Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

Mr B C Tripathi, CMD, GAIL receiving MoU Excellence Award from Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, in the presence of Mr Praful Patel, Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises and Chairman, SCOPE.

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 03 :
GAIL (India) received the MoU Excellence Award in Petroleum Sector for year 2009-10 from Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, here recently.

The company recently signed a sales and purchase Agreement (SPA) for supply of LNG over 20 years with Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC, a subsidiary of Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P., USA for supply of 3.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG.

This LNG from Sabine Pass shall form a part of the basket for feeding LNG to Dabhol LNG terminal and LNG terminal in the eastern coast in India, in addition to the utilization of capacity of other terminals in India.

GAIL has acquired its first shale gas assets in the USA through its wholly- owned US subsidiary GAIL Global (USA) Inc. The subsidiary company, which has opened an office in Houston, has executed definitive agreements with Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. based in Houston, Texas, to enter into an unincorporated joint venture, under which GAIL Global (USA) Inc. has acquired a 20 percent interest in Carrizo's Eagle Ford Shale acreage position. The joint venture has 20,200 gross acres, out of which GAIL subsidiary would have 4,040 net acres spread over four counties in Texas.

The company has also set up a wholly-owned subsidiary company viz. GAIL Global (Singapore) in Singapore for sourcing LNG, trading of LNG and petrochemicals and overseas investments. An office has been set up in Singapore for this purpose.

Thesynergyonline Economic Bureau

The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh handing over the award to CMD, ONGC AND MD, OVL.

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 01 :
ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ( ONGC) has been conferred with the "SCOPE Award for Excellence and Outstanding Contribution to the Public Sector Management Institutional III (Other Profit Making PSE Category - Non Ratna)" 2009-2010. Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD, ONGC & Chairman, ONGC Group of Companies and Mr D K Sarraf MD, OVL received this award from Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh at awards function here.

The awards ceremony was organized by Standing Committee of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) under the aegis of Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Government of India. Mr. Praful Patel, Union Minister for Heavy Industries was also present on the occasion.
 

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

Group photo of the Winners of SCOPE and MOU Excellence Awards with  Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Minister of HI&PE Mr. Praful Patel in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 31 :
THE  Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh addressed the chief executives of public sector enterprises and presented SCOPE Awards for Excellence and Outstanding Contribution to the Public Sector Management - 2009-10 and MOU Excellence Awards  - 2009-10.

The Union Minister for HI&PE Mr  Praful Patel, Secretary, DPE, and Dr D R S Chaudhary, IAS, also addressed the select gathering of top management of PSEs while Chairman, BRPSE, Dr Nitish Sengupta, and Chairman, SCOPE, Mr Arup Roy Choudhury alongwith galaxy of participants from PSEs, government officials and  guests were present on the occasion.

SCOPE Excellence Award for ‘Outstanding Woman Manager’, instituted for the first time to encourage and acknowledge the contribution of women to the professional management in PSEs was conferred to Mrs  Neeru Abrol, Director (Finance), National Fertilizers Limited.

In the Individual Leadership Categories, Mr  B  Prasada Rao, CMD, BHEL, Mr  N.M. Borah, CMD, Oil India and Mr K. Harikumar, CMD, Hindustan Insecticides received the Gold Plaques and Certificates in the Maharatna & Navratna, Miniratna and Other Profit Making PSEs Categories respectively.
 
In the Institutional Categories, Mr  R S Butola, Chairman, Indian Oil Corporation and Mr. Arup Roy Choudhury, CMD, NTPC received Gold Trophies in the Maharatna & Navratna PSEs Category while Mr A.K  Purwaha, CMD, Engineers India received SCOPE Award in Institutional Miniratna PSE Category. 

Mr. Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman, ONGC Videsh  and Mr  D K Sarraf, MD, ONGC Videsh  received Gold Trophy in other Profit Making PSEs Category. 

Mr  S K Roongta, CMD, National Seeds Corporation, also received Gold Trophy in other Profit Making PSEs Category. 

Mr  A.K. Jain, CMD, Bharat Pumps & Compressors received Gold Trophy in the Institutional Turnaround Category.

The MOU Awards were presented in 12 sectors. These were received by Mr R K Gupta, CMD, WAPCOS(Consultancy); Mr. Vimal Wakhlu, CMD, TCIL (Electronics & Communications); Mr. N.C. Jha, CMD, Coal India (Energy); Mr. R.G. Rajan, CMD, RCF (Fertilizer & Agro Industries); Mr. Satnam Singh, CMD, PFC (Financial Services); Mr. B. Prasada Rao, CMD, BHEL (Industrial); Mr. C.S. Verma, Chairman, SAIL (Mining & Minerals); Mr B.C. Tripathi, CMD, GAIL (Petroleum); Ms Vijay Laxmi Joshi, CMD, MMTC (Trading & Services);  K. Subramaniam, CMD, Cochin Shipyard (Transport); Mr. Rajeev Sharma, CMD, REC (Best Listed CPSE); and, Mr. Kallol Datta, CMD, Andrew Yule & Co. (Turnaround).

Thesynergyopnline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 :
OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) organised a Conclave of the Retired Officers at ONGC Academy where Mr A K Hazarika, Director (Onshore) was the chief guest.

Besides, Mr K.S.Jamestin, Director (HR), Mr S V Rao, Director (Exploration) and Mr Sundar Lal, Executive Director-Chief Employee Relations, ONGC were present at the event

While addressing the retired officers, Mr Hazarika mentioned the steps taken by ONGC to improve the welfare of ex-employees.

He extolled the pivotal contribution of retired ONGCians for making ONGC what it is today.

Echoing similar sentiments Mr Jamestin said that ONGC management was trying to bring about improvement in the quality of life of the retired employees.

He pointed out that the management had taken many positive steps for the welfare of ex-employees.

About 300 retired officers and representatives from several units of ONGC Retired Officers Association attended.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

(L to R) : Dr U.D. Choubey, Director General, SCOPE, Mr C S. Verma Chairman, SAIL, Dr Karan Singh, Visionary Indian Statesman, Mr T K A Nair, Advisor to Prime Minister, Mr P K Misra, Secretary, DoPT and Steel and Ms Shobhana Radhakrishna, an eminent Gandhian at the commemoration of Martyr's Day organized by SCOPE & SAIL.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 :
TO pay tribute to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, SCOPE and SAIL jointly organized a lecture session on "Ethical Leadership and Values in Management Practices", here on Monday .

Dr Karan Singh, Visionary Indian Statesman was the chief guest while Mr T K A Nair, Advisor to Prime Minister, was the special guest of honour.

Mr P K. Misra, Secretary, DoPT and Steel, Dr U.D. Choubey, Director General, SCOPE and Mr C S Verma, Chairman, SAIL also addressed the session.

On the occasion Ms Shobhana Radhakrishna, an eminent Gandhian delivered a multi-media lecture on the Gandhian philosophy.

Dr U D Choubey, Director General, SCOPE in his welcome address said Mahatma Gandhi has been the greatest man of our generation.

Relevance of his philosophy has increased with the time. PSEs who have partnered in the development of the nation have always adopted good governance and ethical practices as preached by the Father of the Nation.

The underlying idea behind 'trusteeship in business' propounded by him centered primarily around the thinking that leaders of business are custodian of wealth of society and it is their responsibility to put it to the best use of society.

Dr Karan Singh, Visionary Indian Statesman in his address complimented public sector for playing a crucial and vital role in the country's growth story since over six decades and yet seldom recognized.

He said Gandhiji's movement was a holistic movement involving social transformation and economic regeneration. He urged to make concerted efforts to adopt the ideals of Gandhi in life and work.

He said everybody talks about fundamental rights and not about the fundamental duties, while we must perform duties as mentioned in the Constitution.

Mr T K A. Nair, Advisor to Prime Minister, in his address said that Gandhiji preached to be the change that one wants to see in the world.

He therefore advised to become role model and set good examples for others to emulate.

Mr. C. S. Verma Chairman, SAIL mentioned how SAIL as an organization has incorporated Gandhian ideals and philosophy in their work to build lasting relations with their customers and employees and bring about a making meaningful difference in their lives.

Ms Shobhana Radhakrishna, an eminent Gandhian in her presentation gave an insight into the Mahatma's life, qualities, adherence to truth, devotion to non-violence, ethical leadership, purity of means, trusteeship, and ethics and values in management.

Mr. B B. Singh, Director (Pers), SAIL, proposed the vote of thanks in the programme which was attended by over 100 CEOs, Directors and Senior Officials of PSEs.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau
                                                                

DES PLAINES, Ill., JANUARY 27 :
UOP LLC, a Honeywell  company, said that its new process technology designed to help refiners get more high-value product from each barrel of crude oil has been selected by National Refinery Limited (NRL) to maximize diesel and lubricant production in Pakistan.

UOP’s Uniflex™ processing technology was developed to help refiners processing the bottom of the barrel, the heaviest portions of a barrel of crude also known as vacuum residue, into higher value transportation fuels. This technology can deliver 90 percent conversion of vacuum residue to transportation fuels while minimizing by-products.

Traditional bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading process technologies have only been able to convert 60 to 70 percent of vacuum residue to transportation fuels.

“Uniflex technology offers the highest conversion rate of bottom-of-the-barrel crudes to highvalue products available today,” said Pete Piotrowski, vice president and general manager of Process Technology and Equipment for Honeywell’s UOP.

“Demand for low-value products such as fuel oil that are traditionally produced from these heavy residues is stagnant. At the same time, diesel demand is growing at a rate faster than all other transportation fuels. In an integrated facility like NRL’s, Uniflex process technology can help refiners close this gap and increase their profitability,” he added.

 The NRL facility, which is scheduled for start-up in 2016, will produce 40,000 barrels per day of diesel fuel and 4,500 barrels per day of lube base oils.

NRL will use Uniflex technology to upgrade its heavy residue into high-value distillate products. Of particular value to NRL is the high yield of diesel from the Uniflex technology, which is nearly double that of competing residue conversion technologies.

The technology will be integrated with UOP Unionfining™ hydroprocessing solutions to process distillates into high-quality diesel fuel and naphtha into high-quality feedstock used for gasoline production.

