Hearings in the Priyamvada will case begin today
Kolkata: Fox & Mandal, the solicitors representing R.S. Lodha in his fight against the Birla clan, have announced that they have served affidavits in opposition. The hearing will begin on Wednesday.

Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta had earlier directed the two parties to file affidavits, after the Birla auditor moved court seeking dismissal of caveats which were filed by heads of four Birla groups, B.K. Birla, K.K. Birla, G.P. Birla and Yash Birla.

Lodha has already sought probate with regard to a will (written in 1999) of late Priyamvada Birla, which passed on to him assets of over Rs.5,000 crore. The case would be listed for hearing before Justice Sengupta's court on Wednesday.
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Ranbaxy gets FDA nod for syrup
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (RLL) has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture and market Loratadine Syrup that is available to patients as an over-the-counter (OTC) product. Basically an anti-allergy drug, Loratadine is indicated for the temporary relief of nasal and non-nasal symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis and for the treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria in patients two years of age or older.
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L&T bags Rs.187 crore contract from Shenhua
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro's heavy engineering division has won its third successive contract from China for the supply of critical coal gasification equipment, a news release from the company said. The contract from the Shenhua group is worth Rs.187 crore. With the earlier contracts valued at Rs.200 crore for similar systems for fertiliser and methanol projects in central China and a contract for reactors of Rs.65 crore for petrochemical projects, this brings the total value of orders secured from China to Rs.452 crore for the company.

As part of the new contract, L&T will design and build two sets of coal gasifiers, conforming to the Shell coal gasification process technology for the plant in Northern China. The Shenhua group, which directly reports to the central leadership of the Chinese Government, owns 6,000 MW of power generation capacity and is also the largest coal producer in that country.
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Vizag Steel cuts prices as well
Visakhapatnam: As with the other steel majors Visakhapatnam Steel Plant too has decided to reduce the prices of its products. In a release, the plant said that with effect from Tuesday, the prices of all its products would be brought down by Rs.1,000 per tonne.
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Nelco to boost capital base
Mumbai: Nelco Ltd has informed the National Stock Exchange that it plans to increase its authorised capital base to Rs.50 crore from the existing Rs.25 crore through equity and preference shares.

The Rs.50 crore capital infusion would come from 2.50 crore equity shares of Rs.10 each and 25 lakh redeemable preference shares of Rs.100 each.
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Gestetner and Ricoh to merge
New Delhi: In a bid to improve operational efficiencies and profitability, and aim for a dominant position in the market, office automation companies Gestetner India and Ricoh India, both subsidiaries of Ricoh Japan, have decided to merge into a single entity.

The merger, which has been approved by the board of directors of the two companies, entails a swap ratio of 1:6, that is, six shares of Ricoh India for one share held in Gestetner India on the record date. The Scheme of Arrangement also involves restructuring the capital of the combined entity, as part of which the parent company Ricoh Company Ltd has decided to waive Rs.10.6-crore of arrears of preference share dividend of Ricoh India.

Post-merger, Ricoh Japan expects the revenues of the combined entity to double by 2007 from the existing Rs.150 crore. The merged entity would also aim at increasing its market share in India to 30 per cent over the next three years, from 22 per cent. The merged entity would be called Ricoh India Ltd, but the new management structure is yet to be finalised. However, the employees of the two companies will be merged. At present, Ricoh Japan holds 63 per cent stake in Gestetner India and 76 per cent stake in Ricoh India. Post-merger the promoters' stake in the new entity will stand at about 73.5 per cent.
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Taj Hotels and Raffles International tie up
Mumbai: Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces has joined the Singapore-based Raffles International Ltd in a marketing alliance that aims to leverage cross-promotional opportunities. Raffles International is the hotel management arm of Raffles Holdings Ltd, a hospitality company listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd. To start with, the alliance would cover 14 hotels under the Taj Luxury Hotels portfolio and a collection of 12 luxury hotels under the Raffles Hotels and Resorts umbrella. The two companies signed an agreement to this effect in Singapore on August 19. The marketing alliance comes into effect from today.

