.

Subhash Projects bags INR 77.04 crore order

PTI reported that Subhash Projects & Marketing has bagged an order worth INR 77.04 crore for construction related works.
Subhash Projects in a filing to the National Stock Exchange said that it has received an order for INR 77.04 crore on January 29th for construction of pumping station at Rithala, Delhi.
Further, the order is on design, build and operate basis for carrying 33.34 MGD treated effluent from EPS at Rithala to Puducherry Power Corporation Plant at Bawana, Delhi.