Business Line articles from November 2001

Business Line archives from November 2001

India: Portfolio investments banned for overseas corporate bodies.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday banned overseas corporate bodies (OCBs) from investing in the stock market under the portfolio investment scheme (PIS). An OCB is a company, partnership firm, society or...

India: Essar gets IDBI nod to resume Vadinar project.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - DECKS have been cleared for Essar Oil to resume work on its 10.5-million-tonne Vadinar refinery project in Gujarat, with IDBI - one of its institutional lenders - giving Essar the go-ahead. At a meeting on Thursday, the...

India: StanChart chief Talwar quits.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - MR Rana Talwar has resigned as a Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Standard Charted Plc. An announcement from the bank's London headquarters said Mr Mervyn Davies replaces him as Group CEO with immediate effect....

India: Oil PSUs to issue bonus shares.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - IN a further bid to make up for the likely shortfall in disinvestment receipts, the Centre has made State-owned oil companies issue bonus shares worth Rs 448.84 crore. In the second supplementary demand for grants...

India: IDBI Q2 net down 85 pc at Rs 25.2 cr.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - INDUSTRIAL Development Bank of India (IDBI) today reported an 85 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 25.2 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2001, as compared to Rs 164.7 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2000....

India: Licence roadblock before Batata.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE mega merger between Birla AT&T, the Tatas (Batata) and BPL could hit a roadblock on the licence front. Official sources said the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is unlikely to allow the request for a...

India: Cazenove closes India operations.
November 30, 2001... BANGALORE, Nov. 29 - THE British brokerage house Cazenove Group has decided to close shop in India blaming the downturn in the market. The brokerage's Indian operations, under the banner Cazenove India (Holdings) Pvt Ltd, would cease...

India: Want to dance like MJ? Get his patented shoes.
November 30, 2001... HYDERABAD, Nov. 29 - WHAT has Michael Jackson, the pop music icon, got to do with patents? On the face of it, nothing perhaps. But wait, the teenage music heartthrob is a recognised innovator, whose dancing shoes have got a US Patent. ...

India: Diamond Cables: Big order, but....
November 30, 2001... Diamond Cables' bagging the Rs 88-crore order from the Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board may provide a temporary boost in stock price. The size of the order appears significant in relation to the company's revenues (Rs 102 crore in...

India: Ranbaxy Labs: On strong turf.
November 30, 2001... Ranbaxy Laboratories has strengthened its position in the US market following the approval of the generic Acetaminophen and Codeine Phosphate tablets. The bigger Ranbaxy's product basket is in the US, the better will the returns be....

India: Verbatim.
November 30, 2001... "I'm not very good at telling you how I've changed, because I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself and how I've changed." - US President George W.Bush, when asked by Newsweek magazine how he had changed after September 11. "I...

India: Sinha to open India Economic Summit.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - IN a break with tradition, 17th India Economic Summit, which opens here on December 2, will be inaugurated by the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, and not the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Speaking to...

India: Smajda will be missing too.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister will not be the only one who would be missed at this year's India Economic Summit. Also missing would be the World Economic Forum Managing Director, Mr Claude Smajda, who, in the past few years, had been...

India: Agrani stakes for Alcatel, Arianespace.
November 30, 2001... BANGALORE, Nov. 29 - ALCATEL Spacecom SA and Arianespace SA will be investing in Agrani, the first private Indian satellite venture. Agrani Satellite Services Ltd (ASSL), promoted by Mr Subhash Chandra, has received clearances from both...

India: 'Healthcare must get infrastructure status'.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE Government needs to accord infrastructure status to the healthcare industry since 80 per cent of patients in the country are treated by private healthcare providers, Dr Prathap Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group,...

India: Coal India plans steps to recover costs.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - COAL India Ltd (CIL) is considering a package of innovative measures to finance the huge cost of production from underground mining, which has been stagnating at around 55 million tonnes annually, according to the...

India: 'Knowledge initiative' for lower foreign equity cap.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE US Chairman of Indo-US Knowledge Trade Initiative (KTI), Mr Dean R. O'Hare, on Thursday said that removal or reduction by India of equity caps on foreign ownership of service companies, especially financial services,...

India: Kayamkulam plant capacity expansion may be advanced.
November 30, 2001... CHENNAI, Nov. 29 - THE project for expanding the capacity of National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) Kayamkulam plant may be advanced in view of the easy LNG prices, NTPC's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr C.P. Jain, told journalists...

