Shell sets up bitumen plant in WB
Kolkata: Global energy major Shell has set up a bitumen plant in West Bengal, the first such unit in the country.

The modified bitumen production unit is located at Uluberia close to Kolkata and will produce a range of products, emulsions, crumb rubber modified bitumen and polymer modified bitumen.

It will have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum which can be expanded to meet market demand, the company said in a statement issued on Thursday.

According to the company the bitumen plant at Uluberia will bring to India, best-in-class pavement solutions for highways and airport runways as well as some specialist applications.

Further assets in bitumen would be needed to be built to support the reach of Shell bitumen in India based on market growth. The company has invested $1 billion in India already and is the largest and most diversified international investor in India's energy sector.
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Vodafone values Hutch between $17-18 billion
London: Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone operator, has submitted an offer valuing the Hutch-Essar JV between $17-18 billion according to media reports in Britain.

The Indian media had reported on the valuation of Hutch-Essar following an interview of Hutchison Whampoa's finance director Frank Sixt who said the group would not entertain any offer below $14 billion thus pegging the enterprise value of the joint venture at $21 billion.
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NTPC plans 500 MW plant in Sri Lanka
Mumbai: National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) will sign a memorandum of agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for developing a 2X250MW coal based power project at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka.

The project will be developed through a joint venture between the Indian major and the CEB.
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Lenovo opens India innovation centre
Mumbai: Lenovo has opened an innovation centre in India, the company's first in the country and has announced plans to expand the presence of Lenovo products in multi-branded and exclusive retail outlets.

The company at present has 60 exclusive retail outlets to which it plans to add another 40 by March 2007. Its two other innovation centres are located in US and Beijing.

This is the company's third innovation centre globally and the company ascribes the Indian market as one of its fastest-growing markets comprising of unique, large enterprise and mid-market customers.

The centre will deploy globally-developed solutions to specific customer requirements in India and also be capable of developing solutions when required by customers here.

Intel, Microsoft, LANDesk, IBM and Cisco will partner the innovation centre to showcase new enterprise level PC solutions in areas such as hardware platform and application integration, active management technology, network connectivity and power management.
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TCS Ignite to train 300 first-gen graduates
Chennai: The first batch of 500 students is beginning training under the TCS-Ignite programme. This is the first time that TCS is recruiting a 500-strong trainee group to train them free-of-cost.

Almost 60 pc of the recruits in the first batch are from small towns and first-generation college graduates, and 60 pc of those being trained are women.

The second batch of the programme, starting June 1, 2007, will have 2,000 trainees on board.

For its current seven-month programme, while 365 students have been recruited from colleges in Tamil Nadu, 90 have been recruited from the north-eastern states.

As part of its academic outreach programme, the company scanned over 5,000 BSc graduates in physics and mathematics from 125 colleges who are competing for a place in the first batch.
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Yahoo! starts research lab in Bangalore
Bangalore: The $6 billion internet company Yahoo! is starting a research lab in Bangalore. This will be Yahoo!'s seventh site globally after four centres in the US and one each in Barcelona and Chile.

The company has begun the process of setting up a lab in Bangalore and has started hiring scientists for the unit. Company officials said no time frame has been set as to when the centre starts operations as it depends on the caliber of people hired and when the centre will be acquire a critical mass of people.

Yahoo! already runs a research and development centre in Bangalore with around 700 personnel. The centre, other than developers, employs researchers who are currently working on applied research. The new centre will look at hiring senior mentors and partners for the existing researchers.
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Reliance Communications to invest $1.5 billion in Flag
Mumbai: Reliance Communications plans to invest $1.5 billion (around Rs7,000 crore) in Flag Telecom, its under-sea cable subsidiary, over the next three years. The investment would be spent in laying an additional 50,000 km of optic fibre cable and expand the company's reach to over 60 countries.

Over the next three years, Flag Telecom will build the world's largest internet protocol (IP) network over submarine cable systems.

