Boeing may enlarge model of 747
Seattle: Boeing said on Friday it may build a larger version of its 747-400 model for longer-distance flights.
The announcement was made after it cancelled plans earlier this month for the 747X, a new line of Super Jumbo jetliners.
The larger sized version of the current 747-400 would include only eight more seats than the existing 747-400, which seats about 416 people and would be able to fly 775 miles beyond the current range of about 8,400 miles, without affecting speed or cargo capacity. It would incorporate many features planned for the 747X design.
Boeing estimates that it would take five years to design, build and deliver the longer-range plane.
Industry insiders say that Boeing dropped the Super Jumbo jet because it does not want to directly compete with its chief rival, European consortium Airbus Industrie, and its planned A380, which can seat up to 550 people.
Back to News Review index page  

Politics hits Reliance Infocom’s plans in West Bengal
Kolkata: Reliance Infocom’s broadband plans for West Bengal-- read Kolkata--have been hit by politics.
The city-phase of the mega telecom infrastructure venture of the Ambanis may be caught in the state political crossfire ahead of next month’s assembly elections.
The Reliance Infocom project, which received a go-ahead from the West Bengal government in February to launch the project, now has been denied the crucial right-of-way clearance from the Trinamool Congress-controlled Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC). This makes it impossible for the Ambanis to lay the nearly 1,200 km of optic fibre cables in the city.
Sources at CMC say that it cannot take cannot take any decision now since there is a fair degree of ambiguity in the surface transport ministry’s guidelines on the ‘right of way issue’ "with regard to future telecom service providers."

Reliance officials declined to comment on the contentious issue. The Left Front government’s order to Reliance Infocom, makes it mandatory for the CMC and all local bodies to issue the RoW clearance to the company for laying optic fibre cables along the roads belonging to the state of West Bengal, without levying any additional charges. Reportedly CMC asked Reliance Infocom, to furnish a bank guarantee (with a one-year validity) that will be computed at Rs 25,000 per km to ensure proper restoration of the roads after laying the cables, which Reliance is said to have agreed to.

In the light of this, CMC’s latest observations regarding, "ambiguities in the MoST guidelines on the RoW issue," are suspicious say state government officials.
Even more so, since CMC had earlier agreed to expedite the RoW clearance to Reliance Infocom after its two successive meetings of the mayor-in council held on December 6 and 13, 2000, where the same MosT guidelines were duly considered at length. State government officials believe, "there is no ambiguity in the MoST guidelines on the RoW issue, especially since the state Cabinet has already approved the Rs 800-crore Reliance Infocom broadband venture across the state (including Kolkata) after examining all relevant conditions."
Back to News Review index page  

Sony’s Max to be group revenue driver
Mumbai: Sony Entertainment Television’s (SET) Max channel is set to be the key revenue driver of the Sony group of channels as it will be positioned as a premium Bollywood channel. As a launch bonanza, the channel will cast television first-runs of films titles like the Hrithik Roshan mega-hit ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’ and ‘Mission Kashmir’.
Ms Kakun Sethi, SET’s executive vice-president, said that the group’s strategy for Max is to position it as the revenue driver with a target of Rs 150-200 crore for the current financial year. Though the mainstream Sony Entertainment channel was growing satisfactorily, Max is expected to contribute three times the revenue from the Rs 60 crore earned by SET last year. This would make a huge difference to SET’s bottom line. SET’s advertising, subscription and distribution revenues had touched Rs 500 crore last year, she added.
SET Max also has other Bollywood-based programmes in its kitty, which promise Hindi movie fans a bonanza in viewing SET Max.
Back to News Review index page  

VSNL sell-off to be complete by July
New Delhi: The government has indicated that the disinvestment in Videsh Sanchar Nigam will in all probability be completed by July this year.Confidentiality agreements would be sent to the bidders next week.Said the disinvestment secretary, Pradeep Baijal, "we will try to complete the process by July,’’ after the meeting of inter-ministerial group (IMG) constituted for privatisation of VSNL.
Six companies - Reliance, Tata, Birla, Bharti-Singtel, BPL-Sterling and Videocon-Mitsubishi have submitted expressions of interest (EOI) for the 25 per cent stake of the company.
Enthused by the encouraging response to invitation for EOI for VSNL’s 25 per cent stake, the IMG decided to send the confidentiality agreement to the bidders by next week followed by memorandum of information later in the month, sources said.
Back to News Review index page  

