CORPORATE DISPUTES
Xerox Corp wants to make Indian venture 100 pc arm — Modis raise objections
THE US-based Xerox Corporation, which is under investigation both in the US and in India for allegedly bribing Indian Government officials to secure high-value orders, now plans to turn its Indian joint venture subsidiary into a wholly owned ... More

COMPANY LAW
Concept paper to provide broad framework for `slim' company law
THE Ministry of Company Affairs, it appears, is following the footsteps of regulators. In line with the trend adopted by regulatory bodies, the Ministry in its concept paper for a new Companies Act is proposing a slim legislation that would ... More

AWARDS & HONOURS
Chennai Red Cross award for Natco
NATCO Pharma Ltd , the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company known for its timed-release technology and affordable drugs in cancer therapy, has bagged the award from the Indian Red Cross Society of Chennai. The pharma company was selected for ... More

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
BAG Films revenues up at 57 pc
NEW DELHI: Anurradha Prasad-promoted BAG Films has registered a 57 per cent growth in revenues to touch Rs 6.87 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2004 compared to Rs 4.38 crore registered during the same period the previous year. ... More

MANPOWER
HPCL unveils VRS package; looks to shed 400 staff
HPCL, the second largest public sector oil marketing company, today announced a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its employees. The Rs 51,517-crore company has offered the standard public sector enterprises severance package to its 11,357 ... More

RESTRUCTURING
Haldia Petro CDR package ready
DR Purnendu Chatterjee of The Chatterjee Group (TCG) has arranged for the infusion of the necessary Rs 143-crore of fresh equity into Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) within the scheduled deadline of July 31, 2004. With this capital infusion the ... More

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Balrampur Chini open to buying sugar mills in UP
The company is hopeful that there will be no cane shortage and has no plans to import raw sugar. More

Oppenheimer, others acquire stake in Micro Inks
MICRO Inks Ltd, formerly known as Hindustan Inks, on Monday announced that Oppenheimer Funds Inc, EMIC, and Lloyd George Investment Management have acquired five lakh equity shares of the company, constituting 2.29 per cent of its paid-up ... More

NEW PROJECTS
Barista Coffee brews Rs 250-cr expansion
AFTER a consolidation spree, Barista Coffee Company Ltd is back on expansion mode. The coffee retail chain intends making investments to the tune of Rs 250 crore to set up an additional 70 outlets across the country, with the additional funds ... More

Amway set to begin manufacturing in India
NINE years after the company arrived in India with a promise to set up a manufacturing facility, Amway India Enterprises, the wholly owned subsidiary of US-based Amway Corporation, has informed the Government that it is finally ready to begin ... More

Godrej & Boyce to foray into warehousing equipment this fiscal
GODREJ & Boyce's Material Handing Equipment (MHE) division, which is engaged in the manufacturing of unit handling mobile equipment, will be switching gears to focus on making warehousing equipment in the current fiscal. This is in the light ... More

CESC to augment capacity at Budge Budge unit
CESC Ltd has firmed up plans to augment capacity at its Budge Budge unit by setting up a 2 X 250 MW power plant. At present, the Budge Budge unit of CESC has a 2 X 250 MW plant that is operational and running. The idea behind the initiative is ... More

Kajaria Ceramics firms up plan to hike capacity
KAJARIA Ceramics Ltd has firmed up plans to augment capacity at its Sikandrabad unit in Uttar Pradesh at an investment of Rs 50 crore. The capacity of the plant is being augmented to 9.5 million sq.m. per annum from six million sq.m. per annum ... More

ALLIANCES & JOINT VENTURES
KRL keen to take part in LNG terminal project
KOCHI Refineries Ltd (KRL) seems to be keen on participatingin the LNG terminal project here, irrespective of who sets it up. The fate of the proposed terminal to be set up by Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) hangs in balance for want of tie-ups for 60 ... More

INTERVIEW
`We have been careful with our pricing policy'
THE detergent market in India is going through an `exciting' phase, with rising input costs on the one hand, a price war and a receding monsoon on the other. Mr Satish Kumar, Managing Director, Henkel Spic (India) Ltd, spoke to Business ... More

`We have tapped machine tool industry's potential'
THE Rs 230-crore Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP) factory, which will supply manual transmission parts to the IMV project of Toyota Motor Corporation, will be formally inaugurated on Tuesday. TKAP is the first Indian company to join the ... More

STANDARDS & BENCHMARKS
Power Grid gets ISO
HYDERABAD: The Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., Southern Region (Secunderabad) has been certified against international quality systems standards, ISO:9001:2000 by the National Quality Association, UK, becoming the first region in the ... More

SICK UNITS
BIFR proposes winding up of Regent Agro
AFTER exhausting all options to turnaround the Andhra Pradesh-based ailing company Regent Agro Products Ltd (RAPL), producers of coconut products, the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has confirmed its opinion on winding ... More

PERFORMANCE
Eicher sales up 44%
EICHER Motors Ltd (EML) has registered a growth of 44 per cent in the sales of its commercial vehicles in July 2004 with sales of 1,651 vehicles as against 1,148 in July 2003. EML's cumulative sales volume for the period April-July 2004 ... More

TVS Motors posts 3 pc rise in sales
TVS Motor's total two wheeler sales in July 2004 were 1,00,224 units (97,613 units), higher by 3 per cent over the previous July's sales even as its motorcycle sales dropped. In July 2004, the company's motorcycle sales dropped by 7.45 per cent ... More

Hero Honda July sales rise 44 pc
HERO Honda Motors Ltd, has recorded a 44 per cent increase in sales to 2,05,654 units in July 2004, as against 1,43,141 units sold in the same month last year. For the period April-July 2004, the cumulative sale of the company stood at ... More

Alto drives Maruti sales
MARUTI Udyog's compact car Alto is fast replacing the Maruti 800 as the company's `bread-and-butter' car. According to market watchers, while the sales of Maruti 800 have been declining year-on-year since April this year, Alto sales have been ... More

LG Electronics H1 sales jump 45 pc
LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd (LGEIL) has clocked a turnover of Rs 3,360 crore in the first half of this year (January - June 2004), registering a turnover growth of 45 per cent vis-à-vis the same period last year. LG Electronics has ... More

GM India July sales higher 19.43 pc
GENERAL Motors India has recorded a 19.43 per cent increase in sales in July 2004 to 2,311 cars as against 1,935 cars in the same month last year. These included 733 units of Chevrolet Optra, 900 units of Chevrolet Tavera and 665 units of Opel ... More

TRENDS
IRDA to consider brokers' plea on special discount
THE Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has assured the insurance broking community that it would examine the five per cent special discount currently offered by insurers directly in favour of the corporate entities, which ... More