Economy & Business 

Energy sector upbeat: Reliance strikes gas off Orissa coast

What is India News Service, June 25, 2004, 1630 hrs

Reliance Industries announced it has struck an estimated four to five trillion cubic feet of gas off the Orissa coast. VSNL terminated its telecom contract with Gail India. Hutchinson Max Telecom is all set to buy out Air Cell for Rs 1,200 crore. ING Vysya Life\92s gross income crossed the Rs 1 billion mark in 2003-2004.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) declared Thursday that it had struck gas off the Orissa coast. This development will enhance growth in the energy sector. With its previous discovery of an estimated 14 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast, RIL's total gas find now stands at about 19 trillion cubic feet.

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has terminated its contract with the government-owned Gail India for laying broadband links along its pipelines between Delhi and Mumbai. VSNL still uses Gail\92s smaller link lines. The loss of the Delhi-Mumbai contract leaves the state-owned entity without any major subscriber for its state-of-art optic fibre network. The network between Delhi and Mumbai is the highest telecom traffic link in the country.

Hutchinson Max Telecom is close to acquiring Sterling Infotech-promoted Aircel for Rs 1,200 crore. The deal will narrow the gap between Bharti and Hutch from 21 lakh to 7 lakh subscribers. After the buyout Hutch will be the largest cellular operator in both Chennai and Tamil Nadu.

ING Vysya Life\92s gross income crossed the Rs 1 billion mark in 2003-04. The insurance company is hoping to double it in the current year. The premium income during the previous year rose by over 300 per cent at 88.5 crore, while the total sum assured amounted to Rs 2,626 crore. Nearly one third of the premium for ING Vysya Life came from pension plans.

Overall:

Reliance struck gas: The company declared Thursday that it had struck an approximate of four to five trillion cubic feet of gas off the Orissa coast.

VSNL terminated contract: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd walked out of its broadband lines contract with government-owned GAIL India.

Hutch took a big stride: Hutchinson Max Telecom is close to acquiring Sterling Infotech-promoted Aircel and narrowing the gap between itself and rival Airtel.

ING Vysya Life did well: The insurance company's gross income crossed the Rs 1 billion mark in 2003-04.