New Delhi, February 16
Top Indian company Tata Sons and leading Italian helicopter company AgustaWestland on Tuesday signed an agreement for formation of a joint venture company which will establish a final assembly line for AW-119 helicopters for the Indian and global market.

The agreement was signed in the Capital by Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and AgustaWestland CEO Giuseppe Orsi.

The AW-119 has been offered to India by AgustaWestland for replacing ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak light helicopter fleet of the Indian Armed Forces. The Indian Army currently has around 300 Chetak and Cheetah in its chopper fleet and is looking at modernisation of the fleet with AW-119 helicopters.

The joint venture company will be a supplier for the current Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter (RSH) programme of the Indian Armed Forces, for which AgustaWestland has already proposed the AW119 to be manufactured in India.

As per the agreement, the joint venture company will be responsible for AW119 final assembly, completion and delivery while AgustaWestland will retain responsibility for worldwide marketing and sales. The first aircraft is scheduled to be delivered from the new facility in 2011 with production forecast to rise to 30 aircraft per year to meet worldwide demand.

Orsi said establishment of AW-119 assembly line in India would provide extraordinary industrial opportunities both in the country and worldwide through synergies generated by AgustaWestland and Tata Sons. He added the two companies were exploring further commercial, technical and industrial collaboration opportunities in the rotor craft industry to strengthen its strategic relationship.

AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, offers helicopters, training and support solutions to satisfy the requirements of civil and military customers. Its primary operations are in Italy, the UK and the USA.

Tata companies operate in seven business sectors: Communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was around Rs 325-334 crore in 2008-09, with 64.7 per cent of this coming from business outside India. There are 28 publicly listed Tata enterprises and they have a combined market capitalisation of some $60 billion, and a shareholder base of 3.5 million.

Hyderabad, February 16
The Hyderabad international airport has been adjudged as the best airport among the 5 to 15 million passenger capacity airports in the world.

The Airports Council International (ACI), the definitive authority of the world's airports, made the announcement today based on the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey.

Apart from securing first rank in the 5 to 15 million passenger capacity airports, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here stood fifth among all categories of airports in the world.

The unique achievement comes less than two years of the green field airport, developed by GMR Group, commencing the operations.

The awards will be formally presented on May 13 at the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Conference and Exhibition to be held in Hainan, China, the chairman of GMR Group GM Rao told reporters here.

“Under the terms of the concession agreement, GMR RGIA was mandated to achieve a score of 3.5 on a 5 point scale within 3 years of operation.

Against this, for the first time in the Indian aviation history, we have bagged the title of the best airport in the world in the 5-15 million passenger category, averaging a rating of 4.44 against the mandated 3.5,” he said.

“This is an exciting and joyous development for the entire group and I am delighted to know that the Hyderabad airport has achieved this wonderful landmark within such a short time,” the chairman said.

The Airports Council International (ACI) is an autonomous and independent body that undertakes the ASQ Survey capturing the passengers’ immediate perception of the quality of more than 34 aspects of service that they have experienced at the airport from check-in through to departure at the gate. 

Chandigarh, February 16
Next time, you make a call to your cell operators’ customer care number, and are made to wait endlessly for the executive at the other end to answer your query, don’t hang on, thinking it to be a toll free call. At least two of the cellular operators in the region, Idea Cellular and Vodafone, have now started billing their customers for calling on their customer care number.

It is learnt that both Idea Cellular and Vodafone have begun charging its customers at the rate of Rs 0.50 per three minute, for making calls on its customer care numbers (98140-12345 and 111 respectively). These charges are being levied for the past one week. Interestingly, subscribers of both cellular operators claim that they have not been informed about the calls now being charged. While Idea has 30.81 lakh subscribers in the Punjab circle, Vodafone has 29.23 lakh customers in this circle.

Officials in the customer care centre of the two companies contended that the customers had not been informed, but said the information was being provided to all those people who had called on the ‘helpline’ number. They also said those subscribers having a corporate connection were not being charged for calls to customer care service.

Though the other cellular operators in the Punjab circle- Airtel, Tata Telecom, Reliance and BSNL have not yet started charging their customers for this service, sources say that at least two of the companies are mulling imposing a minimal charge to customers.

When contacted, executives at the Idea Cellular service informed TNS that though calls to the customer care number - 98140-12345, were now charged, they had introduced another toll free service, which could be availed by dialing 198. However, customers can only register their complaints on this number. They cannot know about their bill, tariff or any other issue related to the cellular service.

Taking up the issue on behalf of the customers, Randhir Verma, president of Chandigarh and Punjab Telecom Subscribers Association, said he would write to TRAI against these companies. 

Chandigarh, February 16
Ambala-born Ravi Jain is an institution in himself. A combination of an IIT from Delhi and IIM from Ahmedabad, he has after 34 years in Alco brew business, taken upon himself the onerous task of bringing India on the world wine map.

