Tulip gets nod for NLD, ILD licences
New Delhi, July 4
Tulip IT Services Ltd, provider of end-to-end data connectivity, today said it has been awarded the Letter of Intent (LoI) for the NLD & ILD (National Long Distance & International Long Distance) licences by the Department of Telecom (DoT).

Mallya bids for Foster’s units
Mumbai, July 4
Aiming to become the world’s number one liquor player, Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries is believed to have made a bid for a part of Australian giant Foster’s beer units in India and Vietnam.

Punj Lloyd’s contract
New Delhi, July 4
Punj Lloyd Limited has been awarded Rs 164.24 crore contract for Dabhol-Panvel Pipeline Project (DPPL) from GAIL.

They stitch for others to kick!
New Delhi, July 4
In these days of World Cup frenzy, there is a seven-year-old in an Indian town for whom a football signifies not sport, fun or a robust penalty kick, but a needle, thread and leather that she stitches together for all of Rs 4 apiece.

Tatas may exit Dhaka
Dhaka, July 4
Tata group is weighing pulling out of a proposed $3 billion investment in Bangladesh, which could be a further setback to the country’s creaky power infrastructure and ability to attract investment.

Major airlines announce hike in fares
New Delhi, July 4
Major airlines, including Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Indian, today announced imposition of a revised fuel surcharge of Rs 500 from July 7, which would lead to a hike in fares of all classes on all domestic routes.

Upgrade port facilities, says Baalu
New Delhi, July 4
Laying stress on matching development of ports with growing Exim trade, Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu has said that priority should be given to capacity building in ports.

CORPORATE NEWS
Godrej acquires Rapidol 
Mumbai, July 4
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) today said it has acquired the South African hair colour business of Rapidol, UK, and its subsidiary Rapidol International for an undisclosed sum, as part of its global expansion.

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Traders hopeful of reviving trade due to reopening of Nathu-la. (56k)

New Delhi, July 4
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today issued a stern warning to tax evaders either to pay taxes and file returns by July 31 or face action.

“My advice to all those who have made large transactions like buying property over Rs 30 lakh, buying mutual funds over Rs 2 lakh in a year or credit card payment exceeding Rs 2 lakh yearly, please file tax returns before July 31,” he told reporters after inaugurating the two-day annual conference of Income Tax Chief Commissioners and Director-General.

He said the government would be sending out mails to all parties and individuals involved in high value transactions.

He made it clear there would be no harassment by the tax department if they file returns. If not, “Income Tax department will find ways to reach them.”

Armed with Annual Information Returns (AIR), Mr Chidambaram said the tax department would “pursue every single person whose names are thrown up by the AIR... sooner or later they will be reached.”

“These are not poor, lower-middle class or salaried people. These are high networth people. If not today in three, six or nine months, Income Tax people would reach the parties,” he said.

Finance Minister also said the new simplified Income Tax Bill to replace the archaic and voluminous tax law will be readied by this month end.

Reeling out statistics, Mr Chidambaram said 17,52,652 high value transactions have been reported under AIR. Of 6,60,000 separate parties reported, only 1,84,980 parties have quoted PAN numbers.

The remaining 4,75,019 parties are without PAN numbers, he said, adding that there may be some overlaps, but it is in the interest of these over six lakh parties to file their returns before the due date of July 31.

Aimed at widening and deepening tax base, AIRs would capture investments by people in seven areas.

New Delhi, July 4
Seeking to tap opportunities in the Indian rail and mining sectors, UK-based infrastructure company Laing O’Rourke, which has a tie-up with domestic realty major DLF, has acquired Barclay Mowlem, Australia-based building and engineering firm for £100 million (about Rs 850 crore).

“With recent shift in Indian government policy throwing open the gates for private infrastructure development companies to enter railway and mining projects, acquisition of Barclay Mowlem will act as a catalyst in DLF-LoR’s foray into this specific areas,” LoR said in a statement.

With this acquisition, DLF-LOR intends to collaborate closely with Barclay Mowlem to bring the latest construction technology and large infrastructure project handling experience to India.

There are immense opportunities in Indian railway projects whether it is PPP, BOT or any other form, it said.

“With economics working more in favour of rail than in road, there will be a tremendous growth opportunity in near future,” it said.