Termed FLAG-Next Generation Network (FLAG NGN), the project will cater to over 5 billion customers across the globe said Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani. He added that Flag Telecom should become the third largest undersea cable system player in the world once the project was commissioned.

Flag's global network will span 1,15,000 km by December 2009, taking the total optic fibre assets of Reliance Communications to over 2,30,000 km. The company would fund the project through internal accruals and debt, said Ambani.

Currently, Flag Telecom operates the world's largest private under-sea cable system spanning 65,000 km and has a customer base of over 200 leading operators, which include the top 10 international carriers.

Reliance Communications had acquired Flag Telecom for $207 million in October 2003.
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Arvind to bring in more global brands into India
Bangalore: VF Arvind Brands, the joint venture between the US-based VF Corporation and Arvind Brands, plans to introduce the Hero and Riders brands from the VF Corporation portfolio into India.

The two brands are 60-70 year old brands respectively and have a wide range of products such as caps, shirts, T-shirts, belts, knit and woven tops.

While the company has already introduced Hero brand through Metro Cash & Carry about 10 days ago, it is yet to launch Riders.

These brands will be sold through the multi-brand outlets and departmental stores.

Earlier this year the company launched the JanSport, Kipling and Nautica brand in India and in the next three to four years the company will bring the entire range of brands from VF Corp to India.

At present, VF Corp has over 55 brands in its portfolio of which Lee and Wrangler have been in India since the last 10 years.

Hero and Riders will target the mid-market segment in India. The brands will be priced in the Rs700-1,200 range. Kipling, JanSport and Nautica are placed in the super premium category.
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Bajaj Hindusthan net profit up 36 per cent
Mumbai: Sugar producer Bajaj Hindustan (BHL) has recorded a 36 per cent jump in net profit to Rs190.83 crore during the financial year ending September 30, 2006 against Rs140.39 crore registered during the same period last year.

The company's revenue rose 74 per cent to Rs1,486.8 crore during FY 2006 against Rs854.8 crore last year.

The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of 60 per cent (Rs0.60 per equity share of the face value of Rs1 each).

Company officials said results could have been much better but for higher cane prices and lower recoveries due to early start of crushing season.

The government's ban on exports also had a deleterious impact on domestic sugar realizations. BHL sugar sales increased 57 per cent during the year under review to touch 7,20,798 tonnes. Industrial alcohol volumes grew by 160 per cent to 67,480 kilolitres.

In 2006-07, BHL will crush 89,000 tcd while BHSIL has set a target of 6,000 tcd. BHL's two new distilleries each of 1.6 lakh litres per day are expected to be operation by March 2007.
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Lanco Infratech to set up power plant in Jharkhand
Hyderabad: Lanco Infratech has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Jharkhand Government on for a 2,640 MW mega coal-based power plant.

This comes close on the heels of the recent deal for 4,000 MW ultra mega project at Sasan by the company. With this, the total capacity of Lanco, both in operation and in process, will go up to about 11,000 MW.

The thermal project would be set up in two phases of 1,320 MW each and the Jharkhand Government would assist the company in acquiring land, permit for required water and provide support infrastructure.

Jharkhand would have the first right of purchase of up to 25 per cent of the power generated and the rest would be sold to any other State through competitive bidding process.

The company said it is in the process of firming up partners and other necessary clearances. As to the cost of the project officials said, typically, one MW would cost about Rs 4 crore.
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Big Bazaar enters Chennai
Chennai: Pantaloon Retail's Big Bazaar, a part of Future group has set up its first standalone store in Chennai taking the number of Big Bazaars in the country to 40.

Spread over 50,000 sq feet the store has been set up with an estimated investment of Rs15 crore and the company is betting big on its motto 'nobody sells cheaper and better'.

The company plans to set up a total of 33 stores by the end of this year. In Chennai alone, the company plans to add close to five to seven Big Bazaars by 2007 officials said.

The store is targeting a footfall of 50,000 per day in Chennai.
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