BT may get to buy stakes in Japan Telecom’s mobile arms
Tokyo: The heavily indebted British Telecommunications (BT) got a bargain on Friday on options for stakes in Japan Telecom Co’s mobile operations.
Japan Telecom is the country’s third largest carrier and has issued options allowing BT to pay 68 billion yen for stakes of nearly five per cent in the three operating units of its wireless subsidiary, J-Phone Corp.
Analyst opine that, according to calculations the units were worth 1.4 trillion yen ($11.32 billion). With estimated revenues at about one trillion yen, from the business the deal is incredibly cheap.

Tadae Kataoka, a senior managing director at Japan Telecom, said the company agreed to the deal, which was under negotiation for a year-and-a half, to bolster its ties with BT.
"We’re currently operating JPhone in conjunction with BT and Vodafone, and we’d like maintain a good relationship with BT," he told the press.
Analysts also said the move may give Japan Telecom some leverage in its dealings with Vodafone Group Plc, which concluded a deal in February that will make it the carrier the largest shareholder.
BT and Vodafone both have a keen interest in Japan’s cutting edge wireless market, where high-speed third-generation mobile services are due for launch well ahead of the rest of the world.
The options, expiring on September 29 and are non-transferable, give BT some breathing space to clean up its balance sheet before it has to produce cash.

The beleaguered British carrier has been selling off assets as it seeks to pay down two-thirds of its 30 billion pounds ($43.16 billion) of debt by March 2002.
Back to News Review index page  

GAIL may buy 20 percent stake in BSES units
Baroda: Gas Authority of India Ltd is said to be in talks with the Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES) for a 20 per cent stake in its three different power projects.

According to H P Chandna, director (planning) GAIL said, GAIL is already in the gas supply business so a stake in a power company makes it a forward integration for GAIL. However Chandna, clarified that GAIL has no intention to be an operational partner in BSES or any other power projects, and will remain a silent partner in the projects.

The projects in which GAIL is vying for 20 per cent stakes are; Andhra pradesh Power, a 210 MW duel-fuel power project, coming up at Samalkot in Andhra Pradesh. With high amount of variations in naphtha prices, BSES has already requested the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas to allocate natural gas required to run the 210 MW project. GAIL’s participation in the project as equity holder would ensure supply of gas for the project.

For the BSES project in Gujarat, Chandna said GAIL would supply either natural gas or LNG, which would be brought in Gujarat by Petronet LNG through Dahej terminal.
Back to News Review index page  

Sterlite wants control of more PSUs
New Delhi: Sterlite Industries unfazed by the Balco fiasco, has said it would seek to buy a majority stake in more PSUs.
It had bid for three State-owned undertakings, including Hindustan Copper.

The company is also interested in taking a stake in Hindustan Cables in which the government wants to offload majority stake along with management control in favour of a strategic partner. ICICI Securities and Finance Company has been appointed as consultant for this purpose.

While saying that Sterlite was committed to growing itself in metals and cables business through the acquisition route, Sterlite chief Anil Agarwal said with the Bharat Aluminium Company experience behind it the company would look at a prior commitment from the Central government and would suggest to the government to incorporate safeguards in the future shareholders' agreement to protect investors.
Back to News Review index page  

Essar plans to put in $100m in offshore Mumbai oil fields
New Delhi: Essar Oil is planning to invest about $100 million in exploration and development of Ratna and R-Series oil and gas fields in offshore Mumbai.
Said SR Agrawal, executive director (exploration & production), Essar Oil said the company which has 50 per cent interest in the medium-size proven discovered field situated south of Bombay High basin, was talking to 3-4 bankers for financing its share of investment against securitising future receivables from the field.
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation holds 40 per cent in the joint venture, while Premier Oil of the UK, which is the operator of the field, has 10 per cent interest.
The estimated cost of development of the field over the next 30 months was about $300 million, Agrawal said, while peak-funding requirement would be around $200 million of which Essar’s share would be $100 million.
Revenues of Rs 1,000 crore are expected by the company, once the field has been optimised by 2003-end.
Back to News Review index page  

Glaxo, Burroughs merger in India stalled
Mumbai: The Glaxo and Burroughs Wellcome merger in India may be further delayed as the employees union of Burroughs Wellcome has approached the labour commissioner’s office against the proposed downward revision of wages.

