Sahara to rope in new aircraft
Sahara Airlines plans to add another brand-new Boeing 737-800 aircraft to its fleet on December 25, 1999. The aircraft, which took off from Seattle on Friday is expected to land in Delhi at 1630 hours on December 25. With the induction of this aircraft, the fleet strength of Sahara Airlines will rise to nine Boeings. Sahara has also conducted a successful test flight to check the Y2K compliance of its on-board computer systems.

Ericsson Y2K okay
Telecom equipment supplier Ericsson has tested all the systems and other products delivered by it for Y2K compliance all over the world and offered upgrades to its customers. All phases in the supply chain from order to installation, including external vendors, have been reviewed so that Ericsson can maintain continuous supply of products and services, according to a press statement.

Alps Ind to double turnover
Alps Industries, leading exporter of home furnishing products, plans to double its export business to Rs 150 crore in the next two years. ``Eco-friendly natural dye home furnishing products have got a good response from the European and US market in the current fiscal and we expect to achieve a turnover of over Rs 150 crore in year 2001-02,'' Alps Industries managing director Sandeep Aggarwal said. In 1998-99, the company reported a turnover of Rs 76 crore and a net profit of Rs 4.47 crore.

Castrol to pay special dividend
The board of directors of Castrol India has decided to pay a special dividend of Rs 10 per share to the shareholders whose names appear in the Registrar of Members on February 29, 2000. The special dividend is proposed to be financed primarily through the sale of non-strategic financial assets. A press release issued by the company says that the payment is in line with the strategy to deliver value to shareholders by actively managing its asset base.

DSQ allotment committee
The board of DSQ Software Ltd which met on Friday to consider the preferential allotment of shares has empowered a sub-committee of directors to take up the matter. The allotment committee is now scheduled to meet on December 30, 1999. The company officials said that this move was necessitated as the company had not given the mandated four-day prior notice to the stock exchanges as per current rules.

Rheumatology manual
The `Manual of Rheumatology,' the first of its kind in India, published by the Indian Rheumatism Association and sponsored by Pfizer, was released recently by the vice-chancellor, University of Mumbai, Dr Snehalata Deshmukh. The manual is a comprehensive compilation of 24 articles written by 34 eminent consultants.

Themis Chem bags DSIR award
Themis Chemicals has received the DSIR national award in the sector `Successful Commercialisation of public funded R&D' for the development and commercialisation of a novel anti-malarial branded, E-Mal. This molecule has been developed for the first time in the world in collaboration with the CDRI/CSIR/CIMAP, Lucknow.

Pharminsomia-2000
The Saraswati Vidya Bhavan's (SVB) college of pharmacy recently held, Pharminsomia-2000, a unique pharmaweek which highlighted several drug related problems and the future scope of the pharma industry. SVB has under its banner the Oxford School, the Teachers Training Institute, among others.