Bizbits

Hero Honda launches new bike

NEW DELHI: Hero Honda handed over 156cc motorcyclye CBZ to a customer at the Gurgaon dealership by the company8217;s chairman and managing director, Brijmohan Lall Munjal. The bike is also being launched simultaneously in other parts of the country. However, delivery would be made in a phased manner. CBZ is available in two versions priced at Rs 54,800 Delhi for the variant with drum brakes and Rs 59,800 for the vehiclewith disc brakes.

Uptron generates record business

NEW DELHI: Uptron India Ltd has generated a record business of Rs 10.7 crore in the last 45 days of the current financial year. The company was till recently plagued by closed units, empty coffers and labour trouble. The employees resumed work on February 15,1999 and generated a record business by March 31, Uptron managing director, Arun Arya, said in a press release. The company recorded a business of Rs 15.7 crore in 1998-99 which is however slightly higher than Rs 14.5 crore last year, he said.

Moog of UK opens office in Bangalore

BANGALORE: UK-based Moog Controls Ltd has opened a new branch office in Bangalore. Earlier, the office was situated in the Electronic City in the premises of Moog Controls India Pvt Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Moog Inc, USA. Moog Controls Ltd regional director Arvind V Gokhale said on Wednesday in Bangalore that the Indian branch would take care of a wide range of sales and service responsibilitieslike market development, technical support etc.

BEL in loss

BANGALORE: The public sector enterprise, Bharat Electronics Ltd BEL has posted a sales turnover of Rs 1,205.08 crore during the fiscal ended March 31 posting a marginal loss, according to a company release. The company has achieved direct exports worth Rs 31.16 crore marking a 25 per cent growth as against the previous year. BEL8217;s profit before tax as per provisional calculations stood at Rs 60 crore.

During the period BEL faced a series of trade restrictions and sanctions which adversely affected many on-going projects of the company. Its Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ghaziabad units were figured in the US Entity List which resulted in the denial of various general components by the US and European markets. Despite of all these adverse conditions BEL has made only a marginal loss in terms of sales turnover compared to the previous year, the release said. During the period the company8217;s in-house-Ramp;D facility was restructured to make it morecompetitive to meet international market requirements.

RIL rating

MUMBAI: Crisil has reaffirmed the rating assigned to the non-convertible debenture issues of Reliance Industries Ltd RIL. The rating firm has also reaffirmed the P18217; rating assigned to the Rs 1,600 crore short term debt programme of RIL. It has downgraded the fixed deposit FD programme of Associated Stone Industries Ltd ASIL from FA8217; to FC8217; reflecting the significant increase in the company8217;s financial risk profile.

According to a company release, the rating reflects RIL8217;s dominant market position and cost competitiveness in the domestic polymer, polyster and fibre intermediate industries. quot;The rating factors in the company8217;s above average profitability, comfortable net gearing level, comfortable interest and debt coverage ratio, strong cash flows and a high degree of financial flexibility,quot; a Crisil release issued to the press on Wednesday said.

IT scheme extended

NEW DELHI: The government today extended theone by six8217; scheme or filing of income tax returns on the basis of economic criteria to 19 more cities including Amritsar, Aurangabad and Guwahati. The Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT has notified the inclusion of the new cities under the scheme and stipulated area for the residential and commercial properties.

Under the one by six scheme an individual is required to file income tax return on the basis of economic criteria such as house, motor car, telephone, foreign travel, credit card and membership of expensive clubs. The extension of the scheme to more cities follows finance minister Yashwant Sinha8217;s announcement in the budget speech to take the total number of cities under the scheme to 54 cities. The new cities brought under the scheme are Amritsar, Asansol, Aurangabad, Bareilly, Durg-Bhilai, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Gwalior, Hubli-Dharwad, Jalandhar, Jodhpur, Kota, Mysore, Nasik, Rajkot, Ranchi, Salem, Solapur and Tiruchirapalli.

DSM takeover

MUMBAI: DSM Engineering Plastics BV hasacquired the engineering plastics business of Century Enka Limited and established its subsidiary DSM Engineering Plastics India Pvt Ltd. Through this venture, the company will be able to improve its service to its global customers and fulfill the needs of the growing Indian plastic industry. Century Enka has transferred the manufacturing assets and application development laboratory of the engineering plastic business to DSM, said Karl Hautekiet, manager, India project. Since the last two years, DSM products were being imported into the country mainly by automobile, engineering and electronic industry. Through this acquisition, DSM Engineering Plastic India Pvt Ltd has got a manufacturing base as well as local compounding and test facilities in Pune.

Mastercard ATM

MUMBAI: Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank and HDFC Bank have joined Mastercard8217;s global online ATM programme, making it the largest ATM network in the country. With this the Mastercard/cirrus ATM network encompasses the highestnumber of ATMs for customers to choose from, the largest number of cities and the maximum number of participating banks as compared to any other international ATM network in the country, a company release said.

Bullion higher

MUMBAI: Prices of both the precious metals, silver and gold closed higher on the bullion market today due to higher overseas advices coupled with restricted supply. Ready silver .999 resumed better at Rs 7660 and rose further to close at Rs 7665, showing a fresh rise of Rs 35 over the last close of Rs 7630. Raw silver .916 hardened by Rs 20 and ended at Rs 7525 from Rs 7505, while tenderable silver recovered to close at Rs 7670 as against the last close of Rs 7635. Standard gold improved further by Rs 10 to Rs 4400 from yesterday8217;s close of Rs 4390. 22-carat gold was nominally quoted higher at Rs 4070 as against the previous close of Rs 4060 and ten-tola gold bar .999 rose to Rs 51,700 from Rs 51,600.

HZL sales

MUMBAI: Hindustan Zinc Limited HZL, a publicsector enterprise under the ministry of steel and mines, has recorded the highest turnover of Rs 1,272 crore during 1998-99. The company achieved this despite the fact that it was a difficult year for the base metal industry. In spite of the record turnover, profit before tax has come down from Rs 202 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 150 crore. The reason was a steep fall in the LME prices of zinc and lead. The company increased its sales volume by 17 per cent.