“Though it takes time for quality wine to evolve yet the country is ready with good quality table wines,” he says, revealing, “Wine industry has been witnessing a whopping 30 per cent annual growth.”

“I agree that wine industry is only a small or insignificant component of whisky-beer-wine industry with an annual turnover of 1.2 million cases of which 2 lakh cases are of imported wine. People with taste and money have been taking to wine in a big way as it is fast becoming a lifestyle product,” says Ravi, who in 2006, launched Vallee de Vin that produces seven different variants of premium wine brand, Zampa. He was here today to launch his wine in Chandigarh and its peripheral areas.

“Wine is my passion. I have a vision and want to promote wine tourism. After a hectic search, we decided to make Nashik our home. Our vineyard is preserved and maintained by the world-renowned Australian viticulturist Simon Robertson. A global expert, Nick Van Arde, supervises bringing the latest international practices and techniques, including all machinery from Italy, the entire process of wine making.”

Those in wine making say Nashik has a “favourable terroir” as it has good soil, adequate rainfall, suitable temperature and sufficient sunshine for vineyards.

Ravi Jain and his group have invested Rs 25 crore in the project so far, turning out 3,50,000 litres of wine annually. By next year, they want to raise the capacity by another 1 lakh litres.

Ravi Jain’s company bought a hillock in Nashik for its vineyard and opted for slopes and terracing for growing grapes. A cool room has been installed at the winery that ensures that grapes are cooled and maintained at 16 degrees Celsius, ideal for creating aromatic and flavoured wines. Whole-bunch processing has been implemented which helps to preserve the freshness of the fruit and maintain the softness of the wine. The company has also introduced vertical shoot positioning system that allows the wines optimal sunlight interception and help the grapes to achieve desired ripeness.

He also wants the state governments to encourage wine by rationalising licence fee for its storage and sale.

Chandigarh, February 16
Jaypee Group is in an expansion mode. Be it is hydro power generation business, cement manufacturing or infrastructure, the company is looking at massive expansion so as to clog a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore this fiscal.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Rahul Kumar, director, finance, Jaypee Group, said the company was planning to raise its cement manufacturing capacity from the present 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 33.5 MTPA by 2012. The group is also looking to produce 14,000 mega watt of hydro and thermal power in the next three years.

He also said the company was planning to raise the capacity of its cement plant at Solan in Himachal Pradesh by 2.5 MTPA, with an investment of Rs 1,250 crore. “Presently, we have two plants here, with a total capacity of 4 MTPA. These plants have been set up with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore,” he said.

“We are also taking up several new projects in infrastructure development. While work on the 165-km Yamuna Expressway is on, we have also bagged the contract for constructing the 1,047-km long Ganga Expressway, connecting western Uttar Pradesh to easter Uttar Pradesh,” said Sameer Gaur, director, JP Infratech. He added that the Jaypee Group was also constructing the Zirakpur-Parwanoo highway, through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) - Himalayan Expressway Limited.

Kumar said the company was also planning to come up with an Initial Public Offer (IPO), and proposed to raise Rs 1,650 crore. “We have already filed a draft red herring prospectus with SEBI for selling six crore shares. The IPO is likely to be launched in March,” he said. 

BRIEFLY

Oil above $75
London: World oil prices shot above $75 on Tuesday as the dollar fell and the market tracked the outlook for crude demand. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was up $1.23 at $75.36 a barrel at 1200 GMT (1730 IST). Brent North Sea crude for April delivery gained $1.49 to $74 a barrel. — AFP

Rupee nears 2-week high
Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday rose by 11 paise to close at nearly two-week high of 46.21/22 against the US dollar on sustained dollar selling by exporters amid firm trend in equity markets. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit moved in a range of 46.1375 and 46.28 before concluding the day at 46.21/22 a dollar. — PTI

Tata Motors Group CEO
New Delhi: Auto major Tata Motors on Monday said it appointed Carl-Peter Forster as the new group chief executive of the company. The 55-year-old Forster will have the overall responsibility of Tata Motors' operations globally, including the British marquees Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR), the company said. — PTI

L&T ties up with Raytheon
New Delhi: Engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) on Tuesday said it has tied up with US-based defence major Raytheon to bid for the upgradation of T72 tanks used by the Indian army. "Under the proposal, Raytheon will provide infrared imaging sights and electronics that will greatly improve target accuracy and increase overall system lethality on the battlefield for T72 tank battalions," L&T said. — PTI

Hiring activity picks up
New Delhi: Starting the new year on an optimistic note, India Inc's hiring activity increased four per cent in January reflecting a continued momentum in recovery, a study by leading job portal Naukri.com said. Naukri.com's monthly Job Speak index rose to 743 in January, indicating that hiring had accelerated by four per cent compared to December 2009.— PTI

EADS centre in Bangalore
New Delhi: European military consortium EADS Defence and Security on Tuesday said it would open a research and development centre in Bangalore within two years that will provide employment to 200 Indian engineers. — PTI