MTNL allows payment of bills through MasterCard
New Delhi: The country’s leading basic telephone services provider, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), has tied up with MasterCard International for payment of telephone bills through credit cards.

The scheme, to be effective from May 15, will allow cardholders will be able to make payments through their credit cards for MTNL's telephone bills, charges for Internet, long-distance services and new connections. The arrangement between MasterCard and MTNL will be conducted on an exclusive basis for an initial period of three months. Later, this facility will be extended to other services including Telemart stores, applying for a new telephone connection, internet connection and long-distance services.

In its bid to become more consumer friendly, MTNL is also talking to Indian Oil to use their petrol pumps for the payment of MTNL telephone bills in Mumbai and Delhi, which accounts for more than 65 per cent of Mastercard cardholders.
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Apollo Tyres Gujarat unit has strike on its hands
Ahmedabad: The Apollo Tyres Waghodia unit, situated 15 km from Vadodara in Gujarat, has seen a break-out of violence last week leading to involvement of the police to quell the agitating workers. The workers at the unit went on strike last week as they disputed the transfer of seven supervisory staff.

The company management terms the strike as illegal, and, according to it, the supervisory staff who were served the transfer orders were not members of any union till that point of time.

The unit, which has three trade unions representing its workers, is still not under a lock-out, though workers insist that the management game-plan is to shut the unit.
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Nestle to enter the mineral water arena with "Pure Life"
Pune : Besides being in the news as one of the potential buyers for the Ramesh Chauhan-owned Bisleri brand, dairy products major Nestle India is all set to enter the domestic bottled water business through its launch of its own product under the brand name `Pure Life'. This brand is to be launched by the last quarter of this year. It recently launched this product in the neighbouring country of Pakistan, where it has already cornered a huge 60 per cent of the mineral water market.

According to sources, the company was in the process of setting up two bottling plants for the venture, one at Taloja, near Mumbai, and the other in New Delhi, to service the markets in those regions. Plans are initially to tap only the huge market for bottled water in large cities and towns, the sources said. The product would be launched simultaneously in the Mumbai and Delhi markets.

Globally, Nestle sells bottled water under the `Perrier' brand. The sources ruled out the possibility of the company bringing the same brand to India as it is a premium brand and price is an important deciding factor for a purchase decision by consumers. The company has decided to price the Pure Life brand ``very competitively'' in the market.

The country's bottled water business is estimated to be around Rs. 1,100 crore, of which the branded market accounts for Rs. 700 crore. With over 200 players jostling to be the thirst quenching favourite of the Indian buyer, the business is growing at a rate of over 30 per cent annually.
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McDowell to amalgamate seven group liquor companies
Mumbai : In a move to prepare itself for an overseas listing and getting its accounts in line with the US GAAP, the board of McDowell & Co Ltd has decided to amalgamate seven companies under the McDowell banner into one entity, which will be called McDowell Ltd. The move is to be completed by December this year. The effective date for consolidation is April 1, 2000 and the company will file petitions in the respective High Courts in early June, company officials said.

The companies that are to be merged include McDowell & Co Ltd, Serampore Distillery and Chemicals Co Ltd, Mysore Wine Products Ltd, McDowell Properties Ltd and McDowell Spirits Ltd. It will also include capacities which will be acquired in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, namely, Vitari Distilleries Ltd and Udaipur Distillery Company Ltd. The acquisitions, accompanied by an expansion of the Taloja unit, are expected to increase the group's annual capacity to 2.3 million cases.

The group, which has 53 brands in the market, may soon enter into an agreement with Carlsberg, the international beer giant, to hold an equal equity stake in marketing the brand in India. The move will be made to compete with Foster's, the Australian brand, which has newly entered the Indian market.
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MTNL files NYSE plan for listing
New Delhi : The country’s leading basic telephone service provider in the metro cities of Mumbai and New Delhi, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), on Tuesday filed its proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the US (SEC) seeking listing of its stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

As per the proposal, the company will give an option to the existing holders of its global depository receipts (GDRs), currently listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), to get them converted into American Depository Receipts (ADRs) once the application is cleared by the SEC. The company is planning to get its stock listed for trading on June 15 of this year.

Around 30 million equity shares of the company are allotted as fully paid-up represented by 15 million GDRs (each GDR consisting of two equity shares) through an international offering in US dollars. The stock closed at Rs. 312 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on May 2.