India: RBI asks The Statesman to change teaser slogan.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - IN deference to the reservations expressed by the Reserve Bank of India with regard to a teaser advertisement campaign of the Kolkata-based daily The Statesman, the newspaper has to change a campaign slogan that it has been...

India: Subsidy for kerosene, LPG to stay after APM goes.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - EVEN after the dismantling of administered pricing mechanism (APM) for the petroleum products is completed by March 31, 2002, the subsidy regime for kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) would continue for some time...

India: Govt keen on full-time MD for Air India.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - WITH the disinvestment of Air India (AI) having been put on hold, the Government is keen to appoint a full-time Managing Director for the airline. The administrative ministry which is the Ministry of Civil Aviation...

India: Rs 5-cr capital base mooted for asset reconstruction co.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE committee on asset reconstruction companies (ARC) has suggested a Rs 5 crore minimum capital contribution by all public sector banks and select financial institutions to set up the first ARC in the country. The...

India: Fiscal deficit up 25 pc.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - FOLLOWING a steep fall in tax revenues and a spurt in non-Plan expenditure, the Centre's fiscal deficit during April to October this year has risen by 25 per cent. In absolute terms, the deficit stood at Rs 63,383 crore...

India: Bharti gets licence for long-distance.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - BHARTI Telesonic - a subsidiary of Bharti Televentures Ltd. has acquired the first licence for national long-distance (NLD) services, which has been thrown open to the private sector. It will be competeting with the...

India: Mascarenhas takes it lightly.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - MR Michael Mascarenhas, the first managing director of Air India (AI) to be suspended and subsequently reinstated to his post after the CBI exonerated him of corruption charges, has called for institutionalised safeguards to...

India: LS passes buyback Bill.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE Lok Sabha today passed the Companies (Third Amendment) Bill, 2001 aiming at relaxing the buyback provisions applicable to Indian companies. The Bill is awaiting the clearance of the Rajya Sabha before it finds...

India: BSES to wait for lenders' decision.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - BSES Ltd, one of the parties which has shown interest in picking up Enron's 65 per cent stake in Dabhol Power Co, today said it will wait for the lenders' strategy now to proceed ahead. Enron is expected to file for...

India: IOC chief meets Bengal CM on Haldia Petro.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - MR M.A. Pathan, Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), today met Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, West Bengal Chief Minister, and the Industry Minister, Mr Nirupam Sen, to discuss Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL). ...

India: Balrampur Chini mulls buyback.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - SUGAR major, Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd, is considering a buyback of its shares. It has also decided to empower its shareholders with the right to cast postal ballots, including the electronic media. The company has...

India: Zuari-Chambal group still in race for NFL.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE K. K. Birla-controlled Zuari-Chambal group has declared that it is still very much in the race for strategic buy-out of the Centre's equity in National Fertiliser Ltd (NFL), notwithstanding the Department of...

India: Ford's Escape may debut at Auto Expo.
November 30, 2001... PUNE, Nov. 29 - FORD India Ltd (FIL) is considering the debut of its sports utility vehicle (SUV), Escape , in India at the forthcoming Auto Expo. The company has applied for the necessary Government approvals to import the vehicle, top...

India: HC admits winding-up petition against L&T.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - THE Bombay High Court on Thursday accepted the winding-up petition filed by three hoarding and advertising agencies against engineering giant Larsen & Toubro Ltd. The court has given L&T three weeks to file an "affidavit in...

India: Bayer to cut royalty for Ranbaxy's Cifran.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - RANBAXY Laboratories' royalties and milestone payments for its once-a-day ciprofloxacin drug - Cifran OD - will be cut marginally by Bayer AG. When contacted, Ranbaxy spokesman confirmed the development but did not...

India: FDA grants approval.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - RANBAXY Pharmaceuticals Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, has received US FDA approvals for acetaminophen and codeine phosphate tablets. These are therapeutic equivalents of tylenol and...

India: Indal MD quits.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI: Indian Aluminium Company Ltd has said that the company's Managing Director (Operations), Mr N. K. Choudhary, has ceased to hold office as on November 28. In a notification to the BSE, the company said that Mr Choudhary expressed...

