Birla brothers join hands to hawk cement units
Calcutta: In a report appearing in the Economic Times, the three Birla brothers -- Basant Kumar, Chandrakant and Sudarshan – are reportedly coming together to put some of their largest cement capacities on the block.

The report states that the Birls brothers, assisted by intermediary I-Sec, are in talks with some foreign companies for selling off their combined 9.5 million tons under their various companies.

The report talks about the biggest of big names in the global cement industry -- Cemex SA De CV of Mexico, German firms Hiedelberger Zement and Dyckerhoff, Blue Circle Industries and Ital Cementi – being in the fray. These global giants are only scouting for large capacities whereas the Indian industry is still largely fragmented.

The Birlas' decision to sell off some significant part of their cement capacities jointly is therefore the appropriate thing to do under the circumstances. It is understood that after the deal is through, the proceeds will be divided among the three groups on the basis of the per-million tonne divested by each of them.
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August launch for Microsoft launch major server product in India
Calcutta: Despite being embattled with a series of lawsuits against it and the threat of a break-up, US-based software giant, Microsoft Corporation, is on schedule with its launch program for its maiden server product aimed at the jumbo enterprise space. Christened Windows 2000 Datacenter Sever, it is being touted as the most powerful and functional server operating system to roll out of the Microsoft stable.

The product will hit the Indian shores by mid-August once the pricing structure is formalised. This product is being seen as Microsoft's bid to straddle the traditionally unexplored high-end mainframe market. According to Sanjay Mirchandani, managing director of Microsoft India, the company is very bullish on the success of the Datacenter server round the world.

This product also represents a maiden grand industry partnership, since the company has teamed up with the world's leading server makers like IBM, Unisys, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Hewlett-Packard to develop the `datacenter package' for large enterprise customers with mission-critical and large-scale server needs.

Systems testing will be particularly rigorous. All servers qualified to run the Windows 2000 Datacenter server operating system will undergo extra-testing and a configuration control that includes a mandatory 30-day stress test. In addition, any changes to the hardware or system kernel components, service packs and operating system updates will entail a seven-day rest of the server configuration.

The product will typically facilitate large data warehousing, econometric analyses, mega simulations in science/engineering, online transactions processing and server consolidation ventures.

In India, the product is likely to find immediate takers in the electronic banking fraternity, e-commerce companies and the scientific establishment.
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Leela group plans copters for tourists
Panaji: As a means of adding value to tourism in Goa, the Leela group of hotels has forwarded a proposal to the minister of tourism, seeking permission to start a helicopter service from Leela Palace resort in Mobor in South Goa to Humpy, Vijaynagar in Karnataka for the tourists.

The chairman of the group, Capt. Nair, while complimenting the Goa government for its decision to accord status of industry to tourism, lamented that the state lost out on a big opportunity to attract American tourists by failing to get US President Bill Clinton to visit Goa.

The chairman also spoke about the details of the group’s property at Goa, the Leela Beach, where Ayurvedic body massages were introduced recently. Six professional masseurs give Ayurvedic Panchakarma therapies as well as special Ayurvedic treatment procedures from Kerala like Pizhichil (medicated oil bath) used for treatment of rheumatic illness and diseases of old age, Sirodhara which helps insomnia and headaches, Udwarthanam (powder massage) which helps obesity, Podikkishi which helps to ease lower backache, cervical spondylosis and rheumatoid arthritis, etc.

On Leela groups' future plans, he indicated that he may go in for a luxury resort at Bekal in Kerala where the state government has offered him 1500 acres of land. The group, he said was poised to introduce seven star luxury hotel concept in India in collaboration with Kempinski at the two properties at Banglore and Udaipur.
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Bajaj Electricals signs MoU with China's GD Midea
Mumbai: At a function held to commemorate the visit of Mr. Lu Ruihua, Governor of Guangdong province, China, Mr. Ramakrishnan, president of Bajaj Electricals, today signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese consumer durables major GD Midea Holding Co Ltd. The two companies have tied-up together to manufacture BajajMidea fans.

Midea, based in China's Guangdong province, is the world's largest fan and rice cooker manufacturers and China's second largest airconditioner producer with exports spanning over 50 countries.

Bajaj also has tie-ups with Philips, the Holland-based company, for its manufacturing facility in Uttar Pradesh, Hind Lamps Ltd, and a joint venture with Strix, US, to produce electric kettles.
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Bombay Dyeing likely to set up shop at STPI
Hyderabad: According to Mr. Vijay Kumar, the director of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), the Nusli Wadia-owned Bombay Dyeing has evinced keen interest in kicking off its foray into software development from Cyberabad.

Apparently, Mr. Nusli Wadia himself made a very low key trip to Hyderabad to asses the place and has almost decided to set up shop here. Other prominent players who have agreed to set up shop at the park are PeopleSoft and Deloitte Consulting. The company has already applied for a 1 Mb capacity link to be installed by May 15 and is talking of scaling up operations up to 2000 people by the end of year 2001, the STP director informed.
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Ad giant likely to be created as WPP resumes talks with Y&R
London: In what could create the world’s largest advertising company, UK-based advertising giant WPP Group Plc said on Friday it had resumed talks with US rival Young & Rubicam Inc about a possible merger. Y&R is already said to be in talks with French advertising group, Publicis, for a possible merger.

Talks between WPP and Y&R broke down last Saturday because they could not reach an agreement on several last-minute issues raised in the final stages of the original negotiations.

The breakdown, which cleared the way for the French group, came only two days after the WPP and Y&R confirmed weeks of speculation that they were in talks, and had been for several months.

Publicis, which emerged as a potential suitor in late April, said on Tuesday it was studying opportunities with Y&R, adding that a takeover deal was not imminent.
But WPP, which took both Ogilvy and Mather and J Walter Thompson by force in the late 1980s, has returned to the bargaining table with New York-based Y&R — the seventh-largest advertising company in terms of income.
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