Indal to sell electronics arm to Austrian firm: Aluminium major Indal will sell its wholly-owned subsidiary Indal Electronics to Austria's AT&S as part of its decision to consolidate its core business of value-added aluminium products. The buyout will mark ithe Austrian multinational's entry into India. Indal insiders are silent on the details of the selloff, but said the divestment would fetch the company over Rs 50 crore.

Nagarjuna Fertilisers to offload Kakinada LNG project stake: Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals will offload equityin the proposed $500-million Kakinada LNG joint-venture project with Hardy Oil of the UK in a bid to rope in other major corporates to form a consortium of user companies. As per the original plan, Nagarjuna Fertilisers was expected to hold 70 per cent equity, while the remaining was to be with Hardy Oil.

Exide Q2 sales rise 60% to Rs 386 crore: Exide Industries said on Friday that it has posted an operating profit of Rs 62.13 crore for the second quarter to September 30, 1998, a 69 per cent rise over the corresponding period last year. Gross sales grew almost 60 per cent to Rs 385.84 crore, it said. The results were partly the outcome of a strong performance by the industrial batteries division, which had reported a growth of more than 100 per cent over the same period last year, it said.

Book-building exercise for divestment plan: The centre is all set to drop the joint book-building exercise for its Rs 5,000-crore disinvestment plan. It will not float GDR issues for the five PSUs--Concor,IOC, VSNL, Gail, and MTNL--marked for divestment and, instead, offload its holdings in the domestic market by March 1999. The cabinet committee on disinvesment approved Concor domestic selloff on Wednesday after the global coordinator for the issue ruled out the possibility of floating GDRs.

HM ready to offload stake in favour of Mitsubishi: Hindustan Motors is ready to offload 10 per cent equity in favour of Mitsubishi Motors, its technical collaborator for the Lancer car project, any time Mitsubishi wanted to, executive director A Sankara Narayanan said in the capital while launching the vehicle. Under the agreement with the Japanese auto major, Mitsubishi is free to pick up 10 per cent stake in Hindustan Motors.

Oberoi group eyes lower hotel segment: The Oberoi group, the country's largest luxury-hotel chain, is actively considering a major foray into the two- and three-star category hotels across the country. This would be, perhaps, the first time that any luxury- hotel chain plans toenter the lower-end of the hotel market. The proposed hotels will be set up by East India Hotels, the group's Rs 470-crore flagship.

Idcol signs MoU with Microsoft: State-owned Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa on Friday signed an MoU with Microsoft Corporation for technical tie-up in software development.

The tie-up will help develop computer professionals and quality software for major corporates and government departments in the state and also for software export, people in the know of the matter say.

RP Goenka to take over as Asia Pacific Chamber president: RP Goenka, chairman emeritus of the RPG group, will take over as the president of the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chamber of Commerce & Industry when it meets for the 17th conference at Mumbai on October 27, 1998. The event will bring together about 300 top businessmen from the Asia Pacific region apart from policy-makers, economic analysts, and professionals of major chambers of commerce in the region.

`Sebi can'tinitiate prosecution in insider trading': Hindustan Lever has told markets regulator Sebi that it cannot initiate prosecution against its five directors, including its chairman KB Dadiseth and former chairman SM Datta, in the insider-trading case. While HLL maintains that the high court verdict does not allow Sebi to initiate prosecution, Sebi's holds the opposite view.

Centre may drop clause from money-laundering bill: The centre is likely to drop the controversial clause of falsification of accounts in the Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, 1998, following various representations from corporates, indicated a standing committee on finance member Prithvi Raj Chavan at a seminar organised by the CII on forex management and money laundering in the capital. Corporates fear the clause may lead to harassment from investigative agencies, as falsification of accounts can also be related to relatively minor lapses in accounts.

Icra downgrades 20th Century Finance's debt plans: Rating agencyIcra on Friday downgraded the NCD and fixed-deposit programmes of 20th Century Finance Corporation from AAA to AA-. The ratings have also been placed under rating watch with developing implications as a merger proposal is under consideration. Recently, Crisil had also downgraded these debt instruments. Crisil put the corporation under rating watch immediately after Centurion Bank announced that it would take over its operating business.

Jammu & Kashmir Bank H1 net rises 76%: Jammu & Kashmir Bank said on Friday that its net profit for the half year ended September 30, 1998, has zoomed 76 per cent to Rs 44.54 crore, compared with Rs 25.35 crore registered in the corresponding period last year. Total income during the period was also boosted by 35 per cent to Rs 351.44 crore, against the year-ago period's Rs 259.30 crore, the bank said.

US diesel engine-makers to pay record $1bnThe US federal government announced that seven manufacturers of diesel truck engines agreed to a record environmentaldeal exceeding $1 billion to settle charges they illegally polluted the air. Two agencies said the agreement included the largest-ever civil penalty, $83 million, and resolved allegations that the engines in as many as 1.3 million trucks built over the last 10 years had devices that defeated pollution controls.

`Novartis immune to economic slump': Novartis AG does not expect a weakening global economy or the recent strengthening of the Swiss franc to prevent it from achieving its profit target in 1998, chief financial officer Raymund Breu said. On Thursday Novartis reported nine-month sales of 24.59 billion Swiss francs, up 3 per cent in Swiss francs and 6 per cent in local currencies, compared with 23.51 billion in the 1997 nine-month period.