Bangalore, December 27
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has entered into an agreement with global aircraft engine major Pratt & Whitney to manufacture engine components in Orissa.

The India aeronautical major would set up a Rs 100-crore plant at Koraput in the state and is expecting an annual business of $500 million in 10 years from this initiative.

HAL Chairman and Managing Director Ashok K. Baweja told a press conference here that "We will invest $20 million (Rs 100 crore) to set up the plant at Koraput," Mr Baweja said, adding that "we are expecting a business of $50 million initially and $500 million annually in 10 years".

"We are expecting a turnover of close to Rs 7,000 crore this year (2006-07), up from Rs 5,375 crore in the previous year," he said.

Mr Baweja said the public sector undertaking was trying to double its production capacity. The backlog was for 200 to 250 machines, he said and added that HAL would scale up production of advanced light helicopter Dhruv to around 35 per year.

HAL, along with its partners which are yet to be finalised, planned to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility for Airbus Industrie at HAL airport here once the Bangalore International Airport starts functioning by April, 2008.

According to him, HAL would soon start development of a 60-tonne class multi-role transport aircraft with Russian partners.

Company officials said HAL had launched a joint venture with Edgewood Ventures, LLC, USA, for development and manufacture of high-technology miniature modules for aerospace applications.

Speaking about the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Mr Baweja said the company had produced 17 machines this year and a new glass cockpit had been incorporated in the helicopters. He said the helicopter would be fitted with a more powerful engine next year to ensure better operational capability in high-altitude areas.He said the helicopter would be weapon-enabled in two years time.

Answering a query, he said the snag in the tail rotor of one of the helicopters which had occurred a year ago was because of problems in the adhesive used on the rotor. He said the adhesive had since been resourced and the entire production streamlined. Reacting to another query about the number of Sukoi 30 MK fighters inducted into the air force following production under a licensing agreement, he said Sukhoi aircraft were being delivered to the air force.

The HAL Chairman said the company had been enlisted for participation in the outsourcing programmes of renowned aerospace companies with orders being received from Bell Helicopter for supply of tail rotor blade assemblies, from Eurocopter for metallic and composite work packages and from Rolls Royce and Snecma for supply of rolled rings and forgings for civil aircraft engine programmes. 

Mumbai, December 27
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has stayed the SEBI order suspending Anil Ambani Group's brokerage firm, Reliance Shares and Stock Broking Private Ltd (RSSB), for violation of norms.

"If the operation of the order is not stayed during the pendency of the appeal, the period for which the certificate has been suspended will run out and no useful purpose will be served in hearing the appeal thereafter," Justice N.K. Sodhi of the tribunal said.

However, he added: "If the appeal were to fail, the period of suspension would operate fresh." RSSB had appealed in the tribunal against the SEBI order suspending its registration for four months with effect from January 1, 2007.

According to the SEBI order, the RSSB committed serious violations such as artificial pricing of trades, omission in mentioning relevant entries in contract notes, conversion of own trades to client trades, omission in mentioning of client ID for execution of trades, consolidation of client orders and unfair trade practices. — PTI 

Shimla, December 27
Aircel, one of the leading cellular operators in Chennai and North-East, today launched its GSM services in HP.

This will be the eighth circle across India where Aircel will be providing mobile services. "Aircel has obtained 14 new licences to roll out its GSM cellular services, besides getting a licence to provide international long-distance (ILD) and national long-distance (NLD) telephony services," said Mr Jagdish Kini, Group CEO, Aircel, while speaking at the launch ceremony.

He informed that Aircel's state-of-the-art and congestion-free network will cover more than 75 towns and over 500 km of state and national highways in the Himachal Pradesh circle.

Mr Rohit Chandra, CEO, North and East Zone, said more than 250 persons were associated with the activities of Aircel in the state. A world-class 24X7 soft switch/IP call centre will soon be made operational in Shimla.

Tokyo, December 27
Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. confirmed that Chairman Fujio Cho met with Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Alan Mulally in the wake of media reports of talks last week in Tokyo, a company spokeswoman said today.

Toyota spokeswoman Yasue Kato said Cho and Mulally "met and exchanged greetings," but refused to offer any further details, including when and where the talks took place. She added that Toyota "regularly holds meetings with other automakers when the opportunity presents itself."

The comments came in response to an overnight report on the Wall Street Journal's website and today morning edition of Japan's Nihon Keizai business daily that the two executives met last week. The meeting took place in Tokyo, the Nihon Keizai said.

The meeting was held at Ford's request, Kyodo News agency said today, citing an unidentified Toyota official. The talks appear to have focused on how the two companies can strengthen cooperation in environmental technology, Kyodo and the Nihon Keizai said.

The struggling US automaker has acknowledged that it lags behind rivals in offering the right mix of fuel-efficient models to consumers, who have been placing an increasing emphasis on fuel economy. Susan Cischke, a Ford Vice-President overseeing environmental and safety engineering, told reporters in Tokyo this October that the company sees ecological technology as crucial. — AP

New Delhi, December 27
The Indian economy may be expanding rapidly, but about one third of its rural population or over 200 million persons still live on less than Rs 12 per day.

The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report "Level and Pattern of Consumer Expenditure, 2004-05" released today also revealed that Orissa, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and UP remain the poorest states in the country in terms of the monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) of rural population.

"Compared with 30 per cent at the all-India level, in Orissa and Chattisgarh as many as 55-57 per cent of villagers were, in 2004-05, living below the MPCE level of Rs 365, which is Rs 12 a day," the NSSO report said, adding that 10 per cent of the all-India rural population was living at just Rs 9 per day.

In Madhya Pradesh, 47 per cent of the rural population is living on Rs 12 a day followed by Bihar and Jharkhand (46 pc), UP (33 pc), Karnataka (32 pc) and Maharashtra (30 pc).

