B U S I N E S S

A sneaker-clad robot rickshaw pulls children for a ride at Pre-RoboFesta Kansai 2001 in Osaka, western Japan on Friday. The robot rickshaw, developed by Daihatsu Motor, is operated with motors built into its head and chest, and is being demonstrated at the robot fair. — Reuters

Americans love killer toy
Los Angeles: The condemned man is fastened to an electric chair by leather straps and wears a steel headplate with two coiled wires. He sits in the raised oak chair with his head against the back.

CII meet on defence 
NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — The scientific adviser to the Defence Ministry, Dr V K Atre, today said unless the private sector comes forward and shares risks with the Defence Research and Development Organisation in innovating and inventing high technology products for defence forces, it would be difficult to carry forward the dialogue process of partnership building between the two.

Britannia likely to consider stock split
CALCUTTA, Aug 11 — Britannia Industries would examine the issue of stock split in the board, company chairman Nusli Wadia said today. Mr Wadia told the 81st annual general meeting of the company, although the board was not veering around the view to split stocks, it would do so now.

On cutting tool technology
CHANDIGARH, Aug 11 — Environment-friendliness, global alliances and greater interest in emerging markets like India are key factors in understanding the changing global market situations, particularly with respect to the cutting tool industry said Mr Hiraoki Masatomi, Head — Overseas Operations Centre, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, Japan, while inaugurating a seminar-cum-exposition on latest advances in cutting tool technology, organised by the CII here today.

Internet traffic to be monitored at landing stations

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (PTI) — The government today announced a fee of Rs 50,000 (non-refundable) and other conditions for setting up of a submarine cable landing station (SCLS) for international gateways by Internet service providers

According to the final guidelines, the landing station for an international gateway for the Internet should be within the service area of the ISP licensee and the same should be used only for carrying Internet traffic.

The landing station should be located within 100 km from the seashore, the guidelines, which were worked out by a committee consisting of representatives from DoT, the Ministry of Information Technology (MIT), Nasscom said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) reserves the right to carry out surprise inspection at the landing station to ensure that only Internet traffic is carried through the landing station, the guidelines stated adding that any change or addition in the type of services offered should be with the prior written permission of TRAI.

The guidelines have prescribed a comprehensive system for monitoring the traffic at the landing station from the national security point of view.

“It should be possible to effectively monitor the traffic at the landing station so that only Internet data traffic is carried and not the voice traffic,” an official statement of the guidelines said.

With this announcement the availability of the international bandwidth for the Internet in the country will increase manifold which in turn would give a major boost to the growth of Internet.

The government has not given permission to set up landing stations in the security sensitive areas. “The Internet modes covering places of security importance shall be routed through VSNL only,” the statement said adding that security sensitive areas would be defined from time to time.

As on date the security sensitive areas are Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, north eastern states, border areas of Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar islands and coastal areas of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu (excluding Chennai).

Agencies authorised by the government should be able to monitor all types of traffic passed through the landing terminals, including data, FAX, speech, video and multimedia etc, both in interactive and non-interactive modes.

It should also be possible to scan through entire traffic passing through the gateway and filter the traffic as per the key words or key expressions and addresses defined by the security agencies.

“Filtered traffic should be stored in the memory or directory provided for the security agencies, which have defined the monitoring requirement,” the statement added.

The cost of monitoring equipment, including its commissioning would be borne by the licensee, the guidelines said adding that towards the administrative cost for performing monitoring function, a contribution of Rs 20 lakh per annum would be made by the ISP licensee. 

Konka claims 10 pc marketshare in TV
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 11 — Konka Electronics a $2 billion turnover company from China which entered the Indian market in August last year, claims to have captured 8 to 10 per cent colour TV market share in this region comprising Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir.

The company, which has assembly units in Mohali and Noida besides other centres, has made its presence felt “only in 50 per cent of the country”, said Mr R.B. Tandan, Vice-President (Sales & Marketing) of the company, at a press conference here today.

Besides the northern region, Konka has a presence in eastern India, eastern UP and Madhya Pradesh. It also plans to set up a manufacturing unit in the country, Mr Tandon said.

The Konka team, that included Mr Benjamin Li, Sr Vice-President, was here to showcase its latest digital TV sets which will be in the market in two-three months.

Also on display was Konka’s HDTV (high definition TV) developed by the company’s R&D centre in Silicon valley. This model is not yet marketed in India.

Claiming a failure rate of only .1 per cent for its various TV models, Mr Tandon said Konka expects to sell two lakh colour TV sets in the country this year.

Globally, Konka sells eight million TV units annually.

