Bhartiya International net leaps 34%
Bhartiya International has recorded over 34 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 6.05 crore for the first half ended September 1999 as against Rs 4.50 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. Turnover rose by 37 per cent to Rs 44.56 crore during the period as against Rs 32.46 crore. The company has declared an interim dividend of 15 per cent. Gross profit after interest but before depreciation and taxation was Rs 6.18 crore as against Rs 4.60 crore. The company reported an increase of over 43 per cent in sales at Rs 33.26 per cent for the second quarter ended September as against Rs 23.12 crore. Net profit rose 36 per cent to Rs 4.70 crore as against Rs 3.44 crore.

Hotbiz.Com's e-commerce portal
NRI-promoted US-based Hotbiz.Com is planning to launch a subscription-based online e-commerce portal to provide application services under one roof to Indian small and medium enterprises in January next. The portal would serve as a one stop application services provider which enable firms to conduct their business operations electronically. The electronic business hub created on the web, which has launched operations in us with data management functions in may this year, would also provide value added services like video-conferencing, intranet facilities, contact manager, biz mail, besides website development tools. Though pricing strategy for India was yet to be worked out, US customers are being charged about $25-30 dollars.

Alcatel to expand operations
Alcatel is expanding its operations in India to address the Internet market and has set up its carrier and data division to offer comprehensive solutions to Internet service providers. The new division, which is headed by Prabhakar Seshan in India is integrated in Alcatel Network Systems India, the recently restructured umbrella company in the country.

Silverline bags $2m US order
Silverline Industries has bagged a $2 million order from Ecomparts.com of US to provide e-commerce products. Ecomparts company is a solution provider to the National Services Cooperative Inc of the US, a leading foodservice equipment parts provider with a 48 per cent share of the market.

Atco net up 10% to Rs 4.6cr
Atco Industries has posted a net profit of Rs 4.68 crore on a turnover of Rs 61.89 crore for the half year ended September 30, 1999. The net profit is up 10 per cent while the sales income is up 61 per cent compared to the same period last year. The EPS works out to Rs 8.36 on annualised basis. The company has paid a dividend of 30 per cent for the year ended March 31, 1999. Atco is engaged in the field of electronic weighing.

bMelstar opens object tech centre
Melstar Information Technologies has opened its object technology development centre to develop and deploy skilled manpower in the area of applying object technology to business. Melstar is a partner of IBM and Microsoft and has a development team of around 120 professionals. It offers services to Citibank and Colgate among others.

IBM, Cyberspace join hands
IBM India and CyberspaceInfosys have joined hands to offer comprehensive enterprise systems management software products, solutions and services from Tivoli, an IBM company. Cyberspace will manage the Tivoli systems management centre for excellence. It has built up core competence in e-business, business intelligence, systems management, workflow and collaborative computing.