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T ata Steel on Thursday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2,238.53 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2009. The company had a net profit of Rs 3,914.62 crore in the same quarter in the previous fiscal, Tata Steel said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Total income declined to Rs 23,292.31 crore for the quarter ended June, against Rs 43,496.17 crore in the same period in the corresponding fiscal. The company has posted a consolidated net loss (after minority interest and share of profit of associated) of Rs 2,208.68 crore for the quarter under review, however it had a net profit (after minority interest and share of profit of associated) of Rs 3, 900.90 crore in the same period last year. Total expenditure for the period under review is placed at Rs 24411.15 crore (Rs 37265.59 crore).

MphasiS Ltd reported a net profit of Rs 226.48 crore for the third quarter ended July 31, 2009 as compared with Rs 82.15 crore during the corresponding quarter in 2008. Total income for the quarter has increased to Rs 920.12 crore from Rs 582.61 crore in the same period last year.

Investors with a two-year horizon can buy the shares of Allied Digital Services (Allied Digital), given a healthy change in its business-mix towards services and synergies from acquisition of En Pointe Global Services. At Rs 423, the stock trades at eight times its likely 2009-10 per share earnings, leaving reasonable scope for capital appreciation. Allied Digital provides IT infrastructure management and technical support outsourcing services. It primarily acts as a support-partner for IT infrastructure products — desktops, laptops, servers, network software, routers and the like. Allied delivers its services through its own facilities and centres spread across 132 cities and follows a ‘direct’ model rather than a franchisee model. Through the inorganic route, the company has also made a significant entry into the US market. Domestically too, the company has a list of clients across verticals such as BFSI, telecom and manufacturing, which increasingly and constantly require considerab

Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd (JPVL), promoted by the $7-billion Jaypee group, has signed a Rs 4,000-crore agreement with Larsen & Toubro Ltd, the engineering and construction major, for supply of equipment for its Nigrie Super Thermal Power Project in Madhya Pradesh. Under the agreement, L&T will supply two units of 660 Mw each for the power plant. While the order for boilers for the plant has been given to L&T-MHI Boilers Pvt Ltd (LMBPL), the order for turbine and generators has been given to L&T which will source the equipment from L&T-MHI Turbine Generators Pvt Ltd (LMTGPL). Both LMBPL and LMTGPL are joint ventures between L&T and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan. This is the second order bagged by L&T in the supercritical segment in India after it won the order for supplying a 1,600 Mw turbine generator from the Andhra Pradesh Power Development Corporation earlier. The company plans to set up around 4,000 Mw of domestic power equipment manufacturing

Led by a smart recovery in manufacturing sector, industrial production growth accelerated to 7.8 per cent in June compared with 2.7 per cent a month ago. Manufacturing sector, which accounts for two-thirds of the industrial production, recorded a growth of 7.3 per cent in June indicating return of consumer demand in the market. Consumer durables and capital goods grew by 15.5 per cent and 11.8 per cent, respectively - the strongest expansion in several months. The trend in the first quarter, however, remained subdued at 3.7 per cent mainly due to lower production in the first two months of the period

DLF has announced a fully privately financed metro rail project for its townships in Gurgaon with a project cost of Rs 900 crore. "The government of Haryana has awarded the construction of the metro system in Gurgaon. A consortium of DLF and IL&FS has bagged the contract.The process to form a special purpose vehicle is on to construct and operate the system," DLF said. The project called 'DLF MetroRail, Gurgaon' has been bagged on concession by the consortium for a period of 99 years to build and operate the metro sytem, it added. The consortium, where DLF would have a 26 per cent stake while IL&FS would hold the rest, would invest invest Rs 900 crore in developing the project. According to a DLF spokesperson, the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) would raise Rs 700 crore within the next 6 months. The mode of raising would, however, be decided in due course of time. The 6.1 km metro link with standard gauge line would be completed within the next 30 mont

Domestic passenger car sales recorded 30.91 per cent increase at 1,15,067 units in July from 87,901 units in the same month last year. According to the figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Monday, motorcycle sales in the country during the month was up 19.48 per cent at 5,46,245 units from 4,57,178 units in the corresponding month a year ago. The total two-wheeler sales in July surged by 20.07 per cent to 7,19,668 units compared with 5,99,369 units in the same period last year. After almost a year of continuous downslide, the sale of commercial vehicles also increased by 9.61 per cent in July to 37,624 units from 34,325 units in the year-ago period, SIAM said. The total sales of all vehicles across categories also rose by 20.7 6 per cent to 9,41,118 units in July this year, against 7,79,354 units in the same month of last year, it added.

Reliance Communications Ltd posted a net profit of Rs 6,044.93 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009 as compared with Rs 5,401.14 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008. Total income for the year ended March 31, 2009 has increased to Rs Rs 22,948.45 crore from Rs 19,067.76 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008.

Reliance Infrastructure , in consortium with SNC Lavolin Inc, Canada and Reliance Communication has been awarded Mumbai Metro-II project on BOT basis for a concession period of 35 years with an extension clause of another 10 years. The project has been awarded by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) through an international competitive bidding process. The estimated project cost is about Rs 11,000 crore and is scheduled to be operational by 2015.

National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC), the country’s largest power producer, on Monday announced a decision to diversify beyond fossil fuels. The company, which accounts for 31,000 megawatt (Mw), around one-fifth of India’s total power generation capacity, has set itself a target of raising its total capacity to 75,000 MW by 2017, it said in an analyst conference in Mumbai today. “Currently, around 88 per cent of our capacity is coal-based and 18 per cent is based on natural gas. This will be gradually changed to include hydro, nuclear and renewable sources,” AK Singhal, director (finance) of NTPC, said. Singhal said the company had already won approval for the diversification move from its shareholders and said the move was a response to increasing environmental consciousness. In three years, the company plans to increase its coal-based capacity from the current 25,000 Mw to 40,000 Mw, and further to 53,000 Mw by 2017. Its gas capacity is also estimated to increase from the current 5,400

L&T has bagged two offshore platform contracts from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation for Rs 5,300 crore. The turnkey order is for a Mumbai High North (MHN) process platform and living quarters with an additional order for supply of three process gas compression modules to be installed in the same complex. It is scheduled for completion in 33 months. L&T said the order marks a milestone in its capabilities for such offshore hydrocarbon projects as it was among the largest and most sophisticated to be undertaken so far anywhere in the world. Over 80,000 tonnes of structures; process facilities and utilities would be erected on the high seas. The company would be responsible for survey, engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation and commissioning of the project.

Tata Motors’ passenger car sales in July showed 17 per cent growth (from the corresponding period last year) at 17,191 units, but were up by only 152 units from the preceding month. While the Indica range grew 14 per cent to 8,563 units, the mid-size Indigo fell 22 per cent to 3,499 units. Sales of utility vehicles were flat at 2,638 units. One notable thing is Tata Motors has despatched 2,475 Nanos during the month. Incidentally, the joint venture with Fiat Auto, Fiat India Automobiles, showed a six-fold jump in sales at 2,690 units, thanks to the recently launched Grande Punto hatchback and the mid-size Linea which have caught the fancy of the market. Tata Motors’ medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment, which has been languishing since November 2008, is now showing signs of revival with a 27 per cent growth to 28,408 units. Of this, LCV (light commercial vehicle) sales grew 44 per cent to 17,750 units, while M/HCVs (medium and heavy commercial vehicles) were up six per cent to