Orange-BPL: the biggest cellular provider in India?
Mumbai: Will BPL Telecom put a spoke in the wheel of Hutchinson Max, which has recently spent huge amounts building up the Orange brand? Possible, considering that the two companies are archrivals in the marketplace. But global forces may just ensure that this becomes reality.

The push towards this may come from the $45.9 billion offer made by France Telecom for the takeover of the British cellular brand, Orange. Orange, originally owned by Hutchinson was sold to the German company, Mannessman, which was recently acquired by Vodafone. As part of this acquisition deal, the company has decided to hive off Orange to the best buyer. This is where France Telecom’s offer comes in.

Further, France Telecom holds a 10 per cent stake in BPL Cellular, where it is widely regarded as a sleeping partner.

During its sale of Orange, Hutchinson had retained the licence to use the Orange brand name. But informed sources in the know say the agreement is "not watertight" in India. While Orange had entered into equity-sharing contracts with mobile phone operators in some countries, that is not the case here.

So the possibility of BPL Cellular walking away with the Orange brand in India after Hutchinson Max has done all the hard work, is a grim reality for Orange. Theoretically, at least, there appears to be nothing to stop it from doing so. Having spent much time and money on building Mobile as a brand, industry observers say BPL may persist with Mobile as the mother brand, but could try using Orange as a sub-brand to create complications for its rival.
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VSNL lures new customers with offers of free Net surfing at night
Mumbai: As the ISP war hots up in the country, the country’s largest, and till now the monopoly, service provider, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) is, in a desperate bid to wean potential subscribers, offering a three-year free night surfing and a 50 per cent discount on the internet tariff package for those subscribing between June 1 and July 31.

VSNL’s move comes on the heels of similar tariff cuts by Satyamonline and Bharti BT. Satyam has announced a monthly tariff of Rs 299. VSNL director (operations) Amitabh Kumar declined to comment.

The new package is due to be announced on May 31 and would be open for fresh subscribers for the two months ending July 31. VSNL’s idea was to wean away potential subscribers from going to the smaller private ISPs on the sole consideration of tariff. Even though this may mean a cut in the profitability in the short term, the company believes that in the long term, this is a beneficial move.

Some private sector ISPs have now come close to getting their own gateways in place and once this happens VSNL could face stiffer competition. VSNL has a subscriber base of more than 3 lakh customers but other private players like Satyam have been closing in.
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Mahindras’ to hike stake in Gujarat Tractors to 60%
Mumbai: Automobile and farm equipment major, Mahindra & Mahindra, is said to be planning to increase its stake in Gujarat Tractors Corporation to 60 per cent from its current 51 per cent. It is also acquiring 30-50 acres to set up a new plant at a total cost of Rs 25-30 crore. This new plant, to be set up near the GTCL plant, is expected to help M&M supplement its product range as GTCL makes tractors in the higher range of upto 80 hp.

M&M had acquired the 51 per cent stake in GTCL only a few months ago at a cost of around Rs 20 crore.

According to Mr. K. J. Davasia, executive director and president of the farm equipment sector of M&M, while the existing plant at Vadodara is being streamlined, the new plant, which will have a capacity of 5,000 tractors, will be fully operational in two years. This forms part of M&M’s overall strategy to have a stake in the Gujarat market.

Meanwhile, M&M is striking a product development tie-up with the Korean tractor major, Tong Yang, to develop tractors in the 65-100 hp range. M&M sources tractors made by the Korean major and sells them around the world under the M&M brand name. The strategic alliance helps M&M to buy high hp, premium range tractors for the US market.

M&M, which is currently among the top five tractor manufacturers in the world, plans to be the world’s largest tractor manufacturer by 2005. M&M has two manufacturing facilities in Mumbai and Nagpur. The company set up its first satellite plant to assemble tractors at Rudrapur in UP.
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Manikgarh cement unit put on the block by Century
Mumbai: The flagship company of the BK Birla group, Century Textiles & Industries, informed stock exchanges that it was planning to sell its 1.2-m-tonne cement plant located at Manikgarh in eastern Maharashtra. The Rs 1,925-crore Century Textiles said its board of directors had decided, in consultation with investment banker ICICI Securities that the unit was being sold as a measure of restructuring the company’s business at present.

The notice also stated that the board has already formed a committee of directors to finalise the plan in consultation with I-Sec. At the going rate of $80-90 per tonne of installed capacity, Century is expected to realise a minimum of Rs 400-500 crore from the sale of the Manikgarh plant.

Century will also sell its 50-MW captive power plant. The company has a total of four cement plants at three locations with a combined capacity of 4.7 mtpa.

While the company has diversified interests like cement, textiles and paper, cement accounts for around 37 per cent of total sales. Century sells its cement under the brand names Vishwakarma, Vajrashakti, Manikgarh and Birla Gold.

While cement realisations were higher during the year, the overall performance was affected due to higher cost of inputs like coal and power.
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BSES in discussions with railways for supply of power via a JV
New Delhi: Power distribution company, BSES Limited, which was recently in the news for the open offer the Reliance group made for it, is said to be in talks with the railway ministry for setting up a joint venture power generation company exclusively for power supply to the railways.

