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RCF achieves record production of 1,480 coaches

Kapurthala, April 08: Rail Coach Factory (RCF) said it has achieved highest ever production of 1,480 coaches in 2007-08.

During the last financial year, Rail Coach Factory produced 34 types of coaches, which included 96 stainless steel coaches for Rajdhani trains, 133 coaches for 8 newly introduced Garib Rath trains, 16 coaches for Science Express. An export order of 24 mg coaches for Senegal Railway was also executed in the year, a statement said today.

RCF has so far manufactured 19,438 coaches since its inception, which is almost 50 percent of the coaching fleet of Indian Railways. In view of growing demand, it has set a target of manufacturing 1,550 coaches during this year.

To enhance its manufacturing capacity to meet the growing demand, RCF for has planned various expansions works like setting up of wheel assembly shop at a cost of Rs 68 crores, expansion of existing shell and furnishing shop and new paint shop at a cost of Rs 55 crores.

RCF is setting up a "centre for excellence in design" with an investment of Rupees 10 crores to augment the design capabilities. These projects are likely to be completed in the current financial year, the statement said.

The stainless steel coaches being produced by RCF are based on German technology and have features like, superior aesthetics, better ride quality and low maintenance cost.

The coach factory has also developed a low cost variant of the stainless steel coach, cutting the cost by about 40 percent. The trials of this prototype have been completed and now it has been planned to manufacture 100 such coaches.

Govt to consider further steps to tame inflation: Nath

New Delhi, April 08: The government on Tuesday said it will consider further steps, including adjustments in duty structures, to tackle the rising inflation.

"If need be, the government will calibrate its duty structures to ensure that inflation is controlled," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

The headline inflation is ruling at 39-month high of 7 percent and the government has taken a series of measures including abolition of import duty on crude edible oil and ban on export of non-basmati rice. It has also cut import duties on refined edible oil.

"We have taken some steps and we want these to fall into place," Nath said.

He said state government also needs to ensure that there is no hoarding and the distribution system works well. "You can have all the supplies but if the distribution system does not work well then there will be bottlenecks."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had yesterday said: "we are all concerned. The cabinet committee on prices met and took certain decisions. Whatever more can be done, will be done."

The letter says it all: ***** rejects Microsoft
8 Apr, 2008, 1234 hrs IST,

SUNNYVALE: The Board of Directors of *****! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today sent the following letter to Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation.

Dear Steve:

Our Board has reviewed your most recent letter with regard to the unsolicited proposal you made to acquire *****! on January 31, 2008.

Our Board carefully considered your unsolicited proposal, unanimously concluded that it was not in the best interests of *****! and our stockholders, and rejected it publicly on February 11, 2008. Our Board cited *****!'s global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as its substantial unconsolidated investments, as factors in its decision.

At the same time, we have continued to make clear that we are not opposed to a transaction with Microsoft if it is in the best interests of our stockholders. Our position is simply that any transaction must be at a value that fully reflects the value of *****!, including any strategic benefits to Microsoft, and on terms that provide certainty to our stockholders.

Since disclosing our Board's position with respect to your proposal, we have presented our three-year financial and strategic plan to our stockholders, which supports our Board's determination that your unsolicited proposal substantially undervalues *****!. Those meetings with our stockholders have also provided us an opportunity to hear their views.

We have continued to launch new products and to take actions which leverage our scale, technology, people and platforms as we execute on the strategy we publicly articulated. Today, in fact, we are announcing AMP! from *****!, a new advertising management platform designed to dramatically simplify the process of buying and selling ads online.

Finally, our Board has been actively and expeditiously exploring our strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value, a process which is ongoing. All of these actions have been driven by our overarching commitment to maximize stockholder value.

Our Board's view of your proposal has not changed. We continue to believe that your proposal is not in the best interests of *****! and our stockholders. Contrary to statements in your letter, stockholders representing a significant portion of our outstanding shares have indicated to us that your proposal substantially undervalues *****!. Furthermore, as a result of the decrease in your own stock price, the value of your proposal today is significantly lower than it was when you made your initial proposal.