Vacuum gas oil from the facility will also be converted to diesel and lube base oils using UOP’s Unicracking™ technology and fuels dewaxing technology provided by an alliance between Honeywell’s UOP and ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Company (EMRE).

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 27 :
INDIAN Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), the financing arm of Indian Railways, is proposing to issue tax free, secured, redeemable, non-convertible bonds of face value of Rs 1,000 each in the nature of debentures, having benefits under Section 10(15)(iv)(h) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, as amended (bonds) aggregating to Rs 3,000 crore with an option to retain oversubscription of upto the shelf limit of Rs 6,300 crore.

The application for subscription of bonds should be for a minimum of 10 bonds and in multiples of 5 bonds thereafter.

The issue opened for subscription on Friday (January 27, 20120 and will close on February 10, 2012, or earlier (subject to the issue being open for a minimum period of 3 days), or extension by such period, upto a period of 30 days from the date of opening of the issue, as may be decided by the board of directors or by a duly constituted committee of the company.

The bonds shall carry a coupon rate of 8.00 percent p.a for 10 years (ISEC Comment: Series I) and 8.10 percent p.a for 15 years (ISEC Comment: Series II).

An additional coupon rate of 0.15 percent p.a. and 0.20 percent p.a. on series 1 and series 2 respectively shall be available to Resident Indian Individuals, Hindu Undivided Families through the Karta and Non Resident Indians on repatriation as well as non-repatriation basis, applying for an amount aggregating upto and including Rs 5 lakh across all series in the tranche (available only to the original allottees).

The bonds are proposed to be listed on NSE and BSE.  
 
The bonds have been rated 'CRISIL AAA/Stable' by CRISIL, '[ICRA] AAA' by ICRA and 'CARE AAA' by CARE, indicating highest degree of safety for timely servicing of financial obligations.

The issue is being leadmanaged by SBI Capital Markets , A K Capital Services  and ICICI Securities  . Indian Bank shall be the Trustee to the issue.

The company intends to utilize the proceeds for financing the acquisition of rolling stock and financing the capacity enhancement works in the Indian Railways.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 25 :
STRIDES Arcolab has sold its 94 percent shareholding in Ascent Pharmahealth , its subsidiary with operations in Australia and Southeast Asia, to Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

As part of the transaction, Watson also acquired the remaining 6 percent shareholding associated with Dennis Bastas, CEO of Ascent. The transaction was signed and closed simultaneously. The cash offer from Watson values Ascent at an enterprise value of AU$ 375 million (approximately Rs 2,000 crore).

Arun Kumar, Executive vice chairman and Group CEO of Strides Arcolab, said, "The sale of Ascent is a value enhancing and forward-looking initiative for Strides . The transaction further facilitates the execution of this strategy and unlocks significant value for the Group. Furthermore, the proceeds from the transaction considerably strengthens our balance sheet."

"Over the last six months, the Strides–Ascent partnership generated significant economic benefit through the transformation of Ascent into a vertically integrated generics business with a robust portfolio of marketed and newly developed pipeline products. In addition, we further expanded the business from its home market in Australia to establish a scalable platform across high-growth emerging markets in Southeast Asia," he added.

"Combining the product portfolios and commercial infrastructures of Ascent, Watson creates a substantial generics business in the region and provides Ascent with a number of new growth opportunities. We believe that Ascent, its partners, customer and employees across all of its markets will benefit from the continued development under its new owners," he said.

Paul Bisaro, president and CEO of Watson, said, "The acquisition of Ascent provides Watson with a successful commercial structure in both Australia and Southeast Asia and a broader pipeline of products to support continued growth."

Theynergonline Corporate Bureau

Mr U. N Bose, Director (T&FS) receiving Award from Dr M. Veerappa Moily, Union Cabinet Minister of Corporate Affairs.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 24 :
QUALITY Assurance Department of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ( ONGC) has won the "Golden Peacock National Quality Award" for the year 2011.

The Golden Peacock Award for Quality is an annual award administered by the Golden Peacock Awards Secretariat as part of the activities of The Institute of Directors, New Delhi.

The company's Quality Assurance Department has taken slew of initiatives to provide Total Quality Management (TQM). All the 14 Quality Assurance Units are accredited with ISO: 9001: 2008 certification for Quality Assurance Services including inspection and testing of equipment, stores, spares and projects applicable to oil industry.

The award was presented by the Minister of Corporate Affairs Dr. M. Veerappa Moily at a specially organized " Award Gala Nite" at the 22nd World Congress on Total Quality.

The awards was received by Mr U N Bose Director (T&FS) accompanied by other officers of Quality Assurance Department.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 23 :
GAIL (India) registered a turnover (net of excise duty) of Rs 11260 crore in the third quarter of FY 2011-12 (Q3FY'12) as against Rs 8365 crore, a 35 percent increase over the turnover in the corresponding period in the last financial year.

The company's net profit for the third quarter of the FY 2011-12 increased by 13 percent to Rs 1091 crore as against Rs 968 crore in the corresponding period previous year.

The gross margin increased by 19 percent to Rs 1,816 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year as against Rs 1,524 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The profit before tax (PBT) increased by 19 percent to Rs 1,598 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year against Rs 1,347 crore in the corresponding period last year.

In the third quarter of the current financial year, revenues from natural gas transmission business have increased by 9 percent to Rs 1,087 crore as against Rs 1,001 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.

The net sales from petrochemicals business have increased by 54 percent to Rs 878 crore as against Rs 571 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

The net sales from LPG and liquid hydrocarbons business in the third quarter of the current financial year have increased by 33 percent to Rs 966 crore as against Rs 729 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

The company's sales from natural gas trading in the third quarter of the current financial year increased by 35 percent to Rs. 9,149 crore as against Rs 6,773 crore in the corresponding period of the last year.

The revenues from LPG transmission in the third quarter of the current financial year have decreased by 5 percent to Rs. 122 crore as against Rs 129 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The increase in net profit during the third quarter of the current financial year was mainly due to the increase in natural gas trading, natural gas transmission, petrochemical and liquid hydrocarbon.

In the third quarter of the current financial year, the natural gas sales were 84.94 MMSCMD, up 2 percent from 83.36 MMSCMD in the corresponding period last year.

In the third quarter of FY 2011-12, the petrochemical production was 118 TMT, up 16 percent from 102 TMT in the corresponding period last year. .

The natural gas transmission during the third quarter of the current financial year was 119.06 MMSCMD, decreased by 1 percent from 120.19 MMSCMD in the corresponding period last year.


In the first nine months of FY11 GAIL (India) registered a turnover (net of excise duty) of Rs 29,826 crore as against Rs.23,565 Crore, a 27 percent increase over the turnover in the corresponding period last financial year.

THe company's net profit after tax (PAT) for the first nine months of the FY 2011-12 increased by 14 percent to Rs 3,170 crore against Rs 2,778 crore in the corresponding period previous year.

The gross margin increased by 13 percent to Rs. 5,250 crore in the first nine months of the current financial year against Rs. 4,633 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The profit before tax (PBT) increased by 12 percent to Rs. 4,609 crore in the nine month of the current financial year against Rs. 4,101 crore in the corresponding period last year.
In the nine months of the current financial year, revenues from natural gas transmission have increased by 4 percent to Rs. 3,006 crore as against Rs. 2,877 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

Director (T&FS), ONGC releasing first e-procurement tender for Headquarters.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 23 :
THE final phase of e-procurement project was rolled out by Director (T&FS), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), at Scope Minar, Delhi. On the occasion he underlined the role IT has played in this achievement.

He congratulated Team Infocom for starting the New Year 2012 by facilitating EC to directly interact with ONGCians in different work centers via video conferencing.

He said team leaders have to play a proactive role to carry the mission of ONGC further and further.

Complimenting ICE team for the achievement of rolling out the e-procurement organization wide and completing it almost on time, Director (T&FS) said it gave him a sense of great pride and happiness.

He said users should also take pride by utilizing theses facilities being delivered via ICE system. So far a total of 1209 e-procurement tenders valuing worth Rs 1,06,038 crore have been processed in ONGC.

A movie clip was screened which captured glimpses of e-procurement in ONGC during its journey from 2005 when first e-procurement was implemented to till date.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 20 :
RELIANCE Industries (RIL) on Friday reported net profit of Rs 4,440 crore on the third quatrer of fiscal 2011-12 (Q3FY12) as against Rs 5136 crore in the third quarter of fiscal 2010-11 (Q3FY11), a decline of 13.6 percent.

The company registered 9-month FY'12 net profit at Rs 15804 crore as against Rs 14910 crore in the corresponding 9-month of FY11, an increase of 6.0 percent.

The company recorded turnover of Rs 87,480 crore in Q3FY12 as against Rs 62,399 crore, a rise of 40.2 percent.

The company recorded 9-month FY12 turnover of Rs 251, 958 crore as against Rs 183,368 crore in the corresponding 9-month period of FY11 , a rise of 37.4 percent.

The company's earning per share (EPS) stands at Rs 13.6 in Q3FY12 as against Rs 15.7 in Q3FY11 , a decline of 15.3 percent. The EPS in 9-month FY12 is Rs 48.3 as against Rs 45.6 , a rise of 5.9 percent.

Similarly, the company's pofit before tax (PBT) in Q3FY12 stands at Rs 5,738 crore as against Rs 6378 crore in the corresponding period, a decline by 10.0 percent.

The company's 9-month FY12 PBT stands at Rs 20,319 crore as against Rs .18,565 crore in the corresponding period, up by 9.4 percent.

Meanwhile, RIL board of directors at its meeting on Friday approved the buyback of upto 12 crore fully paid- up equity shares of Rs 10 each, at a price not exceeding Rs. 870 per equity share, payable in cash, upto an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs10,440 crore from the open market through stock sxchange(s).

The maximum buyback price represents a nearly 10 percent premium over the last closing price of Rs.792.65 on January 20, 2012.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 19 :
OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Cairn (Rajasthan Joint Venture) have commenced production from the Bhagyam Field in Rajasthan , according to a press release jointly issued by ONGC and Cairn India.

