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GAIL, NTPC to begin Dabhol takeover process soon
Hyundai blinks, but Maruti not satisfied
Anil’s security to be strengthened
FIIs bid over $ 1 b for RCL equity
Hero Honda unveils Glamour
Few takers for agri-clinic concept
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GE Energy targets $1 b revenue in India
India-centric search engine launched
Buoyant Sensex makes units in North ‘upbeat’
Delegation from SE Asia meets CM
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GAIL, NTPC to begin Dabhol takeover process soon
New Delhi, June 23 “In a week to 10 days, this company will be registered,” Chairman and Managing Director of GAIL Proshanto Banerjee told newspersons here. While Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) will hold 15 per cent stake in the proposed SPV, the remaining equity will be equally shared among GAIL, NTPC and institutional lenders. “The Special Purpose Vehicle will participate in the debt recovery tribunal (DRT) process of transfer of assets, secure the assets, complete residual work on the project and sourcing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to fire the project,” the GAIL CMD said. The idea is to move the Debt Recovery Tribunal for taking over the 740 MW completed Phase-I of the power plant and the nearly complete 1,444 MW Phase-II and the adjacent liquefied natural gas (LNG) receipt and regassification terminal by the SPV. After deciding on the liability of DPC, the DRT will in the next 3 to 4 months transfer the company’s assets to any firm or a consortium willing to take over the company with the pre-decided liabilities and repayment schedule. “The Special Purpose Vehicle will participate in the DRT process of transfer of assets, secure the assets, complete residual work on the project and sourcing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to fire the project,” Mr Banerjee said. GAIL will complete the LNG terminal and NTPC will operate the plant, he said. GAIL is looking at sourcing 2 million tonnes of LNG for restarting the plant and an additional 3 million tonnes for sale to other customers to make the LNG sourcing business economically viable. Mr Banerjee said two sets of consultants have been appointed to value the assets and the amount of money required to complete the unfinished part of the project and restart the plant in the second half of 2006. GAIL, whose profit after tax during 2004-05 was up by 5 pc to Rs 1,954 crore from Rs 1,869 crore, is talking to suppliers in Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Yemen, Australia, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi and Nigeria for sourcing of LNG. “The preliminary discussions we have had (with LNG suppliers) have indicated availability of gas in second half of 2006 and mid 2007,” he said. “We are looking at a power cost of Rs 2.30 per unit,” he said.
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Hyundai blinks, but Maruti not satisfied
New Delhi, June 23 Maruti, which had charged Hyundai with engaging in a “false misleading and deceptive” campaign against its latest model in India - Swift - was, however, not satisfied by Hyundai’s response and would shortly announce its next course of action.
— PTI
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Anil’s security to be strengthened
New Delhi, June 23 Anil, who met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil yesterday at his residence, is understood to have discussed the issue with him, official sources said. A Rajya Sabha member, Anil had claimed that he had been receiving threatening calls and had earlier also demanded security. He is also understood to have broadly explained him about the settlement reached at the Reliance empire with his elder brother, Mukesh. Anil flew in from Mumbai yesterday and had meetings with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. Meanwhile, security agencies have been asked to prepare a perception of threat to Mr Anil Ambani and also seek a report from the Mumbai police. Anil had written to the government earlier in which he had claimed he had been receiving threatening calls and requested for necessary action. He already has a round-the-clock personal security officer with automatic weapons which falls in “X” category. — PTI
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FIIs bid over $ 1 b for RCL equity
New Delhi, June 23 Market sources said RCL had received bids for $ 1 billion from its preference issue, which closes tonight. A Reliance Capital spokesperson, however, declined to comment about the bid. The preferential offering was made by Anil a day after the announcement of the settlement of ownership issues with elder brother Mukesh Ambani. Anil had also committed Rs 2,000 crore from his personal kitty to Reliance Capital, which comprises mutual funds and general insurance businesses. Reliance Capital’s shares today touched an all-time high of over Rs 308 a share in Bombay Stock Exchange and the market capitalisation inched towards Rs 4,000 crore. On June 19, the RCL board had agreed to issue six crore preference shares of the company to Anil and AEPL, owned by him, at Rs 228 per share totalling Rs 1,368 cr. — PTI
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Hero Honda unveils Glamour
Chennai, June 23 Glamour, which is fitted with a new engine developed by its Japanese partner, Honda, for Indian conditions, is targeting sales in the region of 35,000-40,000 units, Hero Honda Chairman Brijmohan Lall and Atul Sobti, Executive Director (Business Operations), told reporters after launching the bike, priced around Rs 45,000. Mr Lall said capacity was constraining the company’s growth and it would soon take the final decision on its third plant. Hero Honda produces three million bikes annually from its plants at Gurgaon and Dharuhera in Haryana. Asked whether the new plant would be located in south India, Mr Sobti said south India was its biggest market with 25 per cent of the company’s business coming from the region. He hinted that the new plant might be located in this region. Mumbai: Auto Hangar, a leading dealer for luxury segment Mercedes-Benz cars, on Thursday unveiled the latest range of its branded bicycles priced in the range of Rs 74,958 to Rs 1,56,746. “These bicycles were just launched in March at Germany. We at Auto Hangar strive to bring in every new car model and
accessory that Mercedes Benz has to offer,” said its Managing Director Mohan Mariwala. Mr Mariwala said the high-end ‘Automatic Bike’ priced at Rs 1,56,746 come equipped with a central onboard computer, which combined the parameters of pedal down-stroke frequency and speed to select the optimum settings. Mr Mariwala claimed that ‘Mountain Bike’ — priced at Rs 112,655 — was an out-and-out eye-catcher, coming fitted with the new Shimano Deore dual control gears where the brake levers can also be used to change gears. The ‘Fitness Bike’, priced at Rs 74,958 envisages a combination of sensational design and high-quality fittings. It features a light weight diamond frame with robust geometry, fast 28 inch wheels, a highly geared 27-speed gearshift system and powerful hydraulic disk
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Few takers for agri-clinic concept
Ludhiana, June 23 Against the target of financing 170 agri-clinics, banks in Punjab were able to finance only 15 till March 31. The bank attributed this performance, which is only 8.82 per cent of the target, to the lukewarm response from young agriculture graduates in the state. The banks say these graduates prefer routine jobs and other lucrative business options. This is making attaining targets for banks
difficult. The concept of agri-clinics was mooted with a view to generate self-employment and provide expert advice to farmers . Banks are providing easy loans for this purpose. Now that banks have fallen grossly short on the target, Punjab National Bank (PNB) and State Bank of Patiala, have initiated various measures towards popularising the concept of agri-clinics and agri-business centres.
