Company News 22nd Jan 2007

L&T signs JV pact with Saudi firm

DUBAI: The Indian construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with Saudi Arabia’s A A Turki Contracting and Trading Corporation, which will focus on electromechanical construction for the hydrocarbon and power sect or. The new venture will be known as Larsen & Toubro ATCO (Saudia) LLC.

Ref : Business line

IndianOil puts retail plans in Indonesia on hold

 Indian Oil Corporation Ltd has put on hold its plans to foray into the petroleum retailing industry of Indonesia. A senior company official said, “After evaluating the business prospects in that country we have decided to put on hold our plans to foray into Indonesia’s retail sector till there is more clarity on de-regulation plans there.”

 

However, the company is likely to continue with its lubricant distribution business in Indonesia, he stated. IndianOil was looking at launching its retail outlets in Indonesia by floating a fully owned subsidiary. If the plans had materialised this would have been IndianOil’s third retailing venture abroad. IndianOil entered the Sri Lankan market in 2002 through Lanka IOC Ltd. The Indian petroleum marketing major also has a presence in Mauritius through its subsidiary IndianOil Mauritius Ltd.

Ref : Business line

Product Launches

General Motors India to launch next-generation small car 

General Motors India is going to launch two new products in the small and mini car segment in addition to Chevrolet Spark, which will be launched in April `07, reports Economic Times.Company executives said apart from Chevy, Spark and Aveo U-VA, General Motors India is planning to launch a next-generation small car, but it may take some time.  

Tata Tea launches variants of single origin orthodox tea :  Tata Tea Ltd (TTL) launched hereon Wednesday four variants of single origin orthodox tea under the Tata Tea Gold brand, namely,Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiris and Ceylon, each variant reflecting the subtleties of the places of origin, with the hope that the demand for orthodox tea in the country will gradually rise in the coming years. A triangular pack of 100 gm has been priced at Rs 30.  

The company also announced the launching of Tetley brand of green tea (in tea bags) in the domestic market to create a unique “well-being segment” in the category of branded tea. It has been priced at Rs 25 per box containing 10 bags 

  HCL-Toshiba launch eco-efficient notebooks   
New Delhi, Nov 22: High technology product manufacturer, Toshiba in association with HCL Infosystems on Wednesday launched a range of eco-efficient consumer and business notebooks. Compliant with the European Union (EU) RoHS (restriction of hazardous substances) directive, this range includes the products in two categories — business and consumer.  

The business category would have features like thin and light portg M500 ultraportables with 12.1-inch diagonal XGA display and swappable optical drive, while consumer category would have Qosmio TM next-generation “four-in-one” audio-video notebook series with HD DVDRom, a Toshiba release said.  

MARKETING (JAN 12 - JAN 19)

Acer New year offer on note books

January 14, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Acer India announced a special New Year offer to their notebook customers with the launch of a unique “Cash Back” programme. Customers buying the Acer Aspire 5570ANWXMi and the Acer Aspire 3682NWXCi Notebook models, will receive Rs 2,007 in cash along with a host of assured gifts, ranging from Acer branded T-shirts, jackets, backpacks, USB thumb drives, MP3 Players, Tata SKY Satellite connections and free Reliance USB modem worth Rs 4,500.

Pune likely to get IT SEZs soon

January 15, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

The special economic zone (SEZ) mania, currently raging across the country, is likely to see 10 such zones for IT/ITeS in Pune alone receiving approvals through 556 acres which would open up for potential development.Which in turn means that over the next three-four years the city could add over two crore sq feet of office space. The state expects to sign memorandum of understandings worth Rs 33,000 crore in 2007-08, doing in one year what it did in 18 months. The state has the highest number of approved SEZs at 72 and the state could touch the 100-mark. IT and ITeS companies have committed to about 5 lakh sq ft in SEZs and about 6.4 lakh sq ft within Software Technology Projects of India (STPI) in 2007. IT and ITeS sectors accounted for 90% of the total space absorption in Pune.

Amul to launch pro-biotic ice-cream ranges

January 16, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Amul, the over Rs 3,700-crore brand of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd , is all set to give a boost to its growing ice cream business with the forthcoming launch of two ranges of pro-biotic ice creams, Amul Prolife and Amul Sugarfree, this week, marking entry into the pro-biotic segment for the first time. It is hoped to build the pro-biotic range into a  Rs 100- crore brand within the next two-three years. While Amul had earlier tested this market segment through the launch of an isabgol-enriched ice cream, this will be the company’s first full-fledged attempt at capturing a good share of the pro-biotic enriched foods market in India. Both the brands will be available in 125 ml (Rs 15), 500 ml and 1.25 litre (Rs 120) packs in five flavours, vanilla with chocolate sauce, strawberry, chocolate, shahi anjir and fresh litchi.