Bhagyam is the second largest of 25 discoveries made so far by Cairn in the Barmer Basin in Block RJ-ON-90/1.

The Bhagyam reservoir and facilities will entail a gradual and safe ramp up to reach the currently approved plateau rate of 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). The commissioning of Bhagyam is a key milestone towards achieving the target production rate of 175,000 bopd by end FY 2011-12.

The Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya (MBA) fields have gross recoverable oil reserves and resources of approximately one billion barrels.

The Rajasthan joint venture will contribute more than 20 percent of current domestic crude production when they reach the currently approved plateau rate of 175,000 bopd.

Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC said , "Our joint venture is well placed to further increase production from Rajasthan."

"Beginning of oil production from Bhagyam field is a significant step towards further development of the MBA fields. This underlines ONGC's continued endeavour for the optimal development of the Barmer basin in Rajasthan and determination to create value for the people of Rajasthan as well as India," he added.

Rahul Dhir, Managing Director and Chief Executive, Cairn India said,"The commencement of production from the Bhagyam field is yet another significant milestone for the Rajasthan joint venture.

The commissioning of Bhagyam illustrates how supportive policies are enabling companies to unlock the hydrocarbon potential and create significant value for our nation, he added.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 17 :
IN what promises to be a challenging year for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)  as it sets itself up on a quest of internal renewal to effect systemic changes for its next stage of growth, the 10th ONGC Conclave introspected into maximizing its momentum of growth with the theme "Mantrana" in the picturesque serene temple town of Bhubaneshwar.

The conclave which was held over the course of two days had the current crop of ONGC top management comprising  Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD, Mr A K Hazarika, Director-Onshore, Mr U N Bose, Director, T&FS, Mr S V Rao, Director-Exploration and Mr K S Jamestin, Director-HR.

Also accompanying them in the discussions were Mr D K Sarraf, MD, OVL and other key executives from ONGC and ONGC Group of Companies.

On the veterans' side comprising of former CMDs and Directors there were familiar and renowned stalwarts from ONGC such as Padma Bhushan Col S P Wahi, Mr S K Manglik, Mr B C Bora, Mr L L Bhandari, Mr P K Chandra, Mr R S Sharma, Mr S N Talukdar, Dr A K Malhotra, Mr K K Kapur, Major General S C N. Jata, Dr A K Malhotra, Mr D N.Avasthi, Dr A K Balyan and others.

"This conclave has more than 2000 years of combined managerial prowess" remarked the Chairman. It is this counsel that would help the present board in discharging duties, assured Mr Vasudeva.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 16 :
L&T Infrastructure Finance said on Monday it is looking to raise at least Rs 300 crore tranche 2 bonds issue which opened on January10, 2012 through a public issue of Long Term Infrastructure Bonds with a face value of Rs 1,000 each in the nature of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures .

The company has raised Rs 530 crore through its retail tax saving bond issue and announced the launch of another issue to raise upto Rs 570 crore at a lower coupon rate of 8.70 per cent

The tranche 2 bonds issue offes an option to retain an oversubscription of up to Rs 11,000 million for allotment of additional tranche 2 bonds (including the amount received against the allotment of tranche 1 bonds).

The tranche 2 bond issue will close on February 11, 2012, or earlier, as may be decided by the board of the company.

The minimum subscription is 5 tranche 2 bonds and in multiples of one tranche 2 bond thereafter.

The tranche 2 bonds carry an interest rate of 8.70 percent per annum payable annually or compounded annually. The tranche 2 bonds are proposed to be listed on BSE.

The tranche 2 bonds will carry a minimum lock-in period of 5 years from the date of allotment and can be redeemed after 10 years from the deemed date of allotment.

The tranche 2 bond will be issued in dematerialised form and trading can also happen in demat form post the lock-in period of 5 years from the deemed date of allotment.

Redemption /maturity date shall be 10 years from the deemed date of allotment. In these tranche 2 bonds, the bondholder has 3 exit options.

The first one is at end of 5 years, the second at the end of 7 years and the third after 10 years which is at the time of redemption. The tranche 2 bonds can be held either in the physical or in demats form.

In series 1 of the tranche 2 bonds, the interest rate is 8.70 percent payable annually and in series 2, the interest rate is 8.70 percent compounded annually payable at the end of maturity or buyback. The maturity is 10 years from the deemed date of allotment.

The funds raised through this Issue will be utilized in 'infrastructure lending'.

The tranche 2 bonds will be in the nature of debt and will be eligible for capital allocation.

The tranche 2 bond issue is leadmanaged by ICICI Securities, JM Financial Consultants and Karvy Investor Services .

The issue is co-leadmanaged by SMC Capitals , Bajaj Capital, RR Investors Capital Services and Integrated Enterprises (India) . The Debenture Trustee to the issue is Bank of Maharashtra.

The infrastructure finance major is confident to raise a total of Rs 1,100 crore including the amount raised during the first tranche.

Thsesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

Mr A K Hazarika,Director, ONGC (Onshore) launching the safety campaign Hum Safe.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 16 :
WITH a renewed commitment to safety, Mr. A K Hazarika, Director-Onshore launched the safety campaign 'Hum Safe' for the year 2012.

The monogram of the campaign was unveiled in Chennai on the occasion of 4th Contractor Safety Workshop.

The monogram makes a self- declaration of ones sincerity to adhere to safety practices, making him as well as the fellow beings safe and secure. It mainly stress on the team effort in safety.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Hazarika reminded all that safety should be imbibed and it should never be compelled. He urged for a mindset change in this direction.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

HYDERABAD, JANUARY 13 :
IN a significant step towards ensuring the natural gas energy security for India , GAIL Gas , a wholly- owned subsidiary of GAIL (India) , on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh for setting up of an LNG terminal/FSRU along the state's expansive sea coast.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and Ms J Geeta Reddy, Minister for Major Industries for A.P by Mr J Wason, CEO, GAIL Gas and Mr S. Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary (Investment and Infrastructure), A.P. at the Partnership Summit 2012 organised by the Government of A.P and CII.

The Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU)/ Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal of 3.5 to 5 MMTPA will be set up around Kakinada/Vishakapatnam and is likely to be the first such facility on the east coast of India with an estimated investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

The proposed facility would supply R-LNG, a preferred feedstock for the power, industrial and other sectors to meet the growing needs of the state.

The facility would engender the much- needed fillip for the development of natural gas usage in the state and the required infrastructure for transmission and distribution.

Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Company (APGDC), a joint venture of GAIL Gas and APGIC will execute the project with the support of GAIL and work will be completed by the fiscal year 2013.

The company is in the process of finalizing an upstream partner for project execution and LNG supplies to the proposed terminal.As per the MoU, the A.P. Government will facilitate GAIL Gas/APGDC to obtain necessary permissions, registrations, approvals, clearances, etc. from the concerned departments to set up the project.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD, ONGC along with directors on the board of ONGC and MD OVL presenting the cheque to Mr Jaipal Reddy, the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 10 :
OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Chairman and Managing Director Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, presented a cheque for Rs 3964.35 crore to Mr Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, on Tuesday in New Delhi as the interim dividend of the company.

The amount enriches shareholders as part of ONGC's interim dividend of Rs 5347.20 crore that ONGC had announced post its 226th board meeting held on January 4, 2012.
This dividend payout comes on the back of strong financial performance of the company in the first half of the financial year 2011-12.

The payout works out to Rs 6.25 per equity share of 5 each (on 8,555,490,120 equity shares).

The year has been a remarkable period for ONGC in which the E&P major made a total of 15 notified discoveries of hydrocarbon blocks reinforcing its stature as the flagship oil and gas company of the country.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, ONGC CMD, receiving the Certificate from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 09:
OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been bestowed with "Certificate of Recognition" for adopting Good Corporate Governance practices instituted by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

The Award was handed over by the Minister for Corporate Affairs Dr M. Veerappa Moily at Hyderabad in the presence of Mr E S L Narasimham, Governor, Andhra Pradesh.

This is the second year in a row that ONGC has received this award from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI,JANUARY 04 :
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has made four oil and gas discoveries .

The company struck oil and gas in a well drilled in North Patharia (Patharia 5), Karimganj District PEL, A&AA Basin. Well North Patharia located at a distance of about 7 km from Karimganj town in Karimganj district in the state of Assam, was drilled to a depth of 1402 m.

On testing, the interval 1136 – 1128 m flowed gas at 9400 m3/day with little quantities of water through 3 mm bean.

Another interval 1121 – 1114 m also flowed gas at 4820 m3/day with little quantities of water through 4 mm bean.

The company also struck oil and gas in a well drilled in East Linch (LNBU), Linch PML, Western On-land Basin(New Prospect Discovery).

 Exploratory well LNBU (East Linch) in Linch PML, Western On-land Basin, near Mandhali village of Mehsana district in the state of Gujarat, was drilled to a depth of 2201m. Multiple zones interesting from hydrocarbon point of view were encountered in the well.

The interval 1854 – 1857 m in Mehsana Member, on conventional testing produced oil at 29 m3/day through 5 mm bean.

This is the first time oil and gas has been discovered in Mehsana Member in East Linch area opening a new play for further exploration.
       
In new pool discoveries the company drilled    Well KH 31, Nambar PML block, A&AA Basin . Well KH 31, in Nambar PML block and located at about 6 km from Noajan town in Golaghat district in the state of Assam was drilled to a depth of 2494 m.

On conventional testing, the interval 2288 – 2290 m and 2296 – 2298 m, produced oil and gas at 64 m3/day and 3100 m3/day through 6 mm bean.

This is the first oil discovery in Kopili formation in Khoraghat –Nambar area towards the southern part of Dhansiri valley and will lead to further exploration in the area.
       
The company also drilled Well Viraj 58, Viral PML block, Western Onland Basin. Development well Viraj 58, near Kadi town of Mehsana district in the state of Gujarat was drilled to a depth 2020m.

The well encountered a new pool in Mandhali Member in the interval 1866 – 1869m, which on testing produced oil at 108 m3/day and gas at  about 12,500 m3/day.

This is for the first time oil and  gas has been discovered in commercial quantities in Mandhali Member of Kadi formation in Viraj Field area and is likely to open up new areas for exploration.

