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Tata-Star
DTH service to be named T-Sky
Mumbai:
The Tata-Star DTH joint venture has announced that their
DTH service would be named T-Sky. Simultaneously, the
joint venture has indicated that its proposed company
name will be Tata Sky Limited, which would replace its
working name, Space TV Ltd.
Tata Sky Ltd CEO Vikram Kaushik said, "The branding
of our service represents an important milestone in the
development of our business. It sets the stage for the
launch of our DTH services as we are ready to unveil and
promote our brand to the consumer."
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Alcatel
to convert India into export center for cellular equipment
Mankapur: French telecom major Alcatel
will invest 400-500 million euros over the next few years
on setting up mobile equipment manufacturing facilities
and a research and development centre in the country.
The company has announced a tie-up with the state-owned
Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) to manufacture broadband
(digital subscriber link-DSL) equipment at the latter's
Rae Bareilly plant, starting next month. (See: ITI's
facility at Mankapur to make mobile equipment)
Alcatel is also looking at setting up a factory for manufacturing
mobile switches. That apart, the company is also setting
up a 500-seat global research and development centre in
association with another public sector company C-DoT for
Wi-Fi technology. Alcatel officials said that India can
now become an export centre for cellular equipment.
The Alcatel-ITI plant for manufacturing mobile base station,
inaugurated by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi at Mankapur, is set to
be one of the biggest in the world.
The
plant has an initial capacity for 2,000 base stations,
which will be doubled in the next few months. The joint
venture has a mandate for manufacturing four million lines
for the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. A part of
the manufacturing will be done at ITI's Rae Bareilly plant.
ITI until now was manufacturing fixed line telephony equipment
and was on the verge of closing down due to declining
demand. It is now foraying into manufacturing equipment
for Code Division Multiple Access-based mobile network
in collaboration with ZTE of China.
ITI recently finalised an agreement with the US-based
Tekelec for the manufacture of IP-based soft switches.
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Toyota
to open small car facility by 2007
Nagoya, Japan: Toyota Motor Corp. and Daihatsu Motor
Co. plan to set up a small-car assembly factory in Bangalore,
India, at a cost of more than 10 billion yen, company
officials said Thursday.
Toyota and Daihatsu, a subsidiary that mainly makes mini-vehicles,
plan to start making small vehicles at Bangalore by the
end of 2007, with an eye to turning out 100,000 cars a
year, the officials said.
The vehicle in question will be modeled after the small
car co-developed and sold under two separate brands in
Japan -- the Toyota Passo and the Daihatsu Boon. Both
the Passo and the Boon come with 1-liter and 1.3-liter
engine options.
The establishment of the planned factory would be Daihatsu's
first foray into the country. Since Daihatsu has expertise
in small-car production, it will play a leading role in
running the new Bangalore factory, the officials said.
The Indian car market swelled to 1.1 million vehicles
in 2004, up 20 percent from the preceding year. Toyota's
share of the market is less than 5 per cent.
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Yamaha
to invest Rs.400 crore over next two years
New
Delhi:
Yamaha
Motor Co will invest up to Rs400 crore in expanding
capacity in India by building a new plant and has plans
for foraying into the scooter market. Announcing this
today, Yamaha India managing director H Yanagi said these
investments would be made through the issuance of fresh
equity and would increase the total investment in India
to Rs1,000 crore.
While the company will invest Rs200 crore over the next
two years for new product launches, marketing and capacity
expansion in existing plants by 150,000 units to 500,000
units, another Rs200 crore would be used to build a new
plant that would come up by 2008. These plants would enhance
total capacity to 500,000 vehicles per year.
Yanagi also said that the planned expansion was also being
undertaken with a view to make India a hub for exports
to Europe. Yamaha India already exports a fifth of its
production to the South American and the South East Asian
markets.
The company, which has seen sales decline over the past
few years, has been restructuring operations and sprucing
up its product portfolio. At present, Yamaha has a 5.6%
marketshare in India.
Sales for the company declined by 8.1% to 212,985 units
in the year ended March 31, 2005.
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Videocon
takes over Electrolux Kelvinator in a three tier deal
New Delhi: The Videocon
group has taken over the entire 91.85 per cent shareholding
of AB Electrolux of Sweden in its Indian subsidiary, Electrolux
Kelvinator. After completion of the deal, the Swedish
company in turn will acquire about 5 per cent shareholding
in Videocon Industries. The announcement comes just a
few days after Videocon took over the French consumer
electronics major Thomson's colour picture tube units.
