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Gail reports 15 pc rise in turnover: unveils ambitious plans
New Delhi: Oil and gas behemoth GAIL (India) has Gail has reported a 15 per cent growth in sales turnover and 5 per cent increase in profit after tax (PAT) for the year. Sales turnover went up to Rs12,412 crore compared to the 2003-04 figure of Rs10,827 crore. Profit after tax during the year was up by 5 per cent at Rs1,954 crore from Rs1,869 crore during the previous year. The earning per share (EPS) increased to Rs23 per share in 2004-05 as against Rs22 per share in the previous year.

The organisation has also announced ambitious capital investment plans of around Rs20,000 crore over the next five years.

Gail's plans involve natural gas transmission business to petrochemicals, power, LNG, exploration and production (E&P) and CNG in India and abroad.

Gail plans to spend Rs13,000 crore building four pipelines in the next five years and will invest Rs3,000 crore each for Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline and Dadri-Nangal pipeline, Rs2,000 crore for Kochi-Coimbatore-Bangalore pipeline and Rs5,000 crore in Kakinada-Uran pipeline.

The organisation plans to borrow $150 million from overseas lenders this year to fund higher capital expenditure, including pipeline construction.

Further, the company is also planning an investment of Rs5,200 crore in setting up a 28,000-tonne Assam Petrochemical Complex and Rs7,000 crore in a 7,00,000-tonne Petrochemical Complex in Kochi. In Iran, a one million-tonne gas cracker is being considered in collaboration with National Petrochemical Co of Iran, he said.
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GAIL to hold 28 pc stake in Dabhol SPV
New Delhi: GAIL India has said it will 28 per cent stake in the special purpose vehicle (SPV), being set up for revival of $2.9 billion Dabhol Power Project. The SPV is to be registered within a week.

Besides GAIL, the power utility NTPC and domestic financial institutions would also promote the new company. The SPV will target to restart the ailing project by 2006.
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Dabhol set to switch on by 2006
The $ 2.9-billion Dabhol Power Plant that will generate 2,184-mw of electricity may restart by the second half of 2006 as the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will take over its assets is set to be formed soon.

Also, the agreement between Indian financial institutions and equipment supplier General Electric is expected to be finalised soon.

A team from GE team is already working with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd to determine the course of action for restarting the project.
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Competition heats up in mobile market
New Delhi: Competition in the cellular services market is getting fierce. Hutch has brought the war to another level by offering a handset, a mobile connection and free talk time for a one-time fee of Rs1,698.

Earlier Tata Teleservices came out with a similar offer for Rs1,999.

The Hutch offer is valid for both pre-paid and post-paid users in Delhi only. For pre-paid users, the offer includes a free SIM card worth Rs99 and free talk time of Rs 600 spread over a 12-month period. For post-paid users, it offers free talk time worth Rs700 over 14 months.

The package is bundled with a Motorola C115 mobile handset, which has an ergonomic keypad, internal antenna and a battery that provides eight hours of talk time. The effective price of the handset comes to Rs999.

Reliance Infocomm has also launched a package, in which the company offers an LG handset and free talk time worth Rs1,000 for an upfront payment of Rs1,999.

Airtel has also launched a bundled package that offers a Motorola handset, free talk time worth Rs 700 and free SMS worth Rs1,400 for Rs2,100.
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'Glamour' launched in the south
Chennai: Hero Honda has launched its deluxe segment bike 'Glamour,' fitted with a new engine developed by Honda's research & development (R&D) team for better fuel-efficiency and high power.

The company is hoping to sell 35,000 to 40,000 units of the new bike in a short period of time.

The company has launched the new model in South India as the region contributes 25 per cent of Hero Honda's business.
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Amara Raja in OEM pact with Hyundai Motor
Mumbai: Amara Raja Batteries has signed an Original Equipment (OE) pact with Hyundai Motor India to supply 60,000 Amaron range of batteries over the next one year.

Amara Raja Batteries is now scaling up capacity at its Tirupati plant from 1.5-million units to 2.4 million units per annum at an estimated investment of Rs38.8 crores. This is likely to be completed by December 2005.

The company also has ongoing OE agreements with Ashok Leyland, Fiat, General Motors, Hindustan Motors, Honda, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti and Tata Motors.

The company is also an exclusive supplier to Daimler Chrysler, Ford and Swaraj Mazda and is also an exclusive supplier to select platforms like Honda Accord, Chevrolet Optra and Tavera and Maruti Swift.
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Hyundai to withdraw brochure in response to Maruti's legal notice
New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India has reportedly responded to the legal notice sent by Maruti Udyog by agreeing to withdraw an advertisement brochure.

Maruti, in its notice, had objected to Hyundai's advertising brochure `Xing ahead of the Swift' which presented the Maruti Swift in poor light. It said the brochure contained a number of factual errors in the comparison that Hyundai had compiled between the two cars.

Maruti spokesperson confirmed the receipt of the response, adding that the company was studying its contents.

Industry sources say, Hyundai in its response, has agreed to temporarily withdraw the advertising brochure.
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Bajaj, Hero Honda, Enfield top TNS Customer Satisfaction Study
New Delhi: Hero Honda Splendor Plus, Bajaj CT100, Honda Unicorn, and Royal Enfield Bullet 350cc have come out at the top in their respective segments in the 2005 Motorcycle Total Customer Satisfaction (MTCS) study conducted by the TNS specialist division, TNS Automotive.