With these four discoveries, ONGC has notified 15 discoveries in three quarters of the fiscal 2012. Out of these, 9 are prospects and 6 pools.
       
Meanwhile, the company has declared 125 percent interim dividend.

The record date for the same has  been fixed for  January 9, 2012 and payment of the interim dividend to the shareholders shall start from January 10, 2012.        

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

MUMBAI, JANUARY 03 :
HINDUSTAN Construction Company (HCC) , an engineering and construction major, , has received a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) for an Rs 289 crore contract to construct a bulk water transmission system for Gujarat Water Infrastructure, a Government of Gujarat undertaking.

The work involves construction of a 57 km long water transmission pipeline between Dhanki and Maliya villages under the 'Swarnim Gujarat Saurashtra-Kutch Water Grid Programme (NC-31)'.

This is an EPC contract involving the construction of a 32 km long MS Pipeline of 2150 mm diameter (ID) and 14.5 mm thickness and a 25 km long MS Pipeline of 2000 mm dia (ID) and 13.5mm thickness.

The project scope also includes commissioning and maintenance for 5 years. The project will be completed in 12 months.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 03 :
BRYS Hotels has launched hotel 'BRYS Fort' in Jaisalmer. Rahul Gaur, CMD, BRYS Group and Ms Neetu Bhadla, Director, BRYS Group made this announcement in a formal event organized for this purpose.

BRYS Hotels is a BRYS Group enterprise active in the hospitality sector promoting India as an incredible tourist destination.

Making the announcement, Rahul Gaur, CMD, BRYS Group said, "BRYS Fort is a destination for all travellers looking for royal experience in a majestic ambience. BRYS Hotels will create new benchmarks in the hospitality sector and take BRYS Group to the next level."

Spread in 9 acre land, BRYS Fort has all modern amenities for leisure as well as business travellers. It is a venue for high-class leisure and business travelers from both international and domestic markets, he added.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 02 :
C2-C3 Plant Dahej of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) , won Safety Award in construction sector from National Safety Council of India (NSCI).

Mr K S Jamestin, Director (HR)-I/c BD&JV congratulated the team for winning the award and advised to keep up the spirit in its future endeavours also.

This is the second time, C2-C3 project has bagged safety award from NSCI. On an earlier occasion, the project bagged 'Prashansa Patra' from NSCI in the year 2008. This was the first time ONGC had won Safety Award from NSCI in construction sector. 

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 26 : THE Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, received pay volume discount cheques for Rs 4,45,98,341 from national telecom service providers BSNL and MTNL on December 21, 2011 in New Delhi.

The occasion also provided a platform for the review of the tripartite MoU between ONGC, MTNL and BSNL which is effective till December 29 , 2013.

Mr Sudhir Vasudeva was accompanied by Mr A K Hazarika, Director-Onshore, Mr U N Bose, Director-T&FS and Mr K S Jamestin, Director-HR at the meeting.

In an address to the decision makers from MTNL and BSNL Mr Sudhir Vasudeva zeroed in on the necessity for ensuring "value for money" telecom service from the two service providers.

While valuing this long lasting relationship with both the telecom entities he envisaged a model of service provision where "quality was not compromised upon at any cost to ONGC employees".

"As an organization we have operations that are spread across the country... we need to have constant connectivity with all the work centers and with every ONGCian so that our operations run without a glitch", Mr Sudhir Vasudeva stated with emphasis.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

Mr B C Tripathi, CMD, GAIL (India) along with Mr N K Nagpal, Company Secretary, GAIL (India), receiving Top ICSI National award for Excellence in Corporate Governance from Mr E S L Narasimhan, Governor, Andhra Pradesh in the presence of Dr M Veerappa Moily, Union Minister for Corporate Affairs, GoI.

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 24 :
GAIL (India) received the coveted ICSI National Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance for adopting excellent practices in Corporate Governance.

Mr B C.Tripathi, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL (India) received the award on behalf of GAIL from Mr E S L Narasimhan, Governor, Andhra Pradesh in the presence of Dr M Veerappa Moily, Union Minister for Corporate Affairs and other dignitaries on Friday evening at a function held in Hyderabad organized by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India at 11th ICSI Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance 2011 function.

Mr N K Nagpal, Company Secretary, GAIL (India) is also presented an award for setting best practices in Corporate Governance during the function.

The company has institutionalized several processes and procedures to bring transparency and fairness in its transactions with all its stakeholders.

And aso the company has become an e-enabled company where all processes are conducted through electronic mode which includes e-tendering, e-banking, e-Performance Management System, e-Budgeting System and e-Document Management System.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 23 :
NATIONAL Highways Authority of India (NHAI), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Road
Transport & Highways(MoRTH), will raise Rs 10,000 crore through its first ever public issue of tax- free secured redeemable non- convertible bonds of face value of Rs 1,000 each in the nature of debentures having tax benefits in one or more tranches in the financial year 2011-12.

The issue size under Tranche-1 aggregates to Rs 5,000 crore with an option to retain oversubscription upto Rs 10,000 crore.

These Highway bonds are being issued in two series viz. Tranche 1 Series 1 and Tranche 1 Series 2 having a tenure of 10 years and 15 years respectively.

The coupon rate for the Tranche 1 Series 1 and Tranche 1 Series 2 would be 8.20 percent per annum and 8.30 percent per annum respectively. The interest is payable annually on October 1 of each year.

The Tranche 1 bonds proposed to be issued have been rated as 'CRISIL AAA/Stable' by CRISIL, 'CARE AAA' by CARE and 'FITCH AAA (IND) with stable outlook' by FITCH. The rating of the bonds issued by CRISIL and CARE indicates highest degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations. Such instruments carry lowest credit risk.

The issue shall remain open from December 28, 2011 to January 11, 2012 with an option to close earlier or extend up to a maximum period of 30 days at the discretion of the board of NHAI.

However, the issue shall remain open for a minimum of 3 days. The funds raised through this Issue will be used for part financing of the various projects being implemented by NHAI.
The issue is being leadmanaged by SBI Capital Markets and A K Capital Services.

ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company are also involved for marketing of the issue.

Accoding to Road Transport Minister CP Joshi, "The proceeds of the issue will be utilized to part-fund National Highways projects under different government schemes."

Some money will also be used for viability gap funding for BOT (build-operate-transfer) road contracts, he added.

According to NHAI prospectus , the bonds will have two maturity periods of 10 and 15 years, and would get listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

Citing the provisions of Income Tax rules, the NHAI prospectus says that only the interest earned on the new bonds will be tax-free, not the actual investments.

Moreover, investors will be liable to pay capital gains tax as applicable, it further said.

As on June 30, 2011, the NHAI's total debt (including secured loans) stood at Rs 6,636.21 crore.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

 MUMBAI, DECEMBER 22:
VOLTAS’  Electrical Mechanical Division (EMD) has been conferred with the 'MEP Contractor of the Year'- 2011 award for the second time at MEP Awards 2011. Voltas, a major  player in MEP contracting,was awarded with the honour, namely ‘MEP Contractor of the Year’

The combination of a global economic downturn and the advent of environmental awareness in the construction industry have resulted in the MEP sector playing a pivotal role in the advent of ‘green’ building in the UAE.

The MEP awards were held on  December 14  at The Address Dubai Marina, this year and serve as a premier platform to highlight the excellence in MEP design and installation underpinning those iconic projects contributing to the evolving and rapidly-maturing construction landscape in the UAE.

The award was a tribute to Voltas' outstanding MEP work on the landmark Etihad Towers project in Abu Dhabi. Etihad Towers was also adjudged the 'Overall GCC Project of the Year', with Voltas' electro-mechanical works playing a significant role in the victory.

It was a repeat of Voltas' victory at the MEP Awards 2010, as 'MEP Contractor of the Year' for its work on the Ferrari World project (which also won the 'Overall GCC Project of the Year' honours).

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 21 :
THE  historic Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Keshava Deva Malviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration (KDMIPE) ,  a unit of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation  (ONGC), India  commenced at a function attended by the eminent persons of Dehradun, which included Mrs Margaret Alva, Governor, Uttarakhand and Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman and Managing Director  of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC ).

Mr K S Jamestin, Director (HR), and Mr S V Rao, Director (Exploration) of ONGC were also there besides large number of delegates from India and abroad.

Mrs Margaret Alva, Governor, Uttarakhand while inaugurating the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of KDMIPE at Dehradun paid tributes to the vision of the leaders who laid the foundation of the oil industry and placed on record the nation's gratitude to Mr Malaviya whose determination played a very important role in the creation of ONGC.

She further added, "If ONGC is a Navaratna in the court of the Government of India, the KDMIPE is a jewel in ONGC's Crown."

The celebrations were marked by a two- day conference and exihibition- Explotech 2011 on the theme 'Hydrocarbon Exploration in India: Journey through last 50 years and Vision 50 years hence'. .

The institute was named as Keshava Deva Malviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration (KDMIPE)  in the year 1981 in memory of the first Minister of Petroleum of India, Mr Keshava Deva Malviya.

KDMIPE in Dehradun attempts to meet the research needs of the operating regions of the ONGC in the field of geo-sciences, in particular in the area of hydrocarbon exploitation and the exploration and development of alternative sources of energy.

Besides, it also seeks to carry out a large number of need based essential and research projects directed at testing new methodologies, the upgradation of technology , the constant and consistent development of fresh and fecund ideas relating to its specific field of research, the generation and updating of geo-scientific data and associated computer applications.

The KDMIPE at Dehradun aims at conducting survey and research-based projects in the field of petroleum-based and alternative sources of energy.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 19 :
THE Executive Committee of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC at its meeting formally approved the second "Corporate Sustainability Report" of ONGC.

This report covers the sustainability performance i.e. organizational performance across the economic, environmental and social dimensions for the period April 1 , 2010 to March 31, 2011.

CMD Mr Sudhir Vasudeva being handed over the first copy of FY11 Sustainability Report by Mr A B Chakraborty, Chief CMG. Mr K S Jamestin, Director-HR, Mr U N Bose, Director-T&FS and Mr S V Rao, Director-Exploration are also seen.