According to an announcement by the company, Electrolux
has entered into a "strategic partnership'' with
the Videcon group. Under a separate licence agreement
with AB Electrolux, the Videocon group will distribute
products under the Electrolux, Allwyn and Kelvinator brands.
The licences will be managed through a new branch office
of the Swedish company here, which together with Videocon,
will promote sales of Electrolux products.As a result
of this strategic partnership, Electrolux said it would
move from a subsidiary to a licensing model.
Under the agreement signed by AB Electrolux and the Dhoots
of the Videocon group, the Indian company will take over
Electrolux's manufacturing plants in Shahjanpur in Rajasthan
as well as Warora and Butibori in Maharashtra. The three-tier
partnership between the two firms includes marketing Electrolux
products in India and sourcing components from the country
for Electrolux's global operations.
All these relationships are targeted to culminate into
a trade turnover of over Rs6,000 crore annually in next
three to five years, says a release.
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IOC,
HPCL and Shell put up proposals for refineries
New
Delhi: The
petroleum ministry has received three proposals from Indian
Oil Corporation, Hindustan
Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Oil
and Natural Gas Corporation for setting up refineries
in Rajasthan.
In a separate proposal, Shell
India Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta has said that the
company was also looking at setting up a petroleum refinery
in the country.
ONGC has submitted its proposal for a refinery in Rajasthan
along with the UK-based Cairn Energy, which struck oil
in block RJ/ON-90/1 in the Barmer district of the state.
ONGC holds 30 per cent participatory interest in the block,
which was originally leased to it prior to the launch
of the new exploration and licensing policy. Cairn Energy
hopes to start crude oil production from its southern
fields in the block by the middle of 2006.
IOC and Hindustan Petroleum have submitted separate proposals.
The three proposals are looking at setting up a refinery
with an annual crude oil processing capacity of 4-5 million
tonnes. This can translate into an investment of Rs4,000-5,000
crore.
In his presentation to a meeting of Petroleum Federation
of India, Cairn Energy Director (Exploration) Mike Watts
said in the last eighteen months his company had drilled
79 wells in the Barmer area.
The company will now focus on exploration in the foothills
in Nepal and Bihar.
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BHEL
to commission 3,712 MW in capacity for fiscal 2005-06
New Delhi: Bharat
Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has commissioned 3,548
MW of generation capacity during 2004-05 and plans to
add another 3,712 MW of capacity during the current fiscal,
a company release said here today.
BHEL has achieved 110 per cent of the target set by
Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for last fiscal
by commissioning 3,548 MW of generation capacity, the
release said. The excess addition was due to the advance
commissioning of a 500-MW unit at Rihand power plant,
which was not in CEA's plan for last year, it said.
The company said 90 per cent of coal-based generating
sets added in the country during the year were of BHEL
make, while 80 per cent of hydro addition and 79 per cent
of diesel-based addition was contributed by BHEL sets.
The PSU said 73 per cent of electricity generated by utilities
in the country from coal, hydro and nuclear units was
contributed by BHEL sets, even though they contribute
only 65 per cent of the total installed capacity.
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Satyam
launches new global sourcing initiative
Hyderabad:
Satyam Computer Services Limited, a global consulting
and IT services provider, has flagged off its new global
sourcing initiative in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region
by setting up a specialised 25-member team to support
critical IT outsourcing projects which require high-end
niche skills and priority programming support.
The team will be based at Satyam's APAC headquarters in
Singapore, a press release said.
The Hyderabad-based software giant has hired senior consultants
and IT specialists from five Asian countries for the global
sourcing initiative.
The global sourcing team members include senior functional
consultants and experts in defined verticals such as oil
and gas, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), travel and
logistics and the public sector.
The initiative aims to establish a myriad talent pool
to successfully carry out highly specialised IT projects
on a priority basis, particularly in South East Asia and
China.
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Simbhaoli
Sugar to supply ethanol to oil majors
New Delhi: Simbhaoli Sugar Mills Ltd has bagged an
order to supply 60 lakh litres of ethanol to oil companies
such as Indian Oil, HPCL, BPCL and IBP in Uttar Pradesh.
