COMPANIES
India
Post to launch air-courier service in North-East
Mumbai: State-run
India Post has inducted its own freighter aircraft leased from domestic carrier
Indian for carriage of mail, parcel and logistics to the North-East amidst increased
competition from private courier companies.
"In
order to improve its mail delivery and transmission services in North- East, department
of post has inducted a dedicated freighter aircraft for servicing the North- East",
I M G Khan, postal secretary said.
Aviation
minister Praful Patel and communications minister A Raja will flag off the commercial
service from Kolkata on August 29.
Except
Blue dart and First Flight Courier, no other domestic logistics provider owns
aircraft and none of them operate in North- East. While Blue dart operates in
metros and Ahmedabad, First Flight operates in small cities.
Department
of posts has spent Rs12 crore, including the lease amount and alterations to the
Indian Boeing 737-200, to take on the new role of a freighter dedicated aircraft
capable of carrying 15 tonnes at a time.
Kolkata
would be the regional hub for the freighter operations
and the service will operate on Kolkata- Guwahati-
Imphal- Agartala route on a regular basis.
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Cairn's
Rajasthan pipeline project gets government nod
Mumbai: The government
has approved Cairn India's proposal to lay a pipeline from Barmer district of
Rajasthan to Gujarat coast for transporting crude oil from its Barmer fields.
Petroleum minister
Murli Deora signed the papers permitting Cairn to acquire land rights for laying
the 582-km pipeline from Barmer to Salaya, official sources said.
The
pipeline project, estimated to cost $700 million, is to be included as part of
Rajasthan field development cost, which Cairn is entitled to recover before sharing
profits with the government.
Almost
simultaneously to the pipeline's inclusion in the
field development plan would come the approval for
selling the crude oil to multiple refiners instead
of previously approved scheme, in which entire 1,50,000
barrels per day (7.5 million tonnes) output was to
be supplied to Mangalore Refinery.
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Holcim
offers to buy 20 per cent in Ambuja Cements for Rs4,720 crore
Mumbai: Swiss cement
major Holcim, which has acquired an additional 3.9 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements,
has made an open offer to buy 20 per cent more in the domestic firm for over Rs4,720
crore.
Holcim
Mauritius holds 32.3 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements and after the acquisition
of additional 3.9 per cent stake, the Swiss firm is obliged to make an open offer.
With the purchase
of this block of shares, Holcim has exceeded the acquisition limit of five per
cent in a fiscal year as prescribed by takeover norms of the country and was required
to make the open offer.
Holcim
Mauritius has made the open offer to shareholders
of Ambuja Cements for acquiring over 30.65 crore shares,
representing a 20 per cent stake in the company at
Rs154 per share, Ambuja Cement said in a filing with
the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
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Larsen
& Toubro wins $70 million shipbuilding contract
Mumbai: Engineering
and construction firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd has won a shipbuilding order from
the Netherlands-based shipping firm, RollDock BV, for construction of two vessels,
worth $70 million.
The
ships would be built at the existing shipyard at its Hazira engineering complex
in Surat and would be delivered by May 2010, L&T said in a filing with the
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The
agreement includes an option for more vessels of the same series to be built later
this year, the company said.
The
vessels have a deadweight capacity of over 8250 tonnes, cargo volume of 17000
cubic metres and can carry 830 TEU of containers.
Earlier
in June the company had secured a 94.95-million- dollar shipbuilding contract
from the Netherlands-based BigLift Shipping.
In
a separate announcement L&T said it has allotted
over 23.79 lakh equity shares upon conversion of foreign
currency convertible bonds on August 6.
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Schrader
Duncan to acquire Schrader Brazil
Mumbai: Tyre tube valves maker Schrader Duncan
is acquiring the entire business of Schrader Brazil,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Tomkins Plc of the UK.
The board of directors of the company at its meeting
have granted in principle approval for the purpose,
the company said in a filing with the Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE).
The terms and conditions of the transaction are being
negotiation and would be notified in due course, it
said.
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GENERAL
Government
to give a Rs1,000 crore boost to nanotechnology
Mumbai: The government
would give a big push to nanotechnology, which has potential to lift the quality
of life of the poor, C N R Rao, chairman of the scientific advisory council to
the prime minister, said.
The
government has made a budgetary provision of Rs1,000-crore to promote the sector,
Rao told a function to announce the dates of Bangalore Nano 2007.
"Nanotechnology
and science have many potentially valuable societal applications for poor people,
including the creation of more efficient filtering systems for producing clean
drinking water and the provision of cheap and clean energy (through more efficient
solar cells)," he said.
The
Nano Science and Technology Initiative (NSTI) in India has so far funded about
100 basic science projects worth Rs60 crore. About Rs20 crore has been released
for establishing six centres for nano science at institutions such as the Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore, and different IITs.
Bangalore
Nano 2007 will be held on December 6 and 7.
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N-deal
disagreement not to affect UPA government: Karat
Moderating its
strident line against India signing the civillian nuclear agreement with the US,
the CPI(M) on Thurday said it did not want the "current crisis" over
the Indo-US nuclear deal to affect the Manmohan Singh government and that it has
not discussed the possibility of elections.
At
the conclusion of a crucial two-day meeting of the Central Committee, CPI(M) General
Secretary Prakash Karat said the party wanted to allay apprehensions that it was
interested in pulling down the government.
There
was, however, no dilution of the CPI(M)`s opposition to the nuclear deal. "The
Central Committee does not want the current crisis to affect the government. However,
this is contingent upon the government not proceeding further with the agreement,"
a resolution adopted by the meeting said.
"The
Central Committee, therefore, authorises the Politburo to take whatever necessary
measures to see that the agreement is not operationalised," it said. Addressing
a press conference, Karat said "if the government decides to operationalise
the agreement, the responsibility for the future of this government lie with the
government."
"...Unfortunately
we are in such a situation we are again trying to allay any apprehension that
we are interested in this government going. We would like ... We don`t want this
crisis to affect the government, but it is dependent on how the government acts,"
he said.
Asked
if they were ready for elections now, Karat said they have not discussed elections
in the Central Committee meeting.
He said the party did not use the words it would withdraw support. "We have
not used the word withdraw support in any of our statements. You won`t see a single
leader of the CPI(M) either in Delhi, or in Kolkata or in Hyderabad having said
we will withdraw support. Our Politburo has not given such a statement."
Asked
if the Left parties are withdrawing support, Karat
said "I told you we have asked the government
to pause, examine the objections, allay the apprehensions
about the implications of the Hyde Act and heed the
voice of Parliament and the Opposition."
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