Tata gift for cancer research institute in AP
Hyderabad: The Jamsetji Tata Trust has donated Rs7.5 crore to the Indo-American Cancer Institute and Research Centre for establishing a Rs2.5-crore bone marrow transplant unit and a Rs3.7-crore linear accelerator.

R. K. Krishna Kumar, Director of Tata Sons and Trustee, has presented a cheque to Dr Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, former Health Minister and Chairman of the Institute, on Wednesday. The institute will name the new block after Jamsetji Tata.

The block, being taken up at a cost of Rs25 crore, would be completed in 12 months, an institute release said.
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NTPC to generate 164 bn units in 2005-06
New Delhi: The National Thermal Power Corporation said it plans to generate 164 billion units of electricity during 2005-06. An MoU to this effect was signed by the NTPC Chairman and Managing Director, C.P. Jain with the Power Ministry officials here on Wednesday, an NTPC release said.

The MoU also includes targets of various projects including 1,300 MW each Kawas and Gandhar, 800 MW Koldam hydro power, 1000 MW each Rihand, Vindhyachal, Sipat-II and 1980 MW each Sipat-I and Barh projects, the release said.

Targets relating to Total Quality Management, human resource development, business development activities, R&D and other measures are also part of the MoU, the release added.
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IBM academic initiative to hone students' skills
New Delhi: IBM has announced an academic initiative to partner with 300 universities in order to train 75,000 students in open standards technologies by the end of this year.

The company would work with select universities that support open standards to train an IT workforce to fill new kinds of jobs that are emerging at IBM and across the industry, and would also aim at ensuring that universities have the most current, relevant curricula that map to the kinds of jobs that are expected.

Universities piloting the IBM academic initiative in India include the Department of Management Studies and the Department of Computer Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University and Regional Engineering College, Durgapur.

"In a recent survey of 450 global chief executive officers (CEOs) by IBM Business Consulting Services, 75 per cent of the CEOs found education and the lack of qualified candidates as an issue impacting the business over the next three years. Hence, this makes the initiative by IBM worthwhile," Shanker Annaswamy, Managing Director, IBM India, said at a conference here.

"In India, we will offer assistance, curriculum consulting, IBM software, course materials, faculty training and support to the partner universities," Kevin R. Faughnan, Director, IBM Open Standards Academic Initiative, Software Group, said.
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RINL and Ministry of Steel sign MoU
Visakhapatnam: The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (Visakhapatnam steel plant) and the Union Ministry of Steel have signed a memorandum of understanding recently in New Delhi to produce four million tonnes of hot metal and 3.125 million tonnes of saleable steel during 2005-2006, according to a release issued by the RINL authorities.

The target for gross sales was set at Rs8,793 crore.
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Travel agents to boycott Air India
Mumbai: Starting Friday, Air India tickets will not be available through travel agents as they have decided to boycott the airline after it planned to cut their commission from 7 per cent to 5 per cent from May 1.

Air India has said that it is following global trends in reducing commissions. But travel agents say India should be compared to developed Asian countries like China and Japan where commissions continue to be in the 7-9 per cent range.
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UB's exports cross one million cases
Mumbai: Mallya's UB Global Corporation Ltd has crossed the one million cases mark for beer and spirit exports.

UB Global Corporation, the international arm of UB group, has exported nearly 16 brands from the UB stable to nearly 40 countries, the company has said in a release.

The group's McDowell No 1 whisky has also become the largest selling Indian whisky internationally with major presence in west Asia, Africa and far eastern markets.

UB Global hopes to close the current fiscal with a turnover of Rs125 crore.
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Wipro and Cadence renew pact
Bangalore: Cadence Design Systems Inc has said that Wipro Technologies has renewed an agreement under which Cadence will provide Wipro access to its electronic design automation (EDA) technologies.

Cadence also announced that Wipro taped out its largest design to date using its tool SoC Encounter. The latest agreement marks the third renewal of the Cadence-Wipro collaboration over the past eight years, with Cadence providing digital and analogue IC design, verification, silicon-package-board and design for manufacturing.

The ongoing tie-up enhances Wipro's complex nanometer design capabilities. It provides Wipro with a strategic advantage in the semiconductor design industry, while supporting its design infrastructure across the 180-to-65-nanometer process nodes, said a Cadence press release.
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Raymond to augment denim capacity
Mumbai: Raymond Ltd has said that it would be investing Rs100 crore in augmenting its denim capacity by 10 million metres per annum. This would take Raymond's denim capacity to 40 million metres of denim per annum and position it as the largest player in specialised ring denim in the country. Raymond exports 60 per cent of its denim production.

The capacity additions are being put in place at Raymond's Yavatmal denim unit. Capacity at this facility was earlier increased to 30 million metres from 20 million metres. Raymond is focussing on moving up the value chain in all its businesses. But denim will be the focus area.

The company also formalised the Rs200-crore deal with Gruppo Sambaiti, the Italian textile company. Raymond has set up a 50:50 joint venture with Cotonificio Honegger, part of Gruppo Zambaiti, through this deal. The joint venture will set up a greenfield facility at Kolhapur in Maharashtra to manufacture a cotton and cotton linen shirting fabric with a capacity of 11.5 million metres.

Raymond, sitting on cash reserves of Rs600 crore, is open to international acquisitions as the industry worldwide is going through consolidation.
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Ucal Fuel to acquire US company AMTEC
Chennai: UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd has decided to acquire AMTEC Precision Products Inc of the US for a consideration not exceeding $28 million (about Rs125 crore).

In a communication to the National Stock Exchange, it said that AMTEC is engaged mainly in the manufacture of auto-ancillary products for supply to US auto majors. It has two manufacturing plants in Elgin, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. It also has a wholly owned subsidiary with one manufacturing facility in Rockford, Illinois.

The company will seek shareholders' approval at an extraordinary general meeting on May 4.
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HCL Tech to implement JDA Software
New Delhi: HCL Technologies has signed an agreement with JDA Software to become the prime implementer for the latter's solutions in India and the preferred implementation partner for Asia-Pacific region.

"HCL has been the hardware supplier to retailers in India and this association makes it a one-stop shop for hardware, software, and support for the retail and CPG community," HCL Tech said in a release.

The agreement will translate into JDA installing its products at the HCL Centre of Excellence , where JDA will provide the software, training material, e-learning access and support while HCL Technologies will provide the hardware training.
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