The main reason the merger between the two did not go through in India like it did globally in 1995 was because of the wage differential between the two companies. Burroughs employees are and have always been better paid than those of Glaxo India.

The workers at the Burroughs unit were unwilling to accept Glaxo’s payscales though the management had proposed a one-time compensation.

Currently, the Burroughs unit, with its 500 workers, makes old brands like Septran and Neosporine, and is seen as financially unviable by the management.

Meanwhile, the boards of Glaxo India and SmithKline Beecham have recently approved a scheme of amalgamation.
Back to News Review index page  

Pfizer to venture into 2 veterinary lines
Mumbai: Animal vaccine and nutritional products are the new product lines Pfizer India is planning to venture into.

According to the latest annual report of the company, "Pfizer's animal health division has plans to make a foray into the companion animal business during the year through companion animal vaccines and nutritional products."

At the same time, the report said, the animal health division will continue to focus on the poultry and large animal segments.

The main propeller of growth for the year 2000 was the poultry business, driven primarily by feed supplements.

The size if the animal health market is estimated to be around Rs 800 crore in India with the poultry sector contributing 45 per cent, the cattle and sheep around 50 per cent and the companion animal business around 5 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

IOC on look out for exploration opportunities abroad
Mumbai: In a bid to change itself into an integrated oil company Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is looking out for upstream exploration operations overseas.

In what is understood to be a preparatory move for post April 2002 regime, when the petroleum sector in the country will be completely deregulated the, the company is looking at acquiring oil fields outside the country.

It is eyeing close to a dozen overseas upstream projects, including one in Kuwait.

O N Marwaha, director (marketing) IOC said, "We are diversified in upstream activities. In more than a dozen projects, we are negotiating in the international markets. We are looking at middle east countries, including Kuwait."

Oil and gas analysts here have said that the company's approach is in line with international oil companies, which have a presence in both the downstream and upstream activities.
Back to News Review index page  

Decision on BPCL’s stake in Bina refinery soon
New Delhi: A decision on Bharat Petroleum Corporation’s (BPCL) stake in the Bina refinery project is expected soon. BPCL wants to increase its stake in the refinery in Madhya Pradesh from 26 per cent to 50 per cent.

The ministry for petroleum and natural gas has proposed to the Cabinet that BPCL's equity in the Bina refinery project be raised following the decision of the Oman Oil Company (OOC) to reduce its stake from 26 per cent to 3-4 per cent.

The Rs 6,562-crore refinery project with a six million tonnes per annum capacity was initially conceived as a joint venture to be implemented between BPCL and OOC.

Both BPCL and OOC were proposed to hold 26 per cent equity each in the project. However later, the Oman Oil Company decided to limit its participation in the project to a mere 3-4 per cent.

The petroleum ministry has decided that while BPCL would have 50 per cent equity in the project and OOC 3-4 per cent, the balance would be offered to the public, financial institutions and banks.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Steel, L&T making exploratory moves in Saudi Arabia
Mumbai: Indian companies are more and more venturing abroad in search of greener pastures. Now domestic steel major, Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd and engineering giant major Larsen and Toubro Ltd are said to be exploring business opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

This follows the trade enquiries received from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in the area of iron and steel, petrochemicals, oil exploration and supply of gas related services, feed and fertiliser, organic farming and recycling of waste products.

CII is also organizing a trade delegation visit to Saudi Arabia in the coming week when Tata Steel is likely to have wide range of trade discussions with Saudi Steel major Zamil group, Bemco group and Saudi Iron and Steel Company, managed by the Hadeed group.

During this visit, the company will be looking not only at joint ventures but also business alliances in the form of offering consultancy in technical expertise, project export development, material supply and product development among others.
Meanwhile, L&T, who is also looking forward to providing consultancy services, has plans to hold discussions with various power companies as Saudi Arabia has embarked on a major expansion in the power sector. Besides power, L&T is understood to be interested in other sectors like coating processing plants, and oil exploration and supply of gas related services. This is because L&T possesses expertise in the areas of engineering & infrastructure related services, which will be of tremendous importance to Saudi Arabia.

According to industry sources, Saudi Arabia has been identified as a major investment destination for both private and public companies post the efforts put by the the foreign ministry towards building up of healthy trade and diplomatic relations.
Back to News Review index page