India: Reva set for Nepal market.
November 30, 2001... BANGALORE: Reva Electric Car Company (RECC) has announced its foray into the export market by entering into a three-year agreement with Ecovisions to facilitate export of Reva to the Nepalese markets, a company release said here on Thursday....

India: Nippon, Maruti in tie-up.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI: Nippon Audiotronix Ltd Thursday said it has tied up with Maruti Udyog Ltd for designing and manufacturing security systems, which would be sold as genuine accessory by the car maker. Under the Maruti Mobile Security tag, safety...

India: BPCL order for BHPV.
November 30, 2001... VISAKHAPATNAM: State-owned Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels (BHPV) has bagged a major order from Indian oil major, BPCL, for fabrication and supply of 45 heat exchanges. According to BHPV press release, the Rs 20-crore order was secured...

India: Singhania re-elected ATMA chief.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI: The members of the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (ATMA) have re-elected Mr Raghupati Singhania, Managing Director, JK Industries Ltd, as the Chairman of the association. According to a press release here, Mr Luis...

India: Spectrum MD set free on bail.
November 30, 2001... HYDERABAD: The Managing Director of Spectrum Power Generation Ltd (SPGL), Mr M. Kishan Rao, who surrendered before the court of the 11th Metropolitan Magistrate here on Wednesday, was released on furnishing a personal bond. Mr Rao's...

India: BIFR notice to Dunlop directors on allegations.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has issued show-cause notices (SCN) to each of the directors on the board of Dunlop (India) Ltd (DIL), seeking material evidence and substantiation of the...

India: Volumes soar as single stock 'futures' mimic 'badla'.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - BARELY a month into single stock futures, the volumes have shot up through the roof. Dealers say that it is just the beginning of a new deferral product; once investors understand its usage, the volumes in futures could be...

India: Boards approve Graphite, Carbon Everflow merger.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - THE stage has been set for the merger of Graphite India Ltd with Carbon Everflow Ltd. The board of directors of both the companies approved the proposed merger at separate meetings held here today. The name of the...

India: Godrej pact with IIT.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - GODREJ Industries Ltd and its associate companies today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai (IIT-B) for facilitating collaboration in a "multitude of...

India: BPCL awaits Oman decision on Bina.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - GIVEN a choice, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) would like to go ahead with the implementation of the 9 million-tonne per annum (mtpa) capacity refinery proposed to be set up at Bina in Madhya Pradesh. The...

India: Govt may ask CII to run brand equity fund.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - AS part of the plan to professionalise the working of India Brand Equity Fund (IBEF) - administered by the Ministry of Commerce - for the promotion of Indian brands abroad, the Government is likely to ask the Confederation...

India: Eli Lilly Ranbaxy name changed.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - ELI Lilly Ranbaxy Ltd will now on be known as Eli Lilly & Company (India) Pvt Ltd. An approval to this effect was received this week from the Registrar of Companies according to an official statement issued here today.

India: Complaint against Mistry group filed.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI, Nov. 29 - MAN-MADE Fibres Pvt Ltd, which has made a counter-offer to acquire the shares of Forbes Gokak Ltd, has complained to the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that Sterling Investments and others (the Pallonji Mistry...

India: DuPont offers safety expertise to businesses.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - E.I. DUPONT, a global leader among science-based technology companies, has offered Indian industry its safety expertise to become 'champions' in world class safety performance and derive excellence in business...

India: RPG Cellular VP joins Tatas.
November 30, 2001... CHENNAI: RPG Cellular's Vice-President, Marketing, Mr M. Padmanabhan, has quit the company to join Tata Teleservices as its VP, Marketing, TN Circle. He will be in charge of basic telephony operations and will be based in Chennai. Tamil...

India: OgilvyOne in Chennai.
November 30, 2001... CHENNAI: Direct marketing agency OgilvyOne Worldwide has announced the commencement of operations in Chennai. This office will be the agency's fifth in the country, according to a press release. Part of the Ogilvy group of companies, which...

India: Arcus seeks strategic partners.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI: Arcus Ltd is looking for strategic partners and investors to facilitate future expansion plans. The company, which operates one flagship store just outside Delhi, is planning to set up 10 stores in the next three years, Mr I.S....