Americans love killer toy

Los Angeles: The condemned man is fastened to an electric chair by leather straps and wears a steel headplate with two coiled wires. He sits in the raised oak chair with his head against the back.

When the switch is pulled, the current pulses through the wires and the body convulses. The eyes dissolve into red sockets. Through clenched teeth he utters his final words: ``That the best you can do, you pansies?’’

Death Row Marv is a toy. It costs $29.95, and aimed at the 14-45, mainly male market. And it would be in a shop near you were it not so popular that there is waiting list in shops throughout the USA.

Opinion polls may have begun to register a decline in support for the death penalty , but the American love affair with judicial execution - real or fantasy - shows no sign of abating.

As stocks of Death Row Marv temporarily ran out, the Texas prison authorities executed two convicted murderers late on Wednesday after the federal supreme court voted not to intervene.

In a peculiarly gruesome example of life imitating art, one of the two latest condemned men went defiantly to his end, just like Death Row Marv, cursing and laughing at the prison authorities.

Unlike Marv, Brian Roberson was lethally injected, in Huntsville prison. But in his last moments the murderer of an elderly Dallas couple lashed out at the prison officers and relatives of the victims. ``You ain’t got what you want,’’ he was reported to have said.

Officials said he ``used a vulgarity’’ before being injected.

Half an hour later the second man, Brian Cruz, was given his injection. It was the first time for three years that Texas has conducted a double execution. Officials said that it was a coincidence, since the date was set by different judges.

Unlike Robertson, Cruz went to his death weeping and apologising to his own family and his victim’s relatives.

Tens of thousands of Marvs went on sale, mainly in comic shops and music stores, in June, and the initial run has sold out. Although it is mainly aimed at teenage comic readers, some of the advertising targets are more mature, if that is the right word.

“Pretend it’s your boss,’’ is the catchy slogan on one ad.

“Some parents start to get the look of horror after they let their kids play with it,’’ Joel Pollack, a Maryland toyshop owner, told the Washington Post, “but I think everyone sees it as harmless.

“I won’t say I wouldn’t sell it to kids, but I wouldn’t without a parent’s consent. There are some people out there who love the macabre stuff. I guess this teaches consequences.’’

— By arrangement with The Guardian

CII meet on defence 
Tribune News Service 

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — The scientific adviser to the Defence Ministry, Dr V K Atre, today said unless the private sector comes forward and shares risks with the Defence Research and Development Organisation in innovating and inventing high technology products for defence forces, it would be difficult to carry forward the dialogue process of partnership building between the two.

Lt Gen Chandrashekhar, Vice-Chief of the Army Staff, expressed full faith in the private sector for product development, particularly in military communication. While conceding that the slow and tortuous process of procurement was regrettably true, he said that a change was evident in the past few years.

Britannia likely to consider stock split

CALCUTTA, Aug 11 (PTI) — Britannia Industries would examine the issue of stock split in the board, company chairman Nusli Wadia said today.

Mr Wadia told the 81st annual general meeting of the company, although the board was not veering around the view to split stocks, it would do so now.

Shareholders demanded that as the price of Britannia stock is high, quoting around Rs 690, a split would help bring it down.

On the company’s new dairy division, Mr Wadia said it was contributing nearly 10 per cent of Britannia’s sales. The ‘Milkman’ brand would be the umbrella brand for all dairy products of the company.

Besides cheese and ghee, the company recently launched butter under the ‘Milkman’ brand. The company is also planning to launch a slew of flavoured milk brands this year.

During 1999-2000, the sales of the company reached Rs 1168 crore and registered a net profit of Rs 51 crore.

Ashok Leyland

NEW DELHI (PTI): Ashok Leyland said the company will benefit from the slide in the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar as it is a net exporter.

“Rupee depreciation will have a positive impact on the company’s financial position as it is a net exporter of vehicles,” Managing Director of Ashok Leyland, R. Seshasayee told newsmen here.

The company had registered a 11.5 per cent exports growth and it sold 437 commercial vehicles in the global market in first quarter of the current fiscal as against 392 units in the same period of the previous year.

Stating that the company recorded losses in the first quarter of current financial year, Seshasayee said Leyland was expecting a sales growth of about 8 to 10 per cent during 2000-01 against the industry’s expected growth of about 5 per cent.

Ashok Leyland had recorded a 4 per cent decline in sales of commercial vehicles to 6,440 units in April-June of 2000-01 compared to 6,710 units in the same quarter of 1999-2000.

TVS Sundaram

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Chennai-based TVS Sundaram group will take the entire 74 per cent stake allotted to domestic partners in its insurance venture with Canada’s Royal and Sun Alliance.

