COMPANIES

Wipro to open centre in Egypt
Mumbai: Wipro will set up a development centre in Egypt to offer IT services for the Middle-East and other global customers.

Wipro would provide software development, integration and consulting services from this centre, the company said in a release.

Wipro signed an MoU with Egypt's ministry of communications and information technology on setting up the centre.

"This development centre besides strengthening Wipro's dominance in the region (the Middle-East) would also give a thrust to Wipro's global delivery model", said Wipro's head of Middle East and Asia Pacific regions, Rajat Mathur.

Wipro's customers in the Middle-East include Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority, Metal, Dubai government, Qatar Petroleum and Bahraini Saudi Bank, the company said.
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Tata Motors to pay Rs1,000 crore for Singur land lease
Mumbai: Tata Motors would pay West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) about Rs1,000 crore in a phased manner for the Singur land lease of 90 years for its small car project, the company informed the Calcutta High Court.

Submitting before Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice P C Ghose on a PIL challenging the acquisition of land at Singur for the project, Tata's counsel S Pal said while West Bengal government was paying Rs118 crore as compensation for 997 acre acquired at Singur for the project and ancillary industries, Tatas would be paying a much higher amount though in a phased manner.

He also produced before the court the deed of lease executed between WBIDC and Tata Motors Limited indicating the premium and rent that Tata motors would have to pay on different slabs of increase.
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Indian Oil likely to join hands with ENI, KMG to bid for Turkish refinery contract
New Delhi: Public sector oil marketing giant, Indian Oil Corporation today said that it may invite ENI of Italy and Kazakhstan's KazMunayGas (KMG) as new equity partners for its proposed 15-million tonne refinery in Turkey's port city of Ceyhan.

Indian Oil has already has a 51:49 joint venture with Turkey's Calik Holding for setting up the export-oriented refinery at Ceyhan.

Sarthak Behuria,Chairman, Indian Oil, told reporters in New Delhi today, ''For the proposed refinery worth Rs20,000 crore, KazMunayGas (KMG) of Kazakhstan and Italy's ENI might be roped in as new equity partners,''

The project has received the provisional approval from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority of Turkey in May this year.
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GENERAL

World Bank to aid `Vision Mumbai` project
Mumbai: The World Bank would extend all possible help in implementation of the ambitious 'Vision Mumbai' project, which entails an expenditure of over $50 billion.

World Bank's country director for India, Isabel Guerrero gave the assurance to Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh at the latter's official residence in Mumbai.

Vision Mumbai project covers development of Mumbai Metropolitan Region, beyond the limits of city and suburbs.

The chief minister said the government was considering a proposal to introduce a 'congestion tax' to control heavy road traffic in the city.

Maharashtra has also sought assistance from the Bank for its 'Jalswarajya' water supply project, to be implemented in 3,161 villages, for which Rs1,395 crore were needed, he said.
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SEBI wants NSDL to set up separate unit for pension fund entry
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has prescribed certain criteria for the National Securities Depository (NSDL), including the setting up of a separate unit, to be eligible to act as central recordkeeping agency (CRA) for pension funds, under the new pension scheme for central and state government employees.

The Sebi board, at its meeting decided that NSDL could act as CRA only through a separate strategic business unit (SBU). Further, the depository will have to hive off other activities within three years to a separate entity without any financial and legal links with NSDL. But, financial integrity should be ensured by NSDL till then, said sources.

Another eligibility condition is that NSDL's other activity should not erode the net worth required for carrying out the depository activity in securities. NSDL is required to get the approvals from its board and sponsor for carrying on other activities.

NSDL should also get additional insurance cover for risks, if any, of other activities. The depository will also have to meet other financial conditions, if required, in the interest of beneficial owners, said sources.

Sebi said NSDL will have to meet all these criteria and it is required to file its application before it for approval.

Sebi had earlier expressed reservations about NSDL acting as a recordkeeper for pension funds.
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MTNL to launch co branded portal with AOL
Telecommunications service provider Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has entered into a partnership with US web services provider America Online (AOL) to introduce its services and content to India.

These products and content would be available to MTNL's broadband customers through a co-branded portal called mtnl.aol.in. MTNL has a broadband user base of 5 lakhs in Delhi and Mumbai.

The portal would provide news and entertainment content, videos on movies, news and sports, pictures, chat messenger and unlimited mail storage.

MTNL's share of the advertisement revenue would be around 35 per cent with the rest going to the US company.
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India investment rating not to change: Fitch
Despite the political uncertainty brought about by differences on the Indo-US nuclear deal Fitch ratings does not expect the investment inflow into India to be impacted.

Fitch's senior director James Mccormack said that Fitch was not worried about the political situation in the country and the investment flow would continue.

He said the credit rating agency would not change the investment rating for India, with its

In Augus 2006, Fitch had last raised India's rating a notch higher to 'BBB-', placing it at the bottom of the investment grade.
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Finance ministry approves Blackstone's investment in SKR BPO Services
Private equity firm Blackstone Group has receive the finance ministry's approval to invest approximately Rs447 crore in Indian back-office services provider, SKR BPO Services, which had bought over business process outsourcing firm Intelenet Global Services from Barclays Bank and Housing Development Finance Corp in June this year.

SKR BPO Services was started by the management of Intelenet, with funding from Blackstone.
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