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| BHEL bags NTPC's Dadri power project contract NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Engineering giant Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has bagged a major contract from state-run NTPC Ltd for setting up the first unit of 490 MW at ...........more DoT nod
not required NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Even as Hutch moved the court against Essar’s notice terminating a deal to sell BPL Mobile (Mumbai) to their joint venture Hutchison Essar, the ..........more OBC
increases home NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Oriental Bank of Commerce has increased the rate of interest on home loans by 50 basis points to 100 basis points (0.5-1 per cent)........more Petronet
Q1 profit up NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s largest liquefied natural gas importer, today said it imported two spot cargoes of ......more |
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RIL owned retail fuel outlets threaten indefinite strike NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) owned fuel retail outlets have threatened to launch an indefinite strike from tomorrow, protesting against the ............more HLL to
move corp office MUMBAI, Aug 2: FMCG major Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) today said it has decided to move its corporate office to a new proposed campus at Andheri in Mumbai.............more Tele-density
in India NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Government has set a target of having 250 million telephone users by the end of next year but the country has a "long way to go" on phone ....more Panacea
gets WHO MUMBAI, Aug 2: Panacea Biotec Ltd today said it has received pre-qualification accreditation from the World Health .........more |
BHEL bags NTPC's Dadri power project contract NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Engineering giant Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has bagged a major contract from state-run NTPC Ltd for setting up the first unit of 490 MW at its Dadri thermal power expansion project in Uttar Pradesh. The contract is for NTPC's National Capital Thermal Power Project Stage-II at Dadri and is scheduled for commissioning in 2009-10, a BHEL release said. The public sector company would manufacture, supply, test and commission the main plant package for the power project. Aimed at reducing the consumption of coal, the unit would be designed for operating at a higher reheat steam temperature of 565 degree Celsius. The equipment would be supplied by BHEL's Bangalore, Bhopal, Haridwar, Hyderabad, Jhansi, Ranipet and Trichy plants, while the company's Power Sector, Northern Region, would undertake the commissioning of the equipment. BHEL had earlier supplied and commissioned boilers and steam turbine generators for the 4x210 MW Stage-I of NCTPP, Dadri and was also associated with NTPC's 817 MW Combined Cycle Power Project at the same location. (PTI) |
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DoT nod not required for BPL NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Even as Hutch moved the court against Essar’s notice terminating a deal to sell BPL Mobile (Mumbai) to their joint venture Hutchison Essar, the Department of Telecom today made it clear that its approval was not required for the merger. Essar Teleholdings, the Indian partner in Hutchison Essar, had yesterday called off the sale of BPL Mobile (Mumbai) to the JV citing absence of necessary approvals by the July 31 deadline for completing the share purchase agreement. However, Hutch has moved the Bombay High Court challenging the termination notice sent by Essar. "If both the parties have gone to the court, it is amply clear that it is an internal dispute between them. Where is DoT in the picture," a senior DoT official told PTI. Essar had acquired the BPL’s buisness in four circles, including Mumbai, last year and eventually agreed to merge it with Hutchison Essar. While three circles had already been sold to the JV, the merger of Mumbai circle has been pending for the last 10 months and Essar is believed to be looking for other buyers for BPL Mobile (Mumbai). (PTI) |
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OBC increases home loan rates by 50-100 bps NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Oriental Bank of Commerce has increased the rate of interest on home loans by 50 basis points to 100 basis points (0.5-1 per cent). The new floating rates for loans up to Rs 20 lakh would be 9.25 per cent for upto 10 years maturity and 9.50 per cent for maturities of 10-20 years. For loans above Rs 20 lakh, the rate would be 9.75 per cent and 10 per cent respectively for the aforesaid maturity periods, the bank said in a statement. As regards fixed rate, for home loans up to Rs 20 lakh, these would be 10.25 per cent for upto 10 years maturity and 10.50 per cent for maturities of 10-20 years. For loans above Rs 20 lakh, the fixed rate would be 10.75 per cent and 11.00 per cent respectively. The above rates would be effective from August 7 and would be applicable on new loans sanctioned on or after August 7. There is no change in the bank’s Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) which is presently at 11.50 per cent. (PTI) |
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Petronet Q1 profit up 43pc with NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s largest liquefied natural gas importer, today said it imported two spot cargoes of LNG in July this year. Petronet, which in May regassified a cargo imported by state gas utility GAIL at its Dahej terminal in Gujarat, posted a 43 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 56.08 crore in April-June quarter, a company press release said. The income from operations included Rs 8.34 crore revenue from regassifying a spot cargo of LNG. PLL imports 5 million tonnes per annum (mmtpa) of LNG from RasGas of Qatar under a long-term contract. It earned an additional Rs 8.34 crore from regassifying a spot cargo of LNG imported by GAIL in Q1. "By regassifying additional quantity... The company established Dahej capacity at 6.5 mmtpa," PLL director (finance and commercial) Amitava Sengupta said. "Company has also received two LNG Spot cargos at a very competitive price in the current quarter," the release said but did not give details. Petronet currently accounts for almost 25 per cent of natural gas supplies in the seven Western, central and north Indian States and is raising Dahej terminal capacity from from 5 mmtpa to 12.5 mmtpa using excellent economies of scale. It is also setting up a LNG terminal at Kochi of 2.5 mmtpa capacity, scaleable up to 5.0 mmtpa. The work for expansion of Dahej LNG has already started and would be completed by July 2009. "The company has started discussion with lenders for financing and has signed a mandate letter with International Finance Corporation, Washington for providing 100 million dollar long term loan to part finance Kochi Project," Sengupta said. (PTI) |
