MUMBAI: MR Mayya, former executive director of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and a doyen of the domestic capital market, has been appointed chairman of the Interconnected Stock Exchange Ltd (ISE).

Mayya, who has been associated with stock exchange activity for over a quarter of a century, was joint director (stock exchange division) in the Ministry of Finance during August 1978 and July 1983. He also served as the executive director of the BSE upto August 1993. ``It was Mayya who engineered the concept of ISE,'' managing director Joseph Massey said in a statement here today.

PSL Holdings bags Rs 100 cr order

MUMBAI: PSL Holdings Ltd has bagged major coating orders worth over Rs 100 crore recently. These include a Rs 49 crore GAIL order for LPG pipeline from Kandla to Loni, Petronet's Vadinar-Kandla pipeline and Kochi-Karur pipeline. ``These orders will ensure that the company's growth in the current and next year will be sustained at the same rapid pace,'' itsaid in a release.

Besides, the board of PSL Holdings had approved a scheme for merger with PSL International, a group firm. PSL International, while undertaking pipe coating work for offshore projects, is also the manufacturer of API and IS grade steel pipes with two pipe mills located near Chennai and Kandla.

Overseas investment ceiling raised

NEW DELHI: The government has doubled the ceiling on Indian overseas investment under fast track route in south Asia and Myanmar in an effort to encourage Indian entrepreneurs to invest in the region. An official press release said here today that the earlier limit of $ 15 million had been raised to $ 30 million, while Indian rupee investment limit in case of Nepal and Bhutan had been increased to Rs 120 crore from the present Rs 60 crore.

All other terms and conditions of the notification applicable to overseas investment in joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries abroad would continue to apply to investment in SAARC countries andMyanmar.

Tata Infotech declares 1:2 bonus

MUMBAI: Tata Infotech Ltd (TIL) today declared a bonus in the ratio of 1:2 and hiked its dividend by ten per cent to 70 per cent for the year ended March 31, 1999. During the year under review net profits grew by 34.13 per cent to Rs 46.05 crore on a turnover of Rs 392.78 crore, up from rs 324.26 crore in the previous year.

The gross profit before depreciation and taxes increased by 29.11 per cent during the year to Rs 67.40 crore. The other income component amounted to Rs 8.21 crore as against Rs 6.31 crore, last year, TIL said in a statement here. The company provided depreciation on all its assets except leasehold land and improvement on an accelerated basis and accordingly, the provision for depreciation in the current fiscal was higher by Rs 1.54 crore to Rs 13.84 crore.