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February 2001 Akash test fired - PTI India looks to beef up its navy - CNN UK finds Vikram Seth suitable boy for CBE - AP Indian mobile market promises huge growth - Reuters Videocon to buy China unit to launch WebTV - ET More for MO - Money Magazine India ranks seventh in FDI - ET JNPT crosses 1 million containers - ET Indigenous nuclear power plant - ET UK's Unilever picks India's Digital - Reuters Pentamedia Graphics invests $4m - Business Times Bell Labs sets-up second research center - Reuters IBM sets up software lab in India - ET Akash test-fired BALASORE - AKASH, the indigenously-built multi-target surface-to-air missile, was successfully test-fired from the interim test range at Chandipur-on-sea about 15 kms from here on Tuesday, ITR sources said. The 650-kg missile was fired from a mobile launcher at 12.36 pm, the sources said. With a range of 25 km, Akash can deliver 55 kg of explosives and has the capacity to strike several targets simultaneously, they said. All data concerning various parametres of the test obtained from different telemetry centres as well as tracking radars were being analysed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the sources added. The last test-launching of the missile was conducted on July 5, 2000 from the ITR. Top of the page
MUMBAI, India - From the decks of their ships, thousands of ramrod straight sailors dressed in white saluted Indian President K.R. Narayanan as he inspected an international armada off the coast of Mumbai on Saturday. Narayanan, the commander in chief of India's armed forces, viewed 70 Indian ships and 25 from other countries in an event marking the anniversary of India's constitution. He was accompanied by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, India's navy chief and international dignitaries. "The ships now assembled here are not only a bridge of friendship among nations, but a humanitarian bridge to all the people affected by natural calamity," Narayanan said. Saturday was the third of a five-day floating festival dubbed "Bridges of Friendship." France and Russia are competing fiercely for a deal to provide India with new submarines. While Russia may have the edge since it already provides a majority of India's defense equipment, France made a strong showing by bringing its prized nuclear submarine the Perle to Mumbai, also known as Bombay. Russia is also near to completing a deal to sell India the aircraft carrier Admiral Groschkov for $2 billion. The Groschkov would join India's only other aircraft carrier, the Viraat, which is more than 40 years old. Top of the pageUK finds Vikram Seth suitable boy for CBE LONDON: Indian author Vikram Seth, best known for his award-winning novel A Suitable Boy, received one of Britain' top honours for his services to literature. The Award of the CBE, or Commander of the Order of the British Empire, was announced earlier in the year by Queen Elizabeth II and given to Seth on Wednesday by culture secretary Chris Smith. "His works have found great success in this country with critics and public alike," Smith said during a Ministry of Culture reception. Seth, born in Calcutta in 1952, left India to study at Oxford University, earning degrees in Philosophy, Economics, and Politics. He has published six books of poetry and three novels since 1980. A Suitable Boy, winner of the W.H. Smith Prize in 1993, has sold more than 1 million copies. His latest novel, An equal music, features the troubled love life of a violinist. Top of the pageIndian Mobile Phone Market Promises Huge Growth BANGALORE - India could become one of the top markets in Asia for mobile phone companies over the next five years, an official from Mitsubishi Electric Telecom Europe said on Tuesday. India's rapidly-expanding mobile phone market grew to 3.27 million subscribers in January, almost doubling from a year ago. “India's cellular market is growing at a fast pace,'' Koji Ono, director, business development of Mitsubishi Electric Telecom, told Reuters. Ono was in Bangalore, India's technology capital, to launch his company's latest gadget in India: a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant clubbed together. Ono said mobile phone operators in India had a chance to emulate Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T) by introducing products similar to its innovative ``i-mode'' Internet-linked service. “Like Japan, India also has a well-educated urban market which is rapidly using mobiles. The market potential is immense." Top of the pageVideocon to buy China unit for launch of Web TV 28 February 2001, Economic Times, By Shubham Mukherjee NEW DELHI - With most consumer goods companies being pushed against the wall by cheap imports from China, the Rs 3,500-crore Videocon Group is blazing a trail by acquiring a TV facility in China, one of the first such instances of an Indian electronics company doing so. This will be the group’s second major overseas acquisition after it took over Italian compressor manufacturer Necci a few years ago. Confirming the development, Videocon Group chairman V N Dhoot said the deal was expected to go through within a month. He added that manufacturing in China would help keep cost under control and supply internet TVs to other parts of the world. Dhoot, however, plans to use the facility only to manufacture internet TVs and not for all kinds of CTVs. Videocon launched its internet TV in the Indian market a couple of months ago. Top of the pageMORE FOR MO So says Merrill Merrill's Sandhya Raju put out a note today saying that even though Philip Morris's [MO] share price has "been on a tear" (its stock has more than doubled from the 52-week low), it "still hasn't made up the ground lost over the 1999 period and valuations remain below historic levels." (It's trading at around 11 times earnings today versus 14 or so.) Raju says the "litigation environment also continues to improve" and that there "remains the potential for further re-rating of valuations with the Kraft IPO." And – oh my! -- Raju has a $60 price target on the stock. (I know, we all know, that price targets are meaningless – but they are kinda fun.) Despite the praise, Philip Morris fell $1.58 to $46.02. India
