NMDC to split stock in 1:10 ratio; issue bonus shares

State-run National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) on Monday said it will split shares in a ratio of 1:10 and issue two bonus shares for every share held.

The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it would seek shareholders approval for subdividing over 13.21 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each into 1.32 crore shares of face value Re one a share, NMDC informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Further, the company would allot two bonus shares for every share held in the company out of the general reserve of Rs 264.31 crore, it said.

It would also increase the authorised share capital of the company to Rs 400 crore by creation of additional 250 crore shares.

Shares of NMDC closed at Rs 9,940.20, up 1.50 per cent on the BSE. In November last year, the scrip had touched its all-time high of Rs 16,584.

Besides, NMDC, a B group firm, is going to be included in the BSE-500 index in place of Bajaj Auto from March 14.

Source:Economic Times

GAIL to consider issuing of bonus shares in next 2-3 months

State gas utility GAIL India Ltd on Tuesday said it will consider issuing bonus shares in the next two to three months.

“We are to consider the bonus issues in next 2-3 months,” GAIL Chairman and Managing Director U D Choubey told reporters here.

The company plans to almost double investment in pipeline projects to Rs 4,200 crore in 2008-09 fiscal. It has spent almost Rs 2,300 crore on new and existing projects during the current financial year, he said.

The company, which owns a 6,700 kms pipeline network, plans to add another 5,500 kms by 2012.

GAIL would fund its investment partly by borrowing Rs 1,000 crore from Indian and overseas lenders, company Director (Finance) R K Goel said

Source: Economic Times

BSNL to recover over Rs 3,600 cr from subscribers

State-owned telecom giant BSNL has to recover a whopping Rs 3,665.51 crore mainly from the private subscribers, an amount which equals to approximately half of the company’s profit after tax for 2006-07 that is Rs 7,805.87 crore.

This was revealed by an audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India presented in Parliament.

The report pointed out that the major culprits cutting such huge holes in the kitty of BSNL were private subscribers whose outstanding accounted for a huge 95.35 per cent while the Central and state subscribers together accounted for just 4.65 per cent of the total outstanding for 2006-07.

The amount outstanding against private subscribers has been continuously increasing over the past few years and last year alone, the amount outstanding against them was a huge Rs 239.69 crore, the report said.

Of the total Rs 3,665.51 crore outstanding against various categories of telephone subscribers at the end of June 2007, the share of private subscribers constituted Rs 3,495.21 crore.

This accounts for almost half of the profit of Rs 7,805.87 crore earned by the company in the fiscal 2006-07. The decrease in profit has been due to fall in income from services, the report added.

While the share of the Central government was a minuscule one per cent and that of state government amounted to mere 3.65 per cent.

Source: Economic Times

Vodafone asked to refund money charged to users

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Thursday ordered Vodafone-Essar, a leading telecom operator, to refund all money that it has charged for providing value added services to its subscribers without their approval.

“The authority had received complaints from the subscribers of Vodafone-Essar Mobile Services Ltd regarding provision of value- added services without consent,” TRAI said in a statement. The firm admitted to “technical error”, it added.

“Based on the explanation furnished by the service provider, it cannot be concluded that the value-added service was provided with the explicit consent of the consumers, particularly when the consumers have denied having given any such explicit consent,” it added.

The regulator has asked the company to refund the money within 15 days.

TRAI also said the money be refunded even to those customers who were denied of their consent while activating value-added services in their account and also to those who were offered the services free of cost initially and charged later.

source: Economic Times

Amara Raja to install 500 ‘powerzones’ before fiscal end

Amara Raja Batteries (ARBL), an Amara Raja-Johnson Controls company engaged in the manufacture of storage batteries, would install 500 ‘powerzones’ before end of this fiscal. “Powerzone is one-stop shop for power solutions for rural and semi-urban markets and already over 100 shops have been installed in the country and before this year end, it would be exceeding 500,” said the ARBL National Manager Mr Paul Vasanth Kumar. The company is also aiming at having at least one powerzone in every taluk headquarters across the country in the next two years, he said on the sidelines of opening a powerzone at Thuraiyur near here.

The powerzone network of stores is a franchisee model offering a ready-to-roll package business fully supported by the company through investment in IT infrastructure, product and brand building, while the local business partner would bring in internal infrastructure and product investment.

The one-stop shop would offer a plethora of products of global quality at local prices, right from automotive batteries, tractor batteries, home UPS and two-wheeler batteries from the House of Amara Raja. Johnson Controls, a collaborator of ARBL with equity of 26 per cent in the corporate, has recorded sales of $34.6 billion in 2007, Mr Jaydev Galla, Managing Director of the company, said in a statement.

Source: Business Line

NTPC to invest Rs 13k cr for adding 2,700 MW in FY-09

As part of its ambitious plan to become a 50,000-MW company by 2012, state-run NTPC Ltd on Thursday said it will invest Rs 13,000 crore for adding 2,700 MW capacity during the next financial year. “Our spending plan is Rs 13,000 crore for FY-09. We will add 2,700 MW capacity,” Mr T Sankaralingam, Chairman and Managing Director, NTPC said on the sidelines of an energy summit here.

On funding, he said it would be a mix of equity and debt in 30:70 ratio. “Our spending plan for FY-08 was Rs 11,000 crore,” he added. As part of the 11th Five Year Plan, NTPC aims to become a 50,000-MW company by 2012.

Mr Sankaralingam said that the company is seeking three million LNG import from Nigeria. Earlier, the CMD had said NTPC would sign an agreement with NHPC, PFC and TCS by March-end to set up the country’s third power exchange, after it parted ways with N CDEX upon failing to reach consensus on certain key issues.

NTPC planned to partner NCDEX to float a power exchange. The exchange proposed to rope in seven promoters, including National Stock Exchange, Power Grid Corp and Tata Power.

However, the proposed venture faced hiccups with power sector regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) barring Power Grid from participating in any power exchange.

CERC had also asked NTPC to form a separate subsidiary for floating the power exchange. NTPC is the most valued company among listed power PSUs with a market capitalisation of more than Rs 1,60,000 crore.

Source: Business Line

Veer Energy RD for bonus issue

Veer Energy and Infrastructure Ltd said that March 29 has been fixed as the record date for the purpose of bonus issue in the ratio of 9:5. That is 9 shares for every 5 shares held.

Source: Business Line

Cyber Media acquires US co

Cyber Media India Ltd said that the company has acquired TDA Group, Inc., a California-based integrated marketing communications and custom publishing company.This is CyberMedia’s second acquisition in the US. The company had in Dec 2006 acquired the Illinois-based Publication Services, Inc.

Source: Business Line

Kemrock Ind to consider pref issue

Kemrock Industries & Exports Ltd has informed the BSE that an Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) will be held on April 4 to offer, issue and allot, on a preferential basis, not exceeding 4.60 lakh equity shares having face value of Rs 10 each f or cash at a price of Rs 650 per equity share (including a premium of Rs 640 per share) aggregating to Rs 29.90 crore to RPM International, Inc, USA and also to allot upto 3.93 lakh warrants to RPM International, Inc, USA, on preferential allotment basis.

source: Business Line

Flawless Diamond bags Rs 38 cr export order from Dubai firm

Flawless Diamond India on Thursday said it has bagged an export order worth Rs 38 crore from Dubai-based Madrid Impex FZE for it’s newly launched series of designer diamond jewellery.

This order has to be executed within three months, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company has its own 18 retail outlets across India and is planning to open more outlets very soon.

Source: Business Line