RPG group finalises corporate governance norms
Calcutta: The RPG group has finalised its corporate governance norms, which cover issues relating to ethics, management audit, shareholder value, manner and usage of group name and logo, environment and pollution control, and customer service.

The Rs 6,400-crore group, which has 32 companies and some 60,000 employees, had earlier set up a task force to suggest the norms. The norms will come into being in various group companies from 1 October 1999.

The company claimed that the initiatives are the most detailed ones to be conceived by any company so far.
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Mitsubishi not to have stake in Lancer venture
New Delhi: Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan will not acquire the 10 per cent equity in its venture with Hindustan Motors for manufacturing the Lancer. The company will, however, be a technical partner for the C.K. Birla group company.

The technical collaboration application was approved by the Foreign Investments Promotion Board at its meeting on 9 August. The Japanese auto major was at one time considering having equity in the venture exceeding the 10 per cent, which was planned earlier.
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Zen Classic to be in market in September
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog will market its upgraded Zen Classic from September 1999. Company sources said the new model will have a new front give it a classy look. It will also have a new lighting system.

The new model is meant to complete the entire range of Zen models, which is one of the fastest selling car models in India.

The company, meanwhile, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to introduce two new models in February 2000 as part of its plans to introduce three new car models. The company is planning an investment of Rs 1,200 crore for this purpose.

The cars to be introduced are the Baleno, a 1,600-cc luxury model, and the Wagon-R, a 1,000-cc compact vehicle. This will be followed by the Alto in two variants of 800 cc and 1,000 cc.
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Peugeot to sell stake in JV to Premier
Mumbai: Automobiles Peugeot, the joint venture partner in Pal-Peugeot Ltd, will sell its 31.96 per cent stake in the company to Premier Automobiles for nil monetary consideration. The two partners have obtained Reserve Bank of India approval for the transfer of shares.

Premier Automobiles has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that Automobile Peugeot is transferring all the shares standing in its name in PAL-Peugeot to it. The company's plant at Kalyan has been almost idle for the last 18 months, with only a few 118 NE vehicles being produced.
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NTPC awards Talcher contract to Bhel
New Delhi: The National Thermal Power Corporation has decided to award the Talcher equipment supply contract to Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. The NTPC may ask Bhel to reduce the price and match it with ABB-CE's offer of Rs 1,304 crore.

NTPC sources said the company's board had taken an in-principle decision to award the contract to Bhel and deferred a decision on the other power projects.
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Konka plans Rs 500 crore investment
New Delhi: Konka Electronics of China will invest nearly Rs 500 crore in India in the next 12 months to set up a manufacturing unit and a research and development base.

The Chinese consumer electronics major has unveiled a product range of televisions, digital video discs and video compact discs for the Indian market. The company said it has earmarked Rs 500 crore for its Indian operations, including manufacturing and R&D facilities, but the actual investments will depend on how the business develops.

Konka Electronics India is owned 51 per cent by the Chinese company, 25 per cent by Hotline India and 24 per cent by the Wittis group of Hong Kong.
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Vitol gets BPCL naphtha
Mumbai: Bharat Petroleum Corporation has awarded the deal for the sale of 35,000 tonnes of low aromatic naphtha to Dutch petroleum company Vitol. The naphtha is being sold at $5.5 above the Mean of Platt's at the Arabian Gulf price, which is equivalent to Rs 8,500 per tonne at current prices.

This is BPCL's first export independent of Indian Oil Corporation, the canalising agency. The naphtha will come from Madras Refineries
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Modi Rubber to sell stake in Modi Xerox
New Delhi: Modi Rubber has decided to sell its 15 per cent equity in Modi Xerox, and has sought the Securities and Exchange Board of India's permission to participate in the public offer made by Modi Xerox.

Modi Xerox had recently made the public offer to purchase the 25 per cent of shares from the public. Modi Rubber was not allowed to participate in the offer as the offer was made jointly by Modi Xerox and Modi Rubber.
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TACO, Owens in JV
Mumbai: Tata AutoComp Systems, the Tata group's auto component holding company, and Owens Corning of the US have signed a joint venture agreement for setting up Composites Systems Pvt Ltd, which will make moulded composite components for automotive products.

TACO and Owens Corning will invest Rs 24 crore in the joint venture and set up two plants at Pune and Jamshedpur. Commercial production will start in 2001.
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Rallis, FMC sign agreement
Mumbai: Rallis India has signed an agreement with FMC, the fifth largest agrochemicals producer in the world, under which Rallis will formulate some of FMC's products in India.

