ONGC to bring in foreign partner for MRPL's mega expansion
New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is planning to bring in a foreign partner for Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL). ONGC is in discussions with leading oil companies like Saudi Aramco, Lukeoil and Rosneft and the foreign partner will be brought in when MRPL doubles its capacity from 15 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 30 mtpa.

MRPL's rated capacity is 9.69 mtpa but the refinery produces nearly 12 mtpa at 120 per cent capacity utilisation. Debottlenecking will increase its production to 15 mtpa. In a detailed presentation to the nodal ministry, ONGC has stated that the refining capacity of MRPL will be enhanced to 15 mtpa in the first phase and to 30 mtpa in Phase-II.

The prospects of ONGC going ahead with Saudi Aramco for a partnership in MRPL were higher as compared to any other company.

ONGC recently concluded a deal with Saudi Aramco for importing 2.5 mtpa of Arab mix crude oil and plans to increase imports under the term contract for 2005-06 to 3 mtpa. Saudi Aramco is the world's single-largest oil producer.
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Taj group to roll out 10 more IndiOne hotels
Bangalore: The Taj Group of hotels is planning to set up 10 more hotels under the IndiOne brand across key destinations in the country.

The new properties in seven states will come up in 2005-06 at an investment of Rs10 crore f each. Launched in June last year, IndiOne Bangalore has achieved an average occupancy of over 85 per cent.

IndiOne will be coming up at Pune, Nasik, Mysore, Hardwar, Panaji, Bhubhaneshwar, Varanasi, Trivandrum, Jamshedpur and Durgapur with 100 rooms in two years. The second phase would consist of 200 room hotels. The unique proposition of the upcoming hotels is that all of them will be identical in terms of structure, design and interiors.

The 'smart basics hotels', as the company has named this venture, is operated under Roots Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which also owns the Taj Group.
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German truck company major MAN may acquire up to 14 percent in Bajaj Tempo
Mumbai: MAN AG - Europe's third-largest truck maker - is looking at acquiring a 10 per cent to 14 per cent strategic equity stake in the Firodia-controlled Bajaj Tempo.

Munich-based MAN has a technical collaboration with Bajaj Tempo for the latter's foray into the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment.

Sources say, Bajaj Tempo will issue shares to MAN AG through the preferential allotment route in the next few weeks in which case the equity stake of the promoters - who own over 50 per cent stake - along with friends and relatives, will decline, along with Bajaj Auto, which owns 24 per cent in the erstwhile joint venture.
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DoT suspends Data Access licence
New Delhi: The Government has issued a show cause notice to ISD service provider Data Access for its failure to pay levies to various access providers like BSNL and MTNL which amounts to violation of license.

The show-cause notice was served by Department of Telecom (DoT) saying "whereas complaints have been received that M/s Data Access (India) Ltd has failed to pay the prescribed access charges to various Access Providers for termination of calls.

"And such non-payment affects the viability of other operators and is against proper conduct of telegraphs," DoT said in the notice.

Data Access owes Rs225 crore to BSNL and Rs3 crore to MTNL. Both the PSUs have raised the issue of bouncing of cheques and asked DoT to pursue the case vigorously.
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Honda looks at new cars for India launch
Bangalore: Honda Siel is studying new cars for India and will announce its plans after it conclude its capacity ramp-up to 50,000 units per annum in October '05. The company is investing Rs50 crore for capacity expansion.

Honda Siel plans to sell 42,500 cars in FY 05-06 against 37,000 units in FY 04-05. The company has no plans enter the small car (read Maruti 800) segment.

Honda expects to sell about 32,000 units of its mid-size car, City, by March 31 and raise this to 37,400 units next year.

The sales of the Honda Accord will remain at existing levels of 3,300 units while the CRV, its SUV, is targetted to retail 1,800 units up from this year's 1,600 units.
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BSNL to modernize its West Bengal facility
Kolkata: Finance minister P Chidambaram's budget proposal to allow duty-free imports of telecom inputs / components has lent impetus to BSNL's CDMA gear manufacturing plans which were hanging fire. Now BSNL is planning to modernise its 153-year old Kolkata telecom factory to begin manufacturing trendy CDMA fixed-wireless terminals (FWTs) and mobile gizmos.

A BSNL board decision in this light is expected this month.

BSNL is also rethinking the JV option, especially as it is in a hurry to make CDMA phones locally. Sanchar Bhawan circles also says there is the possibility of a technology-transfer deal between BSNL and an international CDMA equipment vendor.
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Electrolux opens first all women store
Chennai: Electrolux India has opened its first Wo-managed (Women managed) Electrolux Home in Chennai on International Women's Day. The speciality of the store is that the stores are wholly owned, manned and operated by women.

The company plans to set up four more such stores in Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata and by 2006, it plans to have 15 such stores across India.

The company plans to invest Rs1 crore on training entrepreneurs, promotions and running cookery classes.

Electrolux claims 12 per cent market in the 3.8-million refrigerator market and 11 per cent share of the 4-lakh microwave oven market.
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Marico Industries to change its name
Mumbai: Marico Industries is changing its name Marico Ltd. The company said it adopted the name Marico Industries in 1989 when the character of the company was largely industrial.

Down the years the company evolved and now offers a diverse range of products and services, Marico said in a news release.

"Marico has sought to provide consumers allied services in hair care and health care. In the field of skin care, the company has invested and promoted a new line of business under the Kaya Skin Clinics brand," the release said.
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Sterling ends agreement
The Sterling Infotech group and Hutchinson Essar have ended their agreement according to which, the Sterling's Aircel and Aircel Cellular, were to be acquired by Hutch.

According to a press release from Sterling the deal was terminated because the approval from Department of Telecommunications approval did not come.

The companies had entered into a preliminary binding agreement in June 2004. The deal was to see Hutch buy a 49 per cent stake in Aircel for $362 million. The exclusivity period under the agreement had ended on November 1, 2004.
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