Indian Organic Chemicals to sell silver extraction unit
Mumbai: Indian Organic Chemicals is selling its silver extraction business to Futura Polymers, a wholly-owned subsidiary. The company will seek shareholders' approval for the sale at its annual general meeting on 29 September.

"The move is being taken in order to optimise the returns from the project, which could not be managed successfully," the company said in a communication to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Indian Organic Chemicals had set up a 100 per cent export-oriented unit at the Manali complex of its Futura Synthetics division, to manufacture silver and PET flakes.
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Rosa Power ties up funds
Mumbai: The Rosa Power Supply Company is understood to have tied up Rs 1,400 crores of loans from financial institutions. The Rs 2,430 crore A.V. Birla group-PowerGen power project in Uttar Pradesh  has a debt of Rs 1,701 crore and equity of Rs 729 crore, The Economic Times said in a report.

Rosa Power obtained escrow cover from the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board in August and expects financial closure by mid-2000.
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Enron allowed to hire tanker
New Delhi: The government has allowed Enron Power Corporation to hire an LNG tanker at a chartering fee of $96,000 per day. The directorate general (shipping), as regulator of this sector, had earlier rejected Enron's proposal of a $98,600 per day charter fee as being very high.

Dabhol Power Corporation, which will use LNG for its power plant (it is currently using naphtha), has been given permission by the Reserve Bank of India for hiring the tanker from a foreign liner after the government withdrew its objection.
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Microsoft to have India portal
New Delhi: Microsoft India is setting up an India-specific portal website to demonstrate applications in e-commerce in the country. The website will showcase "biztalk technology" that is being developed by Microsoft. The technology is expected to help two business organisations with varied processes to interact with each other.

The company has also decided to develop products in the business-to-business e-commerce domain, and is expected to assist independent system vendors in India develop these products.
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Blue Star identifies core areas
Mumbai: Blue Star is planning to focus on its core business areas of air-conditioning, refrigeration and distribution of professional electronics equipment. As part of a restructuring programme, the company will hive of its software and other non-core businesses. No fresh bids will be made in the industrial projects division.

Ashok Advani, chairman and chief executive of the company, said these moves will result in substantial benefits in the long run.
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Sarovar Park plans entertainment plazas
Mumbai: Sarovar Park Plaza Hotels and Resorts is planning to enter the business of managing service apartments and providing consultancy services for entertainment plazas.

The company's first service apartments will be ready in the next six months and the entertainment plaza at Thane near Mumbai will be operational by early 2000, The Economic Times quoted Anil Madhok, managing director, Sarovar Park Plaza, as saying.

The company at present manages 12 hotels and resorts across the country. It will add 12 more hotels to its chain before October 2001.
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KPMG plans another subsidiary
New Delhi: KPMG International is setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary for providing consultancy services in various areas, including strategy, infrastructure and e-commerce. Its existing subsidiary in India provides management consultancy services in the fields of finance, environmental audit and information technology.

KPMG's proposal has been approved by the Foreign Investments Promotion Board.
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Bilt to acquire stake in Servall
New Delhi: Ballarpur Industries is finalising a deal to acquire 51 per cent stake in Servall Engineering Industry, a leading folding paperboard company. The stake will be acquired from the Tamil Nadu-based Ramaswamys.

Belgium's Mayr-Melnhof Karton has a 26 per cent stake in Servall and Germany's Jagenburg 10 per cent.
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Daewoo guarantee to FIs
Mumbai: Korea's ailing Daewoo Corporation has provided a corporate guarantee to Indian financial institutions for their exposure in Daewoo Motors India.

ICICI and Industrial Development Bank of India together have an exposure of around Rs 800 crore in Daewoo Motors India. A joint team of the two financial institutions have already met Daewoo officials in Korea.
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Portable oxygen plant from BOC
Calcutta: BOC India has launched a home oxygen plant. The 'oxygen concentrator', as the new product has been called, will make available medical oxygen at the customer's home. The portable and user-friendly machine is priced at Rs 60,000.

The company also intends to provide the machine on hire.
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Maruti, National Insurance float new scheme
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has tied up with the National Insurance Company to float a scheme of three-year warranty in the form of an insurance cover for buyers of Maruti cars, with no limit on mileage.

The existing Maruti scheme provides a one-year warranty with a cap of 20,000 km.
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Harrisons Malayalam, subsidiary to merge
Calcutta: Harrisons Malayalam, an RPG group company, has decided to merge its subsidiary Harrisons Aquaculture with itself.

The decision follows a move to bring in economies of scale, which will in turn encourage operational efficiencies and accelerate growth and expansion, the RPG group said. Harrisons Malayalam holds about 72.29 per cent of the share capital of Harrisons Aquaculture.
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Child safety service by DaimlerChrysler
Detroit: DaimlerChrysler has opened a child safety seat inspection service site in an effort to prevent child fatalities and injuries caused by car wrecks.

The "fit for a kid" programme is the first by an automaker that provides free fittings and inspections of child safety seats by appointment. The facility will be available only to DaimlerChrysler customers. The first unit has been opened in Minnesota in the US. There will be four more such units.
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Veba-Viag merger to involve revamp
Frankfurt: The merger of Viag and Veba will involve restructuring and shedding of units.

Der Spiegel magazine said the chief executives of both groups sketched out a merger plan in August to create a leaner and more focused group to make it Europe's No 1 listed energy provider and Germany's third largest industrial group. But, the magazine said, several subsidiary units of both entities will be put up on sale or floated separately on stock exchanges.
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Microsoft developing games console?
London: Microsoft is secretly developing a PC-based computer games console to compete in the market dominated by Sony, Sega and Nintendo, the Sunday Times reported.

Microsoft has officially denied  the existence of the set-top box for home computers, but the paper said the company has briefed a number of developers with details at a trade show in London. Microsoft is already involved in games development and has contributed to Sega's new Dreamcast console.
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Suzuki-GM to strengthen tie-up
Tokyo: Suzuki Motor Corporation said it will further extend its relations with General Motors by building sport utility vehicles at a GM plant in Argentina. General Motors owns 10 per cent of Suzuki, and the two had pledged to extend their partnership.

The new deal marks a first step in Suzuki's plans to export vehicles from Argentina to Brazil, which has a large market for cars.
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