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Chennai Port sets record

        Chennai Port Trust during the last fiscal achieved a total cargo of 47.25 million tonnes by handling of 47.28 million tonnes by 22 February, 2007, ahead of 40 days surpassing the previous year's high, registering 13.84 per cent increase. Port has handled iron ore, fertilizers, coal with a growth rate of 14.2 per cent, 13.44 per cent, 15.32 per cent and 19.48 per cent respectively. The growth in container traffic is phenomenal, the Port handled 774321 TEUs registering a growth of 18.2 per cent. K Suresh, chairman, Chennai Port Trust said that the Port is well on track to achieve the target of 52.2 million tonnes set by the Ministry of Shipping by the end of this financial year.

        Syndicate Bank received good response to its usecured subordinated upper Tier II Bonds issue which has been oversubscribed. The bank had entered the market with a 15 year upper Tier II Bond with issue size of Rs 100 crore with an option to retain over subscription. The bond was priced at 9.30 per cent per annum with step-up coupon rate of 9.80 per cent for remaining five years if call-opt on is not exercised at the end of tenth year. The issue opened for subscription on 6 February and closed 22 February. And the bank could mobilise Rs 200 crore.

        Sabre-Abraaj Private Equity Fund and IL&FS Investment Managers announced an investment of Rs 125 crore in Ramky Infrastructure Limited, a Hyderabad-based infrastructure, construction and development company. And Ramky has issued Rs 75 crore of equity to Sabre-Abraaj and Rs 50 crore to a fund managed by IL&FS Investment Managers. Following the acquisition, Rajiv Maliwal of Sabre-Abraaj and Dr Archana Hingorani of IIML have been nominated to join the board of RIL. This is the first investment made by Sabre-Abraaj Capital, a 50:50 joint venture between India-based Sabre and UAE-based Abraaj.

        In a diversification initiative, Citizen Watch Co Ltd has announced their foray into non-watch (machinery) business in India. Speaking on this, Makoo Umehara, president and CEO, Citizen Watch Co Ltd said, 'the intensified demand from the expanding sectors in India like automobiles, cellular phones, medical equipments and electrical appliances, who need high precision machinery has prompted us to foray into the Indian market, which we believe hold tremendous potential for growth in the coming years.' Citizen has a track record of 76 year heritage selling world class watches and allied products in more than 150 countries worldwide and has an employee base above 18,000.

        Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been awarded the top position in the Top 10 Best performing IT service providers category in the 2007 Global Services 100 listing. The Global Services 100 is a annual compilation of the world's most innovative service providers selected on the basis of a research study conducted by Global Services and neoIT, an outsourcing advisory firm. S Ramadorai, managing director and CEO, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd said, 'our ability to consistently achieve the best results for our customers is at the very heart of our continued success and receiving the Global Services 100 award further validates our commitment to excellence.' Global Services and neoIT presented the awards to category winners at the 2007 global meet held in New York on 31 January, 2007.

        Riding on the strength of its high definition LCD televisions, Sony Corporation surpassed Samsung with a 17.4 per cent share in the global liquid crystal display television market by value during the last quarter. The key product that helped the company achieve this landmark is the newly launched Bravia LCD television series. According to Mohit Parashar, senior general manager, Sony India Pvt Ltd, 'Sony Bravia LCD TVs offer the world's best technology in a compact and sleek design. We are pleased that Sony Corporation has achieved the numero uno position in the global LCD television market, which is a testimony of our product excellence.'