Indian cellular players vie for Nepal cellular licence
New Delhi: With the Nepalese government deciding to grant one more cellular license for the country, some of the biggest names in the Indian and international telecom sector are bidding for it. Till now the Nepal Telecom Company was the only player in the country with about 9,000 subscribers. The government’s decision to allow one more player in the cellular market is in keeping with its aim of maintaining a duopoly in the region.

The major players in the race include Indian bigwigs like TCIL-MTNL-VSNL that has bid as a consortium, Modi Telstra, Bharti, BPL and international biggies, such as Millicom, Rumeli of Turkey, Investcom of Lebanon and Worldtel of the UK.

For the Bharti group, if they manage to get the license, this will be the third international licence as the company has already obtained a licence in Seychelles, has bid for two cellular licences in Yemen. Bharti has bid with some Nepalese players for the cellular licence.

The entire process of allotting licences is expected to take a few months since these bids have been submitted in the preliminary round with few rounds of bidding expected before final allotment.
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Cadila plans more acquisitions to grow dynamically
Calcutta: In its bid to grow quickly through the acquisition route, Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila Healthcare, may be on the throes of yet another acquisition.

After recently completing the acquisition of formulations company Recon, Zydus is planning another acquisition, which will be strong in formulations. This is in keeping with the company’s plans to strengthen its core business.

According to Mr. Pankaj Patel, managing director of the company, the company was weighing various proposals at the moment and the acquisition should come by the end of this year. The company is also planning to acquire a US-based pharma company.

In the meanwhile, the company has entered into a technology tieup with UK-based Ethials, to introduce a series of 'patches' based on the transdermal delivery system. To be attached to the skin of the patients these patches will come under the 'hormonal', 'anti-inflammatory' and the ‘nicotine’ category.
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Gramophone Company sings new tunes, restructures itself
Calcutta:In a major revamping exercise being carried out by the company, the Gramophone Company of India, is dividing its business into four distinct divisions. These are domestic, international, Web-based initiatives and audio software meant to service FM channels.

Andersen Consulting has been retained to complete the restructuring exercise, which will see the four divisions operate as profit centres with their own profit-loss accounts. Andersen will also help the company set up a infotech-driven supply chain management system.

The company is also getting the consulting firm to help it bolster its its revenue management system and devise ways to cut production costs. All of this, according to Mr. K. Krishnan, managing director, will result in the company transforming itself into a "hitech outfit".

The re-engineering exercise is expected to push down expenditure by Rs 4-6 crore on an annualised basis. This implies a 10-12 per cent reduction in costs. The company’s existing 18 warehousing depots, will be concentrated into a cluster of 8, and be franchised out to professional third party "logistic providers." The franchisee process will be set into the motion from October 1, 2000.
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Reliance plans mega-investments in its IT foray
Mumbai: In keeping with its reputation of creating big businesses, Reliance Industries announced its plans to wire up India in truly international style.

At the recent annual general meeting, chairman Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani, announced that the company plans to set up a "a world-class, all-optic, internet protocol-based broadband network covering the top 115 cities", with a total envisaged investment in excess of Rs. 14,000 crore.

The plan envisages broadband networks that will deliver advanced applications and solutions, including e-commerce, media-casting, web-hosting and managed software services to businesses, consumers and service providers.

These networks are also expected to provide the capability to participate in local, long distance and international communications markets as well as in the markets for trading of bandwidth as reforms progress in this sector.

According to Mr. Ambani, the investments are expected to be completed within the next 24 months, after which, he states, the country will witness a "paradigm shift in the way it will communicate and conduct business".

The company plans to make a judicious mix of external broadband network with new internet-based technologies to significantly lower costs, improve efficiencies and further increase overall global competitiveness. The company intends to provide customised and personalised services to its customers.
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Reliance also set to foray into insurance sector
Mumbai: After announcing mega plans for the IT sector, the country’s largest private sector company, Reliance Industries, also announced its plans to enter the life and non-life insurance sectors without any foreign tie up.

Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani, chairman of the company, stated that the company is going on its own in the insurance business.

Reliance’s entry into insurance sector without any foreign tie-up will be contrary to other big business houses including the Tatas, the AV Birla group, the Wadia group, the CK Birla group and the KK Birla group. These groups have already joined hands with foreign insurance companies.
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SBI Caps scouting for partner to work on cross-border deals
Mumbai: Two years after dropping an exclusive working arrangement with US investment bank, Lehman Brothers, SBI Capital Markets, the merchant banking arm of State Bank of India, is once again, scouting for a foreign partner with whom it can work jointly on cross-border deals and managing GDR and ADR issues.

According to Mr Birendra Kumar, managing director, while it is too early to talk about the issue, the company’s objective of seeking a foreign partner was to enable it work effectively on crossborder deals and international floats.

The company is said to be involved in a number of deals in the cement sector which ae are under negotiations.

The firm earned a net profit of Rs 31.47 crore in the current financial year. The lower growth has been on account of the fact that the previous year had seen the Resurgent India Bonds contributing to a third of its profits, while this year the firm had higher tax liability following its gradual exit from the leasing business.
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Thermax acquires UK company
Pune: In its bid to get a European platform and be a significant player in the European energy market, Pune-based Thermax has acquired an UK-based boiler company. This acquisition, despite its balance sheet not showing healthy results, was to take advantage of the fact that many European boiler companies were on the verge of closing down, and Thermax saw an opportunity in buying them over cheap.

The company estimates to increase the business in the next three years in the European market to touch Rs. 30 crores which would translate to a 25 per cent increase in its export earnings.

The export market of Thermax currently comprises Kenya, West Asia and parts of Europe. With this acquisition, the company, which now offered partial solutions, would be able to offer total quality solutions to energy, petrochemical and process and other industries to the global markets.
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The country’s first CNG station established at Pune
Pune:AT a time when the country is increasingly getting environment conscious, Sulzer India has added its mite to the movement by starting manufacture of compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations at its Kondhapuri facility, near Pune. This makes it the first and the only local producer of CNG stations in the country that will meet the large demand in Delhi and Mumbai.

The company, which has already supplied five CNG filling stations to Mahanagar Gas in Mumbai and another 10 such stations for Indraprastha Gas in Delhi, believes that the demand for clean fuels will ensure that a substantial part of its total revenues will come from CNG filling stations.

Sulzer India has interests in textile weaving machinery, pusher centrifuges, fluid bed dryers and coolers, spinning looms, complete salt refining plants and high pressure gas compressors. Its chemtech division caters to the needs of the refinery and chemical industry. The chemtech division recently bagged the Rs 11 crore order from Gujarat Refinery, owned by Indian Oil Corporation for its revamp at Baroda.
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