Sundaram Finance will take 42 per cent while the remaining 32 per cent stake will be taken by TVS Sundaram Iyengar, Laxmi General and Impal, Anthony Jacob, Chief Executive Officer of Royal and Sunalliance in India, said.

Royal and Sunalliance will take up the entire 26 per cent stipulated under the insurance rules for foreign partners.

TVS Sundaram Iyengar is the holding company of the TVS Group while Laxmi General and Impal are its associate firms.

Bharat Hotels

NEW DELHI (UNI): Bharat Hotels Limited on Friday declared its first quarter results for the financial year 2000-2001 which showed a 18.43 per cent growth in revenue and an increase in net profit by 410 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year.

The company has declared a turnover of Rs 77.64 crore with a gross operating profit of Rs 22.52 crore and net profit of Rs 15.88 crore. It also declared a dividend of 15 per cent for the year.

OFFBEAT

Steel czar from India

NEW YORK: Laxmi N. Mittal, the Britain-based steel czar of Indian origin who ranks sixth globally in steel production, could be the next J.P. Morgan, the American industrial juggernaut 100 years ago, but it still wouldn’t be “enough,” according to the Business Week magazine.

“His plan may not be as far-fetched as it seems,” says Business Week which is running an in-depth feature on Mittal in its upcoming August 21-28 issue. Mittal, who was listed among Forbes’ list of global billionaires, said he plans to expand in emerging markets. He has left J.P. Morgan’s U.S. Steel way behind, ranking 11th in global production.

Building a company by acquiring dysfunctional government-owned steel facilities around the world, the 50-year old billionaire is the Chairman and CEO of Ispat International of which he owns 80 per cent. With mills in eight countries, including one in the USA, Mittal’s enterprise employs more than 74,000 people around the globe, Business Week points out.

Astute at downsizing and rejuvenating plants, Mittal says he has plans to do much more and make Ispat much bigger than it is. Unlike other steelmakers who are loathe to invest in updating their legacy systems, Mittal still believes everyone should be following his example, though Wall Street has been less than enthusiastic.

“If our customers are becoming global, there’s a need for steel companies to do likewise. Otherwise, we will not be able to serve our customers well,” Mittal told the magazine. Asked if he was done with growing, Mittal said, “No...I don’t think we can ever say ‘enough.’”

Mittal’s group produces 20 million tonnes of steel a year, which makes up barely 2.5 per cent of total production. South Korea’s Pohang Iron & Steel, the highest producer, barely meets 3.5 per cent of the demand, he points out. — IANS

Beer drinking test for Tory leader

LONDON: A betting company and a couple of pubs have challenged Britain’s Conservative Party leader William Hague to drink eight litres (14 pints) of beer in a day, following the latter’s claim that he downed that many in a day in his youth.

In an interview to men’s magazine GQ, Hague said he used to down 14 pints of beer a day in his youth, when delivering beer to pubs for his father’s company. “Anyone who thinks I used to spend my holidays reading political tracts should have come with me for a week. We used to have a pint at every stop — well the driver’s mate did, not the driver, thankfully — and we used to have about 10 stops in a day. You worked so hard you didn’t feel you’d drunk 10 pints by four o’clock, you used to sweat so much,” Hague said.

“It’s probably horrifying but we used to do that, then go home for tea and then go out in the evening to the pub. And have four more there,” Hague went on to say.

The owner of one of the pubs where Hague said he drank has called Hague “that lying little toad”. The average for most men is about that much beer in a week, the pub owner said. Now a betting company is taking bets whether Hague can drink 14 pints a day. The odds placed are 14 to one that he cannot. — IANS

THAT'S IT

Microsoft may be tried by MRTPC
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 11— Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, fatigued by a long-winding anti-trust law case in the USA, may hear similar charges of monopolistic practices when he visits India later this month.

Close on the eve of his visit, the Director General of Investigation and Registration of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has recommended action by the MRTPC against the Indian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation USA, following preliminary investigation reports.

The investigation against Microsoft Corporation (India) Ltd has revealed that the Indian company did not enter into any agreement with the buyers of the software or other products. The restrictions imposed on the buyers of software products in terms of the End Users Licence Agreement (EULA) were attributed to the principal company in the USA. The software products of the US company had been pleaded as “intellectual properties” and not products simplicitor. As per the provisions of the MRTP Act 1969, a licensor has a right to attach any conditions to the licencees to protect its patent or copyright.

However, Mr Gates’ woes will be confined to answering only mediapersons on the subject as the MRTPC proceedings will take some time to materialise. The MRTPC will now have to take cognizance of the prima facie case and send notices to the company to respond within a reasonable time.

Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (India) today disputed the official statement that the MRTPC’s investigation wing had recommended action against the company for unfair trade practices.

