KEC receives contract worth Rs130 crore from Karnataka Power
Mumbai: RPG group company, KEC International (KEC), a global player in the power transmission engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) business has received a contract valued at Rs130.15 crore from Karnataka Power Transmission Company for the design, fabrication, testing, supply, erection and commissioning of a 400 KV direct current line with a length of 151.15 kms in Karnataka.

The project, awarded on a turnkey basis has to be completed in December 2008.

The company had recently bagged its largest single value contract worth Rs380 crore in Kazakhstan and a Rs176 crore deal in the Middle East.

KEC has a current order book worth over Rs3,300 crore. The company also has operations in the UAE, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Zambia and Ethiopia among several other countries.
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Essar Stelco bid gets shortlisted
Mumbai: The overseas investment arm of the Essar Group, Essar Global's bid has been shortlisted along with two other bidders for the acquisition of North American steel maker Stelco. The other two companies in the race are Metinvest of Ukraine and Russian steel maker OAO Severstal.

Stelco was put on the block last month.

Officials said that going by its stock price, the acquisition of Stelco could cost over $700 million (Rs2,800 crore).

When contacted, an Essar Group spokesperson said. Stelco is one of the largest Canadian steel producers with 4,300-odd employees and has two steel making units with 4.8 million tonnes of raw steel production capacity, four steel processing facilities and ownership in three iron ore mines which have combined reserves of 480 million tonnes for a reserve life of over 25 years.

Industry experts said a Stelco acquisition would help the Essar Group cater to the North American automotive industry better as more than half of Stelco's shipments are meant for the automotive industry. An auto capacity of nearly 3 million vehicles a year is located in the vicinity of Stelco units.
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Dabhol finally obtains natural gas for power generation
New Delhi: PSU gas firm GAIL (India) has delivered gas to the Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra. With this the troubled unit can switch from expensive naphtha to the cheaper green fuel.

Gail transported gas through a 577-km pipeline from Dahej in Gujarat where Petronet LNG is importing 1.25 million tons of natural gas in liquefied form (LNG) from Qatar. This is the first time the Dabhol plant has received gas supplies since beginning operations in May 1999. However the plant will be able to begin generating electricity only by next weekend as the system gradually shifts from liquid fuel to gas.

Officials said GAIL's Dahej-Uran-Dabhol pipeline was a landmark as it was completed in a record eight months despite several obstacles, notably opposition from farmers in Maharashtra and Gujarat, difficult terrain and bad weather. Ratnagiri Gas and Power, the new owner of the project originally promoted by bankrupt US energy major Enron, will by month-end start generating about 1,400 MW of electricity from gas and will scale up to peak capacity of 2,184 MW by the year-end when a third unit is commissioned.
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IOC, RIL, HPCL, BPCL among top 50 by revenue among Fortune Global 500
New Delhi: Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation have been included in the top 15 global firms in terms of biggest increase in profits, according to '2007 Fortune Global 500 list'.

BPCL and HPCL are ahead of big names like Hewlett-Packard, Alstom and Time Warner in ranking as the former's profits have jumped by a huge 324.9 per cent and 262.1 per cent respectively in 2006, mainly due to the sale of oil bonds that figures under the revenue head.

The Global 500 list includes five Indian oil companies of which four are state-run entities with the lone private firm being corporate giant Reliance Industries.

Indian Oil, BPCL, Reliance Industries and HPCL also figure among the top 39 petroleum refining companies in the global 500 list. IOC is at 20th position with revenues of 45,217 million dollars, while Reliance Industries with $25,159 million is at ranked 26 and BPCL takes the 31st slot with $21,862 million for 2006. HPCL is at 33 with revenues of $20,936 million.
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IBM in talks with Vodafone for outsourcing
Bangalore: IBM is eyeing outsourcing deals from Indian telecom companies and is in talks with the Indian unit of Vodafone Plc for this.

India is the world's fastest growing mobile market, adding more than 6 million users a month, and telecoms companies are stepping up investment on technology. India had 130.6 million mobile subscribers on the popular GSM platform at end-May.

IBM is looking at being a key player in the Indian market with 100 per cent market. IBM is also in talks with unlisted Hutchison Essar Ltd in which British phone firm Vodafone bought a controlling stake this year, for an outsourcing deal.

Last year, Vodafone outsourced key IT functions to IBM, the world's largest technology services company, and Electronic Data Systems Corp.

In India IBM employs 53,000 staff in India, which accounts for 16 percent of its global workforce and makes its Indian operations the second-largest operation after the United States. The company has won several large contracts in India including one from Idea Cellular.

IBM had earlier signed a 10-year, $750 million, deal in 2004 with top mobile services firm Bharti Airtel to manage its IT infrastructure. It is now estimated to have gone up to about $1.5 billion due to robust growth in Bharti's subscriber and revenue.
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L&T bags contracts worth Rs853 crore
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has secured an order worth Rs366 crore from the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority for design, supply installation and commissioning of the two substations at Abu Dhabi. The contract will be completed within 18 months.

L&T has secured yet another order for turnkey construction at 400/220 kV extra high voltage substations worth Rs200 crore from Power Grid Corporation of India. L&T is currently involved in more than 12 projects for Power Grid at various locations.

L&T's construction division (water and utilities group) has also bagged three orders valued at Rs287 crore.

Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Sewerage Board awarded an order for Rs 195 crore for implementation of comprehensive water supply schemes in Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai and Pudhukottai districts in Tamil Nadu.

Delhi Jal Board awarded an order worth Rs92.50 crore for design, providing, laying, jointing, testing and commissioning of a mild steel raw water transmission. This project is to be completed in 20 months.

Recently, the Andhra Pradesh government placed an engineering, procurement and construction contract valued at Rs332 crore to L&T and its joint venture partner for a lift irrigation project in Cuddappah to be executed in 24 months, taking the total tally of water projects to Rs561 crore during the current year.
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Air Deccan's June passenger traffic up 22 per cent
Bangalore: Low cost carrier Air Deccan has recorded a 22 per cent jump in passenger traffic for June 2007 as against June 2006.

In the month of June 2007, the airline has carried 6,63,355 passengers representing a growth of 22.3 per cent over the same month in the previous year.

The average load factor too has steadily risen to 83.19 per cent from 81.21 per cent in June 2006. Air Deccan now operates 350 flights to 65 destinations daily as compared to the 265 flights to 55 destinations in the same month last year. The airline has crossed the 12 million passenger mark this year, in a span of less than 4 years since its inception in August 2003.
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DLF buys 112 acres of DCM land in Delhi
DLF has acquired close to 112 acres of land in west Delhi for about Rs 1,750 crore from DCM Shriram, beating archrival Unitech. DLF outbid Unitech by Rs 150 crore, part of the cost will be funded by IPO proceeds. The only rider could be the Supreme Court order that may restrict its construction plans.

Analysts say that DLF might have overpaid, the Supreme Court says that only one third of the land can be developed and the rest has to be green, which means DLF can only build on about 38 acres of the 112 acres it had bought.

There is hardly any stretch of land of this size in central Delhi and DLF having exhausted its options in Gurgaon is looking to establish its space in central Delhi. Having paid so much of money, the company will look to multiply its investments through property development.
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