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GE Energy targets $1 b revenue in India
New Delhi, June 23 GE Energy is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technology, with 2004 revenue of $ 17.3 billion. “We expect India to contribute $ 1 billion in revenue by 2010,” he said. “Our current focus is primarily on the gas turbine and services businesses. We are partnering with BHEL to provide technology support and customer training for GE technology heavy-duty gas turbines and we are extending our support to NTPC in their new projects. “We also see tremendous potential in emerging areas such as wind energy, nuclear energy, hydro energy and oil and gas,” he added. On the last leg of his two-day visit to India, Mr Rice reaffirmed GE’s commitment to provide support for the restart of the Dabhol Power Project. GE Energy is already working with a team from NTPC and BHEL to determine a course of action for restarting and completing the Dabhol Power Project. “It is our view that a fully producing Dabhol plant is in the best interests of the people and we are eager to assist in whatever way we can.” — UNI
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IT round up
New Delhi, June 23 “This is one of the most comprehensive search engines for India. Many searches are local sensitive and using a regional search engine makes it much easier to find the relevant information,” Terrawiz Founder and IIT Delhi alumnus Anurag Dod said. Terrawiz’s intelligent crawler automatically identifies and classifies the web content, indexing only India related information and ignoring other content. By having an India-centric database, the relevance of the results are far better. The engine is equally useful for Indians living abroad for finding Indian information in their local area. Like searching for “restaurants in London” gives Indian restaurants in London, Mr Dod said. Sun partners with eSys
Spreading its enterprise network to tier two and tier three cities in India, Sun Microsystems today announced its partnership with fastest growing IT distributor eSys Information Technology India. Sun Microsystems India Managing Director Bhaskar Pramanik told newspersons here that the potential market for enterprise was larger than the IDC projections and the alliance had been struck to reach out to the potential. Cities such as Guwahati and Bhubaneswar had untapped potential, which would be addressed by eSys along with its host of retail sellers, he added.
Outsourcing to Infosys
Wachovia Corp, one of the top banks in the US, will outsource technology work to Infosys in a move that will reduce costs but also cut an undisclosed number of American jobs, the company told its employees. North Carolina-based Wachovia has narrowed its list of potential offshoring partners to India-based Infosys and US-based IBM Corp and Cognizant, a spokeswoman Christy Phillips told employees in conference calls yesterday.
Largest IT hub
In an important decision, West Bengal Cabinet today formally approved the setting up of India’s largest IT hub in 500 acres of land near the city airport within the next two years. Announcing this state’s IT and Environment Minister Manabendra Mukherjee said the proposed hub, second in the state after the one built on nearly 20 acres of land in Salt Lake area about three years ago, would have all facilities of becoming a most modern IT hub not only in India but in the whole south east Asia.
Kanika Infotech pact
Kanika Infotech Ltd is planning to enter into a joint venture with Hong Kong-based Century Communication for on-site development and application of telecommunication software. The joint venture is at the final stage and the company would be opening a branch office in Hong Kong, Kanika Infotech informed the Bombay Stock Exchange here today.— Agencies
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Buoyant Sensex makes units in North ‘upbeat’
New Delhi, June 23 The survey was conducted by the PHDCCI on 150 of its member companies in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP and Delhi. Eighty per cent of those surveyed were confident that they would emerge as major gainers from the recent surge in Sensex, the 30-share sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, both directly — due to easy availability of funds — as well as indirectly, in terms of improved credibility and image of companies over the next six months. The survey said the buoyancy in the market was a result of several factors coming together, all of which have been favourably impacting earnings. However, corporates in north India rank strong economic fundamentals and improved corporate earnings as the prime factor for the recent boom in the stock market.
— PTI
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Delegation from SE Asia meets CM
Chandigarh, June 23
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