Nationally, the Department of Public Enterprises has recently issued "Guidelines on Sustainable Development (SD) for Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs)" which specifies each CPSE to prepare a stand-alone sustainability report or include a separate chapter in its Annual Report on its implementation of Sustainable Development projects/ activities.

The oil and gas sector, in particular, has for years been one of the leading sectors in sustainability reporting. The leading international oil and gas majors such as BP, Shell, Statoil, and Chevron have been consistently bringing out comprehensive sustainability reports and are considered trendsetters in the reporting space.  

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 15 :
AT a time when brokerage business in India is facing a double whammy of reducing volumes and lower margins, Barings Private Equity funded JRG Securities has been strengthening its senior management team.

The latest to join the team has been Mr Harjit Singh Sidhu, who has joined as the Chief Operating Officer (COO)of the company.

Prior to joining JRG Securities, Mr Sidhu was the Executive Director at Delhi Stock Exchange. Earlier,he was designated as the Managing Director of the Ludhiana Stock Exchange, where he was employed for a decade.

Commenting on this appointment, Mr Anand Tandon, CEO said ,“A key differentiator for companies operating in financial markets is the confidence that the clients and regulators have in their business. With Mr Sidhu joining our team, we are now in a position to engage proactively with regulators and ensure that we meet and exceed the highest levels of compliance that is expected of us."

"This will play a key role in building even greater confidence among our clients in our ability and willingness to stay the course in building and growing our businesses.”
Another person who recently joined JRG has been Mr. S Gopichand. Gopi was earlier head of equities business in Karvy, a company he was part of for well over a decade. He brings his considerable experience and expertise in stock picking as well as in managing a retail business to grow the business for JRG Securities.

 Earlier, Dr Manohar joined JRG at Hyderabad as president, Group HR and Strategy. He brings in over 30 years of experience in human resource management.

Dr. Manohar is probably among the most experienced HR professionals in the country. A large part of his career was spent as part of the management team that built up a financial services company from an early stage to being among the market leaders.

Anand said, “While we wait for markets to improve, we had two choices – we could hunker down and wait for the storm to blow over, or alternately, we could use this opportunity to strengthen our sinews and keep ourselves ready for the next opportunity. With the support of our shareholders, we have decided to follow the latter approach. We now have among the best senior management teams in the business for our size. We have also spent considerable money and effort in building up out internal systems and processes.  We have taken a few new business initiatives which will propel us into areas that are higher margin. While these are early days, we are confident that we are on the right track.

The current business environment is tough, but dwelling on it is like using a rocking chair – it may result in activity but no progress. We continue to work towards building up our company despite the challenges of the market”

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau
.

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 15 : SECURITY Awareness Week 2011 started at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) with full enthusiasm and with a gathering of senior executives, officers and staff of ONGC in New Delhi.

The corporate event was chaired by Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD, ONGC and was also attended by Mr B C Nayak as special guest on this occasion. Mr B C Naik, former ED, Chief Security, ONGC was the chief guest on the occasion and steered the security department of ONGC earlier.

Mr. A K Hazarika, Director(Onshore), Mr. U N Bose, Director (T&FS), Mr S V Rao Director(Exploration), Mr K S Jamestin, Director (HR), Mr. Sanjeeva Kumar, CVO , Mr. S N Singh, ED-Chief Security, Mrs. Jatinder Peters, GGM-CCA and many senior executives were present at the inaugural function.

The security being the core issue, Mr Vasudeva touched the areas for continuous awareness in today's context. In changing paradigms, he mentioned specifically about offshore security, information security and tendering process.

He said that observing the security awareness is a standard practice but there is need to internalize the security procedures in every field of the organization.

 
Thesynergyonline Communications Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 14 :
RAKESH Malhotra-promoted SAR Group, which owns budget mobile phone maker Wynn Telecom and G-fone, has acquired a majority stake of 51 percent in a joint venture with the Indian subsidiary of Median Group, Meridian Mobiles that sells Fly handsets in India.
 
Mr Prem Kumar will continue his regime as Managing Director and Mr Navneet Kapoor, co-founder SAR Group would be the Chairman of Fly Mobiles.

The acquisition would open entry into the SAARC region including India. SAR Group is committed to making long term investments in this association.
 
On the acquisition Mr Malhotra said, “SAR Group has a sizeable commitment to this business vertical through its existing portfolio in Wynn Telecom; Wynncom has reached a run rate to take it to Rs. 250 crore in 2012."

"With the acquisition of majority stake in Fly mobiles, SAR Group will add approximately a similar size to its telecom portfolio to emerge as one of the top 5 companies in the Indian handset market. This would be the starting base for SAR group consolidate and build in this industry,” he added.
 
He further said, “We are excited about our investment in Fly; Fly have long standing investments in R&D in China and Korea; by synergizing our product development and R& D capabilities we shall have a definitive competitive advantage in the market.”
 
“Joining forces with SAR will enable our common vision of providing the state of art products to the consumers.  We will combine our strengths to deliver an ecosystem with incomparable reach and scale.” said Prem Kumar, CEO, FLY Mobiles .

 This JV is a part of our strategy of broadening and deepening our presence in the competitive market. The future of Mobile handset industry will continue to be driven by innovation, but it will also be about ensuring that the consumers have a magnificent experience with the device and unparallel service support. Our respective strengths are a natural fit and will help us address the fast evolving needs of today’s consumers," he added.
 
On the need of the hour for the Indian mobile handset industry, Mr Malhotra said, “The handset industry in India requires immense investment in product innovation, software, VAS, supply chain development and quality control. It is imperative that the fragmented nature of this industry in India, changes through consolidation in synergies in supply chain, R&D and distribution build-up.”
 
In June 2011, SAR divested 74 percentty in Luminous Power Electronics; the makers of Luminous Inverters, Batteries and other home appliances. SAR, in its fold today has Wynn Telecom Ltd (Wynn Phones); World Ace Service (Independent Service Providers for GSM Handsets) Luminous Water Technologies (operating in end to end water purification processes for domestic and large institutional usage); Luminous Mobile Accessories (Mobile Chargers, Batteries and other devices). Mr Malhotra has also set up a Venture Capital / Private Equity fund.
 
Both the companies are expected to significantly benefit through this new joint venture. The two companies make mobiles phones in the low-to-mid range to compete with other homegrown brands that have much larger market share in the Rs 33,000-crore Indian handset market.
 

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

The former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam awarding the Fellowship plaque of CMD Sudhir Vasudeva to Mr  K S Jamestin, Director-HR, ONGC.

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12 :
THE Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ( ONGC)  Mr  Sudhir Vasudeva, was conferred the Honorary Centre for Excellence in Project Management - Project Management Associate(CEPM-PMA) Fellowship in the 19th Global Symposium on Project Management, Festival of Thinkers and Doers, which was held at New Delhi.

On account of the CMD being abroad at the World Petroleum Congress at Qatar , Mr K S Jamestin, Director-HR received the Fellowship on his behalf at

the convention.

Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India, who was the chief guest on this occasion, handed over the fellowship plaques to the recipients.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11 :
GAIL (India) has signed a Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) for supply of LNG over 20 years with Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC, a subsidiary of Cheniere Energy Partners, L P, USA for supply of 3.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG.

GAIL team led by Mr. B C Tripathi, Chairman and Managing Director accompanied by Mr Prabhat Singh, Director (Marketing), Mr S L Raina, Director (HR), Mr S Venkatraman, Director (BD) and Mr Arun Singhal, CVO (in New Delhi) and the team from Cheniere led by Mr Charif Souki, Chairman and CEO (in Houston) after the signing of SPA.

The LNG would be supplied from train four of the Sabine Pass LNG receiving terminal located on the Sabine Pass Channel in western Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The Sabine Pass LNG terminal project is being developed by Sabine Liquefaction and would include up to four liquefaction trains capable of producing up to 18 mtpa of LNG.

The project is being developed in phases with each LNG train commencing operations approximately six to nine months after the previous train. Sabine Liquefaction has recently announced that it has reached its targeted annual contract quantity of 7 mtpa for the first phase and is advancing towards making a final investment decision for the development and construction of the first two liquefaction trains.

The SPA with GAIL represents the first contract for the second phase of the project, which will also include two liquefaction trains with combined production capacity of 9.0 mtpa.

Under the SPA, GAIL will pay Sabine Liquefaction as per contractual provisions on a Henry Hub basis after transfer of custody on FOB.

LNG will be loaded onto GAIL's vessels. The SPA has a term of 20 years commencing upon the date of first commercial delivery, and an extension option of up to ten years.

LNG deliveries are expected to occur upon commencement of operations of train four in 2017. However, bridging supplies of LNG will start from train two in the year 2016.

The SPA is subject to certain conditions precedent, including but not limited to Sabine Liquefaction receiving regulatory approvals, securing necessary financing arrangements and making a final investment decision to construct the second phase of the liquefaction project.

Mr B C Tripathi, Chairman & Managing Director, GAIL (India) , said on the development , "The SPA with Cheniere will help GAIL to ensure long- term gas supply for the growing demand in the Indian market."

"This will be in addition to other initiatives being undertaken by GAIL which includes building captive LNG facilities in India and augmenting its transmission capacity from 175 MMSCMD to over 300 MMSCMD over the next two years," he added.

"GAIL has already established an office in Houston and acquired shale gas assets in Carrizo's Eagle Ford Shale acreage and is further looking for shale gas assets in the US",
Mr Tripathi said.

"GAIL will join BG and Gas Natural Fenosa as the next foundation customer for our Sabine Pass liquefaction project. GAIL is India's leading natural gas company and its largest shareholder is the Government of India," said Charif Souki, Chairman and CEO.

"We are building a strong portfolio of customers, consisting of energy companies engaged in the natural gas, LNG and power markets with operations spanning the globe. We continue to hold advanced discussions with additional global LNG buyers and expect to complete commercial discussions for the remaining capacity of the second phase of the project in the coming weeks," added Mr Charif Souki.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 07 : THE ONGC-made India Pavilion drew appreciation from global audience at the 20th World Petroleum Congress (WPC) held from December 4 to 8, 2011 in Qatar-capital Doha. Designed and erected on the theme 'Ahead with India: Partnership in Knowledge and Investment', the pavilion showcases the strengths of the Indian petroleum industry to the global audience attending the triennial World Petroleum Congress and Exhibition.