RIL owned retail fuel outlets threaten indefinite strike NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) owned fuel retail outlets have threatened to launch an indefinite strike from tomorrow, protesting against the huge losses due to decrease in demand of its fuels. "All the 1,200 retail outlets have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from tomorrow protesting against the mounting loses due to decreasing demand for Reliance fuels," industry sources said. Reliance had two months ago hiked the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.5 per litre to offset the huge losses incurred. This has resulted in decrease in demand for Reliance fuels. "Diesel sales have dropped by almost 20 per cent of the actual and has caused huge losses to both petrol pump dealers and truck operators," they said. Oil marketing companies are forced to sell petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG below the production cost resulting in huge losses to the companies. Public sector oil companies are compensated for the losses through a combination of discounts from upstream companies like ONGC and oil bonds. Private oil companies like Reliance, are however, denied any compensation and made to bear the brunt of the losses on their own. "This has resulted in huge losses to the private oil companies," the sources said. Despite the hike in its retail prices, RIL is losing Rs 3.39 a litre on petrol and Rs 5.77 per litre on diesel. The source said that RIL had on its part compensated by giving some short term relief measures. "However, we also want the Government to give us a level playing field," he said. RIL has sought Government subsidy at par with public sector oil companies to compensate losses suffered by it on sale of petrol and diesel and contended that absence of level-playing field may ease out private retailers. Reliance said the total revenue loss of not increasing domestic cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene price in line with rise in cost of production was Rs 27,500 crore in 2006-07. Against this, the budgetary subsidy was Rs 2,900 crore, the upstream contribution Rs 24,000 crore and Government support through issue of oil bonds was Rs 28,000 crore. State retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL stand to get Rs 27,400 crore for the revenue loss on petrol and diesel (after assuming that the under-recovery on kerosene and LPG are fully covered). The compensation prosposed to be given to PSU OMCs per litre is nearly Rs 5. "RIL seeks proportionate compensation, as allowed by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to the PSU OMCs, both for 2005-06 and 2006-07," the source said. (PTI) |
HLL to move corp office to a new
campus MUMBAI, Aug 2: FMCG major Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) today said it has decided to move its corporate office to a new proposed campus at Andheri in Mumbai. "This is a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to bring the scale and might of 'One HLL' to win in the market place. A unified corporate office will help to further integrate business processes and leverage scale and synergies across the organization. It will over time unlock the value of existing business offices fuelling our growth agenda," HLL CEO Douglas Baillie said. The move integrates all existing business offices of the company at both Bangalore and Mumbai and the transition will be completed during 2008. The new campus will have a built-up area of over 500,000 sq ft, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The transition to the new office would be done in two phases. In Phase I, the Bangalore Foods team will be relocated to Mumbai Head office by January 01, 2007. While in Phase II, the Mumbai Head Office and Training Centre will be relocated to the new Andheri campus during 2008, it said. HLL's Foods and Beverages, Home and Personal Care Business along with the Regional Category functions and Training Centres would work together in the new campus. This co-location will harness synergies between Regional Category teams and the operating company, it added. (PTI) |
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Tele-density in India 22 pc: Govt NEW DELHI, Aug 2: Government has set a target of having 250 million telephone users by the end of next year but the country has a "long way to go" on phone exports with tele-density being only 22 per cent, the Lok Sabha was informed today. "Since the UPA Government came to power, the number of telephone users has doubled from 75 million to 150 million and the figure is going up with 4.5 to five million subsribers joining every month. Our target is to have 250 million by the end of next year," IT and Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran said during question hour. The minister was replying to a question on whether India will be able to match with regard to telephone users in China where the figure was ten times higher. Observing that the it industry was growing at 30 per cent per annum, Maran, however, said india has a "long way to go" on the export front with tele-density in the country being only 22 per cent. To another question, he said, at present, the demand for wireless phones was higher than landline ones as mobile telephones worked out cheaper. The demand in future will relate to mobile phones, he said. On indigenous manufacturing of telephones, Maran said Finland-based cellular phone giant Nokia has set up a factory in India with a capacity of two million phones per year and other key players like American firm Motorola and Korean companies Samsung and LG were in the process of installing units to produce phones. (PTI) |
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Panacea gets WHO accreditation for Hepatitis-B Vaccine MUMBAI, Aug 2: Panacea Biotec Ltd today said it has received pre-qualification accreditation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the supply of recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine to UN agencies. Hepatitis B immunization strategies help to prevent chronic Hepatitis-B virus (HBV) infection and its serious consequences, including liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular cancer, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The overall estimated market for Hepatitis-B vaccine and its combinations as per UNICEF and PAHO for year 2007 is around 158 million doses, which is estimated to go up to 185 million doses in 2008 and 888 million doses in 2009. In terms of revenues, it would amount to around USD 270 million in 2007, going up to USD 390 million in 2008 and USD 1 billion in 2009, it said. "There has been constant growth in Panacea Biotec revenue due to strong vaccine sales and our inclusion in the list of pre-qualified suppliers of WHO will significantly enhance our presence in this segment, resulting in better sales volumes and profitability," Panacea Biotech Joint Managing Director Rajesh Jain said. The company's shares were trading at Rs 335, up 1.55 per cent at the BSE. (PTI) |
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Essar Steel's total income grows by 4 pc in Q1 SURAT, Aug 2: Steel major Essar Steel's total income for the first quarter ended June 30 rose to Rs 1,720 crore as compared to the previous year's Rs 1,652 crore, a growth of four per cent. The Hazira-based company's net profit for the quarter was Rs 41.13 crore after calculating other costs including depreciation and deferred tax, the release said. The production for the quarter grew by nine per cent to 7.06 lakh tonnes as compared to 6.45 lakh tonnes in the first quarter of the previous year. The compny's sales grew by seven per cent to 6.11 lakh tonnes as compared to 5.73 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period a year ago, the release added. (UNI) |
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