The filing of requisite application for the NYSE listing comes amid apprehensions that several Indian companies, including MTNL, which are waiting on the lines to get their stocks listed on the NYSE or the technology-heavy Nasdaq may delay their plans as the bourses have taken heavy beating recently. The impact of the same has been felt on the Indian bourses as well.

The company has announced plans for the introduction of GSM-based cellular mobile services in Delhi and Mumbai by the end of June. In the first year, there will be capacity to provide 100,000 connections each in Delhi and Mumbai and will experience an expansion program of four lakh lines in each city in the subsequent two year from June, 2000. The letter of intent for the design, supply and installation of GSM-based equipment has been placed on ITI Ltd.
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Voltas offers new VRS option
Mumbai : In its continued bid to rationalize its workforce, Voltas Ltd has introduced a voluntary retirement scheme called Early Separation Scheme 2000 (ESS) for its employees, under which, the company will pay the general staff every month 75 per cent of the April salary (basic salary plus dearness allowance) till the date of actual retirement or for a maximum period of 10 years. The scheme, which is open till May 20.

Staff will be given post-dated cheques at the beginning of each financial year, i.e., before April 10 every year.

A company release said that the company may also consider proposals from small groups of employees to set up enterprises by offering engineering equipment and technical assistance.
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Baron, TCL to set up production venture
New Delhi : The Mulchandanis-promoted Baron group – better known for its aggressive campaigns for its partner, Aiwa -- is setting up a $28-million joint venture marketing and distribution company with China's TCL Holdings, in which Baron will hold 49 per cent of the equity capital, while TCL will hold the remaining 51 per cent..

The new company, to be called TCL Baron Electronics Ltd, will locate a manufacturing facility in the western parts of the country to manufacture CTVs, cellphones and other consumer electronics items.

Currently, TCL-branded colour televisions are being sold by Baron International through an exclusive marketing arrangement. The products are being assembled through OEM deals in the country.
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Daikin to make Siel’s plant base for commercial refrigerators
New Delhi : Daikin Shriram Air-conditioning Pvt Ltd -- a joint venture between the Siel group with 20 per cent and the Japan-based Daikin Company with 80 per cent -- is set to take over the existing air-conditioning manufacturing plant of Siel Aircon, and make it a source for the Daikin and National brands of commercial refrigerators. Initially the company will continue to manufacture the existing range of window ACs under the Shriram brand name. But there is a possibility the brand may be discontinued after three years.

While the first batch of Daikin ACs comprising commercial ACs and wall-mounted split ACs, will be launched in September this year, water chillers -- an existing product under the Shriram portfolio -- will continued to be manufactured for the domestic market. They will also be exported to neighbouring countries under the Daikin brand name.

To begin with, Daikin will be assembling its commercial refrigeration products having only around 25 per cent localisation content at the Indian plant, gradually increasing it to 90 per cent within three-four years, according to Mr. N. Inoue, President, Daikin Industries Ltd, Japan.

Mr. Inoue said he expected the Indian market to shift from being primarily a window AC market to a split AC market within a few years. Daikin, the second largest manufacturer of ACs in the world, is going ahead with its plan to outdo market leader, Carrier by 2005.
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Gillette to hike ISPL stake to 72%
New Delhi : After the completion of restructuring of Indian Shaving Products Ltd (ISPL), by September this year, US-based Gillette Corporation expects to increase its stake in its subsidiary, from the present 52 per cent to 72 per cent.

ISPL has already obtained shareholder approval for merging two other Gillette group companies — Duracell India and Wilkinson Swords — with itself and the proposal is pending approval from the court. Gillette Corporation also plans to bring in an investment of at least $10 million into its subsidiary, Duracell India, over the next one year to upgrade manufacturing facility at Manesar. The proposed $10 million investment in Duracell India would be in addition to the Rs 100 crore already pumped in.

Gillette Corporation holds 85 per cent and 100 per cent equity stake respectively in Duracell India and Wilkinson Swords. The parent company’s effective holding in Indian operations would become 72 per cent after the restructuring gets over.

The proposed restructuring would bring about sales force rationalisation. The company would now employ common sales force for selling both shaving products and batteries.

Meanwhile, Duracell India yesterday announced the launch of another alkaline battery — Duracell Ultra. The company claims that it has grabbed a market share of 47 per cent in the alkaline battery segment in India, followed by Energiser (28 per cent) and BPL (25 per cent). Duracell has been growing at the rate of 33 per cent for the last three years, Duracell India regional business director Ranu Kawatra said here yesterday.
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HCL Infosystems arm in pact with RightWorks
New Delhi : Technology integration company, HCL Infosystems, today announced that its US subsidiary, Infosystems America Inc, has signed a partnership agreement with RightWorks Corporation, a leading provider of business-to-business exchange software, for powering digital marketplaces.