Each hotel will promote the other at various levels: through their respective loyalty programmes (Taj InnerCircle and Raffles Elite); marketing activities including joint participation at trade fairs by their sales teams, through links on their respective Web sites, and through brochures and promotional material. The hotels' respective newsletters, namely, Taj News and Raffles World, would also communicate news to a large client base. According to Raymond Bickson, Managing Director, The Indian Hotels Company Ltd, both Taj and Raffles were big players in their respective markets, and the global alliance was the way forward for both.

The "marriage" of the two hotel chains would help each player extend the foot print of the other across the globe through cross-marketing initiatives, said Jennie Chua, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Raffles Hotels & Resorts. These cross-marketing efforts would be in addition to the marketing programmes that each hotel would run for itself, she said. The marketing alliance represented a good "fit" in terms of both the size and geographical presence of both players, said Ms Chua. While Raffles had a chain of 38 hotels in 33 destinations across the globe, the Taj had 70 hotels in 48 destinations, with a majority of the hotels being in India.
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Airtel slashes pre-paid tariffs
New Delhi: Bharti Cellular has announced up to 60 per cent reduction in its tariffs. The move follows a similar tariff cut by Reliance Infocomm last week.

As per the new tariffs, local call rates from Airtel pre-paid to any other Airtel mobile have been slashed to Re.1 per minute from Rs.2.49 a minute. STD calls to other Airtel mobile will now cost Rs.2 per minute, a reduction of more than 30 per cent from Rs.2.99 a minute. This makes it cheaper to make STD calls from a mobile phone than from a fixed line phone. The tariffs announced today also reduces the differential between post-paids and pre-paids.

The rates for local calls to fixed line and to any other mobile phone have been reduced by up to 25 per cent to Rs.2.25 a minute. Airtel has also introduced a simplified uniform rate for STD calls to any fixed line phone in the country. A call made to any fixed line phone would now be charged at Rs.3.25 per minute, irrespective of the distance. This is good news for consumers making calls above 200 km at Rs.4.99 a minute till now, but those who make long distance calls between 50-200 km will have to pay more as they currently pay only Rs.2.99 a minute. The new tariffs would be rolled out between August 25 and August 26 across all circles.
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Sierra Atlantic achieves CMM Level 5
Hyderabad: Sierra Atlantic has announced that it has been assessed at maturity Level 5 with the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability Maturing Model (CMM). This enhances Sierra Atlantic's NShore global delivery platform that combines people, processes, technologies and domain knowledge to ensure value.

The assessment covers Sierra Atlantic's complete portfolio of enterprise application and integration services, custom software development and software product development and testing for end-user and independent software vendor (ISV) customers across the world.
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Everest bags new accounts worth Rs.25 crore
Mumbai: Everest Integrated Communication has acquired new business worth over Rs.25 crore in billings over the last two months. These included Zandu Pancharishta and Siemens Home Appliances in Mumbai, and the Aaj Tak news channel and Bharat Hotels in Delhi.

The other new business bagged were Intex Technologies, HFCL Connect and Valley View Estates of Ansal Properties in Delhi and the creative work of the Bombay Natural History Society in Mumbai, a press release stated.
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Grasim launches new range of suiting fabrics
Mumbai: Grasim Suitings, a division of Aditya Birla Group, has launched two new ranges of suiting fabrics under the brand name Leeds and Venetia to focus on sub-brands.

Leeds is a part of the Grasim's 'global wear collection' and has suits for every mood. This collection is a unique blend of polyester, viscose and wool and is priced at Rs.1, 500 per metre. Venetia is made of Australian Merino wool and polyester and is priced at Rs.300 a metre. This collection is positioned as 'Infamously Italian' suggesting the fashion consciousness of the Godfather era.

Both brands will be supported by strong ground level promotions, which will include dealers' meets, fashion shows, awareness programmes about the fabric and visual merchandising around the product will be initiated. The company also plans to roll out a new advertising campaign for these brands. Grasim Suiting is currently held by Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency.
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