Aviva Life, Indusland tie up

January 16, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Aviva Life Insurance and IndusInd Bank have tied up as bancassurance partners. The life insurer now has 30 bank partnerships and has increased its presence to 497 locations. IndusInd Bank will sell Aviva products like LifeLong, SaveGuard, SaveGuard Junior, EasyLife Plus and Pensions Plus to bank customers in the first phase. The partnership will be on a referral type business model.

ITC plans more Choupal Fresh stores

January 17, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

ITC, which has launched its retail and wholesale vending of vegetables and fruits, has prepared a plan to expand its Choupal Fresh stores across the country. The company would open 140 stores in 54 towns in the next three-four years. Currently, the company runs three stores in Chandigarh, Pune and Hyderabad with 11 different places feeding the stores. The fourth store would come up in Kolkata. The company also has plans to expand `Choupal Sagars’, its rural retailing business.

Wipro’s Retail Learning Centre

January17, THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Wipro’s Retail Learning Centre in Bangalore is a key enabler in strengthening Wipro’s Oracle Retail competencies globally. Wipro Technologies also announced the setting up of its retail Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Portugal. Wipro will additionally set up three development centres for Oracle Retail of which one will be located in Portugal to address the European market. Another centre will be in Brazil to address the Latin American market and also support the US as a near shore centre. The third centre in
India is to address all APAC markets and also as an offshore delivery hub.

Mergers and Acquisitions (Jan 5 - Jan 12)

Teledata set to buy SoltiusSOURCE:Business line, Jan 10, 2007 Teledata Informatics Ltd, a Chennai-based software solutions company, is in the final stages of negotiations to acquire 100 per cent stake in Soltius Pte Ltd, Singapore, at a cost of $45 million (around Rs 200 crore) through its wholly owned subsidiary Bitech International LLC,
Dubai. With over 800 professionals, Soltius focuses on SAP projects and consultancy services. With presence in Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the US and UAE, it offers solutions in areas like customer care and billing systems, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and mobile solutions, according to a Teledata press release.Soltius is targeting revenue of $40 million with a profitability of around $6 million for the current year. Post de-merger, Mr Harmeet Bindra and Mr Sachin Agarwal, promoters of Soltius, will join as full-time directors in Teledata.  Firstsource buys BPMSOURCE:Business line, Jan. 8,2007  Firstsource Solutions Ltd (earlier ICICI OneSource) has acquired BPM Inc, a Delaware-based healthcare claims outsourcing company in the

The AK has become the firearm of choice for at least 50 standing armies and uncounted ragtag outfits, from insurgents and terrorists to drug dealers and street gangs.

 

For inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, inspiration came in 1941 in the form of direct contact with Nazi invaders’ Schmeisser submachine guns. As the young tank commander recovered from his wounds, he vowed to create a weapon that would help defend the motherland. However, it took him years of tinkering, along with technical schooling, to perfect his brainchild, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947.

 

It was in
Vietnam, Kahaner tells us, that the AK really earned its stripes. In jungle skirmishes, whoever pumped out the most rounds in the shortest amount of time won.
America countered with its own automatic, the space-age-sleek M-16. But for years that rifle was reputed to have problems. One story, plucked by Kahaner from the
Vietnam memoir of Colonel David Hackworth, illustrates the issues. Hackworth came across an accidentally exposed Viet Cong gravesite, yanked out a mud-caked AK, pulled back the bolt, and fired off thirty rounds as if the gun had just been cleaned. “This was the kind of weapon our solders needed and deserved, not the M-16 that had to be hospital cleaned or it would jam,” wrote Hackworth.

 

Kalashnikov culture also spread to
Latin America, beginning with the Nicaraguan Contra war of the 1980s. Again the
U.S. helped spread the epidemic, as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North’s secret White House project shipped thousands of AKs to the counterrevolutionaries. Soon, “just as it had done in the Middle East and Africa, the indestructible and cheap AK worked its way from country to country, turning small conflicts into large wars” in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

 

Today the AK’s place in civilization seems clear. In 2004, the Iraqi army, trained by the
U.S. military, nixed American-made M-16s and insisted on being issued AKs. That same year, Playboy issued its list of “50 Products That Changed the World.” Near the top–beaten out by only the Apple (AAPL ) Macintosh, the pill, and the Sony (SNE ) Betamax–was the AK, the embodiment of innovation’s dark side.