When contacted LoR’s India head Dhiraj Singh confirmed the move and said this would bring huge value and expertise to the company’s business in India in the infrastructure space.

LoR, which has presence in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australia and India, has purchased Barclay Mowlem from its UK parent Carillion Plc.

Barclay Mowlem’s capabilities and expertise include highly specialised rail sector, mining and material handling, power, industrial, civil and building.

Barclay Mowlem, an Aus $1 billion firm with about 2,000 headcount, offers finance, design, construction and maintenance solution and will be working with DLF-LoR business in India and its neighbouring countries.

The Barclay Mowlem business will be integrated with LoR’s existing operation in Australia, it said.

Laing O’Rourke is all set to bid for government’s ambitious Railway Frieght Corridor project connecting major metros and highway projects involving an investment of over Rs 250 crore.

LoR, which has expertise in constructing airports, has also evinced interest to bid for airports modernisation in India other than Delhi and Mumbai, for which the contract has already been awarded.

LoR, which has been a major party in constructing the $4.2 billion Terminal V at the Heathrow airport, would showcase its expertise in a big way in India. — PTI

Tokyo, July 4
Suzuki Motor Corp. Japan’s largest maker of minicars, said it will build a new small car model in India to supply to Nissan Motor Co. from the end of 2008, as part of the two companies’ partnership.

Suzuki plans to build 2 lakh units a year, and half of them will be exported to Europe and sold under Nissan and Suzuki brands, Hirotaka Ono, a director in charge of overseas marketing, said. Suzuki plans to set up a new production line to make the model at a factory in India scheduled to commence by the end of this year, he said.

The automakers agreed last month to expand their partnership to move beyond their traditional segments while holding down development and production costs.

Suzuki and Nissan’s model will be smaller than Nissan’s Micra and Suzuki’s Swift compact cars, the two automakers said. They will compete with Toyota Motor Corp’s Aygo, produced at a joint factory with PSA Peugeot Citroen.

Suzuki plans to base other models off the under body of the vehicle it will supply to Nissan for sale in Europe, Ono said.

In Europe, Toyota Motor Corp. sells the Aygo model powered with a 1-liter engine, while Ford Motor Co. and Fiat SpA in September agreed to co-develop a small car model.

Suzuki owns 54 per cent of Maruti Udyog Ltd., which makes half of the cars bought in India. In India, Maruti sells Suzuki’s Swift hatchbacks and Alto mini-cars. 
— Bloomberg

New Delhi, July 4
Tulip IT Services Ltd, provider of end-to-end data connectivity, today said it has been awarded the Letter of Intent (LoI) for the NLD & ILD (National Long Distance & International Long Distance) licences by the Department of Telecom (DoT).

Tulip has been given the LoI based on the new licence requirement laid down by the DoT as per which, all IP/VPN service providers were required to migrate to the NLD licence, a press note said.

These licences will enable Tulip IT Services Ltd to route voice, data and video traffic nationally and internationally. The ILD licence will enable Tulip to predominantly offer international data connectivity solutions to any customers across the world.

In addition, the company will be able to provide high-end services in the burgeoning VPN (Virtual Private Network) bandwidth market, it added.

In a separate development, the government today said that it has notified extension of time for telecom service providers to adjust their FDI limit in line with the conditions set out in the November 3, 2005, Press Note No 5.

The extension of time for adjusting the FDI limit as per the conditions stipulated earlier would be for three months up to October 2, 2006, an official press note here said.

Mumbai, July 4
Aiming to become the world’s number one liquor player, Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries is believed to have made a bid for a part of Australian giant Foster’s beer units in India and Vietnam.

According to sources, Mallya has bid for Foster’s beer units in India and Vietnam, which is estimated to be valued at $234 million (Rs 1,053 crore).

“Mallya has made a bid for the beer units of Foster’s in India and Vietnam,” sources in the know of the development said.

Sources said Mallya’s bid for Foster’s units in India and Vietnam is expected to counter competition from Scottish and Newcastle and another unidentified Chinese beer major.

When contacted, company officials declined to comment.