Rallis has an existing arrangement with FMC to distribute some of its products, including Furadan, a rice insecticide carbofuran, in India. Under the new agreement FMC will allow Rallis to manufacture some of its products in India, including cadusofos, sold under the brand name Rugby.
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New internet price war
Hyderabad: IntechNet, the internet service provider here, has started an internet price war. The company is offering internet services at Rs 8,500 per year with unlimited hours of access.

The company will start its services next month in Hyderabad and later extend it to Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune. At a later date, it will have its own gateway.
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Lumax reduces stake in JV
New Delhi: Lumax Industries has diluted its stake in Lumax Samlip, its joint venture with Hyundai Corporation and Samlip Industrial Co of Korea, by selling 15 per cent of the 45 per cent equity it holds. The reason: liquidity problems faced by the company.

The total foreign equity in the joint venture will now rise to 70 per cent from the present 55 per cent. Lumax will retain a 30 per cent stake.
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ISP showcase centre from SGI India
Bangalore: SGI India, the subsidiary of the California-based SGI Inc, said it is planning to set up an internet service provider showcase centre in Bangalore.

The centre will house a cluster of SGI servers, on which various applications specific to the needs of ISPs will be deployed. SGI India is also exploring the possibility of setting up a benchmarking facility at its headquarters in Gurgaon.
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Alfa Laval to make India export base
New Delhi: Alfa Laval, the Swedish engineering concern, is planning to make India an export base. Its Indian operations are being turned into a production base of the parent's Asia-Pacific business, Alfa Laval (India) managing director Satish Tandon said.

The Indian subsidiary will also receive export orders from the parent company as it is relocating manufacturing activities from Western countries to Asia, Mr Tandon said.
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Athlon from AMD to take on Pentium III
San Francisco: Advanced Micro Devices, a competitor to Intel in the PC processors, is coming out with a chip that will enable it to take on the Pentium III range of microprocessors.

The company announced that its Athlon is about 9 per cent faster than the 600 megahertz Pentium III and in tests conducted for graphics, it has been found to be 21 per cent more efficient. AMD says a computer system using Athlon will be priced in the range of $1,499 to $2,699.

Athlon is expected to usher the company into the higher-end market of microprocessors, which has been Intel's preserve.
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Elf suggests way out for TotalFina
Paris: Elf Aquitaine, the French oil company, which has launched a counter-bid to take over TotalFina, another French oil giant, has said friendly negotiations between the two companies are possible only if TotalFina agrees to reconsider the future of the groups' chemicals assets.

Philippe Jaggre, chairman of Elf, said talks would be possible only when Thiery Desmarest, chairman of TotalFina, acknowledged that there was a problem on chemicals and agreed to consider without preconceptions that the chemicals operations deserve to be really looked at.

Though the merger is expected to create the world's fourth largest oil and gas group and the fifth biggest chemicals producer, Elf is advocating dividing the resulting entity into separate oil and gas and chemicals businesses, while TotalFina rejects such a move.

Elf's shares are trading above the value offered by TotaFina, while Elf's counter-bid for TotalFina at three Elf shares and $205.20 cash for every five TotalFina shares represents a significant premium.
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Cisco to invest in KPMG
Palo Alto: Cisco Systems said it plans to invest $1 billion in consulting firm KPMG. John Chambers, president and chief executive of Cisco, said the company chose to make an investment in KPMG's consulting business because KPMG understands how the internet will reshape the future of all businesses.

KPMG said it plans to build six centres that will work with Cisco salespeople and will provide additional support to Cisco customers. It will make use of the investment to hire 4,000 service professional and engineers over the next 18 months to help their clients roll out internet-based communications services.
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EMC acquires Data General
Massachusetts: EMC Corporation, the market leader in data storage systems, will buy Data General Corporation, a manufacturer of mid-range computer data storage products for $1 billion in stock. The acquisition will enable EMC to tap the mid-range data storage market.

Data General's CLARiiON storage products are recognised as among the most advanced systems in the world.
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Daewoo restructuring plan on 11 August
Seoul: South Korea's Daewoo group is in the final stages of talks with creditors for the proposed overhaul of operations.

The creditors are expected to announce the outline of the restructuring programme on 11 August.

The Korean government has been insisting that the group sell its profitable businesses, including Daewoo Securities, the brokerage firm considered to be the country's largest and the group's most profitable.
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