Revenue collections in August have registered an impressive growth of 21.57 per cent over the same month last year. The total revenue collection during the month amounted to Rs 10,420.35 crore against Rs 8,571.15 crore. This is in sharp contrast to a negative growth of 7.6 per cent in July, 1999. However, revenue realisation in the first five months of the current financial year has registered a growth of 11.61 per cent only.

SK Gupta takes over as VSNL chief

Shailendra Kumar Gupta, an officer of the Indian Telecom Service's 1965 batch, has been appointed chairman and managing director of the blue chip navratna VSNL. The orders for the appointment were issued on Saturday and Gupta will take charge on Tuesday. Gupta is at present the chief general manager of Gujarat Telecom in Ahmedabad.

Daewoo units under bank receivership

Creditor banks of South Korea's crumbling Daewoo group on Monday placed 10 of the conglomerate's units under bankreceivership in a bid to help speed up its restructuring. The move effectively puts the key arms of Daewoo under the control of its creditor banks and will ensure a flow of funds to help them improve their health.

Sensex up 122 points

Software stocks and a late rally in index heavyweight HLL provided the booster for the markets, which moved up substantially on Monday. While the Sensex gained 122 points, the S&P CNX Nifty on the NSE closed 15 points higher.

MRL's expansion

Madras Refineries, which has chalked out expansion plans and projects involving over Rs 3500 crore during the Ninth Plan, is waiting for the Cabinet nod to proceed further. Meanwhile, MRL will sell 10 per cent stake in Indian Additives to its joint venture partner Chevron Chemical Company of the US. MRL's stake in the joint venture will come down to 50 per cent after the sale.

Shyamal Gupta Tata Elxsi chief

Shyamal Gupta has been appointed chairman of Tata Elxsi. A decision to this effect was taken at thecompany's AGM held in Bangalore on September 3. The company has also appointed Ramadorai, chief executive officer of Tata Consultancy Services, as its vice-chairman.

Tata group holding

Tata group hopes to raise its holding in group firms, including Telco, Tisco, Tata Chemicals, Tata Tea and Tata Infotech, to 26 per cent in two years, group head Ratan Tata has said. In most of the key companies the group has around 20 per cent stake.

Ranbaxy to up Vorin stake

Ranbaxy Laboratories plans to raise its holding in Vorin Laboratories to 51 per cent from 36.12 per cent. Vorin has called a meeting of its board on September 8 to consider a preferential allotment of 1.89 million shares to Ranbaxy or its subsidiaries.

Corporate governance

Kumar Mangalam Birla, who heads the Sebi committee on corporate governance, plans to implement all the recommendations laid down by the panel in his main companies as well. As Birla heads the committee, the idea is to "lead by example."

GFC ropes inconsultant

Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals has roped in Business Consulting group to chalk out a series of strategic initiatives to improve bottomline growth. GFC is controlled 26 per cent by the Andhra Pradesh government, while 25 per cent is held by Iffco.

S Kumars Synthetics insurance plan

Fabrics and yarn major S Kumars Synthetics has asked Anderson to prepare a blue print for its proposed foray into insurance sector. The company intends to use its existing network for the insurance activities.

Biggest law firm

The partners of three major law firms-Clifford Chance of London, Rogers & Wells of New York, and Puender, Volhard, Weber & Axster of Germany-voted Saturday to extend a trans-Atlantic merger to the German firm, effective January 1, 2000. The merger will create the world's biggest law firm with 2,700 lawyers.

Sebi norms for FII registration

Sebi has amended its norms for FIIs so as to relax the broad-based criteria for registration of sub-accounts from anexisting level of 50 investors to 20 investors. It has also relaxed the maximum holding of a single investor to 10 per cent from the existing level of 5 per cent.

Court adjourns Sikkim Bank hearing

The Calcutta high court has adjourned the hearing on a Rs 100 crore suit filed against Sikkim Bank to September 8. The case was filed by a shareholder of the bank. Earlier the court had passed an interim stay on the proposed merger of the bank with Union Bank of India.

Compiled by Joby P Johnson