Under the partnership, Infosystems America will contribute to RightWorks product development efforts.

Infosystems America will provide an offshore team of consultants to staff the RightWorks Technology Centre, which will be situated at HCL Infosystem’s India Development Centre at Chennai.

In addition to the development effort, the two companies announced that they also intend to partner in the areas of customer support and professional services worldwide. Besides the development project, the two companies envisage a long-term vision for the relationship to span over many years.

Founded in 1996, RightWorks is the leading provider of e-procurement software for powering the B2B exchanges that lie at the heart of digital marketplaces across the Internet.

RightWorks offers a range of capabilities being adopted by vertical and corporate market makers as well as corporations implementing e-procurement solutions - all of which are available as in-house or hosted solutions.

RightWorks 5, the latest release of the company's flagship product, is designed to take advantage of the dynamic and distributed nature of the Internet.
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Tisco seeks Steel Fund loan waiver
Calcutta : The Tata Iron and Steel Co Ltd has made a formal request to the Union steel secretary Ashok Basu for the waiver of its Steel Development Fund loan, in keeping with the treatment given to other steel companies which have received the benefit of the loan waiver. The company has made this request since the last three years have been difficult for Tata Steel and the company believes that they have reasonable grounds for asking for this benefit. Like other companies, who availed of the loan, Tata Steel has also spent the money on modernisation and helping ailing subsidiaries like Tinplate Company of India Ltd.

The company has also expressed its willingness to continue paying the Rs 1 crore per month interest, as stipulated by the fund’s managing committee. Tata Steel’s loan plus funded interest amounts to Rs 1,250 crore.

Tata Steel forwarded a letter to this effect, to the steel secretary in mid-April. Steel ministry sources said Tata group chairman Ratan Tata was in Delhi around the same time and met the Union minister for steel Dilip Ray and the secretary to take up the issue of the loan.
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US company launches competency centre in Hyderabad
Hyderabad : eComServer India, a wholly owned subsidiary of eComServer Inc USA, launched its high end e-commerce technology competency centre — eComXperts — to provide training on techniques for delivery of software products based on Rational’s standards including the Rational unified process. Rational Software Corporation is the authorised training partner of eComServer in India.

The training programs are said to be designed to suit professionals as well as beginners with methodologies that meet specific IT needs for e-commerce implementation. The company plans to take its training programs to all major cities in the country.

eComServer, one of the world’s leading players in B2B eCommerce, has partnered with iPlanet, WebMethods, BEA WebLogic, Oracle Corporation, ODI and Lucent Technologies to develop solutions in areas of portals, telecommunications and networking. eComServer Inc has already made an investment of $7-8 million in its US operations and another tranche of $8 million is expected to be invested by venture capital funds by July this year.
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Surana to go for backward integration via acquisitions
Hyderabad: By making a proposal to IDBI for the take over of Arihant Optics, Hyderabad-based, Surana Telecom has signalled its plans to effect backward integration through the acquisition route for producing optic fibre, a basic raw material that would enable it to manufacture its finished product — optic fibre cables. The proposal envisages a one-time settlement to IDBI for acquiring Arihant at a cost of Rs. 9 crore.

While Surana had earlier plans to set up its own optic fibre unit with a per annum capacity of about two lakh kilometre, it decided against doing so since Arihant Optics has infrastructure for manufacturing optic fibre, with a capacity to manufacture about a lakh kilometre of optic fibre per year. Hence, the company decided to take over the existing unit rather than setting up a new unit.

The telecom industry is anticipating a spurt in demand for optic fibre cables, as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recently called for unlimited competition in the domestic long distance telephony.
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Broadcom enters optical market with low-cost chip
Los Angeles : Irvine, California-based, Broadcom Inc., a leading maker of semiconductors used in high-speed internet access devices, said on Tuesday, that it was entering the white-hot market for optical networking with a new low-cost chip. This move would signal its entry into the only area of high-speed, multimedia broadband communications, that the company has not yet entered – optical networking.

For consumers, the development of low-cost, optical wide area networks should speed the delivery of so-called virtual private networks that would let users open windows on their televisions and access company computer networks securely from their living rooms.

This would provide consumers with great facilities that would enable them, for instance, to have a baseball game where you watch different angles.
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