In contrast to your assertions about the effect of general economic conditions on our business, *****!'s business forecasts are consistent with what we outlined in our last earnings call. As you know, we recently reaffirmed our Q1 and full year guidance, which is a testament to our ability to perform in line with our expectations despite the current economic environment. In addition, our three-year financial and strategic plan which we have made public demonstrates significant potential upside not previously communicated to the financial markets. This plan has received positive feedback from our stockholders, further strengthening the view that *****! is worth well more as a standalone company than the value offered in your proposal, and would be even more valuable to Microsoft. Your own statements have made clear the strategic importance of *****!'s substantial assets and capabilities to Microsoft.

We regret to say that your letter mischaracterizes the nature of our discussions with you. We have had constructive conversations together regarding a variety of topics, including integration and regulatory issues. Your comment that we have refused to enter into negotiations to conclude an agreement are particularly curious given we have already rejected your initial proposal, nominally $31 per share at the time, for substantially undervaluing *****! and your suggestions in your letter and the media that you are considering lowering the value of your proposal. Moreover, Steve, you personally attended two of these meetings and could have advanced discussions in any way you saw fit.

As to antitrust, we have discussed with you our concerns. Any transaction between us would result in a thorough regulatory review in multiple jurisdictions. As a follow up to a recent meeting among our respective legal advisors we had on this topic, and at your request, we provided to you on March 28 a list of additional information we would need to further our understanding of the regulatory issues associated with any transaction. To date, you have still not provided any of the requested information.

We consider your threat to commence an unsolicited offer and proxy contest to displace our independent Board members to be counterproductive and inconsistent with your stated objective of a friendly transaction. We are confident that our stockholders understand that our independent Board is best positioned to objectively and knowledgeably evaluate our Company's alternatives and to maximize value.

In conclusion, please allow us to restate our position, so there can be no confusion. We are open to all alternatives that maximize stockholder value. To be clear, this includes a transaction with Microsoft if it represents a price that fully recognizes the value of *****! on a standalone basis and to Microsoft, is superior to our other alternatives, and provides certainty of value and certainty of closing. Lastly, we are steadfast in our commitment to choosing a path that maximizes stockholder value and we will not allow you or anyone else to acquire the company for anything less than its full value.

SOURCE: *****! Inc.

Opto Circuits acquire majority stake in US firm
8 Apr, 2008, 1035 hrs IST......................

MUMBAI: Opto Circuits (India) Ltd said on Tuesday it has acquired majority stake in US-based Criticare Systems Inc. In February, the firm had agreed to buy the US firm for about $70 million.

HCL hit by Deutsche Bank, HBOS slowdown
8 Apr, 2008, 0320 hrs IST.....................

MUMBAI: India’s fifth largest software exporter, HCL Technologies, has been hit by a slowdown in business from two of their financial services clients, Deutsche Bank and HBOS. The two are among HCL’s top 10 clients in terms of revenue and the slowdown is likely to hurt the company in the current quarter as well as the just ended March 2008 quarter.

Sources said Deutsche Bank was contributing around $150 million in revenues annually, while HBOS, a large UK-based group in corporate, retail banking, insurance and investment services, contributes about $50 million to its revenues annually. “The two clients are unable to ramp up or are stopping work on some engagements. HCL has termed them as problem accounts,” said an analyst. He said the company had been working with HBOS for over two years and longer with Deutsche Bank.

In response to an e-mail query, a company spokesperson said: “HCL Technologies has had a long-standing relationship with Deutsche Bank and HBOS and we continue to grow and significantly strengthen these strategic relationships.” The spokesperson did not respond to specific queries on what impact the slowdown by the two clients would be or confirm if there was a slowdown.

HCL Tech shares, which have lost 10% in the last one week, ended at Rs 244.50 or 2% lower on BSE on Friday.

Going by the information, HCL put out in its December 2007 quarter results. It had only two clients contributing over $100 million in revenues and three clients contributing over $50 million. This would make Deutsche Bank one of its top two clients. Bear Stearns is also one of HCL’s clients but analysts said this business was likely to continue because of the nature of the work it was doing. An analyst with a domestic brokerage said the company was expected to underperform its peers in the March 2008 quarter because of some of these worries.

“While the rest of the companies in the top five exporters list will grow by 5% in quarter-on-quarter revenues, we expect HCL to grow by 4.5% or lower,” said an IT analyst.

“The company has not been very forthcoming. It could be that revenues from these two clients are stagnant. It could also be that the slowdown is more widespread and not limited to these two clients but the company is not willing to talk about it,” the analyst said. “There were rumours that HBOS was in deep trouble like Northern Rock,” he added. Northern Rock, UK’s fifth-largest mortgage lender, was bailed out by the British government, after it was hit by sub-prime crisis.