 

 

 

 

 

COVER STORY(9th to 15th Dec)

CSN bid for Corus set for this week 

• Brazilian steel maker CSN is set to table a formal offer for corus this week
• The Board of Corus is expected to meet on Sunday.
• The Bid may be announced on Monday if negotiations goes well.
• The Brazilian Company has announced last month it was considering and indicative bid of 475P which would trump Tatas 455p offer.

                                                         The Economic Times( Monday .11.December 2006)                                                                                                   Foreign flight norms for desi airlines likely to be relaxed.                                                                                                                               

• The norms for domestic airlines to fly abroad is relaxed by reducing the requirement of minimum five years of domestic operation to three years.
• Air Decan will be the first airline to enjoy this benefit.
• Air Decan has already completed three years in August 2006.
• This idea is to enable airlines like Air Decan, SpiceJet and Kingfisher to meet competition from foreign carriers.
• The revised norms will kick in with the new civil aviation policy which is likely to be put in policy by January 2006.

                                                                                        [The Economic Times. Thursday 14 December 2006]

      Century Mills set to shut down operations in Mumbai 

ü      About 6,300 of the 6,700 workers (comprising around 95%) have opted for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme offered by the company management.

ü      The management is subject to pay Rs. 9-10 lakhs per person on retirement with high cost of the operations.

ü      700-800 workers have rejected the VRS offer of Rs 3-5 lakh per employee.

ü      The employees demand for a compensation equal to what they could have possibly earned if they had worked till 60

[Business Line- 14^th December 15, 2006, Thursday]CRRash: Sensex loses 400 points 

·         Share sensex plunged 538 points

·         Settled at 13,399.43

·         Went down 400.06 points

·         BSE Bankex shed 463.96

The Economic Times       12/12/06

Tata motors, fiat to invest Rs 4000 Cr in new facility

·         Tata Motor and Fiat Auto will jointly invest Rs 4000 Cr in a 50-50 joint venture to make cars and engines at Ranjangaon near Pune.

·         It will have an annual capacity to produce 1 lakh cars and 1 lakh engines and gear boxes.

                                                             Business Line. (15^th December..2006 Friday)         

 

The Reliable Killer

AK-47
The Weapon That
Changed the Face of WarBy Larry Kahaner
Wiley — 258pp — $25.95 

 

Here’s today’s puzzler: Name a Russian innovation that whips most everything America and Western Europe throws against it, has astounding firepower, and is unaffected by heat, cold, and sand. It’s the Kalashnikov assault rifle, also known as the AK. Since its first large-scale production in 1947, this low-tech weapon of mass destruction has spread across the globe, doling out death from Afghanistan to the
U.S.

The AK has become the firearm of choice for at least 50 standing armies and uncounted ragtag outfits, from insurgents and terrorists to drug dealers and street gangs.

 

For inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, inspiration came in 1941 in the form of direct contact with Nazi invaders’ Schmeisser submachine guns. As the young tank commander recovered from his wounds, he vowed to create a weapon that would help defend the motherland. However, it took him years of tinkering, along with technical schooling, to perfect his brainchild, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947.

 

It was in
Vietnam, Kahaner tells us, that the AK really earned its stripes. In jungle skirmishes, whoever pumped out the most rounds in the shortest amount of time won.
America countered with its own automatic, the space-age-sleek M-16. But for years that rifle was reputed to have problems. One story, plucked by Kahaner from the
Vietnam memoir of Colonel David Hackworth, illustrates the issues. Hackworth came across an accidentally exposed Viet Cong gravesite, yanked out a mud-caked AK, pulled back the bolt, and fired off thirty rounds as if the gun had just been cleaned. “This was the kind of weapon our solders needed and deserved, not the M-16 that had to be hospital cleaned or it would jam,” wrote Hackworth.

 

Kalashnikov culture also spread to
Latin America, beginning with the Nicaraguan Contra war of the 1980s. Again the
U.S. helped spread the epidemic, as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North’s secret White House project shipped thousands of AKs to the counterrevolutionaries. Soon, “just as it had done in the Middle East and Africa, the indestructible and cheap AK worked its way from country to country, turning small conflicts into large wars” in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

 

Today the AK’s place in civilization seems clear. In 2004, the Iraqi army, trained by the
U.S. military, nixed American-made M-16s and insisted on being issued AKs. That same year, Playboy issued its list of “50 Products That Changed the World.” Near the top–beaten out by only the Apple (AAPL ) Macintosh, the pill, and the Sony (SNE ) Betamax–was the AK, the embodiment of innovation’s dark side.