India: Launch of premium brandy.
November 30, 2001... KOCHI: The Palakkad based Kerala Alcoholic Products Ltd, manufacturers of Oak Vat Rum, has launched a new premium brandy - Cardinal - in the Kerala market. Priced at Rs 295 for 750 Ml bottle, the product will be available through foreign...

India: Hidesign all set to venture into new horizons.
November 30, 2001... CHENNAI, Nov. 29 - HIDESIGN, the Pondicherry-based international leather brand, is in the process of entering new markets in Asia and expanding its presence in Russia. Mr Dilip Kapur, President, Hidesign, said the company's products were...

India: Menswear from India hot stuff in the Emirates.
November 30, 2001... ABU DHABI, Nov. 29 - WALK into any department store or shopping mall in the UAE's major cities and chances are that you will spot Indian readymade menswear either ondisplay as part of multi-brand outlets, or in exclusive outlets that sport an...

India: Maxima to tap African, Sri Lankan markets.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - AFTER meeting success in the mass segment in India, PA Industries' Maxima brand is all set to introduce its competitively-priced range of watches in other countries. The company had already forayed into the Bangladesh...

India: Tata Tea yields to 'Temptation' with new brand launch.
November 30, 2001... CHENNAI, Nov. 29 - TATA Tea Ltd will be entering the organic tea market by January 2002. "The company has completed the certification process for some select fields in its plantations in Assam and for one manufacturing unit. Though...

India: BPCL's 2-pronged strategy for sales promotion.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - BHARAT Petroleum Corporation Ltd has adopted a two-pronged strategy to promote the sale of petroleum products in the right quantity and quality as also non-petro products. While the 'Pure For Sure' campaign ensures...

India: Sunrider told to stop test marketing.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE Government has started a detailed scrutiny to ascertain whether the investments committed in manufacturing at the time of approval by a host of foreign direct selling companies like Amway, Avon, Herbalife, Oriflame,...

India: US sailors go shopping.
November 30, 2001... FOR retailers in Chennai's upmarket Nungambakkam area, the arrival of the US navy's ship - the USS John Young has brought some cheer. Many of the 300-odd sailors on the ship have been shopping in the area, which has a number of boutiques...

India: Power, ST hike: 'Bitter pill' for TN textile units.
November 30, 2001... COIMBATORE, Nov. 29 - THE restructuring of the power tariff and sales tax has come as "bitter pill" for the textile industry in Tamil Nadu. Different sectors of the industry feel that nothing is as ill-timed as the revision in rates, given...

India: Bengal proposes law to check power theft.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - The West Bengal Government, which is now going ahead with its plan to introduce new legislation to check power theft, has decided to follow similar legislative models enacted by the government of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh...

India: Gem testing lab opened in N-E.
November 30, 2001... GUWAHATI, Nov. 29 - THE first gem- testing laboratory of the North-East was opened here. The laboratory has facilities for testing the genuineness of all precious, semi-precious, decorative and organic gemstones with sophisticated...

India: Madras HC upholds tribunal order in favour of AAI loaders.
November 30, 2001... CHENNAI, Nov 29 THE Madras High Court has upheld the order of the Industrial Tribunal, Chennai, asking the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Chennai, to absorb loaders deployed as casual labour at its cargo division in the Meenambakkam...

India: Port connectivity gets under way.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has kicked off the plan to connect the country's 11 major ports with the national highways by awarding the construction contracts for JNPT, Haldia, Mormugao and Kandla...

India: Ore handling complex helps Vizag port save Rs 72 cr.
November 30, 2001... VISAKHAPATNAM, Nov. 29 - THE Vizag Port has notched up a saving of Rs 72 crore over the past three years through improved performance of the 25-year-old Ore Handling Complex (OHC). This assumes significance in the light of the fact that the...

India: Bid to ease ChPT congestion.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE Ministry of Shipping has favoured an extension of the one-third reservation granted to Bengal Tiger Lines at the container terminal in Chennai Port in a bid to overcome the congestion problems at the port. The...

India: Coral launches IRIS series of EPABX.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI: Telecommunications equipment provider, Coral Telecom, has announced the launch of its integrated voice and data services (IRIS) series of high-end EPABX systems. According to a statement from the company, IRIS is an...

India: Global Tele board meet today.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI: The board of directors of Global Telesystems Ltd (GTL) is to meet here on November 30, to consider, among other things, the conversion of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCB). The Board will consider the allotment of 3,32,940...