Items of consumption defined by the study include clothing, footwear, education, medical care, durable goods and all other items like food, fuel, light, rents and taxes.

However, the urban poor appeared to be faring slightly better as 30 per cent of such people were found to be spending Rs 580 per month, that is Rs 19 a day. But 10 per cent of the urban population had to live at just Rs 13 a day in 2004-05.

In Bihar, as much as 55 pc of the urban population is living at Rs 19 per day, followed by Orissa (50 pc), UP and Chattisgarh (44 pc), MP (43 pc) and Rajasthan (36 pc). — PTI

New Delhi, December 27
Industry body Assocham today urged the government to adopt a cautious approach before domestic retail sector is opened up for overseas investments in India.

Reacting to reports on widening of retail window to FDI, especially in sports, stationery and electronics, the chamber has sought that the opening up of India’s retail sector be done in a calibrated manner, offering only 49 per cent equity to overseas retail giants, the ceiling of which could be enhanced to upper limit after a couple of years.

The Assocham has opposed 100 per cent foreign equity in the first instance, arguing that the domestic industry needs a minimum of 3 years for its consolidation before being prepared to take on global competition.

Assocham spokesman said the organised retail was still at a very nascent stage and forms only less than 5 per cent of the entire retail trade.

“If we liberally open up the retail sector now, the country will attract small sum of foreign investments compared to what we can attract a few years later. In a few years, the share of organised retail will be significantly higher and the country will be far more attractive and ripe to attract higher levels of FDIs’’, he said.

The chamber has reminded the government of China case which opened up its retail sector to FDI only after the domestic organised retail industry was large enough to face competition from the foreign players. 

New Delhi, December 27
As many as 74 per cent of the country’s top CEOs and CMDs feel that the growing Indian economy is not overheated and has the capacity to absorb 8 to 9 per cent growth for a long period, provided the supply side is managed well and domestic saving encouraged.

While inflation has remained an area of concern for the government and the policy-makers, it would be far- fetched to come to the conclusion of stating the economy was too much stretched, 74 per cent of them said.

However, 69 per cent of the CEOs and CMDs polled by the Asscham Business Barometer (ABB) survey said continuous caution was required so that macro-economic stability was maintained to support pick-up in investment and growth on a sustained basis.

The ABB did a quick survey of 280 CEOs and CMDs from different segments of the industry and financial market and posed them a question: Is the Indian economy overheated?

Over 88 per cent of the respondents said while in the short-term, the supply of primary products could be augmented by measures like reduction in customs duty, the answer lies in improving production of these essential commodities by giving a boost to agriculture.

While the overall growth in the first half of the current financial year has been 9.1 per cent, agriculture has remained subdued with average growth of 2.6 per cent in the last eight quarters.

As many as 21 per cent of the CEOs and CMDs did express fear of the economy getting overheated. They argued that besides the mounting problem of inflation , the mis-match between investment and savings could lead to the problem of overheating. They said it was critical that fiscal deficit was curbed so that the resources could be better utilised for augmenting production and supplies rather than the money going into non-productive and non-Plan expenditure.

An overwhelming response emerging from the survey was that the Indian economy was not growing beyond its potential . As many as 79 per cent of the CEOs said it would be wrong to state that the 8 to 9 per cent growth could be straining the country’s labour force and capital stock.

While 24 per cent of the respondents said the RBI measures to curb excess liquidity was a welcome move, the majority said the central bank should not do anything that could stunt growth. 

Kolkata, December 27
The UB Group said today it had earmarked $1 billion for overseas acquisitions. It did not deny plans for taking over Scottish whisky company Whyte & Mackey as part of its plans to boost global and domestic sales.

UB Group President & CFO Ravi Nedungadi said the group was looking at the acquisition of a spirit company ideally worth $1 billion and not below $0.5 billion.

"Due to the issue of confidentiality, I cannot either confirm or deny the news of Whyte and Mackey takeover," he said when asked about the proposed takeover of the Scottish company.

If the deal comes through, it would be the second largest acquisition of European business after the Corus takeover by the Tatas (if the latter succeeds in counter-bidding with CSN).

He was in the city to attend the AGM of United Spirits, a subsidiary of Shaw Wallace & Company Ltd that will be merged in due course with the parent company, sources said.

However, Mr the Nedungadi clearly indicated that news about acquisition of a Scotland- based whisky company was strongly on the cards in 2007.

"We need to have scotch whisky in our portfolio as more and more Indians have started switching to the premium segment," Mr Nedungadi said.

Whyte & Mackey will be a right blend for the UB group as the company commands 9 per cent worldwide market share and has a large stock of aged single malt whisky, which is also witnessing a growing demand in certain developed markets.

"We are in talks with Australian, South African wine companies to import a range of premium wine. Moreover, we are implementing French technology in wine grape growing in the western part of the country," Mr Nedungadi said.

Meanwhile, the UB Group will set up a large and modern state-of-the-art grain-based distillery in West Bengal.

"We are looking at manufacturing facilities across the country and a distillery in Bengal is on the radar. Beside, investment in aviation has also been lined up here," Mr Nedungadi said. — PTI 

New Delhi, December 27
Zee's cable distribution arm, Wire and Wireless India Ltd (WWIL), said today it would invest about Rs 800-900 crore to provide digital cable services. The company, which recently demerged from Zee Telefilms, is one of India's largest multi-system operators (MSO) with a viewer base of 6.7 million and presence in 35 cities. The services of WWIL would be gradually expanded to provide triple play - voice, video and data. The company, which today launched CAS services under 'GalxZee' tag, plans to invest Rs 800-900 crore in a few years, company officials said.— PTI