Reliance Petroleum plans mega retail network
Ahmedabad: Reliance Petroleum is preparing to set up a mega retail distribution network in India. It has worked out a Rs 14,000-crore proposal to establish the nationwide network, under which some 2,000 retail outlets will be established before April 2002. Each outlet is estimated to cost Rs 5 crore.

The administered price mechanism for the petroleum industry will be dismantled in April 2002.

Company sources said these retail stations to be built on plots of 10,000 sq. metres, will be like supermarkets. They will function 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Petrol, diesel and LPG will be sold more like by-products.

The company's 27 million-tonne Jamnagar refinery, set up at a cost of Rs 18,000 crore, is the world's biggest refinery.
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Permission to market petro products sought
Mumbai: Reliance Petroleum has formally approached the ministry of petroleum and natural gas for permission to market petroleum products as soon as it commissions the refinery. At present, only public sector petroleum companies are allowed to market items like petrol, diesel and LPG as controlled products.

Reliance Petroleum wants to market these products at administered prices set by the government. The refinery is scheduled to start production next week.
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Ruias want to convert loan into equity
Mumbai: The Ruias, promoters of Essar Steel, have sought permission from the financial institutions to convert a Rs 200-crore interest-free loan they had advanced to the company into equity. The loan was given through Essar Investments as part of a series of loan pre-disbursal conditions set by the financial institutions.

Essar Steel has also sought approval from the financial institutions for a Rs 300-crore rights issue.
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S.K Birla group too joins recast bandwagon
Calcutta: The S.K. Birla group, with textile brand names like OCM and Digjam, has decided to join the restructuring programme initiated by three other Birla factions.

The Rs 1,500-crore group has already decided to split the Rs 400-crore Cimmco-Birla and the Rs 350-crore Birla-VXL.

The plastics and cotton yarn producing part of Cimmco-Birla is being hived off into Xpro while the heavy engineering division, which makes railway wagons and heavy equipment, will remain with the company. Similarly Birla-VXL will have textiles as a core function and the OCM and Digjam brands are being revamped.
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Videocon for a global reach
Mumbai: The Videocon group is finalising plans for a globalisation programme. The Rs 3,500-crore group intends to grow to Rs 20,000 crore by 2007.

The programme, which  focuses primarily on consumer electronics and appliances, will be implemented in two phases. The first phase would be completed by 2003 at the end of which the group expects to  have a turnover of Rs 8,000 crore.

According to P.N. Dhoot, Videocon International president, from year 2007 about 60 per cent of the group's turnover will be from the domestic market and the rest from its exports.
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Premji rules out any Wipro restructuring
Bangalore: Wipro does not envisage any restructuring at the moment, its chairman Azin Premji has said. There is no plan to spin off its consumer care and lighting businesses into separate units, Premji told Business Standard.

Premji said his Rs 1,804-crore diversified company will instead focus on further globalisation of its information technology business and deliver value to its customers.
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VSNL registers 40% increase in net profit 
Mumbai: The public sector international telephone company, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, has reported a 40 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 1,325 crore in the year ended 31 March 1999. Total revenue was Rs 7,176 crore against Rs 6,436 crore in the previous year.

VSNL's board has recommended a dividend of 80 per cent.
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Zee plans media wing
New Delhi: Zee Telefilms has worked out a strategy envisaging conversion of some business divisions into independent companies and offering equity partnerships to senior executives. The company plans to focus on media or internet-related activities and a print and publications division.

Subhash Chandra, promoter of the group, has hired Deepak Shourie, who recently left The Hindustan Times, as executive president, as an equity partner and publisher of the new company that will run Zee's print and publications business.
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Government to sell stake in ICI
Mumbai: The government intends to sell off the public sector's 9.2 per cent holding in ICI India, the 51 per cent subsidiary of ICI plc of the UK. It has appointed I-Sec, the merchant banking division of ICICI, to draw up a blueprint for divestment frmo the paint company.

