Kotak Mahindra gets IRDA nod for insurance venture
New Delhi: Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) has approved the proposal of Om Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Pvt Ltd. (OMKM) jointly promoted by Old Mutual Plc and Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. to conduct life insurance business in India. The company has launched its insurance venture with a paid up capital of Rs 150 crore as against stipulated requirement of Rs 100 crore

The company had applied for the license a couple of months back. With the IRDA approval the company plans to commence issuing policies in about a month. The OMKM venture will be headquartered in Mumbai and plans to open branches across the country in next couple of years. The joint venture partnership between Kotak Mahindra and Old Mutual Plc was signed in August 2000.
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Gesco to expand its tanker fleet
Mumbai: Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd. (Gesco) is expanding its tanker fleet with its decision to acquire three new Aframaxes (crude carriers) at a cost of around $ 114 million (Rs 525 crore). The new acquisition which will boost the tanker earnings of the company, forms part of Gesco's restructuring strategy of rebuilding tanker fleet by replacing older ships by younger ones.

Gesco, with its plans to aggressively enter liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation has also formed a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Exmar of Belgium to bid for the LNG transportation to Petronet’s storage and regasification terminals.

Within its shipping division, Gesco has two segments—dry bulk carriers (for the transportation of iron ore and steel products) and tankers which includes crude and gas carriers. The company is now focusing more on tankers rather than dry bulk carriers.
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Zydus Cadila in R&D tie-up with Pantheco
Mumbai: Zydus Cadila Healthcare has entered into a three-year research agreement with Pantheco, a Danish biotech firm. The agreement involves joint research on anti-bacterial compounds. Zydus says the agreement would increase its know-how in preclinical and clinical development within Europe and assist it in getting patented drugs developed worldwide.

Zydus will undertake the initial research, including chemistry and preliminary screening on anti-bacterial drug candidates (compounds that have the potential to become new drugs). Pantheco will take this research further by profiling the drug candidates and performing all the early tests on them. It will also carry out the pre-clinical and early clinical development studies. If the collaborative research efforts yield a successful compound, it would clear the hurdle of clinical trials -i.e. tests on human subjects. The future profits on the drug will be split evenly between the two firms.
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Manipal group plans Rs 200cr Tech Park
Bangalore: The Rs 2000-crore Manipal group is planning to set up Rs 200-crore software technology park (STP) in Bangalore in a bid to enter rapidly consolidate its operations in the infotech sector. The group already has two IT companies - Zeta Infotech and Zeta Cyber Solutions, in its fold and is involved in the core areas of education, healthcare and media.

The two companies are the first IT companies to be set up in Manipal. Zeta Infotech specialises in electronic design automation (EDA) applications area is moving vigorously into the chip design area. Zeta Cyber Solutions, provides end-to-end solutions to those working on the Web. The group is also planning to establish a marketing office in the UK apart from scouting for clients in Australia and the West Asia.
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Reliance Petroleum likely to step up Jamnagar capacity
New Delhi: Reliance Petroleum is reportedly planning to expand its Jamnagar refinery capacity from 27 to 30 million tonnes by April this year and up to 40.5 million tonnes by April 2001. The company also proposes to install an additional crude distillation unit to increase capacity to 40.5 million tonnes per annum by April 2002.

With the oil industry already saddled with surplus situation, the RPL's move to increase capacity has surprised market analysts, who nevertheless say RPL could export its own surplus products for the time being and use its expanded capacity to secure its long-term position in the refining sector.

Reliance Petroleum registered a net profit of Rs 726 crore on sales of Rs 14,308 crore for the six months ended September 30, 2000. Of these exports amounted to Rs 2,138 crore which makes RPL India’s largest manufacturer exporter.
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SEW Eurodrive to set up second plant in South
Chennai: SEW Eurodrive India Pvt Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of SEW Eurodrive, Germany, which manufactures gear boxes and gear motors is setting up its second assembling plant in the South. SEW Eurodrive plans to bring in DM 25-30 million by 2003 in investment, including the investment needed for setting up its second plant. Setting up of the plant itself is expected to involve an investment of around DM 10 million (approximately Rs 22 crore).

Mr P.K.C. Bose, managing director of SEW Eurodrive India Pvt Ltd. has said that Chennai is the most preferred location for setting up the assembling plant, after Bangalore. The decision on the final location is expected by March and the plant will be ready by the beginning of 2002. The second assembly plant is being planned to move manufacturing closer to the South, which accounts for over 25 per cent of growth in demand for Sew Eurodrive's products.
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SPIC sells its 50 per cent stake in PHI Seeds
Chennai: Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation Ltd. (SPIC) has sold its 50 per cent stake in the joint venture SPIC PHI Seeds Ltd., to its US-based partner- Pioneer Industries Corporation for a consideration of $17 million (Rs 78 crore). Pioneer will now fully own the operations of SPIC PHI Seeds Ltd.

The joint venture was set up in 1992 for producing seeds for a range of agri products such as corn, grain sorghum, sunflower, pearl millet, hybrid rice and mustard, from its two production centres in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Following the equity restructuring, Pioneer is shifting the company head office to Hyderabad from Chennai. Pioneer will however, continue to maintain its several business and research locations in India.
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Max India to hike its equity in HealthScribe
Bangalore: Max India has decided to hike its equity by 16 per cent in the Indian arm of the $22-million HealthScribe of the US, which pioneered the medical transcription business in India. Max India’s stake in HealthScribe India will now go up to 78 per cent. Max India will infuse $2 million into the equity capital in the second quarter, which will be used as working capital and invested in training of employees.

HealthScribe Inc’s move to offload further stake in the joint venture comes close on the heels of its decision to sell majority stake to Max India. Max India is a multi-business corporate group with interests in telecom services, electronic components, bulk pharmaceuticals and speciality plastics.
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