Air India places order for fifty aircraft with Boeing
Mumbai: In one of the biggest deals in India's aviation history, Air India has decided to buy fifty aircraft from Boeing. The AI board has approved the purchase of the aircraft costing Rs30,000 crore, subject to government approval, an AI statement said.

The board also approved the public carrier's IPO, subject to government approval. Air India has said that the acquisition plan will meet its needs up to 2012.

The board had three months ago decided to go in for 50 long haul aircraft plan spread over an eight-year period ending 2013 and had invited bids from both the manufacturers.

The airline board has already cleared the purchase of 18 Boeing 737-800s, costing over Rs4,900 crore for its subsidiary budget airline, A-I Express.
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Tapti gas field: British Gas-ONGC-Reliance JV to invest $500 mn
New Delhi: The three-way joint venture by British Gas, ONGC and Reliance Industries Ltd that operates the Panna, Mukta and Tapti gas fields has announced an investment plan of $500 million for the development and expansion of the Tapti gas field.

The joint venture has made a total commitment of over $900 million in the project, which will be expended in phases.

JV officials said, "The Government has approved the plan for the development of the mid-Tapti field with the installation of a processing platform and new compression facilities to increase production in 2007."

Speaking to a select media gathering, officials said a single wellhead platform will be installed to drill eight new wells to raise gas production from 250 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) to 450 mmscfd.

According to the officials, this will significantly increase production from the Tapti field and bring to market much needed gas supplies. The field has been performing robustly since production was increased in November last year with new compression facilities. Further, a new 20-inch export pipeline will be laid. In the initial stage, four wells will be drilled.

Regarding GAIL (India) Ltd not keeping its commitment of picking up its market quantity from the joint venture operator, officials said that the issue had been sorted out. Besides, from April 1 this year, the partners have been given the right to directly sell gas from Tapti and the associated Panna/Mukta contract areas into the market place.

Of the total production of 10.8 million standard cubic metres of gas per day (mscmpd) from the three gas fields on the western offshore, the joint venture will directly sell 4.8 mscmpd at a competitive price, which is expected to be $4.08 per million British thermal units (mBtu). The remaining six mmscmpd are to be sold to GAIL (India) Ltd at $3.86 per mBtu.

Earlier, the joint venture sold its entire gas output to GAIL at a price of $3.11 per mBtu. However, GAIL was not lifting the entire quantity marked for the company.
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DuPont signs research pact with National Chemical Laboratory
Pune: Dupont has announced that it has signed a research agreement with the Pune-based National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), which will provide DuPont with access to the talent and capabilities of NCL in order to grow new market-facing technologies.

NCL's first research project will be for DuPont Titanium Technologies, according to an official communication here on Monday.

Dr S. Sivaram, Director, NCL, and Dr Thomas M. Connelly Jr, Senior Vice-President and Chief Science and Technology Officer, DuPont, signed the research agreement on April 22 at Wilmington, Delaware, US.

"This move is consistent with DuPont's efforts to go where growth is and to globalise our R&D operations. It furthers DuPont efforts to open our innovation processes by incorporating the research capabilities and intellectual talent of India's top materials scientists. In addition, it will allow us to more clearly address the market needs of the region by providing geographic access," said Connelly Jr.
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Vehicle financing to contribute twelve per cent of Tata Motors' PBT
Mumbai: Vehicle financing business should contribute up to 12 per cent of Tata Motors' profit before tax in 2005-06, the Tata Chairman, Ratan Tata, said at a court-convened meeting on Tuesday seeking shareholders' approval for the merger of Tata Finance Ltd (TFL) with the company.

Tata Motors will get a tax benefit of Rs50 crore from the merger, which does not include Nishkalp Investments and other associate companies of TFL. It may be recalled that a major portion of TFL's losses had been incurred in Nishkalp.

Following TFL's financial trouble, the Tatas had pumped fresh funds into it and since August 2003, TFL had been functioning with Tata Motors' Bureau of Hire Purchase & Credit (BHPC) as a virtual financing entity.

During its restructuring phase, TFL had returned to its core vehicle financing business in which form there is a fit with BHPC's operations.

The larger BHPC, having ten per cent market share in Tata Motors' sales does not have direct market channels. TFL has direct market channels but a higher cost of borrowing.

"It is a move that we believe is good for both the companies," Tata said defending the merger and addressing criticism from some shareholders. Citing TFL's profitability for the last seven quarters, Tata said the company was not sick. Further, according to Praveen Kadle, Executive Director, Tata Motors, all NPAs and liabilities at TFL had been provided for. Such provisioning in 2003-2004 was only to the extent of Rs34 crore.
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Audi launches its A6 sedan
Mumbai: Luxury carmaker Audi has launched its new A6 sedan in India, pricing it at Rs42.5 lakh. The car is being imported from Germany. The company hopes to sell at least 100 cars in the first year and has a dealer each in Mumbai and New Delhi for the purpose. It plans to add one shortly in Bangalore.

Audi dealerships would be exclusive to its product line and not shared with Skoda, the other car manufacturer from the Volkswagen group present in India. "The new A6 is positioned head-on against the traditional German players within the large sedan segment. It is a key development for Audi and we expect it to accelerate sales growth for us across the Asia Pacific region," Michael Weber, Country Manager (India), Audi, said at a press briefing.

Skoda is already an established brand in the domestic car market with manufacturing facility in Aurangabad. While Audi's projected sales numbers are far too small to justify local production, Weber did say when quizzed by the media that sharing Skoda's production facility would be something Audi "could look at" in the future.
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IPCL stock sale: 'Reliance Capital loss at Rs1,000 crore'
Mumbai: A day after Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) announced that it sold 23 per cent stake in Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (IPCL) held by Reliance Petroinvestments Ltd to Reliance Pharmaceutical Pvt Ltd and Reliance Nutraceutical Pvt Ltd at par value (Rs160 per share), Amitabh Jhunjhunwala (Director - RCL) on Tuesday said the resultant loss to RCL was at least Rs1,000 crore.

