Court restrains ITC
A local court has restrained ITC and eight wholesale distributers of cigarettes from disparaging Four Square Gold - the new product launched by Godfrey Philips India -- or in any way meddling, disturbing or interfering with promotional activities of the latter. In a suit filed before the court, Godfrey Philips had said ITC was using muscle-power to disturb its promotional campaign.

MTNL set to launch cell service
MTNL will be able to launch its cellular service in Mumbai and Delhi by June 2000, union communications minister Ram Vilas Paswan said. Though MTNL had planned introduction of cellular phones about two years back, it has come clear of the legal hurdles only now, Paswan said.

Videocon Power plant
Videocon Power, an independent power producer set to build a 1,050 mw coal-fired plant in Chennai, expects to achieve financial closure for the project within three months. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board said it had signed a tripartite agreement with Videocon Power and the state-run Canara Bank to provide escrow cover for plant.

Suzuki asked to transfer technology
The Government has asked Suzuki Motors Corporation for full transfer of technology to Maruti Udyog to facilitate the indigenisation process. Union minister for heavy industry and public enterprises Manohar Joshi said full transfer of technology will help Maruti retain market share in the face of increasing competition. Meanwhile, Suzuki Motors has expressed interest in producing out of India a new model every year.

Passenger car sales up
Passenger car sales rose 53.48 per cent to 402,497 units during April- November 1999, from 262,243 units in the previous corresponding period. Sales of commercial vehicles also rose 27.16 per cent to 97,792 units against 77,045 vehicles.

BPL Wireless unveils Net messaging
BPL Wireless Telecommunication Services, a part of the BPL Telecom Business Group, has unveiled Internet messaging services on its paging network. The new service will be available on BPL Connect's paging networks in two variations including Web and e-mail messaging Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala and Karnataka.

Eicher rolls out tractors
Eicher Tractors, in a bid to shore up its bottom line further, introduced two new specific tractors. It also launched the upgraded version of its 30 hp Super-D for the South Indian markets. Eicher also has increased the warranty period of the multi-cyclinder tractors for two years or 2500 hours, which is the maximum in the industry.

Sensex down 94 points
Profit booking at higher levels and squaring off of positions by operators on the last day of the current account on the BSE resulted in the 30-share Sensex sliding 94 points on Friday.

SAIL's bond issue bags AAA
Icra has assigned LAAA rating to SAIL's Rs 300-crore bond issue. The rating is four notches up from its outstanding rating of the loss-making public sector undertaking's debt portfolio of `LBBB+', indicating speculative grade.

ANZ Grindlays mulls fresh VRS
ANZ Grindlays Bank is setting up a resource management centre to work out another voluntary retirement scheme, even as country chief Anuroop Tony Singh has ruled out any possibility of introduction of a VRS. The centre will help all units identify and manage staff mis-matches in terms of numbers and skills.

Patents act amendment
Domestic inventors have now been granted the freedom to file patent applications outside the country at any point of time with the deletion of Section 39 of the Indian Patents Act, 1970. The section had imposed constraints on local inventors and restricted the flexibility available to them as they had to wait for six weeks before filing for a patent outside the country.

SSI investment limit reduced
The Government on Friday announced lowering of the investment limit on plant and machinery for small-scale industries from Rs 3 crore to Rs 1 crore following demands from the SSI associations. The investment for tiny units would, however, continue to be at the level of Rs 25 lakh.

JK group clarifies
This refers to the article titled `Lafarge sets sights on stake in Shree Cement' that appeared on December 20. The article states that ``Lafarge has also also initiated negotiations with a few other cement producers, including JK group company Laxmi Cement. JK group has clarified that they have had no negotiations with Lafarge.

-- Compiled by Joby P Johnson