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ADAG questions DGH on gas field cost validation
Infosys plans buyouts; looking at $450-500 m deal
BSNL gears up to start MNP service
TRAI seeks to stop issuing new licences
Re stronger by 22 paise
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Kajol to endorse Yakult
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Maruti exports to cross 1 lakh units
Microsoft to hire 400 Yahoo! staff
L&T seeks nod to sell Satyam stake
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ADAG questions DGH on gas field cost validation
Mumbai, August 5 Reliance Power CEO J P Chalsani, at a press conference called here, said that Mustang Engineering, which had been appointed by DGH to validate the cost, has been advising RIL on various projects. RIL's capital expenditure for development of Dhirubhai 1 and 3 gas fields in the KG-D6 block had increased from $2.47 billion proposed in 2004 to $8.8 billion in 2006 while production only doubled to 80 million standard cubic meters per day, he said, adding that when production doubles the cost does not double factoring the economics of scale. DGH had yesterday said that the increase in D6 capital expenditure was warranted as production facilities were increased from 40 mmscmd to 120 mmscmd and field life was increased from 9 years to 13 years. The government, Chalsani said, because of inflated capex stands to lose Rs 30,000 crore revenue as RIL is entitled to recover the entire cost before sharing revenues with the government. Chalsani also questioned the role of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), saying DGH according to Petroleum Ministry was only an advisory body. DGH had said the increase in capex was also partially due to inflationary trend in the E&P equipment and service industry. DGH Director-General V K Sibal had pointed to a Goldman Sachs Report on Global Finding and Development Costs of 2008 which states that "out of 32 deep water projects developed in the world, D6 ranks amongst the lowest in terms of costs and amongst the fastest in terms of time from discovery to production." Sibal said Mustang Engineering was hired through an international bid. Besides Mustang, P Gopalakrishnan, an upstream expert, had independently validated the cost. — PTI
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Infosys plans buyouts; looking at $450-500 m deal
Kolkata, August 5 The acquisition will help India's second largest software exporter to diversify client base, especially at a time when growth has been flat from traditional revenue streams like banking, financial services and insurance sector, besides retail and manufacturing. Infosys is looking at companies serving sectors such as energy and health care, company CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan told reporters at the ICT East-2009 event organised by CII. The geographies the company is looking at also includes the Middle-East and Japan, he added. Europe currently contributes 26 per cent of Infosys' revenue and the company is targeting this to go up to 30 per cent, but Gopalakrishnan did not say by when it would happen. The rest of the world accounts for 10 per cent of the revenue and this, he said, is expected to rise to 20-30 per cent. Besides, the software maker is hoping to tap the services market in India. Indian operations contribute just two per cent of the revenue and that too mostly from 'finacle' - the company's over-decade-old banking product. Infosys posted a 17.3 per cent rise in first quarter net profit, beating market expectations. To go slow on WB expansion
Infosys Technologies today said it would wait for revival in the economy before going ahead with its expansion plans in West Bengal. "We need to wait as the situation is not clear," Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan said on the sidelines of a CII organised function ICT East. West Bengal IT minister Debesh Das had earlier said the government would be ready to offer land to Infosys and Wipro by December. The state government had signed MoU with Infosys and Wipro for 90 acre each for expansion. Wipro, which has a large existing operation in Kolkata in BPO and IT services, was non-committal on whether it would go ahead with the land if offered by the state by December under current market conditions. Gopalakrishnan said though the company was committed to the project in the long term, it would wait till the economy recovers. Wipro executive director and CFO Suresh Senapaty said the company would remain committed without firm statement on land, if offered by December. The ICICI group had sought land from the state government, besides ITC, Infotech and several other companies, the IT minister said.