Jhunjhunwala said IPCL results reflected the intrinsic value of RCL's 23 per cent IPCL stake to be substantially higher than Rs231 a share paid three years back. Therefore, the sale of RCL's strategic stake in IPCL at par value was indefensible, he said. Loss of fair value for RCL was a minimum of Rs1,000 crore, he added.

According to him, the `related party transaction' is in breach of fiduciary responsibilities towards RCL's minority investors. The transaction could involve substantial regulatory issues vis-à-vis SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, SEBI Takeover Code and Listing agreements of the NSE and BSE, he said.
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Dahanu plant: Reliance Energy fine cut to Rs100 crore
Mumbai: Reliance Energy will now have to pay Rs100 crore instead of Rs300 crore as fine for environment violation at its Dahanu unit, with the Mumbai High Court reducing REL's fine after the company petitioned the court against the Dahanu Taluka Environmental Protection Authority's order.

The DTEPA had fined REL for not setting up a flu gas desulphurisation (FGD) unit, essential for controlling pollution, at its 500 MW coal-based power generation plant in Dahanu.

REL had petitioned the High Court for a waiver of the Rs300-crore bank guarantee order of the DTEPA. The court cut the fine after considering a phased plan submitted by REL for setting up the FGD.

Environment groups and citizens in Dahanu, which is situated on the outskirts of Mumbai, have accused the company of delaying setting up this unit. The area is considered an ecologically fragile zone and environment groups have been arguing since 1994 that emissions from the plant affect its agriculture and horticulture.

In May 1999, REL (formerly BSES Ltd) was directed by Dahanu Authority to install a Flue Gas Desulphurisation Plant (FGD Plant used to neutralise sulphur-oxide emissions. The High Court of Mumbai and the Supreme Court upheld this order.
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Roaming rates slashed by 33 per cent
New Delhi: Cellular operators, including Airtel, Hutch and Idea Cellular, on Tuesday dropped roaming charges from Rs3 a minute to Rs1.99 a minute, with the move coming just a few hours after the Union Minister for Communication and IT, Dayanidhi Maran, urging operators to do away with roaming charges. The new roaming tariffs will come into effect on May 1.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group Managing Director, Bharti Tele-Ventures, said, " This reduction in the roaming rate will expand the roaming community in India and help realise the vision of 200 million mobile subscribers by 2007."

Hutch said that the new roaming tariffs would deliver significant value to cellular users and the timing of the drop was appropriate, considering the forthcoming summer vacation when a large proportion of subscribers would be holidaying away from their homes.

Earlier speaking at the Cellular Summit 2005, Maran said that private cellular operators must reduce the roaming charges.

"Mobile charges for roaming are very, very high, I think they should be much lower than existing rates. BSNL does not charge for roaming. Why can't the private operators take this initiative to bring them down?" he asked.
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Corporate Results: IPCL, Sterlite Optical, Nucleus Soft, VisualSoft
IPCL FY05 net up 187.9 per cent
Mumbai: Reliance group entity Indian Petrochemicals Ltd (IPCL) has reported a 187.9 per cent increase in net profit at Rs786 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2005 against Rs273 crore for 2003-04. The board has recommended a dividend of Rs4.50 per share for 2004-05, the company said in a release in Mumbai today.

Total income for the company grew to Rs8,331 crore in the reporting fiscal from Rs8,199 crore in FY-04. IPCL has reported increase in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2005 at Rs336 crore as against Rs99 crore for the corresponding quarter previous fiscal.

Total income for the reporting quarter grew to Rs2,682 crore from Rs2,642 crore in Q4 of FY04, it added.

Sterlite Optical Q4 net up at Rs2.9 crore
Mumbai: Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd has reported a net profit of Rs2.86 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2005 compared to a loss of Rs7.2 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Net income rose to Rs126.99 crore (Rs16.28 crore). It has also reported a net profit of Rs10.22 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005 compared to a net loss of Rs44.99 crore for the previous year. Net income was Rs370.67 crore (Rs103.29 crore).

Nucleus Soft Q4 net doubles
New Delhi: Nucleus Software has posted a 96 per cent rise in its Profit After Tax for the quarter ended March 31, 2005 at Rs8.54 crore, compared to Rs4.35 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year.

"Consolidated revenue from software products and software development services were up by 36.35 per cent in comparison to the corresponding quarter previous year. Consolidated revenue stood at Rs31.02 crore for the quarter against Rs22.75 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year," a company release said.

For the full year, consolidated revenues were Rs103.14 crore against Rs80.09 crore in the previous year. During the year, the company added 18 new clients and logged net addition of 173 employees.

VisualSoft Q4 net dips to Rs7 crore
Hyderabad: Despite achieving a significant growth in total income, VisualSsoft Technologies Ltd has suffered a fall in net profit for both the quarter and fiscal ended March 2005.

On a total income of Rs51.44 crore for the quarter, it posted a net profit of Rs7.02 crore as compared to a net profit of Rs8.52 crore on an income of Rs42.03 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

For the fiscal 2004-05, the company has posted a net profit of Rs28.32 crore on a turnover of Rs192.87 crore compared to a net profit of Rs37.56 crore on an income of Rs155.56 crore in the previous fiscal.

In a press release here, the company said it continued to get majority of its contribution from the US markets. Technology solutions have been the key focus, which continued to generate profitable revenues.
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