Hero Honda Splendor Plus leads the competitive `executive' bikes, while Royal Enfield Bullet dominates the niche `cruiser' bikes segment. Among new models, Honda Unicorn received the best ratings to overtake Bajaj Pulsar in the premium segment. Hero Honda Splendor Plus defies the general trend with a strong performance on all measures of customer satisfaction

The study represents the responses of more than 7,000 new-motorcycle buyers towards the performance of 40 models in the key areas of sales satisfaction, product quality, motorcycle performance and design, after-sales service, brand image, and cost-of-ownership. The TCS index score provides a measure of the satisfaction and loyalty a given model or brand enjoys with its customers.

The study points out that the Indian market is sensitive to fuel efficiency - a trend seen since TNS' inaugural study in 2003. While this sensitivity is generally seen among all types of owners, it is particularly relevant for `standard' and `executive' bikes where customers attach importance to fuel efficiency.
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Pfizer to outsource IT related work to India
Bangalore: Drugs and pharma company, Pfizer Inc is outsourcing its IT-related work to Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computers.

Pfizer's move to outsource IT-related work to Indian firms is part of the company's $4-billion cost-saving plan.

Pfizer officials said the move to outsource some of the computer and technology-related services would be done at a "carefully planned pace".
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SriLankan Airlines offers Srinlankan Holidays
Hyderabad: Srilankan Airlines is offering a new package, SriLankan Holidays, offering reduced fares to leading destinations in Sri Lanka. According to the 'Get Set Go' offer, the airline will charge Rs17,260, for a three-night, four-day stay in Colombo, including return airfare.

The company hopes the new package would create and promote packages to the destinations the airline reached.

Besides Colombo and Male, the airline plans to extend the offer to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong.
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Mercedes launches bicycle for Rs.1.56 lakh
Mumbai: Mercedes Benz has launched its MB range of bicycles across Mumbai and other parts of the country.

The cycles, imported from Germany, are targeted mostly at Mercedes car buyers and will be available at Auto Hangar, a Mercedes dealer in Mumbai.

Mercedes cycles, which operate on 27 gears are somewhat steeply priced. While an automatic bike is priced at Rs1,56,746; the mountain bike and fitness bike are priced at Rs1,12,655 and Rs74,958, respectively.

The bikes have been launched worldwide this year and the company has sold about 300 bikes so far, mostly in Germany and Singapore.
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Air Sahara plans to buy 40 planes
Mumbai: Air Sahara is adding 40 aircraft to its existing fleet of 25, taking the total to 65 aircraft in the next five years.

It is not yet clear whether these aircraft will be purchased or leased by the company. If the company decides to purchase the aircraft it would have to incur an investment of about $3 billion.

The company has said it would opt for Boeing as its existing fleet mostly comprise aircraft from Boeing.

The airline's current fleet comprises 16 Boeing 737 and seven Bombardier CRJ planes.

The carrier has ruled out the possibility of going for larger aircraft like the A380.

Air Sahara has a market share of about 14 per cent in the domestic sector and is presently operating with a load factor of 75 per cent in metro routes.
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Core projects SPV to be govt owned
New Delhi: The special purpose vehicle (SPV), the Indian Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFC), being set up to fund infrastructure projects, will be set up as a wholly-owned government company under the Companies Act.

As per the structure prepared by the finance ministry, all its borrowings will be guaranteed by the union government against a traditional SPV, which raise funds on the strength of its future receivables.

IIFC will have an initial paid up capital of Rs10 crore while the authorised capital has been fixed at Rs1,000 crore. The borrowing limit for the current fiscal has been pegged at Rs10,000 crore.

As per the memorandum of association (MoA) of IIFC, the company will fund projects in the infrastructure sector. These will include sectors like urban infrastructure, roads, power, railways, ports, airports and tourism.
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Daimler, Force Motors to launch high tonnage trucks
After Volvo Motor, Daimler Chrysler India and Force Motors are planning to launch high-tonnage trucks with capacities ranging from 15 to 50 tonne.

Daimler Chrysler will launch the Mercedes Benz Actros trucks on its own, Force Motors has tied up with MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG (MAN) of Germany to bring out MAN trucks. MAN will supply complete built-up trucks to Force Motors, which will market the vehicle in India.

Daimler Chrysler's trucks will be available in India by August this year and would be priced in the Rs40-55 lakh range. Force Motors would launch its MAN trucks by the year-end.

Daimler Chrysler is establishing new tie-ups for distributing the trucks.
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POSCO may tie up with local partner in India
Bhubaneswar: POSCO is looking to team up with an Indian company along with Australian mining giant BHP Billiton in developing its captive iron ore mines in Orissa.

While POSCO says it will give priority to BHP Billiton its partners from before it is looking for an Indian company.

POSCO has reportedly been assured of the Gandhamardan-Malangtuli iron ore mines on the border of Keonjhar-Sundergarh district for its Paradeep project.

The mines promise a deposit of about 400-million tonnes of quality iron ore.

The company said that given a choice, it would like to use 100 per cent ore from its captive mines in Orissa, if it was possible to produce the same quality of steel as in its Pohang plant without going for imports.
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