—PTI |
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BSNL gears up to start MNP service
New Delhi, August 5 Even as the implementation of MNP is likely to be delayed from the scheduled date of September 20, the PSU, which hopes to attract substantial number of users from the rivals like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, has called for expression of interest for MNP gateway. A company official said the MNP gateway would integrate BSNL subscribers data system with the Clearing House appointed by the government (Synverse or Telecordia). BSNL has lost number two GSM operator position to Vodafane Essar due to delay in network expansions. Complaints of poor service has also hit the PSU's efforts to garner more users. In July, BSNL subscriber base stood at 4.9 crore against Bharti's 10.23 crore and Vodafone's 7.64 crore. MNP service allows subscribers retain their mobile number when they switch from one service provider to another or from one technology to another of the same service provider. The Telecom Department had notified September 20 as the date of implementation for MNP service. Later, Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura said MNP will come by the year-end as the regulations are being prepared. Syniverse Technologies and MNP Interconnection have been selected by DoT to carry out the MNP exercise. — PTI
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TRAI seeks to stop issuing new licences
New Delhi, August 5 In a letter in response to the suggestion sought by the government on the issue of review on no capping on the number of access service provider, the TRAI has asked the DoT to "keep in abeyance" the grant of new 2G licences till the watchdog finalises its recommendations. It said the regulator was undertaking a comprehensive exercise on the issue and the government should wait till such time. "Sufficient competition seems to be already in place and spectrum is a scarce resource," the government had said in a letter to the regulator recently. It had also sought the view of TRAI as it noted that for licensees to be able to expand their services and maintain the quality of service, adequate quantity of spectrum should be available for the existing service providers. India has issued 281 licences for the country's 22 telecom zones, or up to 14 licensees per zone. These include 122 licences from 575 applications received in 2007 from 46 firms, including real-estate and technology firms with no telecom experience. At present, the total number of licensees in a service area ranges from 12 to 14 and the total number of pending applications in a service area ranges from 13 to 19. TRAI felt that the issues raised by the government in the letter dated July 22 were interlinked with the committee’s report of May which was also being deliberated. As such the government should wait till the TRAI comes out with consolidated recommendations covering all issues following due consultation process. The government had also sought the watchdog's views on auctioning spectrum for 2G mobile standard, instead of the current practice of giving licencees entitlement for spectrum.
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Re stronger by 22 paise
Mumbai, August 5 |
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Maruti exports to cross 1 lakh units
New Delhi, August 5 Releasing the company’s annual report, MSIL chairman R C Bhargava said,
"Maruti cars are exported to over 100 countries and the volume of exports is likely to cross one lakh units in 2009-10". MSIL exported 70,023 units in the 2008-09. Exports of small cars would be one of the major elements in the company's future growth strategy, he added. "From a company which was started to produce one lakh cars a year, we have reached a production rate of 10 lakh cars a year," Bhargava said, adding that the company has a market share of over 55 per cent in the cars and vans segment. It is expecting a rise in exports on the back of growing demand for its small car A-Star, which was launched in November last year. The company has exported over 50,000 units of the small car to various European countries. He said the company did not have any idle capacity and did not lay off any of its employees during the last fiscal, when the domestic auto market was going through a demand slump. |
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Microsoft to hire 400 Yahoo! staff
New York, August 5 "Microsoft will hire not less than 400 Yahoo! employees (the 'transferred employees') and will offer the Transferred Employees market competitive compensation packages," Yahoo! said in a regulatory filing yesterday. The internet major noted that both companies would mutually agree on a retention plan which would be taken care of by Microsoft, for the transferred employees. Further, upon mutual agreement, Microsoft would use another 150 employees of Yahoo! to assist with providing the transition services, the filing said. Microsoft and Yahoo! last month announced a partnership which will bring the companies together in the search arena and sales activities related to search advertising. Both companies would enter into a 10-year agreement for the proposed partnership and Yahoo! would be paid 88 per cent of the search advertising revenues generated in the first five years of the alliance.
— PTI |
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L&T seeks nod to sell Satyam stake
Bangalore, August 5 L&T, which operates in industries as diverse as engineering, shipbuilding and software, has sought the permission as an "enabling arrangement" and has not set a timeframe for selling its holding, the spokesman said on Wednesday. Mumbai-based L&T had built up a 12 per cent stake in Mahindra Satyam, earlier known as Satyam Computer Services Ltd, before the sale of the company, which was rattled by India's biggest corporate fraud. Based on the expanded share capital after Satyam's takeover, L&T's stake in the company is at 6.9 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters data. At the current Satyam share price, the holding is worth nearly 9 billion rupees ($190 million).
— Reuters |
Uttam Galva hikes steel prices TimesofMoney, Citibank in pact for remittance corridor SBI to hire 11,000 clerks
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