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Suven Life Science - Solid Research Solid Development

Hyderabad-based Suven Life Sciences is planning to merge Asian Clinical Trials, a clinical research organisation, with itself. In a notice to the stock exchange, Suven Life Sciences has informed that a meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on March 4, 2006, to approve the draft scheme of merger of Asian Clinical Trials Ltd with the company.

Suven is into the design, manufacture and supply of bulk active, drug intermediates and fine chemicals, while Asian Clinical Trials provides services like phase II/ III/ IV clinical trials, post-marketing surveillance and clinical data management to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. Asian Clinical Trials was incorporated in April 2001 by Suven Life Sciences managing director Venkat Jasti. According to Jasti, this merger will enable seamless transition of projects from one phase to another. “This arrangement will ensure that all activities catering to the life sciences industry can be done under one roof,” Jasti told Business Standard. The merged entity will continue with the name of Suven Life Sciences and Asian Clinical Trials will function as a separate business unit under the company.

Jasti, however, declined to comment on the combined revenues of the merged entity. For the third quarter ended December 2005, Suven registered an increase of 94 per cent in its total income at Rs 27.11 crore from Rs 13.95 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Its net profit for the third quarter surged by 181.57 per cent to Rs 3.21 crore as compared to Rs 1.14 crore in the previous corresponding quarter. Suven expects to file its first investigational new drug in the US before the end of 2006.

ITC - More Paper More Profit

The ITC Bhadrachalam plans to invest Rs 1,100 crore in a new fibre line and paper and board making machinery for its Sarapaka mill. The elemental chlorine-free (ECF) pulp line will have a capacity of 600 tonne/day of bleached kraft pulp. It will use a mixture of wood and non-wood fibres, including eucalyptus, bamboo and subabul as raw material. The fibre line would commence the production in 2007-2008. The proposed fibre line would have an environment-friendly technology and an upgraded paper and board making unit. Once installed, the equipment would put the Bhadrachalam mills at the top in terms of production and Sarapaka unit would become the leader in India in paper boards and specialty division (PSPD). The new unit would produce 1.35 lakh tonnes of pulp every year.

According to KK Shashikumar, general manager, (personal and administration), the new fibre line would cater to the needs of four board machines and two paper machines on the Sarapaka campus. He said the expansion would take the output capacity to 525,000 tonnes/yr with the aid of new machinery. The Bhadrachalam mill commissioned India’s only elemental chlorine free pulp mill with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes three years ago in September 2002.

SPEL Semiconductor - Budget Push

The Indian semiconductor industry today hailed the budget and the Finance Minister, P Chidambaram's "proactive support" extended to this sector. Describing the decision to set up a committee with MCIT to formulate the national semiconductor policy as extremely "timely", Poornima Shenoy, President of the India Semiconductor Association, said "this step will provide India with the edge beyond VLSI and embedded design". "It will make India a preferred destination for the manufacturing of semi-conductors and other high technology IT products including wafer, assembly, test and manufacturing of semi conductors: LCD panels and storage devices," she said.

The proposal to use the existing vehicles of viability gap funding and the India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited to create a window to provide equity participation and or viability gap funding to new ventures are "excellent schemes," she said. This will help make India globally competitive with other nations. The three-year window will help accelerate early investment.

Lauding the announcment of the Indian infrastructure policy with projects on international airports,investments on roads, power, it said these would provide the needed impetus for semiconductor manufacturing.