Reliance to raise $250mn via syndicated loan
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will re-enter the offshore debt markets for a fresh 5-year $250 million multi-currency syndicated loan, signalling the commencement of a new financing programme for RIL for 2006.

The mandate for this transaction has been awarded to six of RIL's relationship banks. This multi-currency borrowing provides the banks with an option to participate in a combination of Japanese yen, US dollar and euro loans. The proceeds of this transaction are intended for RIL's ongoing capital expenditure programme.

This transaction is being lead arranged by ABN-Amro Bank NV, Bank of America NA, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd, Calyon, DBS Bank Ltd and The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd.
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SEBI mulls Reliance issue
Mumbai: In the latest twist to the Reliance drama, market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has indicated that it is discussing the Reliance imbroglio internally.

The government's nominee on the SEBI board has indicated that all such incidents are a part of the surveillance mechanism, which has been taken up.

"If something comes up in the surveillance, and if something comes, then SEBI will take action," said Ashok Lahiri, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India. Sources indicate that Anil Ambani's refusal to sign the company's accounts earlier this week has been noted.

The matter has cropped up in the Parliament with MPs raising questions. The government says it will inform the Parliament once it has enough data.

Meanwhile, investors have been asking questions as to what the exchanges and the SEBI have been doing about Reliance.
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Air India Express launches maiden flight
Thiruvananthapuram: India's first low cost international airline, the Air India Express, took off from Thiruvananthapuram yesterday. The low-cost airline has been a long pending demand of Keralites working in the Gulf countries for low cost travel.

The new airline with a fleet of three aircraft would operate 31 flights a week from three airports in Kerala. The aircraft has 181 seats in single class configuration and offers highly affordable fares by cutting down on in-flight luxuries and passing the cost-saving benefit to passengers.
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Grasim to acquire Canadian pulp mill
Mumbai: Grasim Industries has said that it plans to acquire the Canada-based St Anne Nackawic Pulp Mill in partnership with Tembec Inc. The company will invest Rs32 crore to acquire 45 per cent in the 750-tonnes-a-day company.

The Grasim-Tembec joint venture plans to raise the mill's capacity to 360-400 tonnes a day by December 2006, the company said.
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Gamesa Pioneer to invest in facility for wind turbines
Chennai: Gamesa Pioneer Wind India Pvt Ltd., a joint venture between Gamesa Eolica of Spain, a leading manufacturer of wind turbines, and the Pioneer Asia group of Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, will invest about Rs100 crore in a facility to manufacture wind turbines at Pondicherry.

The investment includes import-handling facilities, equipment to assemble the turbines, maintenance services and spares, besides working capital. The company's plant will come up at Pondicherry, where another Pioneer group company makes smaller capacity wind turbines.

According to Pioneer Asia Wind Turbines officials the exact equity holding structure between Gamesa Eolica and Pioneer group was being worked out. The two companies would sign a technology transfer agreement under which the joint venture company would get license to manufacture Gamesa's 850-kW wind turbines.

Initially, the turbines would be imported and assembled at the Pondicherry plant, but as volumes picked up, the company hoped to substantially indigenise the components. The joint venture hopes to get a 20 per cent share of the wind turbine market in India in the next 18 to 24 months, officials said.

Pioneer Wincon Pvt Ltd, a Pioneer group company that makes 250 kW wind turbines at its Pondicherry plant, had sales last year of Rs60 crore. The company hoped to increase its sales to Rs150 crore this year.
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Ipca Labs in JV with Chongqing Holley Holding
Mumbai: IPCA Laboratories has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Chongqing Holley Holding Co Ltd of China to market artemisinin-based active pharmaceutical ingredients and its formulations across the world.

Bulk drugs and formulations, required by the joint venture company, will be manufactured by Ipca at its facilities in Ratlam and Silvassa approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). Holley Group will meet the Artemisinin requirement.

The joint venture company will be set-up at SAIF-Zone, Sharjah.
Artemisinin-based combination therapy has been recommended by WHO for the treatment of P. falciparum malaria. Artemisinin is derived from a natural plant Artemisia annua mainly grown in China and Vietnam.

Holley Group is the largest manufacturer of artemisinin in the world.
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Panel questions open sky policy announcement timing
New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has questioned the decision of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to open up the international skies for a particular airline on the day that its public issue opened.

The Committee's report, that was tabled in Parliament, states that it is not convinced with the reply given by the Ministry of Civil Aviation about its decision to open up the international skies to a particular airline and granting it passage rights to some international routes on the opening day of its public offer.

"The Committee is of the view that the timing of the decision pushed up the company's IPO prospects and the policy adopted by the Government as also the clearances granted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to the Company were too close to the public offer to be termed as a coincidence," the report points out.

