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RIL consortium bags 12 oil blocks
Mumbai: A consortium formed by Reliance Industries and Niko Resources of
Canada has bagged 12 of the 25 oil exploration blocks under the new exploration and
licensing policy of the government. The government had received 45 bids for 27 of the 48
exploration blocks offered during the second half of 1999. Of the 25 blocks, for which
bids have been accepted, two are on land, seven are deep water offshore blocks and 16
shallow water offshore blocks. This is the first time the government is awarding
exploration rights beyond the 400-metre isobath.
Other
oil majors selected include the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation,
Oil India, Gazprom of Russia, Mosbacher Energy of the US, and Cairn Energy of the UK.
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Wipro looks at brand
acquisitions
Bangalore: Wipro is on the prowl for for brands to acquire, especially in
toiletries and lighting. Wipro’s chairman Azim Premji says the company has identified
a couple of products in the toiletries segment. The consumer care and lighting business of
the company accounted for 21 per cent of the company’s turnover. Wipro’s
existing toiletries’ brands include Santoor turmeric and sandalwood soaps, Wipro
Shikakai, Wipro Herbal and Wipro Baby Soft. Its vegetable oil brand Sunflower is a leading
brand in edible oils.
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Maruti hikes prices
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has announced a steep increase in the prices of
its upgraded Omni, 800, Zen, Esteem, Baleno and Gypsy models. The price hike varies from
Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000. The reason, according to the company, is the costs involved in
upgradation and the sales tax increases announced by various state governments. The
company has, however, reduced the prices of its Esteem LX and VX models.
The company will fit multi-point fuel injection systems in
the 800, Esteem, Omni and Gypsy, and will start deliveries to states that have announced a
12 per cent sales tax. The new Wagon R model is also likely to be available by
end-January.
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TVS-Suzuki launches Fiero
Chennai: TVS-Suzuki has introduced a new model, Suzuki Fiero, a 150-cc
4-stroke motorcycle. The vehicle has a power of 12 bhp and runs nearly 57-km per litre of
petrol. The company had earlier planned to introduce the vehicle sometime in June 1999.
The company now proposes to reposition its Spectra model,
which it admits has not gained much customer acceptance.
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Piaggio plans 100 per
cent subsidiary
New Delhi: Italian scooter maker Piaggio is planning a Rs200-crore
greenfield project in India to make scooters and mopeds. Piaggio has approached the
government for necessary approvals for setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India. It
has submitted a no-objection certificate from LML in support of the proposal.
The Italian major has been in talks with the public sector
Scooters India for a joint venture. It had earlier exited from a joint venture with LML.
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Eicher has a new HCV
New Delhi: Eicher Motors has come out with what it claims is India’s
first home-grown heavy commercial vehicle. The new vehicle, Eicher 20.16, has been
designed and developed in technical collaboration with AVL of Australia, HLS of Germany
and AT&T of the UK. Eicher Motors has invested Rs 126 crore in the first phase of the
project to set up a plant with an installed capacity of 20,000 vehicles.
The Eicher 20.16 will be available in the market by
end-2000.
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IN Cablenet valued at $1.2
billion
Mumbai: Cable TV company IN Cablenet of the Hindujas has been valued at
$1.2 billion by international consultants Booz Allen Hamilton. The consultants have
determined the subscriber base of the company at 3.2 million viewers in nine cities.
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Dunlop to reopen units
Calcutta: The management of Dunlop India has
decided to lift the work suspension order at the Sahagunj and Ambattur factories from 7
February, two years after the units were shut down. The decision was taken at a meeting
with trade union representatives.
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Shareholders
clear Pentafour transfer
Chennai: Shareholders of Pentafour Software and Exports approved the
transfer of the software division to Pentafour Communications for Rs 891.75 crore. At an
extraordinary general meeting, the shareholders also approved the proposal to increase the
authorised capital of the company from Rs 15 crore to Rs 50 crore and to raise $75 million
via global depository receipts or American depository receipts through a
preferential/private placement route.
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Shopper’s Stop,
Investsmart in tie-up
Mumbai: Shopper's Stop, the K. Raheja group-promoted retail chain, and
Investsmart India, a retail investment firm of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial
Services, have entered into a strategic tie-up for product promotion. Investsmart will
provide its full range of retail financing services through Shopper's Stop's chain of
stores. Shopper's Stop will have the option to hold equity in Investsmart. There will be a
scheme for co-branding under the agreement.
Investsmart offers financial services to retail investors
in infrastructure, corporate finance and investment banking.
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Bata, employees sign
agreement
Calcutta: Bata India has concluded a long-term wage agreement with its
employees at Batanagar and offices in cities. The bipartite agreement, to remain in force
for the next three years, is expected to improve industrial relations and productivity in
the company. There will be an average additional payment of Rs 470 per head per month to
take care of annual increments, lump sum payment of Rs 4,000 per employee and additional
contribution by employees and the company towards medical insurance. Nearly 6,500
employees of the company will benefit from the agreement.
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FDI limit in pharma hiked
New Delhi: The cabinet committee on economic affairs has approved changes
in the drug policy, which will allow an increase in the limit of foreign direct investment
from the current 51 per cent to 74 per cent in the pharma sector. Foreign direct
investment above 74 per cent will be permitted in areas where such investment is hard to
come by, and will be considered on a case-to-case basis. These will include areas like
manufacture of bulk drugs using recombinant DNA technology as well as specific cell/tissue
targeted formulations.
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Microsoft plans
browser for Macs
Seattle: Microsoft is releasing its latest Macintosh-based Internet
browser in March 2000. This will later be bundled with the next version of Apple’s
operating system.
Microsoft is also offering its Outlook Express e-mail
product with Apple’s new OSX when it comes into the market in the second half of
2000, Microsoft said. There will also be an OSX version of its Office package including
Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
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Cisco plans a home
network product
Palo Alto: Cisco Systems will introduce a new product that will create
home networks linking personal computers, printers, faxes and other devices. Cisco is
expected to align with Sun Microsystems to use Java programming applications to set
standards for home networking, and with Whirlpool to develop appliances that link to the
Internet.
The product, which will be announced soon, is called Cisco
Internet Home Gateway. Cisco intends to sell it to service providers, such as phone and
cable companies. The device routes both phone calls, data and video traffic over standard
telephone wiring and jacks in homes.
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Daewoo officers to meet
foreign creditors
Seoul: The Daewoo group’s senior executives are meeting foreign
bankers in London and Hong Kong to discuss its debt buyout proposal. Daewoo’s
advisors have sent out invitations for the meetings. The company apparently does not want
to meet the creditors as a group.
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Case against National
Geographic
New York: A group of photographers and authors has filed a case against
the National Geographic Society, Eastman Kodak and Mindscape for reproducing their work in
CD-ROM and DVD format. The suit, which seeks class action status, alleges that the release
of The Complete National Geographic in CD-ROM and DVD format infringes copyright
on the works of over 1,000 authors whose work has been published in National
Geographic magazine over the past 100 years.
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IBM, Sun-Netscape plans
tie-up
New York: IBM and the Sun Netscape Alliance have agreed to expand the
number of web infrastructure and software products available for IBM’s Unix operating
system. The Alliance formed by Sun Microsystems and America Online’s Netscape to
develop corporate Internet software and e-commerce tools, will market more than double the
number of products in its iPlanet line of software to IBM’s Aix Unix users. Currently
the iPlanet webserver, messaging server and directory server products are available on
Aix, IBM said.
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