Tisco on Wednesday reported a 5 per cent rise in sales in the six months to September 30, 1998. Sale of steel increased to 12,31,800 tonnes from 11,89,513 tonnes in the first half of 1997-98, a company release said. Sale of welded tubes increased 13 per cent from 55,520 tonnes to 62,800 tonnes. Sale of bearings was up 22 per cent from 50,26,000 to 61,51,000. Tisco reduced its inventory (inventory of steel in stockyard plus steel in transit) by 11 per cent from 2,83,106 tonnes on October 1, 1997, to 2,52,800 tonnes on October 1, 1998. On the production front, crude steel registered a 4.6 per cent increase from 15,70,043 tonnes to 16,42,500 tonnes and hot metal of 4.8 per cent to 18,02,900 tonnes.

Infosys Technologies, Praja Inc sign pact: Infosys Technologies has signed an agreement with Praja Inc, an advanced software technology company, to jointly develop an authoring tool for creating interactive content for archived video. The product isbased on Praja technology allowing intercative viewing of multimedia information. The technology uses multiple sensory capabilities and computer technology to give end users a new dimension on how they perceive reality. Praja was founded in 1995 by entrepreneur Ramesh Jain and corporate strategy expert CK Prahalad.

Ipca Labs unveils new drug for malaria: Ipca Laboratories has launched Larither capsules and injections for complicated and chloroquine resistant cases of malaria. Larither is a formulation of artemether, an antimalarial bulk drug made from a Chinese plant "artemisia annua L." Ipca is the only manufacturer of artemether (developed with the help of the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow) in India. Larither has been approved by the Drugs Controller of India and has been launched after extensive clinical studies conducted by Ipca.

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant sales rise: The total sales turnover of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) rose 7 per cent to Rs 1,157 crore till August,1998. The domestic sales had risen from Rs 842 crore in April-August last year to Rs 1,004 crore for the current financial year, a company release said. Market share of finished steel increased from 32 per cent in 1997-98 to 41 per cent in the current year.

Goodcare plans new product every year: The Calcutta-based Goodcare Pharma Pvt Ltd (GPPL) will widen its product portfolio by launching a new product every year and target a turnover of Rs 10 crore by 2000, company chairman Ram K Sharma said. "We intend to widen our product portfolio by introducing one product every year in the ayurvedic segment," he said. Sharma said ayurveda will have great demand inside and outside the country as it had no side effects. Launching a new range of anti-stress capsules `stress guard,' Sharma said the company hopes to raise its turnover to Rs 10 crore by the turn of the century.

Seimens launches new mobile phone model: Seimens Telecom Ltd on Monday launched its latest sleek lightweight `E10' model mobilephone in the domestic market. The fax and data compatible phone which is aimed at business class heavy users weighs only 160g. The lithium battery of the phone has a talk time of six hours and a standby time of 80 hours, a company release said. Priced at Rs 13,995, `E10' comes with a telephone book key which can store up to 25 entries and a keypad to prevent accidental operation.