While the report does not mention the airline by name, the only carrier which came up with a public offer, since international skies were opened, is Jet Airways. On the day the public offer opened, news trickled in that the airline had been permitted to operate three times a week to the United States through Belgium.

The panel has also said that it is not convinced with the reply given by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on the criteria adopted in selection of scheduled domestic airlines to be allowed to fly abroad.

"There is an element of arbitrariness in imposing restrictions on airlines in terms of experience of flying and not allowing all the domestic scheduled airlines to fly on international routes," the report has said. Further it feels that by imposing such restrictions, the Ministry did not give a "fair chance" to other scheduled domestic airlines operating in the country.

The Committee has also expressed the view that the Ministry did not carry any "due diligence" of performance record of existing private sector airlines in terms of fulfilling social obligations by flying to remote and inaccessible areas of the country and utilising costly technological gadgets installed at the airports.
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Corporate Results: HLL, i-flex, Tube Investments, Zensar
HLL's Q1 net down 14 per cent
Mumbai: Leading FMCG company Hindustan Lever Limited's Q1 net profit has fallen by 14.2 per cent to Rs259 crore from Rs302 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2004.

HLL said its laundry segment grew by 13 per cent in Q1. The company's exports also grew by 13 per cent in the quarter under review.

HLL's toothpaste segment has seen a 12 per cent growth in Q1, its hair segment grew by 20 per cent, while its HPC revenue grew by 10 per cent between January and March this year.

The company has made a one-time charge of Rs8.47 crore for exceptional items and is looking at various options to improve plantations. The company has seen accelerated growth in the rural sector. HLL's Lipton brand and processed food businesses has seen strong growth.

The FMCG major said it expects its high cost environment to stay for a few quarters. HLL's Q1 net sales are up 6.5 per cent at Rs2506 crore, from Rs2353 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

i-flex FY05 consolidated net up 29.9 per cent
Mumbai: i-flex Solutions Ltd has posted a 29.97 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs232.40 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2005 compared to Rs178.80 crore in the corresponding fiscal.

The board has recommended a dividend of 100 per cent (Rs5 per equity share), subject to the approval of the shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting of the company.

Revenues for the reporting fiscal have increased to Rs1138.60 crore from Rs788.10 crore in FY-04, it said. The company has posted a net profit of Rs103.80 crore for the Q4 ended March 31, compared to Rs54.70 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2004.

Revenues for the reporting quarter have increased to Rs358.60 crore from Rs209.30 crore in Q4-04.

Tube Investments fiscal net up at Rs.98.55 crore
Chennai: Tube Investments of India Ltd, a Murugappa group company, has exploited the strong demand in auto sector and exports to sustain its performance during 2004-05 and plans to double its tube making capacity.

According to a press release from the company, it has enhanced its productivity of high-end precision tubes used by the auto sector and improved quality to offset the impact of price increase driven by steel costs. Exports of automotive chains grew by 35 per cent.
The board has recommended a dividend of Rs7 (70 per cent) per share of Rs10 each.

The release said that the results for the latest quarter and the year ended March 31, 2005, reflect the amalgamation of TIDC India Ltd with the company and therefore are not comparable with that of the corresponding period in the previous year.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2005, the company reported a net profit of Rs37.06 crore on total revenues of Rs413.07 crore. During the corresponding period in the previous year the company reported a net profit of Rs36.64 crore on revenue of Rs352.05 crore.

For the year ended March 31, 2005, the company reported a net profit of Rs98.55 crore (Rs82.49 crore) on gross sales of Rs1,563.39 crore (Rs1,257.34 crore).

Zensar net up at Rs39 crore
Pune: Zensar Technologies, a joint venture of the RPG group and Fujitsu, has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs39.1 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005, compared to Rs12.6 crore the previous year. This includes the profit on sale of land and buildings of Rs21.1 crore.

Zensar's land and buildings at its Nagar Road campus in Pune have been sold following the management decision to build fully integrated development facilities at Kharadi, Pune. This has resulted in a realisation of idle assets and gave the company a cash flow of over Rs35 crore.

The revenues for the year showed an increase of 29 per cent at Rs345 crore, compared to Rs267 crore in the same period last year.

Mr Ganesh Natarajan, Zensar's Deputy Chairman and MD, at a board meeting said, "The strong results reported by Zensar are reflective of the company's pioneering Solution BluePrint framework, which has directly contributed over 33 per cent to the new business in the current year."

Mr Natarajan said offshore business increased to 43 per cent of revenue from 38 per cent the previous year. The BPO business was on track with a good order book to break even in Q4 2005-06.
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