NTT DATA GROUP ACQUIRES 79.7% EQUITY STAKE IN FIRSTAPEX

NTT DATA Group acquired 79.7% equity interest in First Apex, a leading SEI CMM Level 4 certified provider of enterprise wide IT solutions and services dedicated solely to the Insurance Industry.First Apex with Head Quarters in Bengaluru,will add specialised domain expertise and product development capabilities to the service delivery expertise of NTT DATA Group.

The Asian Insurance Industry is on accelarated path in the past three years and hence the need for the state of the art technology and innovative products to support new business across life,non life,reinsurance and group life domains.

NTT DATA,a listed corporation with revenues of $12.3 billion with net income of $522 million with 32,000 employee strength is a part of NTT DATA group one of the 50 largest companies in the world and among the largest SAP implementers.

Mr.Minoru Suzuki,NTT DATA said,"FirstApex uses its strong insurance domain expertise built over three decades and leverage state of the art technologies dedicated to the insurance industry to deliver world class solutions to its customers.'

Mr.Suresh Prabhu ,Chairman,FirstApex said,' the support of NTT DATA Group will help in expanding the global customer base and enhance further product development and implementation know-how with its well established and tested methodologies built up through their successful history in the IT industry".

VIJAYA BANK Q 1 RESULTS

VIJAYA BANK Q1 NET PROFIT UP 21%.

Operating profit up by 49.81%.
Net profit up by 21%.
Net interest Income grew at 47.88%.
Net interest margin (NIM) at 2.90% Vs 2.33% a year ago up by 57bps.
Total Business at Rs.1,04,621 crores,comprising Rs.62,673 crores as deposits and Rs.41,948 crores as advances.
Capital adequacy ratio (Basel II) at 14.74 %
Gross NPA down from 2.94% to 2.32%.
Net NPA down from 1.58% to 1.35%.

Addressing the Media, Mr.Albert Tauro,CMD of the Bank said," Our core earnings continue to show improvement notwithstanding a somewhat slackened pace of business in the first quarter".

INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

IET is one of the world's leading Professional societies for the engineering and Technology communities.They operate in 27 countries including India with 1,50,000 members spread over North America,Europe and Asia Pacific.The IET provides global knowledge network to facilitate the exchange of ideas and promote the positive role of science,engineering and technology in the world.

The IET has world class collection of digital and printed resources on all areas of engineering & Technology containing 65,000 printed books and 3500 print journals which can be accessed by the members.

IET had a networking dinner yesterday in Bangalore.
Mr.Mike Morrisey,-Head of International operations of IET based in UK briefed about the activities of IET globally.

Mr.Sekhar Sanyal,Country Head,India briefed about the different types of membership and the advantages the members derive out of the membership.

VIJAYA BANK PAYS DIVIDEND OF Rs. 89.63 CRORES TO GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

Bangalore based public Sector Bank Vijaya Bank, declared dividend of 25% and
paid Rs.89.63 crores to Government of India who owns 53.87% of the total equity shares of the bank.

Mr.Albert Tauro,CMD of the bank handed over the cheque to the Finance Minister Mr.Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi recently.

BOSCH POWER TOOLS LAUNCHES NEW RANGE OF LAWN & GARDEN TOOLS IN INDIA.

Bosch is offering a wide range of lawn and garden tools in India to make gardening a happy and enjoyable experience.

Howards Storage world (HSW) ,a speciality retailer of storage,space saving and organisational products for the Home and office showcases their customised,flexible and expandable Elfa Storage range.Elfa
is designed for converting a messy space into an organised oasis. HSW also launched a range of eco friendly products designed
of eco friendly durable products designed specially to suit the
Indian climatic conditions.HSW's innovative products and clever solutions are designed to declutter your home.It can be configured easily in any nook and corner of the room without screws and drilling.

Howards has 85 stores worldwide,of which 64 are in Australia and
the rest 21 are in 11 countries.They will be opening a store in Oslo-Norway next March.

Railway board Chairman Vivek Sahai paid a visit to the South Western Railway Head Quarters asked all the officials to focus on inspection and drives in order to reduce the number of accidents and improve the safety of passengers.

JOHN DISTILLERIES LIMITED ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF MONT CASTLE
" Are you a gentleman" SMS Contest.

Mr.Paul P John,chairman,John distilleries said, "We are delighted with the oeverwhelming response we received from the participants". The first prize is a 3 day trip to Paris for two,and the first runners up win a trip for two to Kumarakom Lake resort in Kerala and the second runners up win a free week end stay at The Paul,Bangalore..

PETROLEUM PRICE HIKE JUSTIFIED-MURLI DEORA.

The petroleum Minister Mr.Murli Deora said that the Government of India has to
subsidise to an extent of Rs.15/- per litre and the government is bearing the loss while keeping the burden on consumer to the minimum. He says "our kerosene price is the cheapest in the world and in the case of LPG government is bearing the loss".He further said that he has written to all the Chief Ministers to bring down state tax to provide relief to consumers.

To ensure uninterrupted supply of petroleum products to Bengaluru and to meet the growing demands of the city a 290 kilometre Chennai-Bangalore pipe line was launched yesterday which will help decongest roads and reduce pollution. GAIL's Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline will in commercial operation by 2012.The demand for petrol & Diesel in the state is growing at a rate of 10% and 15% respectively which has prompted the the oil marketing companies to invest Rs.1500 crores to strengthen their network in the state.

PURAVANKARA LAUNCHES NEW PROJECT IN SOUTH EAST OF BANGALORE.

Bangalore based, one of the leading real estate developers has launched a new housing projectconsisting of 730 luxury partments on Haralur road in HSR Sector
called PURVA SKYWOOD, This project is spread over 12.75 acres of land giving ample natural surroundings to the residents.

There is a large range of dwellings to choose from including different sizes and types of partments ranging from 1263 sq.ft to 2340 sq.ft and combination of 2,3,and 4 bedroom apartments. This project is strategically located with quick access to electronic City,outer ring road and whitefield very close to leading software companies.

This project will be completed in two stages with I Phase with 300 apartments will be completed in 2 years.The initial price will be Rs.2990/-per Sq.ft.

The puravankara Group has the distinction of of being awarded the Finaliste,International Prix D Excellence-1998 for its project " Purva park' in Bangalore. Two prestigeous projects,Purva Graces & Purva Heights,received a PA 1
rating by CRISIL Mr.Ashish Puravankara,Director , and Mr.Sebastian Nazareth,COO of the company addressed the Media.