Himchal Futuristic gets biggest piece of DoT order
New Delhi: The biggest order to be placed by the department of telecommunications (DoT) for optical fibre cables, saw Himachal Futuristic Limited - which was recently in the news for the stake taken in it by Australian magnate Kerry Packer -- walk away with the biggest chunk of the order.

The Rs. 387 crore order was awarded by DoT to an array of companies, being led by HFCL which bagged Rs. 77 crore -- or nearly 20 per cent -- of the total order. The others in the fray who were rewarded with some orders were Sterlite Telelink, Sterlite Industries, Birla Ericsson and ARM.

HFCL bagged the order on the basis of its lowest quote as well as the quality of its cables.
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L&T to decide on cement hive off after capacity hike
Mumbai: Engineering and cement giant, Larsen & Toubro, which is in the midst of a restructuring exercise overseen by consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group, today announced that the decision to hive off its cement division into a separate subsidiary, will be taken only after the current capacity enhancement of the cement division has been completed.

The expansion program, which will see the company's cement capacity move from its current 12m tonnes per annum to 15m tonnes per annum, is expected to be completed in April 2001. The company further plans to expand its capacity to 18.5m tonnes by 2003.
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Clariant India to set up unit for masterbatches
Mumbai: Clariant India Limited, is planning to invest Rs. 4 crore in a 800 ton capacity plant to manufacture masterbatches. The plant, to come up at its existing location at Kolshet (an industrial area in Maharashtra) is likely to be commissioned by end-2000.

Currently the masterbatches business, which is growing at 80 per cent in the last four years and which gives Clariant a 2 per cent market share, is totally dependant on imports. The company’s plan to set up the manufacturing unit is to avoid the vagaries of the business and make it less import dependant.
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Indage to set up unit in Himachal for fruit based wine
London: The Shyam Chougle promoted Indage group, which was the first group to take up production of sparkling wine or champagne in this country, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Himachal Pradesh government to set up a plant in that state to produce fruit-based wines.

The Himchal government will have 20 per cent stake in the new company, the fruit growers in the state will have 20 per cent and the balance 60 per cent stake will be held by the Indage group.

The group has identified KEO of Cyprus, a 130 year old wine and beer manufacturing group, to partner it in the project. Additionally, it will also source technical assistance from another 130-year old German institute Geisemheim.

Recently, the Indage group has also secured permission from the government of India to directly import wines from abroad and sell it domestically. This is pursuant to the company successfully meeting its export obligations.
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Intel to raise chip production with investment of $6 billion
Tokyo: Riding on the back on a swelling demand for chips fuelled by the growth in high-speed communications, networking and consumer electronics, celuular phones, pagers and video game consoles, the world's largest chip making company, Intel Corporation, today announced that it will invest upto $6 billion to increase its chip production.

It plans to invest at least 80 per cent of this amount in manufacturing capacity for computer chips and the balance on the production of flash memory chips, which retain data even after the power is switched off. It plans to invest at least 80 per cent of this amount in manufacturing capacity for computer chips and the balance on the production of flash memory chips, which retain data even after the power is switched off.
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