Another supply order for ethanol-blending programme (EBP)
in Haryana is in the pipeline, a company release said.
This is in accordance with the green fuel initiative taken
by the Central Government for reducing dependence on imported
petroleum products, in the backdrop of increasing global
prices.
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British
Airways and Air Sahara in strategic alliance
New Delhi:
British
Airways (BA) and Air
Sahara have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
for mutual cooperation, which may result in 10 to 15 per
cent lower fares on the India-UK sector network of the
two airlines.
Addressing a press conference here, Martin George, British
Airways' Commercial Director, termed the MoU with Air
Sahara as a "strategic alliance.''
Next year, BA will increase frequencies between the U.K.
and India by more than 100 per cent, including the start
of a new route between Bangalore and London's Heathrow
airport.
"We are working on evolving joint, point-to-point
fares which will be 10 to 15 per cent lower than the existing
fares,'' said Ranojoy Dutta, President, Air Sahara.
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Tatas
and Bangladesh talks inconclusive
Dhaka: The second round of talks on the $2.5 billion
investment plan by India's Tata
Group concluded here Thursday with both sides claiming
progress though no breakthroughs were made on contentious
issues.
Tata
officials said that they and the government of Bangladesh
could not come to any conclusive decisions after six days
of negotiations on issues such as site selection, gas
pricing and power purchase.
"Although
it's a big and complex project, both sides negotiated
showing professional approach to deal with the issues,"
Alan Rosling, executive director of Tata Sons, said after
a meeting with Bangladesh Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed
Khan here.
"This
time, we have made good progress in different areas relating
to the planned investment," Alan told reporters.
The
two sides also agreed to resume negotiations at the end
of this month.
The
Tata Group have offered to invest $2.5 billion to set
up steel, fertiliser and power plants in Bangladesh. The
negotiations began in May and are supposed to be completed
by August 31.
Tata
has sought 2,000 acres for its steel plant in Bheramara,
600 acres in Barapukuria for a power project and 400 acres
in Chittagong for the fertiliser plant.
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Corporate
Results: Tata Motors,
Ashok Leyland
Tata Motors June 2005 sales up
9.4%
Tata
Motors Ltd on Thursday has reported a 9.4 per cent
rise in its vehicles sales for June 2005 at 33,018 units
as against 30,183 vehicles sold in the same month in the
previous fiscal, even as sales of its flagship passenger
car Indica fell by 7.7 per cent during the month.
Domestic
vehicle sales during June 2005 grew by 5.1 per cent at
29,981 units, as against 28,522 vehicles sold in June
2004, while exports in the reporting month rose 82.8 per
cent to 3,037 units (1,661 units), the company said in
a release.
Commercial
vehicles sales in the reporting month rose 15.5 per cent
at 15,530 units over 13,445 units in June 2004. June 2005
sales for passenger vehicles fell 4.1 per cent at 14,451
units over 15,077 units in the same period of previous
fiscal.
Indica
sales fell 7.7 per cent at 8,700 units over 9,426 units
in the same month last fiscal.
Indigo sales fell 8.9 per cent at 2,937 units over the
3,224 vehicles sales registered in June 2004. Utility
vehicles grew to 2,814 units in June 2005 from 2,427 units
in the same period of earlier fiscal.
Ashok
Leyland sales up 35% in June
Ashok
Leyland has reported a 35 per cent growth in vehicle
sales in June as compared to the corresponding month in
2004.
According to a press release from the company, its total
vehicle sales in June were 5,243 against 3,863 in June
2004. Total vehicle production was 5,438 (3,865), up 40
per cent.
In the Medium Domestic Vehicle (MDV) segment, domestic
sales of goods vehicles were up nearly 55 per cent and
passenger vehicle sales were up 54 per cent.
In the domestic market, it sold 1,041 (677) MDV passenger
units and exported 99 (200) on the production of 1,029
(806) vehicles. MDV goods sales were 3,797 (2,453) in
the domestic market and 238 (504) in the export market
on a production of 4,302 (3,020) vehicles.
In the light commercial vehicle (LCV) goods segment, 65
vehicles (24) were sold in the domestic market in June,
while three (five) were sold in the export market. It
produced 107 (39) vehicles.
Cumulative sales in the April-June 2005 quarter was 13,320
(11,101), representing a 20 per cent year-on-year growth.
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