Arzoo.com closes down
Mumbai—Sabeer Bhatia's post-Hotmail venture, Arzoo.com has become another casualty of the downturn in the US economy and the online IT service company has died before it was born.
Bhatia envisaged Arzoo to be a real-time online troubleshooting site, and was targeted at corporations worldwide who wished to seek instant answers to pressing technical problems, and to provide online problem-solving assistance for engineering and information technology applications.
Bhatia had a 70 per cent equity stake in Arzoo, while Softbank of Japan and another investment bank hold the rest. Bhatia's brother-in-law Rajiv Grover (a professor of marketing at University of Georgia) was also involved in the venture, it is learnt.
The business plan involved marketing Arzoo as a technology platform that could serve millions of Internet users simultaneously.
The company charged a monthly fee ranging from $5000 to $1,00,000 to corporate customers. Solutions to queries were to be delivered through the web or through live chat by experts, for fees ranging from $50 to $500.
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TCS, Karthika Tech tie-up
New York-- Tata Consultancy Services, TCS, and Canada-based Karthika Technologies, an emerging encryption company, are entering into a "strategic partnership."
A company official at TCS said that the partnership will enable TCS to implement high-level cryptographic tools to provide its clients with the best security practices and risk management strategies.
Elliptic curve cryptography is an advanced encryption algorithm used in smartcards, virtual private networks and where high-level security is essential, a release announcing the partnership said.
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MTNL ready to execute CDMA-WLL service
Singapore—Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) is ready to execute its CDMA-WLL service in Delhi soon with lower rental rates at Rs 400 as against those fixed by the Trai.
Said KH Khan, chief general manager, MTNL, Delhi, "We have already set up the main switch in Nehru Place and 30 other stations in the NCT region."
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Ericsson centre at TCS established
Hyderabad—The Ericsson centre at the Tata Consultancy Services facility has been inaugurated by Inge S Garshol, director (India), Ericsson Software Research & Development Centre.
Ericsson plans to outsource TCS' expertise in the telecom domain for high-end solutions in areas like digital switching, wireless networks, access networks, mobile computing, intelligent networks and OSS. The centre will support Ericsson customers across the world.
TCS is currently working with Ericsson in Sweden and Australia to develop core switching products and other high-end systems.

According to Garshol, "Ericsson is committed to provide high-end telecom solutions in India. Our strategy is to build our own design centres here and also partner with leading Indian companies and universities to strengthen our research for india's IT and software competence."
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After a rough ride, Telco goes back to school
Mumbai—Tata Engineering is targeting schools to increase sales of its buses. It has launched a countrywide campaign using direct marketing agencies in order to do this.

Sales to this segment have remained flat for several years.
The company has mailed a detailed brochure -- featuring an essay penned by a 10-year old student on his liking for his yellow Tata school bus -- to over 5,000 schools in the country and has roped in the services of two leading direct marketing companies, one in Mumbai and the other in New Delhi, to make use of their extensive database.
Telco executive director Ravi Kant said his company had embarked on an aggressive course of action to increase marketshare in the bus segment, which had remained flat at just over 50 per cent.
During the last financial year, Telco sold 25,660 buses as against 25,000 units sold during the previous year. For Telco, strengthening its presence in the bus segment has become vital, as rival Ashok Leyland has been consolidating its position in the south -- the only robust market for buses.
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Godrej-GE takes Amtrex to court
Ahmedabad—In a counter suit Godrej-GE has taken Amtrex Hitachi Appliances (AHAL) to court over the dispute over air-conditioner grill design between the two.

The Gujarat high court recently admitted a cancellation petition filed by the Godrej-GE Appliances seeking the cancellation of the air-conditioner grill design originally registered by AHAL.
Godrej-GE in its petition challenges the validity of the registration of the air-conditioner grill designs by AHAL under the Design's act and says that the design is not novel and is used by several air-conditioner manufacturers in India and abroad. Godrej-GE has demanded that the registration of the design must be cancelled since it is not an original creation of the company and was used even prior to its registration.
AHAL, a joint venture between the Lalbhai group and Hitachi of Japan, had earlier filed a suit in the civil court against Godrej-GE for alleged imitation of the air-conditioner grill designs is already pending in the civil court. Godrej GE has now asked for a stay on the proceedings in the civil court.
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Essar ups capacity of HBI plant
Hazira—Essar Steel has increased the capacity of its hot briquetted iron (HBI) plant at Hazira in Gujarat, to 2.2 million tonnes from the previous 1.76 mt. This has been done through de-bottlenecking and process re-engineering without any additional investment.
According to Essar Steel director (operations) John C Parker, the de-bottlenecking exercise has cost the company just under $25 million (Rs 112 crore).