The company made a presentation to the Railway Board last week for setting up a JV company with equity contribution from the railways and BSES. Rest of the project is to be funded by debt. It is expected that this initiative will reduce the cost of electricity for the railways by half.

The move has been necessitated as the cost of buying power from the state electricity boards (SEBs) is at a high Rs 5 per kwh for the railways as against the rate of around Rs 2.5 per kwh at which BSES is expected to supply power to the railways. However, the exact cost of power purchased from BSES will be known only after details asked for by the railway ministry are submitted, sources said.

This initiative can go through only if there is an enabling provision inserted in the Electricity Bill that makes it mandatory for SEBs to wheel power produced by a party other than the SEB through its existing lines. This would help the JV reduce its cost since it would not have to spend on laying transmission and distribution networks.

The arrangement would be the first of its kind, as currently railways gets its power supply exclusively from SEBs which also wheel power from the point of generation to the point of use.

The railways have also initiated talks with National Thermal Power Corporation for setting up a JV for captive generation of power. The railways are considering the possibility of buying power directly from the IPPs.
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Murugappa and Cadilla Pharma enter into marketing pact
Chennai: The newly created Parry Nutraceuticals Ltd, part of the restructured Murugappa group, has entered into a marketing alliance with Cadilla Pharmaceuticals for marketing the latter’s Nature Way range of products in South India.

Nature Way is an American company dealing in dietary supplements, some of whose products are produced in India by Cadilla under a license.

Parry Nutraceuticals will also take over the Dunaliella Mixed Carotenoids (natural Beta Carotene) business from Parry Agro Ltd and Spirulina business from New Ambadi Estates Ltd. Both Parry Agro and New Ambadi are Murugappa group companies, but New Ambadi is closely held.

Company officials are confident that its natural beta carotene will sell well. Beta carotene is described as ``a powerful anti-oxidant'', which protects the body cells against degenerative diseases such as cancer, arthritis, diabetes and other cardio-vascular ailments.
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New 4-stroke CNG auto launched by Bajaj Auto
New Delhi: In its continuing drive to help alleviate the pollution problem, India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL), today launched its indigenous, emission-friendly autorickshaw with a four-stroke compressed natural gas (CNG) engine.

Attractively priced at Rs. 73,215 plus local taxes as applicable in Delhi, the CNG autorickshaws are powered by a 175cc four-stroke single overhead camshaft (OHC) engine. The autorickshaw, which BAL claims to be the first of its kind in the world, meets the stringent India 2000 emission norms.

The chief minister of Delhi, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, flagged off the first lot of 101 such autorickshaws.

According to Mr. Madhur Bajaj, executive director, BAL, the company has been continuously working on developing environment-friendly vehicles in its research and development facilities. The four-stroke CNG vehicle is one of the options that the company has been toiling with and work on other alternative fuel technologies is also on, company officials said.
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Ranbaxy finalises ESOP
New Delhi: India’s foremost pharma company, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, which had earlier announced an employee stock option plan (ESOP), today announced that it has finalised the details plan under which 25 lakh equity shares will be offered to the permanent management employees and working directors of the company and its subsidiaries.

The shares under ESOP will be offered at the average of the daily closing prices of the company's scrip at the National Stock Exchange for a period of 26 weeks preceding the date of grant of options. The maximum number of stock options that would be granted to employees under the scheme will not exceed 25,000 in a year.

The scheme also excludes an employee, who is a promoter or belongs to the promoter group, and a director who either by himself or through a relative/any body corporate, holds directly or indirectly more than 10 per cent of the outstanding equity shares of the company.

As per the plan, the options granted shall be exercisable till expiry of 10 years from the date of their grant. The vesting period shall commence on the expiry of one year from the date of grant of these options and the vesting shall be completed in five equal installments over a period of five years.

The company has made a special provision for vesting of options in case of retirement, death and total permanent disability of an employee. In case an employee resigns, the exercise period for all accumulated options shall expire at the end of 90 days from the date of cessation of employment.
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Ranbaxy and Cigna to form healthcare insurance JV
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories and US-based Cigna Corporation, a leading healthcare insurance company, will enter into a joint venture to offer healthcare insurance in India. It is said that Ranbaxy's stake in the venture will be 76 per cent, while Signa will hold the balance. This was announced by Mr. Malvinder Mohan Singh, general manager, market development who also said that if required the company might look for a domestic ally as a third partner to the venture.

Initial investment in the venture will not exceed Rs 100 crore, a minimum sum required to set up healthcare insurance company in the country.

Ranbaxy's recently launched venture, Fortis Healthcare Ltd, is also setting up its first project, a Fortis Heart Institute at Mohali in Chandigarh, for Rs 155 crore. Specialising in integrated healthcare delivery, Fortis Healthcare was floated by Dr. Parvinder Singh and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS).

According to senior officials of the company, the project should break even in the third year, and also plans to set up a network of super specialty healthcare delivery centres in northwest India over the next 10 years.
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