India: Wipro ePeripherals pact with Exabyte.
November 30, 2001... BANGALORE: Wipro ePeripherals Ltd has announced a strategic partnership with Exabyte Corp to provide Indian customers the latter's VXA and Mammoth technologies. The tie-up with Exabyte will address the need for reliable high performance data...

India: Wipro alliance with Interwoven.
November 30, 2001... BANGALORE: Wipro Technologies has entered into an alliance with Interwoven, the content infrastructure provider. The latter's product suite will help Wipro deliver its 'architect, integrate and manage' strategy to clients, according to a...

India: NeST Animations' cartoons.
November 30, 2001... KOCHI: NeST Animations, part of the Kochi-based NeST Group, has launched an animated political cartoon to be aired through Asianet Global channel. The one-minute cartoons are a satirical commentary on current affairs, mainly political....

India: C-DAC bags CSI-Infosys award.
November 30, 2001... PUNE: The Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has bagged the Computer Society of India's (CSI), CSI-Infosys award for the best shrink-wrapped software product for the year 2000. The award was for Lila Hindi...

India: 'Polaris guidance based on sales process study'.
November 30, 2001... CHENNAI, Nov. 29 - WHEN announcing its latest quarterly results, Polaris Software Labs said that it hoped to end this fiscal with topline revenues between Rs 300 - 320 crore, meaning that over 50 per cent of the revenues is expected in the...

India: VKS Solutions takes stake in two firms.
November 30, 2001... CHENNAI, Nov. 29 - THE Chennai-based VKS Solutions Pvt Ltd, a consultancy firm, has taken equity stake in two companies, an IT company and a manufacturing firm. According to Mr V.K. Sharma, Director, VKS Solutions, the company has taken...

India: LG notebooks in India shortly.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE growing computer notebook market will find a new player with LG Electronics India Ltd planning to launch its offerings sometime in calendar 2002, according to company officials. LG, which has set up an assembly...

India: Preeti is MphasiS Marketing Director.
November 30, 2001... BANGALORE, Nov. 29 - MPHASIS has appointed Ms Preeti Misra-Shenoy as its Marketing Director in charge of global marketing initiatives. She would be responsible for maintaining and enhancing the MphasiS brand. Announcing the appointment,...

India: MSEB issue gets 'A+(SO)'.
November 30, 2001... MUMBAI: The rating agency CARE has assigned a rating of 'A+(SO)' to the proposed Rs 250-crore bond issue of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). The issue has an irrevocable and un-conditional guarantee from the Maharashtra...

India: Mumbai: Re gains 3 paise; gilts rally.
November 30, 2001... THE rupee closed stronger on Thursday by around 3 paise at 47.95/9550 to the dollar as compared to the Wednesday's close of 47.98/9850 in a supply-driven forex market. The rupee opened the day at 47.9850/99. Exporters and banks were all...

India: LCC Info plans preferential share issue to promoters.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov.29 A PREFERENTIAL issue of 45,00,000 equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 each will be issued by LCC Infotech Ltd in favour of its promoters, the Lakhotias. The shareholders' approval of the proposal is slated to be sought at...

India: AT&S shifts focus to auto electronics.
November 30, 2001... BANGALORE, Nov. 29 - THE country's largest printed circuit board (PCB) maker, the Rs 100 crore AT&S India Ltd, is shifting focus to the automotive electronics and industrial control markets in a bid to decrease dependence on the downbeat...

India: NHAI cuts coupon rate by 0.5 pc.
November 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 - THE National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has effected a 0.5 per cent cut in the coupon rate from 9 per cent to 8.5 per cent on its bonds issued under Section 54 EC of the Income-Tax Act. The highway bonds,...

India: ICICI Bank expands ATM network.
November 30, 2001... HYDERABAD: ICICI Bank, which has 640 ATMs, one of the largest network of ATM machines across the country, has added one more to its network in Hyderabad, taking the tally in the city to 40. ICICI Bank recently tied up with the Andhra...

India: Customers, bankers in the dark on services charter.
November 30, 2001... KOLKATA, Nov. 29 - A CITIZEN'S Charter adopted by the nationalised banks with the aim of providing better services to customers, is virtually unknown to most customers as well as bankers, according to a survey conducted by the Better Business...