DoT to impose Rs 400-cr fine on 7 telecom operators
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom is likely to impose a penalty of Rs400 crore on seven telecom operators that include Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Dishnet Wireless, Hutchison Essar, Reliance Communications, HFCL Infotel and Shyam Telelink for not fulfilling the roll out obligations according to their licence conditions.

Reliance Communication will have to pay the highest penalty of Rs147 crore followed by Tata Teleservices with Rs140 crore.

The operators were required cover 10 per cent of total number of districts in an area of operations within one year from the effective date of licence and ensure that at least 90 per cent of these districts, including inside buildings, are given coverage.

DoT officials said that the telecom companies have not submitted the required certificate from the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) within the one-year period. The operators said that the delay in providing services has been due to the delay in allocation of the spectrum and clearances from the various Government agencies. Operators added that Government should do away with the roll out obligation in view of the intense competition, which will drive telcos to reach out to more areas.
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Satyam sets up delivery campus in Nanjing
Hyderabad: Satyam Computer Services has announced setting up of a global delivery campus in Nanjing, China. With 2,500 seats, it will be the organisation's largest development facility outside of India and include development and training and residential apartments. An agreement was signed between Rama Raju, CEO, Satyam, and Shao Qiang, standing director of Nanjing New and High Technology Development Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nanjing Hitech Zone. Officials said the Nanjing campus will contribute to Satyam's Virtually Integrated Global Delivery Model and complement established facilities in Malaysia, Cairo, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The company was one of the earliest entrants in the Chinese market with its first development centre established in Shanghai in 2002 with 10 associates.
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Big 92.7 FM to set up 45 stations by May 2007
Chennai: The FM radio venture of Adlabs Films Ltd, Big 92.7 FM, will have 45 radio stations up and running by April-May 2007. With this Big 92.7 FM would be the largest private radio station network in the country. The investment in the operations would be Rs400 crore. Currently, Big 92.7 FM is present in 11 cities.

In the South, Big 92.7 FM is available in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and in the second phase would see radio stations in Puducherry, Thiruvananthapuram, Tirupathi, Visakhapatnam, Mysore and Mangalore.
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BMW announces prices of `3-series'
Singapore: BMW India has announced the prices of the `3-series' which will have three models. These are the 320i, 325i and 325d (diesel) priced at Rs26.95 lakh, Rs32.5 lakh and Rs29.7 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai) respectively.

The company is currently evaluating the price of the 5-series and it is expected to be in the region of Rs40-43 lakh. Besides introducing these models, the company will introduce the X3 and X5 range of SUV models, the 6-series, 7-series and the M-range of models as part of its CBU (completely built unit) model portfolio.

BMW's Indian subsidiary has set a sales target of 1,000 vehicles for 2007 having sold 257 vehicles last year.

The models (3-series and 5-series) will be assembled at the company's upcoming plant in Chennai.
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BHEL gets Rs400 crore hydel contract in Himachal
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals has bagged a Rs400-crore contract from the state-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), for setting up a 520-MW Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Himachal Pradesh BHEL said in a release here.

The underground powerhouse project, located at Bihali in Kullu district, would use the water of a tributary of the Beas river for generating electricity.
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ABB India gets Rs311 crore order
Bangalore: ABB India has received orders worth Rs311 crore to provide Aditya Birla Group, companies Grasim Industries' Cement division and Ultratech Cement, power and automation products and systems for their cement capacity expansions.

ABB India will provide turnkey electrical and automation systems, including the installation of 220 / 132 kV switchyards and supply of a range of switchgear, motors, low and medium voltage drives, power and distribution transformers, capacitors as well as intelligent LV panels. The project is expected to be completed by the year-end.
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Reliance to invest Rs600 crore in reviving Vimal brand
New Delhi: Reliance Industries (RIL) has set aside an investment of Rs600 crore, to revive the textile brand Vimal. The money would be spent in retail network expansion and promotional campaigns.

RIL will invest Rs500 crore on retail expansion and another Rs100 crore for brand revamp and promotion.

About 20 luxury stores for the Vimal brand will come up in four metros in the next two-three months, while another 500 stores would be set up across the country over the next one year.

The company has roped in Italian designer Maurizio Bonas to give the brand an international touch and has been training master tailors from across four metros as it looks to refine design skills.
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Rain Calcining to merge with Rain Commodities
Hyderabad: After acquiring GLC Carbon (USA) Inc, Rain Commodities Ltd is restructuring operations to create the world's largest calcining company with assets in India, Kuwait, the US and Argentina. The company is aiming at a combined market share of approximately 28 per cent of the total calcined petroleum coke (CPC) sales in the Western world.

The restructuring includes merging Rain Calcining (RCL) with Rain Commodities with effect from April 1, 2007, to integrate the CPC business of RCL with the CPC business of GLC Carbon (USA) Inc. Rain Commodities (USA) Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, recently announced that it would acquire 73.56 per cent equity of GLC Carbon.

It is also planned to transfer the cement business of Rain Industries as a Going Concern under a Scheme of Arrangement, with effect from October 1, 2006, transfer the CPC and power generation businesses of RCL to Rain Industries, post completion of the proposed merger of RCL with the company, with effect from April 1, 2007.

The company also plans to appoint financial and legal advisors for determining the share exchange ratio between equity shares of the company and that of Rain Calcining Ltd and draft the scheme of arrangement between RCL, RIL and the company.
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Reliance gets nod for oil production in K-G basin
New Delhi: The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has given its approval for the commercial production of oil from a deep-water block in the Krishna-Godavari basin run by Reliance Industries. Commercial production from the block is seen at 30,000-50,000 barrels per day. RIL in June last year discovered crude oil in the Krishna-Godavari exploration area off India's east coast while it was drilling the MA-1 exploration well, which also led to significant rise in gas reserves in the block.
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L&T, Boeing sign MoU
Bangalore: Larsen & Toubro and Boeing Company have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the joint exploration of business opportunities in India's defence sector. The signing ceremony took place at Aero India 2007.
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