Sources, however, maintained that despite UB’s top position in the beer market in India, the company was interested in the deal as it would have an added advantage. — PTI 

New Delhi, July 4
Punj Lloyd Limited has been awarded Rs 164.24 crore contract for Dabhol-Panvel Pipeline Project (DPPL) from GAIL.

The pipeline is meant to provide connectivity to Petronet LNG Ltd.’s (PLL) Dahej LNG terminal. It will also supply gas to Dabhol power project.

With a presence in 14 countries, Punj Lloyd has executed as many as 180 projects, onshore and offshore pipelines, cryogenic tanks and terminals, highways, bridges, railways and infrastructure services, plant and facility management and power plants.

The company has recently acquired a majority stake in SembCorp Engineers & Constructors, a Singapore $ 1 billion company. 

New Delhi, July 4
In these days of World Cup frenzy, there is a seven-year-old in an Indian town for whom a football signifies not sport, fun or a robust penalty kick, but a needle, thread and leather that she stitches together for all of Rs 4 apiece.

Doli, 7, from the sports manufacturing hub of Meerut, 65 km from New Delhi, has little idea of what the World Cup is, or of the obsessive interest in the game that has seized the country. For her, football means a black and white ball stitched by a lot of children in her village.

“Gend ka matlab... sui, dhaga aur chamda (A ball means needle, thread and leather),” says Doli, one of the several child labourers who recently visited Delhi to appeal to FIFA for guidelines to all football exporters to stop employing children in the industry.

The day she fails to stitch two balls, both her mother and the local contractor shout at her, she says. There are many like her, hoping that their voices get heard over the din of cheers and roars of a goal scored.

According to an estimate, over 5,000 kids between the ages of 6 and 13 are stitching footballs in Meerut.

Eleven-year-old Tariq stitches four footballs every day for Rs 4 a piece, but unlike millions of viewers of the ongoing World Cup or the many others who kick a ball around as the soccer fever gains hold, he neither watches any match nor scores a goal.

“Though some of my friends only manage to stitch two to three balls a day, I put some extra labour and produce four balls,” says Tariq.

Like Tariq, 10-year-old Hasnan stitches two footballs a day and gets just Rs.6.

“I have seen people playing footballs made by us but have never played it.

We just stitch footballs but don’t play,” Hasnan says, showing hands pitted with needle marks.

According to Kailash Satyarthi, chief of the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, several multinational companies are contacting local companies to produce sporting goods at cheap rates.

These local manufacturers do business with small time contractors in Meerut to procure footballs at “the cost of their health and education”.

“While over 5,000 children are working in the football manufacturing units, nearly 3,000 children are working in other sports manufacturing units or operating from home,” Satyarthi says.

“Last year, India earned Rs 4 billion (approx $86 million) by exporting sports goods, and 38 per cent of it came from exporting footballs alone.

“Use of sharp needles and knives constantly prick their fingers but the wounds are left untreated. Long hours of work and sitting in a hunched position are also affecting their physical growth,” he says. — IANS

Dhaka, July 4
Tata group is weighing pulling out of a proposed $3 billion investment in Bangladesh, which could be a further setback to the country’s creaky power infrastructure and ability to attract investment.

With the deal deadline looming, the government in Dhaka has yet to approve Tatas’ projects, and a top company official said he was realistic about chances the approvals would come soon.

“We’re still waiting for a response from the Bangladesh Government,” said Mr Alan Rosling, executive director of Tata Sons.

“We’re optimistic, but we are realistic about the situation. On the one hand, we are disappointed that it is taking so long. Equally, we are used to this pace,” he said.

In April, the Tata group offered to increase its planned investment in power, steel, fertiliser and coal projects in the country from an earlier $2.5 billion. — Reuters

Mumbai, July 4
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) today said it has acquired the South African hair colour business of Rapidol, UK, and its subsidiary Rapidol International for an undisclosed sum, as part of its global expansion.

“This transaction is consistent with our endeavour to build a strong personal and household care business both in India and across the globe, especially in Hair Colours,” GCPL Chairman & Managing Director Adi Godrej said.

GCPL said it had entered into an agreement for the acquisition of the South African hair colour business of Rapidol, UK, as well as its subsidiary Rapidol International which had a combined turnover of 52 million South African Rand (approximately Rs 33 crore) last year.