The Indian Petroleum Minister Mr Jaipal Reddy inaugurated the India Pavilion at Doha along with Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, ONGC CMD, Mr G C Chaturvedi, Petroleum Secretary and Ms. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, Indian Ambassador in Qatar

The inauguration of the India pavilion was lit up with a brief cultural programme, opening with Vande Mataram with an Indian traditional dance rendition, followed by a Jaya Ho remix. The lively inauguration attracted a large number of visitors to the India pavilion who registered their appreciations for the Pavilion.

After inaugurating the Indian Pavilion, the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Mr.Jaipal Reddy also chaired a brief press conference in the India Pavilion where he addressed senior petroleum journalists of the Middle East including Reuters, Gulf Times and CNBC. The Qatar Oil Minister also joined the press conference.

The India's Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas praised the India Pavilion, designed and erected by the Corporate Communications team of ONGC at a short notice. The pavilion, with an overall Indian thematic design, used state-of-art video monitors to present the strengths of the public enterprises in Indian petroleum industry, all in a movie format.

The pavilion stood out among the other country pavilions like Angola, China, Nigeria as well as the corporate pavilions of the global oil majors like BP, Saudi Aramco, Qatar Petroleum, RasGas, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, CNPC and others.
  

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 06 : GAIL (India) has tied up a term loan of US $ 100 million from Bank of Tokyo - Mitsubishi UFJ. The loan agreement was signed here between Mr P K Jain, Director (Finance), GAIL (India) and Mr Naoki Isetani, General Manager, Bank of Tokyo on Monday.

The term of the loan is 5 years. This term loan agreement comes close on the heels of an earlier term loan of US $ 150 million taken by GAIL from Bank of Tokyo in June 2011.

The loan agreement signed now is first in the series of three tie-ups that GAIL plans to enter into, for a total ECB of US $ 300 million.

The loan funds would be utilised to partly fund the ongoing expansion/new projects of GAIL of around US $ 9 billion.

The company is presently implementing projects to lay 5,500 km pipelines at an estimated cost of Rs 25,000 crore (approx. US$ 5 billion).

When completed, the capacity of GAIL pipelines would increase to over 300 MMSMD from the present 175 MMSCMD.

The company is also doubling the petrochemical capacity of its plant at Pata from 446,000 TPA at present to 900,000 TPA by 2014.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 05 : IN line with the directive of the Ministry of Petroleum which mandates regular Security Awareness programmes to be held in all the PSUs especially the ones operating in the energy sector, Security Sensitisation Programme for Executives of oil PSUs was held in New Delhi and was chaired by Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD.

Mr B C Nayak, Special Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB) was also present .

Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD, highlighted the fact that the definition and scope of security is constantly evolving in face of the ever mutating law and order situation of the current times.

Mr Vasudeva, in his address, also called for strong vigilance along the coastal areas so that the offshore installations are well protected against any attempted acts of sabotage by miscreants.

 Besides senior executives of ONGC, key representatives from GAIL and IOC also attended this programme.

An engaging and inquisitive open session, which was marked by a high degree of audience participation, followed the presentations. Questions and queries related to the various critical security areas were discussed at this session.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

 
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 02 :
GAIL (India) , India's natural gas major, has received top honours as the "World's No. 1 company in Downstream Operation" for this year at the 2011 Platts Global Energy Awards held in New York on December 01, 2011. 
 
The company has been recognized for achieving year-on-year growth, ensuring uninterrupted availability of gas to customers, expanding pipeline infrastructure and making overall contributions to India's growth. It is understood that Platts' independent panel of judges commended GAIL's imaginative plans to tap urban landfills as a new source of natural gas and to conduct a pilot program in partnership with the municipality of Delhi to extract landfill gas.  They noted that this project, if successful, could be replicated across India.
 
GAIL is the only company from Asia to win Platts Global Energy Award this year. 21 companies and individuals from seven countries have been given Platts Global Energy Awards.

The Platts Global Energy Awards, now in its 13th year, recognises exemplary corporate and individual achievement, innovation and leadership, and low-carbon energy sustainability initiatives.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI,DECEMBER 02 :
WHILE noting two impressive discoveries (Exploratory Well B-127E-1 in Panna Formation to the east of B-127 area and North Kadi-472 (NKXV) in the Mandhali member of Kadi formation), ONGC board at its 225th meeting on December 01, 2011, also approved the integrated development of B-127 cluster along with the Additional Development of B-55 field.

B-127 cluster comprises three marginal fields namely; B-127, B-157 and B-59. The cluster is located east of Mumbai High with significant hydrocarbon accumulations in multilayered reservoirs within Bassein and Panna formations.

It has total inplace hydrocarbon of 24.6 mtoe (million tonne oil and oil equivalent gas) of which about 15.35 mtoe in major pools is considered for current development.

B-55 field discovered in 1978 is further north-east of Mumbai high and B-127. This field has been on production since November 1999, and currently producing about 2.05 mmscmd (million standard cubic meter per day) from 9 wells. However, Heera and Mahim formation of B-55 are yet to be developed.

The exploratory well B-55-5 in this new area has produced gas from Mukta formation on testing; thus leading to the requirement of its further development.

The proposal that the board cleared on December 01 for an Integrated Development of B-127 cluster with additional development of B-55 field at an estimated cost of Rs 2,059.63 crore. The production from the cluster is scheduled to commence from May, 2014.

The B-127 cluster development envisages cumulative production of 1.836 mmt (million tonne) oil and 2.093 bcm (billion cubic meter) gas over 10 years and the additional development of B-55 envisages production of 0.155 mmt oil and 2.583 bcm gas over 13 years.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 01 :
OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at its 225th board meeting on Thursday declared two new discoveries which have been notified to DGH.

The well B-127E-1 was taken up for drilling to explore the potential of sands within Panna formation to the east of B-127 area and the well was drilled down to 2735m. Hydrocarbons shows were encountered during drilling of Panna section in various intervals.

Based on geological information and log characteristics a total of five interesting intervals have been identified for conventional testing in this well. The first object in the interval 2651.5-2648.5m and 2638.5-2637m in Panna Formation has flowed Oil @ 1076 bopd and Gas @ 1,88,704 m3/day through ½" choke.

The testing result of the well has opened up the eastern part of B-127 area for further exploration and delineation. Positive testing results of the other objects would also help in incremental value creation for the planned B-127 - B-55 cluster.

The company made another strike in North Kadi area in Mehsana district of Gujarat. The well N.Kadi-472 (NKXV) was drilled as exploratory well to explore the hydrocarbon potential of Kalol, Kadi and Linch Formations. The well N.Kadi-472 was drilled to a depth of 2205m.

Based on geological information and log characteristics a total of six interesting intervals were identified for conventional testing. Object-I in the interval 1277-1279m in Mandhali Member of Kadi Formation has produced Oil @ 174 bopd thru 6mm bean.

The well N. Kadi-472 has produced oil for the first time from MP-IV unit of Mandhali member in N. Kadi area. The new pool discovery is likely to open up new areas for exploration and will also contribute for reserve growth and production. This takes the total number of discoveries to 11 in FY'12.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 01 :
PUNE-BASED multi brand lifestyle retail stores chain Bonsaii a retail brand of Suyash Mart is planning to raise private equity to fund its aggressive growth plans. The chain has appointed Delhi-based Dynamic Orbits for fund syndication.

Currently Bonsaii, specializing in the kids segment, owns and operates its 2 stores in Pune and Nagpur and opening its 3rd store in Hyderabad by mid-December 2011. Bonsaii is focused on tire II cities and planning to grow with owned and franchise stores and plans to raise US$ 8-10 million to fund its future growth plans.

Mr Devang Kabra, CEO of Suyash Mart stated, "Unlike most of its competitors, Bonsaii provides complete range of products for both infants as well as kids ages between 0 – 14 years, the major categories of goods available in store includes toys, infant accessories, stationery, kids jewellery, kids accessories, cycles, ride-ons, footwear and apparels" and generates major business from non – apparels.

Mr B L Bajaj, Managing Director- Dynamic Orbits, advising the transaction, said "Multi-brand retail is interesting investment as afterliberalization of FDI regime, we may see major activity in branded retail space with many overseas players entering India in coming years and collaborating with existing players".

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 01 :
THE Dow Chemical Company and Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) on Wednesday officially formed Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), a joint venture between the two companies.

Also were Sadara’s board of directors and its senior officers.

The Sadara board comprises 8 members, with Abdullatif A. Al-Othman, senior vice president, Engineering and Project Management, Saudi Aramco as Board Chairman and James D McIlvenny, Dow senior vice president, as the deputy chairman.

Naser M. Al-Abdulkareem, Commercial Director for Vela International, has been named  vice pPresident, Business & Services; Mohammed T. Al-Sellemi, Director of Human Resources Services Department, Saudi Aramco , has been named vice president for Industrial Relations.

“Today’s announcements mark another exciting and significant step forward for Sadara as it fulfills its commitment to building and operating a world scale, fully integrated chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City,” said Andrew Liveris, Dow’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Saudi Aramco president and Chief Executive Officer Khalid Al-Falih said: “Sadara is poised to become a significant contributor for Saudi Aramco’s transformational downstream growth strategy. "

Sadara is expected to deliver annual revenues of approximately $10 billion within a few years of operation. The JV and related investments are expected to generate thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities. For the JV alone, by the end of 2011, Dow and Saudi Aramco are aiming to recruit hundreds of Saudi nationals for the first batch of technical trainees for competitive and unique manufacturing and engineering training programs.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 30 :
IN keeping with Rolta's focus on providing enterprise-level solutions that are built around Rolta's intellectual property, Rolta® International said on Tuesday that it has added a new set of solutions and services to its portfolio of offerings that integrates the Rolta OneView™ Operational Analytics suite with software from P2 Energy Solutions (P2).

