Indian Card Clothing net down: Indian Card Clothing Co Ltd has reported a lower net profit for the year ended March 31, 1998 at Rs 4.94 crore. Net sales has gone up to Rs 43.51 crore against Rs 42.17 crore. Other income came down to Rs 2.24 crore from Rs 2.77 crore. Expenditure went up to Rs 34.61 crore from Rs 32.35 crore. The company has declared a dividend of 45 per cent. Depreciation was at Rs 2.63 crore.

HLL sets up health information centre:As part of its global drive to gather and disseminate proven scientific information on the health properties of tea, the Hindustan Lever Ltd, has launched a Brooke Bond Tea and Health Information Centre in Bangalore, the fifth such to be set up world-wide. The other countries which have already set up such centres are UK, USA, Australia, and France. The Brooke Bond Tea and Health Information Centre held its first scientific seminar in its premises in Bangalore on June 12, 1998. Eminent scientists and nutritionists from across the country presented papers and shared their research findings on food antioxidants, their dietary sources and their effects on human health.

L&T to supply electronic metres to KEB: Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB) has selected Larsen & Toubro for supplying 8,750 electronic energy meters of model ER300P valued at Rs 83 million. These meters are to be installed for low tension industrial consumers to replace the existing electromechanical meters. Conforming to IEC 1036 and IS13779 standards, this energy meter has built-in anti-tamper features and will record attempted power theft.

Transmission line inaugurated: The Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandra Babu Naidu today dedicated the Rs 214-crore Jeypore-Gazuwaka 400 KV double circuit transmission line linking eastern region with the southern region to the nation today at a simple function organised by the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCI) in Visakapatnam.

State share in Mahanagar Gas: Mahanagar Gas, the joint venture company of the Gas Authority of India and British Gas, has received an advance of Rs 44.16 lakh as initial contribution of the government of Maharashtra to the equity capital of the company. At present, British Gas and Gail have a 50 per cent stake each in the venture which will be whittledto 35 per cent apiece after the public issue.

Kopran in venture with Dubai firm: Kopran is forming a joint venture with Dubai Investment Corporation (DIC) for a manufacturing facility in theUAE. While DIC will hold a 51 per cent stake in the venture, Kopran will contribute to 39 per cent while ten per cent will be offered to institutions or pharmaceutical partners. The $15 million project will manufacture a range of modern pharmaceutical specialities including life saving drugs, antibiotics, anti-ulcerants and cardiovasculars. Production is slated to commence in January 2000.

L&T ties up with FORE Systems: Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) has tied up with FORE Systems Inc of the US to provide state-of-the-art ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) technology for communication networks. This technology would be offered by L&T's telecom projects division which is the EPC arm for turnkey communications projects.

Otis staff to strike work on June 22: A section of the field staff of the Otis Elevators Employees Union affiliated to CITU has given notice for a one day token strike on June 22, on the grounds that the management has been delaying the long term settlement. Of the approximately 700field staff employees who handle installations and servicing of elevators, 490 are affiliated to CITU. The last wage settlement expired in 1996. For the first time, during the negotiations for the new settlement, unions in four regions formed a core group along with the management and presented a combined charter of demands. Among these was a demand for a pension plan for the workers. According to the company spokesperson, in March 1998, the management drew up a draft pension plan that was acceptable to all the parties. Since the negotiations were long drawn, the union had asked for and received an interim hike, which was to be adjusted against the final settlement. An agreement was subsequently signed with all, except the western region, comprising mainly workers in Mumbai. According to the company spokesperson, the CITU-affiliated faction now wants to back out of the pension plan. The plan is acceptable to the BKS-led faction of the workers. This has put the entire pension plan already accepted by the otherunions in jeopardy. The company has denied delaying the signing of the settlement, saying they have already signed it in the other regions and would be happy to do so in Mumbai. Unions officials were not available for comment.