ranks seventh on best FDI addresses NEW DELHI - HERE'S some good news. India has bounced back as a long-term investment destination. According to the latest AT Kearney report, India is today the seventh-most attractive destination for foreign direct investment for the year 2001. Which is quite an improvement from the 11th position it held last year. What’s more, India is the fourth hottest likely destination for first time FDI investments during the year, according to AT Kearney's FDI Confidence Index. Brazil emerged as the hottest destination for first time FDI, followed by China, Mexico and then India. The FDI Confidence Index 2001 report will be released on Tuesday in London. Paul Laudicina, AT Kearney vice-president and managing director of the firm's Global Business Policy Council said: “India is only second to Mexico in terms of renewed optimism.” As many as 31.6 per cent of the respondents stated their outlook for India had undergone a positive change, on account of political stability and policy thrusts. In contrast, in 2000, only 13 per cent of the respondents had said so. Significantly, the number of respondents stating that their outlook had become more negative has come down substantially. "French and Germans expressed highest likelihood of investing in India,” Mr Laudicina stated. Traditionally, US and UK are among the top investors in the country. JN Port crosses magic figure of 1 million containers 15 February 2001, Economic Times MUMBAI - JAWAHARLAL Nehru Port has joined the ranks of other world-class ports by handling one million containers (20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs) during this financial year. The container port, lying in close proximity to Mumbai, has become the first Indian port to achieve this distinction. It expects to handle two hundred more containers during this fiscal, taking the total to 1.2 million. The port, operational for last 12 years, has consolidated its position as India's hub port.Most of the global lines are operating direct services in consortium to the US, Africa and Europe. According to chairman Arun Bongirwar, "JNPT would shortly become one of the top 50 container ports in world. It is currently ranked 58." "In terms of efficiency and speed, JN Port is comparable with any European port. All the major global lines are now calling at JN Port," said a senior port official.Tarapur N-power plant by 2004-05 TARAPUR - INDIA'S first indigenous 500 mw pressurised heavy water nuclear reactors (TAPS 3 and 4) would be commissioned by 2004-05 here, Nuclear Power Corporation of India CMD V K Chaturvedi has said. Without sacrificing safety and quality, the two 500 mw units, which are under construction, would be commissioned in record time and will yield up to 540 mw each when commissioned and operated, he said here.Unilever
picks Digital India for software service BOMBAY - Software services firm Digital Equipment (India) Ltd said on Thursday it had been signed on by Anglo-Dutch consumer products group Unilever Plc to provide offshore services for desktop software packaging. Digital, which is 51 percent owned by the U.S.-based Compaq Computer Corp, said it will also assist Unilever to roll out its standard desktop across Unilever operations in North America, particularly for its new Unilever- Bestfoods division. Digital did not indicate the revenues that will accrue from the deal with Unilever. Compaq is one of Digital's largest customers. Pentamedia Graphics invests $4m in Purple MUMBAI: Chennai-based Pentamedia Graphics, which executes animation and special effects for the biggest names in Hollywood, has invested $4 million in a start-up called Purple Drop. The latter will focus on the $9-billion worldwide game industry. Speaking at the launch of the San Jose (California)-based Purple Drop in Mumbai, founder and CEO Ashok Desai said that the start-up will initially concentrate on making available cost- effective game engines and later may even get into the business of developing a game in-house. One of Purple Drop's first assignments is to develop game engines for Pentamedia's Sinbad and Pandavas. Bell Labs sets up second research centre in India NEW DELHI - Bell Laboratories, the research arm of telecoms equipment maker, Lucent Technologies, has opened a research centre in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, a senior official said on Monday. The centre is Bell Labs' second research and development (R&D) facility in the country after its centre in the country's technology capital of Bangalore. Bell Labs' Bangalore centre, set up in 1997, now has nearly 450 engineers working on frontline telecommunications technologies. Tanuku said engineers at the Bangalore centre were involved in most of Bell Labs' work on providing data capabilities on code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless technology and additional feature development for traditional GSM networks. Bell Labs also has some 500 engineers of leading Indian software firms Wipro, Satyam Computer Services and unlisted firm Tata Consultancy Services working on several of its projects. IBM sets up software laboratory in India BANGALORE - US computer giant IBM on Wednesday announced the launch of a software lab in India to support its customers around the world. The laboratory, based in India's hi-tech capital Bangalore and in the western city of Pune, would initially employ about 500 people, IBM said in a statement. Software programmers at the lab, IBM's fourth research and development facility in India, would develop technology related to e-business infrastructure, e-marketplaces and mobile computing, it said. |
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