Samsung bags $200m refinery project
Samsung Engineering Co on Tuesday said it had won a $200-million dollar contract to expand an oil refinery in India from Indian Oil Corporation. The contract calls for increasing the capacity of the refinery in Bihar from the present 4.2 million tons to six million tons a year, it said.

Iran picks Shell for $800m oil deal
Iran on Sunday chose Royal Dutch/Shell for an $800 million oil development deal in defiance of the United States which has threatened to sanction companies doing business with the Islamic republic. Shell Exploration BV, signed the accord in Teheran to develop the Soroush and Nowruz offshore fields with the National Iranian Oil Company.

Gucci to buy Artemis' Sanofi
Gucci said on Monday it reached agreement with Artemis SA to buy Sanofi, owner of Yves Saint Laurent, for $1 billion. Included in the agreement are Yves Saint Laurent's fashion business, its cosmetics and perfumes business as well as the Roger & Gallet brand.

CMs meet on fiscal reforms today
CMs and finance ministers of states and Union territories will meet here on Wednesday to evolve a consensus on the introduction of a unified value added tax system and rationalisation of sales tax structure in the country.Assocham-Tisa to upgrade PCOs Assocham and Telecom Industry and Services Association have decided to upgrade another 3,500 public call office operators to cyber cafes by the year end. The Assocham-Tisa combine has already taken up two projects to convert 250 PCOs to cyber stations, the chamber said.

CA-PwC in pact
Computer Associates and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, leading management consultant and systems integrator, have joined hands to offer a range of services including integrated it infrastructure management solution for the Indian and Saarc markets.

PTC to start operations
The newly set up Power Trading Corporation will commence business by importing power from Bhutan for selling in India, particularly the eastern region.

Hughes Ispat's new CEO
Hughes Ispat witnessed a change of guard as Prakash Bajpai moved in as president and CEO of the company on Monday. An electronics engineer, Bajpai took started his career at IBM and has put in stints at Phillips, Tata Telecom, AT&T Network Systems and Tata Lucent Technologies.

Modern group seeks time for loans
The Rankas-controlled Modern group has sought time till March 2000 to repay the huge amount it owes financial institutions. This follows its inability to raise funds through the sale of group company Modern Denim Ltd.

LG to make India an export base
South Korean multinational LG Electronics has decided to make India the export base for consumer electronics and picture tubes as part of its long term strategy. As part of the plan, LG Electronics India will be exporting color TVs, refrigerators and washing machines.

Pentafour's interim dividend
Pentafour Software & Exports Ltd has declared an interim dividend of 16 per cent on the equity share of the company for the current fiscal year. The dividend has been declared on the enhanced share capital of the capital consequent to the issue of 1:1 bonus shares during September 30, 1999.

Mitsubishi to acquire chemicals firm
Mitsubishi Corporation plans to increase investments in specialty chemicals by sewing up a string of joint ventures with local players in the country. The corporation has ear-marked an initial investment of Rs 21 crore for the purpose.

NSE derivatives trading
National Stock Exchange's popular S&P Nifty index will be the first to test waters when Parliament clears derivatives trading in the country, a top official in charge of NSE's arm for indices said.

Indian GDR falls by 0.26%
The Skindia GDR Index, representing GDR's of 17 actively trading companies decreased by 0.26 per cent from 924.23 to 921.80 on November 11, 1999 as per the Skindia GDR Index with a base January 3, 1995 equal to 1,000.

Banks' profits down
Profits of Indian scheduled commercial banks declined by 4.4 per cent during 1998/99 (April-March) over the previous year's levels, the Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. Profits of these banks fell to Rs 139.92 billion in 1998/99 from Rs 146.4 billion in the previous year, the RBI said in its annual report on the trend and progress of banking in India. RBI also said the state-run banks showed a marginal decline in NPAs in 1998/99 to 8.1 per cent from 8.2 percent in 1997/98.

Mastercard's Maestro launched
Mastercard's debit card `Maestro', launched by Times Bank, becomes operational across India with merchants in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore accepting the plastic money from Tuesday.

IDBI, ICICI, IFCI interest expenses up
The three major financial institutions-IDBI, ICICI and the IFCI-witnessed a sharp increase in interest expenses during the period from 1997-98 to 1998-99, with the interest expenses of IFCI more than doubling to 21.1 per cent in 1998-99 from 10.2 per cent in 1997-98.

Exim Bank credit line in Romania
The Government on Tuesday announced a slew of measures including opening of a $10 million credit line by the Exim Bank and signing of an agreement on quarantine and plant protection with Romania to boost the bilateral trade between the two nations.

Compiled by Samuel Bodapaty