Court orders winding up of Calico Mills: The Gujarat high court has ordered winding up of the Calico Mills and directed the official liquidator of the state government to take charge of the company's assets. Justice Rajesh Balia in his order on Wednesday also directed secured creditors to submit their statement of claims. The company had approached the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) for a rehabilitation package after it had becomesick. The BIFR, however, had concluded that the company could not be revived and had suggested its winding up in 1995.

South Eastern Coalfields signs pact: A private sector power producer of the Aditya Birla group along with Power Gen of UK concluded a coal supply agreement on Thursday with the Coal India subsidiary South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) for its power project at Bina in Madhya Pradesh. The agreement between Bina Power Supply Company Ltd (BPSCL), the IPP, and SECL is for a 30 year period guaranteeing annual coal supplies of 2.79 million tonnes from SECL coal fields to the Bina power project.

Hoteliers' body demand: An apex body of hoteliers on Thursday demanded the setting up of a Tourism Export Promotion Council to develop a country-specific strategy for boosting foreign exchange receipts from tourism. The Hotel Association of India (HAI) in a memorandum to the commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde has sought a grant-in-aid of Rs 330 crore for the council to be equally pooled inby the government and the industry by way of suitable restructuring of tax regime.

Pond's ties up with Microsoft to create skin care web site: Pond's Institute, the skin care research wing of cosmetics company Pond's, has tied up with Microsoft's American On-line to create a consumer interactive centre on the world-wide web. Inaugurating the centre's four new customer interaction avenues on Thursday, Pond's marketing manager Shrijeet Mishra said the move is driven by social market changes and redefined consumer needs.

Varun Shipping acquires third LPG carrier: Varun Shipping has acquired its third LPG carrier having a cargo carrying capacity of 52,603 cbm. The vessel which is reportedly the largest LPG carrier under the Indian flag will be used to transport LPG and other petrochemical gases and products both in the international and domestic waters. The company said, the new carrier is expected to substitute in-chartering of foreign flag vessels for import of larger parcels of LPG. With thisacquisition, Varun will have the largest LPG fleet in the country with 55 per cent of the total commercial LPG tonnage operating under Indian flag.

Syntel Software sets up development facility: Syntel Software Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of US-based Syntel Inc, has set another software development facility at the Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) in Mumbai. This will be in addition to the company's facility in the city, which was set up in 1992. The company said, the opening of the new facility will help it in providing round the clock technical support to its global customers.

AT&T donation: Global telecom major, AT&T, has donated Rs 10 lakh to the International Red Cross to help the disaster relief following last month's cyclone in Gujarat. According to the company, the donation is for assisting rehabilitation efforts in the affected areas. The funds will be used for providing self sufficiency kits which include stove, buckets, cooking utensils, cotton blankets and betsheets.

Hind Lever Chemicals board meet on July 30: The Board of Hind Lever Chemicals Ltd will meet on July 30, 1998, to take on record the unaudited financial results for the first six-month period ended June 1998, pertaining to the calendar year 1998. Hind Lever Chemicals is a subsidiary of fast moving consumer goods major Hindustan Lever Ltd.