IDBI holds back loan for Reliance
New Delhi: Differences between Oil India Ltd and Reliance Industries have led to the Industrial Development Bank of India holding back a loan of Rs 1,000 crore to Reliance for its gas cracker project in Assam, according to The Economic Times. The differences relate to gas supplies to the project and monetary underwriting commitments to the total capital cost of the project.

Oil India is understood to be not in favour of a 15-year commitment for gas supply. Reliance Industries has reportedly admitted that IDBI has written to it about the decision to hold back the finances but says talks are going on.
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Subhash Chandra bids for ICO
Mumbai: Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra is understood to have made a bid to acquire a majority stake in the ailing ICO Global Communications. Mr Chandra’s bid is said to be better than the offer from Craig McCaw of the US-based Teledisc. "McCaw has offered $1.2 billion for an 80 per cent stake, while Mr Chandra has offered the same amount for a 74 per cent stake," a Zee spokesman said.

The $4.6 billion ICO entered bankruptcy proceedings in the US in August 1999. The company needs about $1.5 billion to put satellites into orbit and begin operations. ICO has failed to convince investors to put in additional money.
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WorlTel plan cleared
New Delhi: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has  permitted WorldTel to set up a holding company to fund, among other things, a backbone for a fibre optic cable-based network for Internet services in India. The total project cost will be in the range of Rs 2,000 crore.

The FIPB had earlier kept the proposal pending because it had felt that it lacked clarity and did not meet foreign direct investment norms. WorldTel had submitted an application seeking approval for a joint venture with Alcot, in which it would have a 75 per cent holding, with the balance being held by an Indian partner. The venture was to fund other projects and hence would have acted as a holding company. The equity pattern did not conform to the guidelines for a holding company.

WorldTel altered its application to meet the norms.
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Monsanto’s Equal brands in India
New Delhi: Monsanto is introducing its global diabetic food brand Equal, powdered soft drink brand Flix and the Canderel brand of diet chocolates, jams and jellies in India. The company has an 80 per cent market share of diabetic and diet foods sector worldwide through its Equal and Canderel brands. These are based on alternate sweetener aspertame, developed by the food and biotechnology major some 20 years ago. The company will introduce 'Spoonful', a medically-prescribed alternative sweetener, which is part of the Equal brand.

Monsanto said it is also entering the Indian retail edible oil market with branded rice bran oil.
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FIs to hike stake in Jindal Vijayanagar Steel
Mumbai: Financial institutions with equity stakes in Jindal Vijaynagar Steel want to increase their total equity in the company to 33.6 per cent from the present 8 per cent. The institutions are expected to hike their stake in the Rs5,215-crore company by subscribing to the Rs632-crore preference share issue.

The shares are being issued to the institutions in lieu of the interest dues of the same amount. After the issue, the promoters’ stake in the company will decrease to 41.38 per cent from the present 57.65 per cent.
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Enron plans telecom foray in India
Mumbai: The Enron group is planning to enter the telecommunications sector in India. An affiliate of Enron Corporation, Enron Communications, plans to set up a joint venture in India to become a leading provider of high capacity broadband data networks, mega data centres and broadband applications, according to The Economic Times.

Enron’s chief executive officer and managing director for South Asia, Sanjay Bhatnagar, confirmed the $31 billion energy major’s plans telecommunications plans, but did not give out details. Enron has a network comprising 32,000 km of fibre-optic lines in the US. Mr Bhatnagar said the India plans include next generation broadband network incorporating both terrestrial components like fibre-optic cable and space segments like satellites.

The network and services are likely to be in place in six to eight months, and bandwidth trading will take a year or two.
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US company to take over Orissa Drugs
New Delhi: UAS Laboratories of the US is taking over Orissa Drugs and Chemicals, a state public sector company, by acquiring all of its shares owned by the central public sector Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd, and the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (Ipicol). IDPL owns 49.7 per cent of Orissa Drugs, and Ipicol 50.3 per cent stake. The American acquirer will pay a price of one rupee per share.

The scheme has the approval of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. UAS Laboratories will invest Rs 7.99 crore in the ailing company in three years.
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ETH Dishnet service in Mumbai
Mumbai: ETH Dishnet has launched its advanced Internet services, Digital Subscriber Line, in Mumbai. The service uses a combination of latest telecommunication and information technology to provide speeds up to 1.5 mbps. The company is also introducing internet-based gaming services. The company’s network operations centre is located at the Mumbai Education Trust.
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Microsoft launches new web device
Las Vegas: Microsoft Corporation has unveiled an appliance it calls the MSN-based Web Companion. The company says the device enables subscribers to connect instantly to the Internet, using the MSN Internet service.

Launching the textbook-sized device that runs on Windows CE software at the Comdex computer trade show, Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said that this was a a new class of devices that will be a "key component of Microsoft’s overall web strategy". The device is expected to be in the market in the second half of 2000, and will be made by companies like Acer, Philips Electronics and Vestal USA. It is expected to cost around $200.
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Mannesmann rejects Vodafone offer
London: Mannesmann of Germany says it has rejected the unsolicited $106 billion bid by Vodafone AirTouch. The company said it has turned down the all-paper share exchange offer because it is financially unattractive and strategically undesirable. The rejection raises the prospect of one of the biggest hostile takeovers in the world's corporate history.

Analysts, however, expect Vodafone to come back with a more attractive offer. They say the British mobile phone company can afford a higher price for the German telecommunications and engineering company. The Vodafone bid was triggered by Mannesmann’s foray into British territory with an offer to acquire Vodafone rival Orange for $32 billion.
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Hutchison, Global Crossing in JV
Hong Kong: Hutchison Whampoa says it hopes to realise an exceptional gain of Hong Kong $3 billion from the sale of its 50 per cent holding in Hong Kong fixed-line network to Global Crossing. The two companies are forming a new 50:50 joint venture, Hutchison Global Crossing. The Internet will be a key area of focus for the partnership

The joint venture will initially build on Hutchison’s Internet and multimedia business. It will also implement a government contract given to Hutchison to build and operate a public electronic services delivery system and expand this platform to facilitate other private sector e-commerce services. A global data centre will also be established in Hong Kong, which will provide web, server hosting and other Internet facilities.
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Iran oil contract for Shell
Dubai: Iran has given a $800-million oil development deal to Royal Dutch/Shell, defying the US, which has threatened to impose sanction on companies doing business with the Islamic country. Shell said its affiliate Shell Exploration BV has signed the accord in Tehran to develop the Soroush and Nowruz offshore fields with the National Iranian Oil Company.
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Entrust's software to check hackers
Ottawa: Entrust Technologies, maker of Internet security software, is developing software and services that will offer protection to mobile phone users from hackers, while doing e-com transactions The Plano, Texas-based Entrust is developing a software called public key infrastructure, which can be used to identify and authenticate computer users. The new software will help mobile phones and pagers to hook on to the Internet and transact business.
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