Earlier this quarter, Tata Consultancy Services had said two of its top 10 clients had postponed their commitments made for the fourth quarter. The clients were reported to be Citibank and Merrill Lynch.

Software plans new facility in Bangalore
8 Apr, 2008, 1200 hrs IST.........................

MUMBAI: Sonata Software plans to set up a new facility in the Global Village Special Economic Zone at Bangalore at an investment of Rs 20 crore. The zone is 12 km away from the city center.

The company already has three facilities at Bangalore, with a combined area of 1,24,000 square feet, seating 1200 employees. The new facility is envisaged to be expanded in phases, initially from 20,000 square feet to a fully developed facility of 1,00,000 square feet. It will house an additional 800 employees.

In addition to the facilities in Bangalore, Sonata currently has a facility in Hyderabad, which can occupy by 800 people. This is also nearing full capacity. For expansion in Hyderabad, the company has been allotted a seven-acre land in an SEZ, which when fully developed will accommodate an additional 2,000 people.

"To enable growth both from existing as well as new customers, we have embarked on this expansion. The Sonata Software campus at the Global Village will have world-class infrastructure, which we hope will be equally liked by our customers and our employees," said B Ramaswamy, President & Managing Director, Sonata.

At 11:34 am, Sonata Software shares were 1.04 per cent at Rs 33.15 on BSE

Raja may release GSM spectrum to new players in next 48 hrs

New Delhi, April 08: In an exercise that could roil existing GSM operators, Telecom Minister A Raja is likely to start releasing start-up radio frequency to new telecom players in the next two days, starting with Tamil Nadu circle.

"Department of Telecom (DoT) will start allocating spectrum in four southern states in view of abundant availability in these areas followed by some other states like Maharashtra, Orissa and Bihar," senior officials told media.

According to sources, spectrum was available in the range of 50-60 mhz in nine states and was sufficient to accommodate all the new players as well as demand from the existing operators. However, in some important circles like Delhi, only one of the new players could get initial spectrum.

Going by the first-come-first-serve policy announced by Raja, Swan Telecom would be first one to get spectrum in Delhi ahead of others, while Videocon promoted Datacom would be considered if frequency was released by the defence authorities - a matter that is being pursued by the DoT.

Some of the existing players have objected to the move, saying allocation of spectrum at this juncture would be illegal as the matter is subjudice. But the DoT officials pointed out that neither telecom tribunal TDSAT nor Delhi High Court has stayed the process of allocation of spectrum.

Existing GSM players led by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had challenged dot`s move to allow dual technology for mobile services which enabled Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communication to pocket GSM spectrum ahead of all others.

Delhi High Court has reserved the judgement, while TDSAT had adjourned hearing on the matter to May.

New entrants had earlier questioned the government`s rationale for withholding release of spectrum in circles where it was available and had said that the delay was affecting their business plans.

Idling the available resource will give advantage to existing GSM players, as well as Reliance Communications (which has secured GSM spectrum under dual technology clause), besides affect government`s revenues and growth of telecom sector, one of the new players said.

The new players, who have made the required payment for the spectrum more than two months ago, include Videocon promoted Datacom, Shyam Telelink which has partnered with Russian telecom giant Sistema, realty major Unitech, Swan Telecom, B K Modi`s Spice Communications and S Tel.

Shyam Telelink, however, has opted for CDMA spectrum and it has already received it in several circles.

Earlier, the government had indicated that they would start allocating spectrum to new players wherever it is available, while continuing negotiations with the defence ministry for vacation of more spectrum in other states.

According to officials, DoT has divided the country into three categories with circles that have spectrum in abundance, little and no spectrum at all.

The new players, who are in the process of floating a parallel lobby to COAI, have already started putting pressure on the DoT for their rights and with the 4-5 new operators joining the fast growing mobile segment, tariffs may fall further from the existing level.

This, however, may take about 6-9 months as rolling out of network would take time, one of the new licensees said.

Patni eyes IT orders from new telcos
8 Apr, 2008, 0251 hrs IST...........

MUMBAI: The imminent entry of several new players to India's mobile phone services segment has sparked off opportunities for software services companies. Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems has already begun talks with the new players and hopes to close at least one deal by the end of this year, a senior company official said.