In a statement issued here, the company termed the official version that it faced charges of monopolies and restrictive trade practices as “factually incorrect.”. Company officials today met the Director General of Investigation and Registration and they were informed that no recommendation for initiation of any inquiry or action against the company has been made, the company said. The statement said the DG, however, had confirmed that he had submitted a preliminary report on investigation into the complaint against the company to the MRTPC.

ICICI takes 20 pc stake in Indusmedia

NEW DELHI (UNI): ICICI venture has bought 20 per cent stake in the Chennai-based Indusmedia Internet and Information Services for $ 1.3 million.

Indusmedia, which today announced the launch of portical having both horizontal and vertical flow of information, is also looking for strategic investors to raise $ 2.1 million, Chief Executive Officer Ramasubbu Venkatesh told mediapersons here. The strategic investors will be domestic ones as well as from the Silicon Valley.

The site, Jayahey.com, will cater to diverse sections of society, including businessmen, NRIs and tourists, Mr Venkatesh said.

Jayahey has a 50-50 split revenue model, focussing equally on the premium NRI as well as domestic markets.

Indusmedia Inc., USA, will handle the US and European operations.

The company is also planning to replicate its business models in Asia starting from China. 

UTI picks up 5.5 pc stake in Star yar portal

MUMBAI, (PTI): Unit Trust of India’s (UTI) Internet Fund has picked up 5.5 per cent stake in talent and entertainment portal Star yar kalakaar. com Ltd (SYK) for about Rs 2 crore.

“UTI’s offshore fund, based in Mauritius, has taken the stake at Rs 40 per share of Rs 10 face value”, portal’s chairman and CEO Amin Merchant told PTI here today.

The company issued fresh shares to the fund, taking its total share capital close to Rs 10 crore, he said.

Chatterjee and George Soras group company and Indian Capital Corporation Ltd, had picked up 3 per cent stake in the portal at Rs 30 per share in March, just before its launch on April 3, 2000, he added.

SYK was planning to raise another Rs 9 crore in the next couple of months from venture capital funds to set up ground infrastructure for its e-commerce auction site for antiques related to entertainment world, star memorabilia and other related items, Merchant said.

IT Bill for committee

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (PTI) — The Lok Sabha today decided to refer the Freedom of Information Bill to a Parliamentary Committee following a demand by the Opposition members that it be referred to a joint select committee or standing committee for thorough scrutiny.

The brief discussion saw Pawan Kumar Bansal (Cong.) saying though the objective of the Bill was laudable, it could remain a dead latter due to certain provisions. He, therefore demanded that it be referred to a joint select committee.

He was supported by Rupchand Pal and V. Radhakrishnan (both CPI-M) and P.H. Pandian (AIADMK) and K.P. Singhdea (Cong).

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Parmod Mahajan said the Government has no objection if there was consensus in the House for referring the Bill to a Parliamentary Committee.

BIZ BRIEFS

Webcom Tech
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 11 — Webcom Technologies, a Kapurthala-based IT company, has launched a free e-mail service called xtcmail. Any Internet user anywhere in the world can sign-up and use this free service to send and receive e-mail free for life. Xtcmail is a totally secure and exclusive e-mail service. It has its own power search menu wherein the user can search all major search engines simultaneously.

Franchising
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — A site dedicated to franchising, www.first franchising.com, has been launched in the country. The site aims to create a platform for interaction and information sharing between franchisors, franchisees and franchising service providers. In the USA over 45 per cent of all retail sales come through franchised business.

Centurian Bank
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — Centurian Bank has acquired 26 per cent stakes in teauction.com, the country’s largest B2B portal catering to tea industry. The site bring together the entire community of buyers, sellers, registered brokers, suppliers and associations and substitutes their physical presence at the auction.

IBM
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — The solution partnership centre of IBM India today announced that it will provide independent software developers with support in optimising Mircrosoft Windows 2000 and Linux based applications for their customers.

Blue Star MD
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — Mr Parmod Bhalla, a software professional, has joined Blue Star Infotech Limited as Managing Director. For the past one year, Mr Bhalla was CEO of the Indian operations of AN-NET Infotech Limited.

Zydus Cadila

The Medicines Control Council (MCC) of South Africa has approved the manufacturing plant of Zydus Cadila located at Moraiya. The state-of-the-art plant is spread over 1,36,000 square metres.

BOC India

BOC India’s contract division, which specialises in cryogenic engineering and turnkey projects, has turned in a good performance with turnover of Rs 239.4 million despite slowing down of the economy. The company has recently completed the restructuring of Rs 100 crore of the high cost debt with substantial reduction in interest rates.