Financial institutions hold around 4.6 per cent shares in ICI India, foreign institutional investors 8 per cent and the public the rest. The company has a paid-up capital of Rs 40.87 crore.
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Speciality Ranbaxy allowed to get blood specimens from abroad
Mumbai: Speciality Ranbaxy Laboratories has been permitted by the government to receive blood specimens from abroad for clinical testing and diagnosis. The testing and diagnosis will be done for a fee for overseas organisations.

Speciality Ranbaxy Laboratories is a 50:50 joint venture between Speciality Laboratories International of the US and the New Delhi-based Ranbaxy Laboratories.
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Internet shopping mall in Calcutta
Calcutta: Net-Trade Innovations, an internet start-up firm, is planning to set up a 24-hour internet shopping mall in Calcutta. The mall will be India's first complete virtual shopping enterprise.

IBM is supplying the hardware and Web Development Co, IBM's support partner in e-business initiatives in India, will create software solutions for the project. On offer at the mall will be products of some of the biggest Indian and international names in branded apparel, cosmetics, perfumes, chocolates, and watches and electronics goods.
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Softbank joins News Corp, Vivendi in net ventures
London: Softbank Corporation of Japan has reached agreements with News Corp of Rupert Murdoch and Vivendi of France to launch new internet companies.

Softbank, one of the world's largest internet investors, formed separate ventures with News Corp's Epartners, a high-tech investment arm, and Vivendi, a French firm that has become a major player in European media.

The deal with Epartners will cover Britain, Australia, New Zealand and India and the one with Vivendi will cover continental Europe.

Backed by Softbank head Masayoshi Son, the new ventures aimed to gainan early lead in the electronic commerce  business.
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No BskyB-Canal Plus merger: Murdoch
London: Rupert Murdoch said a merger between BskyB and Canal Plus of France is not possible. Murdoch said he did not want his prized British pay TV to be a football for French politicians.

"BskyB is a British asset, and we do not intend to allow it to become a football for French politics," Murdoch told a news conference.
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Monsanto to sell sweeteners business
St Louis: Life sciences company Monsanto said it planned to sell its artificial sweeteners business, which includes the NutraSweet brand, as part of a restructuring aimed at reducing debt.

The maker of arthritis drug Celebrex and Roundup herbicide said its biogums unit, which makes food ingredients and industrial products, is also for sale. The company will retain its nutrition research business. The artificial sweetener and biogums units employ 2,100 people worldwide.
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Apple sues Future Power, Daewoo
San Francisco: Apple Computer said it has filed a suit against Future Power, Daewoo group and Daewoo Telecom, alleging that Future Power's new personal computer is a copy of the industrial design of Apple's iMac.

The complaint filed in the US district court  in San Jose, California seeks to restrain Future Power and Daewoo from distributing computers that it claims has illegally coped Apple's designs. The plaint also seeks actual punitive damages.

Future Power, a joint venture backed by Daewoo Telecom of Korea, has introduced a sleek, all-in-one, integrated PC, E-Power, that comes internet-ready in five bright colours, for $799. Press reports said E-Power looked identical to Apple's iMac. The PC runs on an Intel processor at a speed of 400 megahertz and uses a Windows system. It has a built-in floppy drive, unlike iMac.
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Dupont to restructure
Delaware: Dupont Co said it plans to restructure its $2 billion crop protection business, eliminating some 800 jobs.

The chemicals giant claimed it anticipates savings of about $200 million beginning the fourth quarter as a result of the restructuring.

Du Pont had earlier said that it would curtail its polyester production, laying off 14 per cent of the workers.
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Time Warner to sell stake in Japanese cable venture
Tokyo: US media group Time Warner is pulling out of Japan's cable TV sector by selling its stake in Titus, the Japanese cable and telephony company, to MediaOne, the US cable group that is being acquired by AT&T.

With the acquisition of this 25 per cent stake, MediaOne will have a 50 per cent stake in Titus. It said it planned to increase its holding gradually. Trading company Itochu and Toshiba are the other shareholders in Titus.
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