The company is looking to partner with companies, that have recently got licences to provide mobile services, to help them deploy their services in India, Colin Orviss, head of Patni's telecom consultancy practice, told ET. Among the list of new entrants, which Patni is looking to target as potential partners, include the likes of Videocon (through its subsidiary Datacom), Unitech and Shyam Telecom.

Mr Orviss said that the company was looking to have revenue sharing arrangements with the telecom operators it would be working for. "While the operators would focus more on the customers, we would help put in place information systems like CRM or customer care operations, network switching management, number provisioning and interconnect issues for the operator," Mr Orviss said. Patni is working on similar projects with operators in Russia, Northern America, the Middle East and Africa, he added.

"Although mobile virtual network operators are our area of expertise, since they are not permissible in India at the moment, we would looking to partner with new entrants to provide domain expertise when they deploy their services for mobile users in India," he said. Patni, in July last year, had acquired Europe-based Logan-Orviss International and had acquired intellectual property rights to UK-based mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse.

AMD says no job cut in India operations
8 Apr, 2008, 1649 hrs IST.................

BANGALORE: Global chip manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which has decided to lay off about 1,600 employees worldwide due to business slowdown and losses, said it would not lead to any job loss in its India operations.

"The job cuts are essentially at the global level but not in India. They are some of the rolls, which are found to be redundant in the company. The decision to slash about 10 percent of the workforce worldwide will have no impact on our operations in the Indian subcontinent," AMD India managing director Alok Ohrie told reporters here Tuesday.

The $6-billion, second largest American chipmaker for computing, graphics and consumer electronics announced late Monday, after the US stock markets closed, that it would reduce 10 per cent of its global payroll - about 16,000 employees - on account of worsening business conditions.

"On the contrary, our parent company is bullish about India. During the last quarter, we have hired about 250 people for business expansion and chip design services. In fact, our corporate headquarters is supportive of our expansion plans. We are seeing development taking place in our business and engineering operations," Ohrie pointed out.

He, however, declined to mention the total headcount in the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, which has development centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad and marketing offices in Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.

AMD spokesman Drew Prairie said in a statement that the layoffs were part of a cost restructuring to enable the firm return to profit-making and would be applied across groups at all levels.

For the calendar year 2007, the California-based AMD reported a net loss of $3.4 billion, including non-cash charges of $2 billion on total revenue of $6.01 billion as against net loss of $166 million and revenue of $5.7 billion in 2006.

AMD India expanded its research and development operations in November 2007, with a new silicon design facility in Bangalore with 350 seats.

Opening the new centre then, AMD chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz said in its quest to become the technology partner of choice for the semiconductor industry, its Indian subsidiary would play a vital role in designing and delivering industry-leading solutions tailored to the needs of its customers in the subcontinent and the world over.

For the first quarter (January-March) of 2008, AMD has projected revenue of $1.5 billion in its guidance, which would be a decline of 15 percent from the previous quarter due to lower-than-expected sales across all business segments.

India’s exports to reach USD 500 bn: CII

New Delhi, April 08: India`s exports are likely to reach the USD 500 bn mark in the next five years but the focus should be on the labour-oriented sectors so that benefits of growth trickle down to the low-income groups, industry body CII has said.

In a sectoral analysis of exports, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) said India needs to become among the top three exporters in the world in four sectors - textile, leather, gems and jewellery and engineering.

It said exports to new Markets of Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) and Africa should be given a push for achieving the USD 500-billion mark by 2013.

The four labour-oriented sectors account for over 50 per cent of India`s export basket and they need to be given momentum, the chamber said.

"There is a need for a combination of policy initiatives, technology infusion, infrastructure improvement, access to newer Markets, innovation in product development and improvement in scale of production," CII said.

Exports for the fiscal year 2007-08 are expected to be between USD 155 billion and USD 160 billion compared to USD 126 billion in 2006-07. The foreign trade policy (2004-09) expects exports to reach USD 200 billion in the current fiscal.

While diversification has already been achieved in the country`s export destinations in recent years, the chamber called for a strategic push in two big Markets of Africa and LAC countries.

At present, India meets only 3.5 per cent of Africa`s import demand and 0.7 per cent of import demand of LAC nations.

"These shares can easily be doubled with minimum efforts in the next two to three years," CII said.