Based in Denver, P2 provides software to more than 1,000 organizations in upstream and mid-stream oil and gas sectors as well as the alternative energy sector.

P2 Solutions include financial and accounting management software, geospatial data, land asset management tools and well lifecycle management, and lend themselves well to leverage the value offered by Rolta's portfolio, thereby enhancing the return on customers' investments in these technologies.

"This new capability around P2 supports Rolta's plan for the energy sector. It deepens our capabilities within the oil and gas market and is very complementary to our current solutions for this market," said John Senatore, executive vice president, Rolta.

Speaking on the occasion, Ben Eazzetta, president of Rolta International added, "Rolta has a significant track record in the oil and gas sector across the globe. We now look forward to leveraging our new capabilities around P2 in upstream and midstream oil and gas sectors in all of our key geographic markets."

"We believe that the combination of P2 capabilities with the operational analytics capabilities of OneView will offer unprecedented opportunities to owner-operators to streamline operations, reduce cost and mitigate risk," he added.

The compasny also said that oil and gas industry veteran, Jan Hackett, has joined Rolta to manage Rolta's P2 practice.

These announcements coincide with "Ascend 2011", P2's annual user group meeting which is being held in San Antonio up to December 2 , 2011.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 28 : THE 3rd India Symposium of the The Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) was held in Mumbai. The theme this year was "Innovative Petrophysical Solutions for Management of Brown Fields" for which experts from all parts of the world came together.

Addressing the inaugural session of the conference Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) complimented SPWLA-India on this initiative to hold the symposium on a relevant theme.

Brown fields are matured fields that have peaked production and their management assumes criticality.

Emphasizing on the challenges being faced across the Industry Mr Vasudeva said that extracting the last drop of hydrocarbon from brown fields is a key challenge and focus area for all oil companies as increased recovery factor translates into improved production.

Talking about the concerns of the industry, Mr Vasudeva said that both finding future reserves and producing from existing fields have unique nuances.

Mr Vasudeva further said that brown fields represent the most significant challenge as well as opportunity for future energy security as it is possible to secure higher levels of recovery with greater degree of confidence by giving inputs in these fields which are contributing around 65-75 percent of world's production.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 24 :
HINDUSTAN Construction Company (HCC) in joint venture with DSD Brouckenbau GmbH, Germany and VNR Infrastructures has received Rs 987 crore order from Northeast Frontier Railway to construct the superstructure of Bogibeel Rail-cum-road Bridge over river Brahmaputra near Dibrugarh, Assam in India. HCC share in this order is 51 percent, DSD Brouckenbau GmbH 20 percent and VNR Infrastructures  29 percent..

Bogibeel Rail-cum-road Bridge will be a double decked bridge having two railway tracks on the lower deck and a 3 lane road on the upper deck.

The road level will be 10.5 meters above the railway line. The total length of the bridge will be 4.315 kms. This will be the fourth largest bridge in the country and the longest bridge over the mighty Brahmaputra River.

Mr Arun Karmabelkar, president and wholetime director, HCC said, “ This is one of the modern bridge and HCC along with its joint venture partners aims at building a world class infrastructure for the Indian Railways. The work on this superstructure will be completed in 48 months.”

HCC’s experience in the roads and transport sector spans over construction of some of the best infrastructure for mass rapid transport systems, railways, roads, bridges and highways.

The company has built nearly 300 road and rail bridges and is building 84 km of the historical Mughal Road at a height of 3,494 meters above sea level through the Pir Panjal Mountains in Himalayas.

The company has built over 34 bridges in Iraq and 43 road bridges in Nepal.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 23 : THE Chairman and Managing Ditrector of Oil and Natural gas Corporation (ONGC) Mr. Sudhir Vasudeva, was the guest of honour and chief panelist at the CEOs' conclave at the 2011 edition of Shale Gas and Subsea India Conference and Exhibition which was held at the Imperial Hotel in New Delhi.

Mr T N R Rao, former Secretary, MoP&NG was the Conference Chairman. Mr G C Chaturvedi, Secretary, MoP&NG, GoI who also joined the event was the chief guest on the occasion.

Corroborating the vast potential of Shale, Mr Vasudeva drew the attention of the house to the US where the discoveries and production of Shale gas have been prolific to the extent of contributing 23 percent of the overall gas production of the country.

He also highlighted, in this regard, ONGC's efforts where the first well was drilled in the Damodar Valley with the help of Schlumberger.

The Shale Gas and Subsea India 2011 Conference and Exhibition was organized by DEW Journal, a leading technical journal in the arena of upstream business that catalogues the latest developments in the world of exploration and drilling.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 22 : OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been selected the winner of "Golden Peacock Global Award for Sustainability" for the year 2011 in the Global Category.

The Golden Peacock Global Award for Sustainability is an annual award administered by the Golden Peacock Awards Secretariat as part of the activities of The Institute of Directors, New Delhi.

The award Scheme for Sustainability has been instituted to encourage initiatives in promoting sustainable development.

The award assessment is based on a comprehensive application comprised of self appraisal report cum self-assessment questionnaire.

ONGC has done work in the emerging corporate work arenas of sustainability including carbon management.

The company's noteworthy achievement since 2009-10 has been the externally assured public disclosure of our sustainability performance and practices according to globally best recognized reporting framework.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 17 : THE Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, reviewed the performance in his maiden visit to the Ankleshwar Asset since assuming the position of CMD.

The review session saw presence of ONGC board members Mr A K Hazarika, Director-Onshore, Mr U N Bose, Director-T&FS and Mr K S Jamestin, Director-HR.

A detailed presentation on the performance of the Asset since the last review was made before the CMD.

Various activities and issues of Asset were deliberated in detail in the review. The status of ongoing major projects/schemes of the Asset were also discussed in detail for early implementation in fields.

Mr Vasudeva and board of directors also took keen interest on vital issues such as induction of new technology- HIWAY-Frac, implementation of full field WAG scheme, Modular ETP for increasing crude oil and gas production, challenges faced in exploratory and development drilling, water injection constraint for maintaining /enhancing reservoir pressure and so on.

On horizontal /directional drilling of wells Mr Vasudeva emphasized on making continuous efforts and draw insights from lesson learnt in the past.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 17 :
DOMINO’S  Pizza ,  the Pizza delivery expert and market leader in organized pizza home delivery segment , crossed 400 store milestone in India (in the second quarter), with visit of Mr Patrick Doyle,president and CEO Domino’s Pizza Inc, to mark the milestone.

 Domino’s Pizza India has witnessed  growth in food service category, with the addition of over 100 stores in just 15 months since Mr Patrick’s last visit to India.
 
Commenting on the remarkable performance in India Mr. Patrick Doyle, president and CEO Domino’s Pizza Inc said, “The India operations are doing very well!   My most recent visit to India was last year to celebrate the 300th store launch and it makes me immensely happy to come to India again to mark the crossing of the 400th store milestone in just over 15th months.”

“Currently, there are 411 Domino’s stores in India and plans are afoot to expand the brand’s footprint further into the Indian heartland. If all goes as per our plan to add atleast 80 stores annually, we should be opening our 500th Domino’s Pizza store sometime next year.” added Mr Shyam S Bhartia , Chairman & Mr Hari S Bhartia , Co- Chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks .

Mr Ajay Kaul, CEO Jubilant FoodWorks added “Our success stems from not merely growing the number of stores but more importantly on focusing on our customers.  Our growth is fuelled by customer’s love for our brand and our products. Domino’s is the market leader in Pizza category in Indian Food service industry and we intend to continue our efforts in making  our innovative products, reach every corner of the country and make the brand more appealing in terms of product and service.  With the addition of 100 stores in last 15-16 months, we are now amongst top 5 globally in the Domino’s network in terms of absolute number of stores.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, India,NOVEMBER 15 : EXXONMOBIL'S Mobil SHC-branded synthetic gear oil is now being used to protect more than 30,000 wind turbine gearboxes worldwide demonstrating how its lubricants are helping the wind energy industry become more cost competitive worldwide. Participating at the China Wind Power Exhibition, in Beijing, ExxonMobil showcased its wide range of synthetic lubricants for the Wind sector, primarily focusing on Mobilgear SHC XMP 320, product especially designed for the wind space .

"China Wind Power Exhibition is the right platform to highlight the Mobil SHC-branded synthetic gear oil, especially designed for the wind space. Though electricity generated from wind starts from a small base relative to conventional sources, however, we expect wind to grow 12 percent a year through 2030," said Mike Hawkins, Global Brand Manager for ExxonMobil Lubricants & Petroleum Specialties Company. "Our wind lubricant technology helps support this growing industry by reducing maintenance requirements and ultimately lowering costs."

"In an industry that relies on the performance of turbines, which may stand up to 400 feet high in the air, often in remote environments, there is no such thing as a simple oil change or routine maintenance," said Hawkins.

"Mobil SHC branded lubricants are formulated to help reduce maintenance costs, extend oil drain intervals and deliver exceptional protection for key components, even under the extreme weather and load conditions that wind turbines face every day," Hawkins added.

The company offers a wide range of lubricants that are formulated to deliver protection for all parts of a wind turbine, including greases to lubricate bearings and hydraulic oils that help pitch rotor blades.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 14 : 9th Strategy Meet of ONGC ‘ Abhyuday’ was held from November 11-12, 2011 at  Anand (Gujarat).

Top decision-makers from the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, CMD, ONGC, Directors on the bard of ONGC and other goup companies viz. OVL and MRPL, and executive directors
 representing ONGC corporate functions assembled at the venue for an indepth introspection and discussions to chart out a future course for the company.

Mr G C Chaturvedi ,Secretary (MOP&NG) remarked that ONGC should focus extensively on internal capacity building and requisite expertise ramp-up to meet the goal it has set for itself in the Perspective Planning 2030.

 While appreciating ONGC's sustained strong performance in the field of exploration, he  also drove home the point that ONGC needed to work within set deadlines for registering more efficiency and productivity from its operations as the level of competition has increased manifold.

Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD, ONGC said,”The strategy meet  been named 'Abhyuday': meaning a new dawn. This day will also mark the beginning of positive changes in ONGC that would redefine its growth trajectory with the necessary strategic changes and key business decisions".