The HBI plant produces metallics used as feed for the company's steel plant that makes hot-rolled coils. With the availability of HBI, the company no longer has to depend on scrap as an input.
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Ranbaxy takes Wilmark to court over brandname
New Delhi-- Ranbaxy Laboratories, which manufactures analgesic 'Fortwin', has sued the Punjab-based Wilmark Pharmaceuticals in the Delhi High Court for producing and marketing a similar drug in the name of 'Fortwil'.
Giving an ex parte interim injunction in favour of Ranbaxy, the court asked Wilmark Pharmaceuticals to stop manufacturing its analgesic drug 'Fortwil' as it closely resembled Ranbaxy's drug.
The court also prohibited the Punjab-based company from using the carton, ampule, layout, colour scheme and get up which was identical with or deceptively similar to that of the Ranbaxy's 'Fortwin'.
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Goodyear launches tubeless tyres in India
Aurangabad—Goodyear India has launched its tubeless radial tyres. The company says it is the first in the country to offer a full tubeless tyre range for all types of cars manufactured in India.
Goodyear India sales and marketing director E Krishnaiah at the time of the launch said the tubeless tyres would be sold in its existing GPS-2 brand of car tyres as well the 'GT 770+', 'G-28' and 'Eagle NCT 3' brands.
The tyres would be manufactured at the South Asia Tyres plant here, a fully owned subsidiary of US-based Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.
Goodyear India, which has a manufacturing plant in Ballabhgarh (Haryana), is a 100 per cent arm of Goodyear US.
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Nokia India to establish software R&D operations in India
New Delhi—Nokia, the Finland-based mobile telephony major, is establishing its own software development, research and engineering operations in India to service the requirements of its worldwide group companies and the operations will be part of Nokia India.
Nokia India will also undertake wholesale marketing of high technology mobile phones and related accessories and would develop specialised after sales service operations as part of the software initiative. The new products to be introduced by the company in the Indian market include WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), GPRS (General Packet Relay Services) and third generation mobile phones.
The company’s proposal of setting up the software operations has recently been approved by the Ministry of Information Technology and the project has also received the clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
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Orchid Chemicals to foray in anti-AIDS drug segment
Chennai--Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, the Southern pharmaceutical major and one of the major bulk antibiotic drug manufacturers in the country, plans to foray into the booming anti-AIDS drug business by hitting the market with a cocktail of four to five bulk actives.

The company has already got the Drug Controller of India’s (DCI) approval for one of its anti-AIDS processes.
According to the deputy managing director of the company Dr CB Rao said Orchid’s the decision to make a foray into the anti-infective market is part of its strategy to move up the value chain by branching out to non-cephalosporin business, its core area of operation.

He said the company has already got the DCI approval for one of its processes, ‘Indinavir,’ one of the well-known medicines for the AIDS disease

Orchid has also developed different processes for two other drugs, Lamivudine and Ziduvodine, and is expecting the DCI approval for the same.
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Dabur Oncology bags UK MCA approval
New Delhi-- Dabur’s wholly owned subsidiary in the UK, Dabur Oncology Plc has obtained the preliminary UK Medical Certification Agency (MCA) approval to manufacture anti-cancer formulations.
The formulations will be marketed in Europe and commercial production is expected to commence by the end of this year.
Dabur Oncology Plc will focus on the manufacture of generic formulations alone and market them in Europe in the first phase.
The company plans to make inroads in the European market with generic formulations after which it would launch patented anti-cancer drugs in the market. The company is in advanced stage of developing five anti-cancer molecules.
One molecule is already in the phase-I of the clinical trial, whereas four other molecules are in the pre-clinical stage. The company is expecting that the commercial production of the new molecules is likely to take place in the next three-four years.
Dabur has established a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the UK with an investment of $16 million to manufacture its oncology products.
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