Reliance refinery starts production
Mumbai: Reliance Petroleum's 27-million-tonne petroleum refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat commenced commercial production. The management of Reliance Petroleum Ltd, which has built up the Rs 14,250-crore refinery, claimed that the immediate impact will be on India's diesel imports, which will stop completely by July end. In the year ended 31 March 1999, India imported Rs 5,250 crore of diesel.

The refinery's capacity represents almost a fourth of the country's total crude oil refining capacity. It is also said to be the biggest grassroots refinery project in the world.

Reliance Petroleum said it will start delivery of products -- diesel, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, aviation turbine fuel and petrol -- and these products will be marketed by the Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. The company is yet to sign agreements with HPCL and BPCL.

Reliance said in a press statement that the start-up of the crude distillation unit is nearly six months ahead of the original schedule and represents a world record for implementation of a project of this scale and complexity.
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MetGas to supply LNG to Malaysian company
Mumbai: Metropolis Gas Company, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Enron, has won an order from MLNG TIGA of Malaysia for supply of 2.6 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas. The MLNG TIGA project will be built at Bintulu in Borneo.

MetGas plans to retail LNG to power and fertiliser plants, and industrial consumers in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.
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Nicholas Piramal, Charak in joint venture
Mumbai: Pharma major Nicholas Piramal India has signed a joint venture with well-known ayurvedic product firm Charak.

The two companies will hold 50 per cent each in the new company, Charak Piramal, which will market over-the-counter products made by Charak at its Umbargaon, Gujarat, factory. The initial equity capital is Rs 4 crore.

Piramal Enterprises chairman Ajay Piramal will be the chairman of the company and Charak director Raj Shroff the managing director.
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Hyundai to hike Santro production
Chennai: Hyundai Motor India is revising its sales target upward by 8,000 cars in 1999.

Increased customer demand for Santro has forced the company to revise the target for this year by 5,000 to 8,000 cars, A.P. Gandhi, president of the company, said.

Santro has a waiting period of one month.
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Crest, Vartech in virtual realty product pact
Mumbai: Crest Communications has signed an agreement with Vartech NV of Belgium to provide software and other related technology in the field of virtual and augmented reality.

The export deal worth $1 million also provides for commitment from Vartech to provide minimum annual job volumes, which would increase in later years. Vartech is involved with manufacturers of virtual reality equipment in Europe and expects that Crest's facilities will be utilised to customise the required software for these manufacturers' needs.
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SAS introduces new software for banks
Mumbai: SAS Institute India, a subsidiary of SAS Institute of the US, has introduced customer relationship management solutions in India. The system, targeted at banks, provides software and support services needed to capture, access, explore and act upon the information already available in the client bank.
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Balaji Foods to merge with Venkateswara
Pune: Balaji Foods and Feeds, a 100 per cent export-oriented unit making egg powder, is heading for a merger with parent Venkateswara Hatcheries. The ailing company has incurred losses of Rs 21.5 crore on a paid-up capital of Rs 25 crore, and has no sustaining power with the world market for egg powder unlikely to pick up soon.
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Essar Oil to pay customs duty
Mumbai: Essar Oil will pay Rs 36 crore as customs duty on capital goods imported for its refinery project. The payment will be made in three instalments, of which two have already been made. The third instalment will be paid by 31 July 1999.

The customs authorities had earlier arrested two employees of the company for issuing a cheque without sufficient amount in the bank.
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Hindustan Zinc unit closed down
Visakhapatnam: The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board has ordered the closure of the lead unit of Hindustan Zinc here due to heavy lead pollution from the plant. The plant has been closed down, board said.

The board has asked the company to dredge the drain, which runs from the plant through the villages nearby of lead, and lime sludge. Till this is done, the plant will remain closed.
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Finolex to buy back shares
Mumbai: Finolex Cables is considering buying back its shares at a price of Rs 450 - 500. The company's board is reported to have taken a decision to this effect at a meeting on 12 July.

The promoters hold around 43 per cent of the company's equity, institutions 22.5 per cent and the public 26 per cent. Foreign institutional investors hold some 8 per cent. If the company buys out 10 per cent, the promoters will have a majority control in the company.
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Microsoft, ICL plan Pune centre
London: International Computers and Microsoft have announced the setting up of a Microsoft Solution Centre in Pune in India. The centre is part of 12 such centres planned worldwide.

The Pune centre will be a showcase of Microsoft technology-based software solutions for development of e-commerce solutions and web-enabling of mission-critical applications, ICL said.

Keith Todd, chief executive of International Computers, announced the setting up of the centre as part of the billion-pound expansion plan of the London-based International Computers and Microsoft Global Alliance.
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Celera to work for Rhone Poulenc in gene reserarch
Washington: Celera Genomics, a small Maryland company formed to map the human genome, says it has an agreement with Rhone Poulenc Rorer to identify disease-causing genes.

Celera Genomics said the three-year agreement with Rhone Poulenc Rorer would use Celera's GeneTag system for finding genes involved in asthma, cancer, heart disease and other conditions.
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Sony, Time Warner plan web music venture
New York: Sony Corp and Time Warner are coming together with CDnow to set up a web music and video powerhouse.

Columbia House, owned jointly by Time Warner and Sony, will merge into a new publicly traded concern with CDnow, the five-year-old online store. As part of the deal, CDnow shareholders, who will have to approve the pact, would exchange each of their shares for one share of the new company.
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Ford planning to sell Visteon
London: Ford Motor Company is reported to be planning to sell its global component subsidiary Visteon.

Visteon, the world's third largest vehicle component maker with a turnover of $17.8 billion and centres in 21 countries, may go the way General Motors sold its Delphi Automotive Systems supplies division earlier in 1999.
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Ford told to pay compensation
Detroit: A California jury ordered Ford Motor Company to pay $295 million to the family of three killed when their 1978 Bronco rolled over. The judgement comes three days after General Motors Corporation was hit with a record $4.9 billion judgement by another US jury.

The jury ruled that Ford was mostly responsible for the deaths of a couple and their son in a 1993 accident and should pay $5 million of the $6 million demanded in compensatory damages. The jury also said the company should pay $290 million in punitive damages. The plaintiff's attorneys argued that the Bronco sport utility vehicle was prone to roll over and had a weak and poorly designed roof that Ford knew could fail.
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Fastest train being made
Madrid: Three of Europe's leading engineering companies -- Spain's Patentes Talgo, Germany's Siemens and France's Alstom -- are in collaboration to build what could be the world's fastest commercial train linking Spain's two cities, its capital Madrid and Barcelona at up to 350 km per hour.

The three hope to earn a contract worth nearly $1 billion for trains on a new rail line between the two cities.

The project is part of Spain's ambitious programme to bring its infrastructure up to the standards of the rest of the European Union. The government is expected to spend up to $7.39 billion on the rail track as a whole.
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Roche makes another blockbuster
Basle: Roche's Xenical anti-obesity drug, has been declared as a "blockbuster" drug. It has become the Swiss company's third most important drug globally in its first year on sale, and even before it has been fully rolled out in the US.

Xenical, available in 18 countries, has been a "major contributor" to the $5.1 billion sales of the pharmaceutical division of Roche, company officials said.

Xenical blocks the body's ability to absorb fat by around a third.
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