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 09 : OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) received Greentech Environment Award 2011 in Corporate Category under Petroleum Sector for outstanding achievement on sustained environmental excellence at 12th Annual Greentech Environment & CSR Conference held at Srinagar.

ONGC accords top priority to HSE and this is reflected by the number of initiatives undertaken by Corporate HSE under the leadership of Mr Anoop Kumar, ED-Chief HSE, and the guidance of Mr A K Hazarika, Director-Onshore.

The award reflects the various initiatives taken by ONGC on HSE including phased Ringal plantation in Himalayas complimenting Prime Minister's National Action Plan on Climate Change, massive mangrove plantation project in Gandhar and a sound Environment Management Plan (EMP) to mitigate adverse impacts of E&P activities on environment.

On behalf of Corporate HSE, the award was received by Corporate HSE team led by Mr Narain Lal, GM-Head Environment from Mr. R H Khwaja, Secretary, Tourism, Govt of India in presence of Mr Nawang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Tourism & Culture, Govt of J&K who was the chief guest at the Awards function.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau  

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 09 :
THE 18th Onshore Security Coordination Committee (OSCC) Meeting of ONGC was held at Kolkata on November 5, 2011.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. J C Chattopadhyay, IPS, A D G Police (Adm.), West Bengal.  Mr S N Singh, IPS, ED-Security, ONGC, Mr. D P Sahasrabudhe, ED-Basin Manager, Mr J N Chowdhury, IPS, Additional Director SIB, SPs and DMs of various districts of West Bengal and senior officials from ONGC were also present on the occasion.

Mr S N Singh, IPS, ED-Security, ONGC and convener of OSCC meeting said that onshore security coordination committee meeting provides opportunity to discuss various aspects of security regarding ONGC operations in the State.

He informed that oil and gas has been identified as one of the key sectors regarding security and all oil companies are expected to implement security plan for their installations in a time bound manner.

Mr J C Chattopadhyay, IPS, ADG Police (Adm.), West Bengal pointed that the purpose of such meetings is to familiarise the district administration regarding the working of ONGC and provide an interface.

He asked the SPs of the various districts of West Bengal to appreciate the difficulties faced by ONGC in operations and help the organisation in conducting its activities smoothly. He further added that there is always a threat that disruptive forces would try to cripple the economy by targeting the energy security of India.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau  

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 08 : $3.3 billion US food giant McCormick and company's chairman, president and CEO Alan Wilson on his visit post signing joint venture in India with Kohinoor foods, while detailing goals to broaden business from rice to food said, "Our mission is not only to grow Kohinoor's basmati rice business but also to expand it further in a big way through other food categories that deliver flavour like cooking ingredients and convenience food'.

 Dwelling at length on India's importance Mr Wilson, said, "India is a top priority market for McCormick and is in line with our emerging market growth strategy. We foresee India to be a significant business for McCormick in 10 years and plan to invest in this fast growing market."
 
"The Indian packaged food industry is estimated to be $ 10 billion and is growing along with families' disposable income, making an attractive proposition for participation by McCormick" he further added
 
 McCormick recently formed a joint venture with Kohinoor Foods, a leading basmati rice brand in India. This venture builds upon McCormick investments in India and demonstrates the company's continued commitment to growth and investment in India. 
 
Kohinoor is an ideal fit within McCormick's portfolio because of its flavorful products, excellent brand equity and pan-Indian distribution infrastructure, he added.
 
McCormick expects sales revenue of approximately $ 85 million in its first year of operation.
 
Satish Rao, Managing Director of the venture in India said, "This is an exciting strategic initiative and enables McCormick to expand its flavor business into India. Key growth drivers for this business are distribution expansion, product innovation and brand building investment."
 
McCormick is also evaluating the launch of products from its global portfolio of flavor brands into India. Market research in this area is underway. McCormick plans to bring in the latest food technologies and global best practices to serve Indian consumers through their favorite Kohinoor brands.
 
 McCormick expects to retain and grow all the current assets of Kohinoor foods in India and distribute Kohinoor products through its exclusive agreement with Kohinoor Foods Ltd to source and manufacture Basmati rice through their existing facilities.
 
Mr Wilson expects McCormick to be a leading player in the Indian food industry by enabling cooks to prepare better tasting food helped by McCormick's passion for flavour.
 
Mr Wilson said, "McCormick has been participating in the Indian economy for more than 100 years beginning with sourcing of pepper and other flavor ingredients from India for international markets. So far McCormick has invested more than $150 million in India.

"McCormick expects India to be a major contributor to its global talent pool. Our businesses in India are expected to be important contributors to our future success," he added.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI,NOVEMBER 08 :
DHANUKA Agritech , an agrochemical formulation major, has registered a landmark growth of 28.86 percent increase in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 at Rs. 20.97 crore as against Rs 16.27 crore for the same period last year.

The firm's consolidated revenue for the September quarter of 2011 stood at Rs 194.07 crore as against Rs. 169.72 crore for the same quarter last year, up 14.35 percent.

The higher revenue growth is attributed to new capacity expansion and increased market penetration with addition of 884 dealer/distributors for the company's products.

On a sequential basis also, the company registered growth in its quarter-on-quarter consolidated net profit of 107.99 percent over profit figures of the preceding quarter that stood at Rs 10.08 crore in the April-June quarter (Q1 FY11-12).

For the six months period ending September 30, 2011, the company recorded net profit of Rs. 31.05 crore as against Rs 25.02 crore in the corresponding period last year, a growth of 24.07 percent. Net revenue of the company for the six months ended Sept. 30, 2011 stood at Rs 288.92 crore compared to Rs 250.75 crore in the same period in previous fiscal, up by 15.22 percent.

According to Mr M K Dhanuka, Managing Director of Dhanuka Agritech , "Dhanuka has recorded one of its highest quarterly profits and this is backed up by strong revenues, gross profits and EBITDA. The results this quarter demonstrate the strength of our company and are a reflection of strong fundamentals of our business."

"We are well positioned to pursue our strong growth potential and are moving forward with our expansion plans, new product introductions and setting up base in overseas markets to further enhance shareholder value", he added.

Maintaining a consistent record of high growth over the years, for the financial year ended on March 31, 2011, Dhanuka recorded net revenue at Rs.48,619.18 lakh compared to Rs.40752.67 lakh in the same period in previous fiscal, up by 19.30 percent.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 07: AS part of strategy to make Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ( ONGC)  the leading knowledge- driven energy company of the world- Gyanodyan Programme was launched by the CMD ONGC, Mr Sudhir Vasudeva in Mumbai.

The launch was marked by the presence of senior executives from ONGC and Infosys. which is a  leader in knowledge management has  conceptualized and evolved the Gyanodyan Programme for ONGC.

Addressing the ONGCians on this occasion, Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD said that Gyanodyan must be effectively utilized for accreting and monetizing reserves, enhancing the production of the company.

Mr Vasudeva also laid stress on the need for this project stating that it will help in avoiding reinventing the wheel and reduces the chances of failure of projects.

Gyanoydan the formal Knowledge Management programme of ONGC aspires to achieve increased productivity, reduced cost, time and effort with improved quality.

With the implementation of Gyanodyan, there will be a formal system to share the entire thought process of individuals or teams working for ONGC.  

Gyanodyan is an initiative to change mindsets and inculcate a work culture where information flow is voluntary and can propel the organization towards higher success levels.

It strives to achieve increase in the explicit as well as tacit knowledge and is based on motivating employees through recognitions and rewards.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 04 : OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) registered net profit of Rs 8,642 crore in the second quarter of 2011-12 (Q2FY’12) as against Rs 5,389 crore in the  corresponding period of second quarter of 2010-11(Q2FY’11),  a rise of 60.4 percent.

The company recorded sales revenue of Rs 22,687 crore in the second quarter of 2011-12  as against Rs 18,239 crore in the corresponding second quarter of 2010-11 , a rise of 24.4 percent.

The company posted net profit of Rs 12,737 crore in the first half  ended September 30, 2011  from  Rs 9,050 crore in the first half of 2010 -11, a rise of 40.7 percent.

Similarly, the company’s sales revenue reached Rs 38,955 crore in the first half period ended September 30, 2011 from Rs 31,949 crore in the corresponding first half ended  September 30, 2010, up by 21.9 percent.
 
   The company ONGC made 3 new discoveries in Q2 of 2011-12 and one more in October’11 totaling 9 discoveries (5 in Q1’12) so far in this fiscal. All these discoveries have been notified to DGH.        

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 03 : PARTICIPATIVE Vigilance is the central theme of Vigilance Awareness Week - 2011 which was inaugurated by Mr U N Bose, Director-T&FS at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) , Jeevan Bharti Building, New Delhi.

He was accompanied by Mr. Sanjeeva Kumar, IAS, Chief Vigilance Officer, Mr. K S Jamestin, Director-HR and Mr. S V Rao, Director-Exploration, ONGC on this occasion.

A pledge confirming a strict allegiance to integrity and transparency in workplace was administered to all those who were present on the occasion by Mr. U N Bose. This aptly showcases ONGC's steadfast conviction in and adoption of clean and fair practices that enculture a dynamic and corruption-free work environment.

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

SINGAPORE, NOVEMBER 02 : GAIL (India) , the flagship natural gas company of the Government of India has opened office in Singapore. The company would be operating in Singapore through its subsidiary GAIL Global (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (GGSPL). Mr B C Tripathi, Chairman & Managing Director, GAIL on Wednesday inaugurated the new office of the Singapore arm of GAIL with the primary purpose of sourcing Natural Gas for the Indian market and trading in LNG, petrochemicals and related products.

The new office will be operational from Wangz Business Centre, Suntec Tower One, 7 Temasek Boulevard, Singapore.

GAIL Global (Singapore) was set up as an overseas investment arm of GAIL and will now focus on activities pertaining to gas sourcing, gas trading and petrochemical trading.

The company would undertake purchase and sale of LNG cargoes on spot / short-term for trading. So far, GAIL, through the Singapore arm, has made investments in China, Egypt and other countries and would be pursuing opportunities for further investment in different countries.