GlaxoSmithKline looks to set up Rs 1,000-crore health drink units in Andhra Pradesh.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd., the maker of Horlicks and Boost health food drinks, is looking at setting up a large manufacturing facility close to the east coast in southern Andhra Pradesh, a senior bureaucrat said. The GSK Consumer team has shortlisted one location each in Nellore and Chittoor for the plant, which will produce Horlicks and Boost branded products with an investment of up to Rs. 1,000 crore, he said. The company is waiting for clarity on tax incentives before taking a decision. Rival Mondelez India Foods Ltd., formerly known as Cadbury India, has said it is setting up its largest facility in the continent at the Sri City special economic zone Chittoor district, investing about Rs. 1,000 crore. GSK is scouting for about 100 acres of land at the two locations, apart from connectivity to the natural gas grid, and has conveyed plans to produce Foodles, which is its instant noodles product, biscuits and oats under the Horlicks brand, apart from health food drinks, the bureaucrat said. "GSK is also looking at using a part of the production capacities at the proposed greenfield facility to cater to export markets." Refusing to provide details on the company's expansion plans, a GSK spokesperson said, "We do not comment on rumours and market speculation."

Hero MotoCorp to start Gujarat plant construction soon.

The country's largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp recently said the company will start construction of its new plant in Gujarat soon and will start production from third quarter next year. The company has earlier announced to spend Rs. 1,200 crore for this plant. "We are starting the construction very soon and production will start by third quarter of next year," Pawan Munjal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Hero MotoCorp, told reporters.

Government to speed up environmental clearance.

A host of policy decisions like faster environmental clearance and speeding-up of auctions would be taken by the Government soon to ensure revival of the steel sector of the country, Syedain Abbasi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Steel said recently. "Close to 80 steps are being considered by Government and the PMO is directly involved in this," he said. He was speaking at the Steel Round Table: The Way Forward at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce. While terming shortage of raw materials as the main hurdle for the sector, Abbasi said that frequently changing environmental guidelines were unviable and these were hurting the industry. "There is a guideline asking the industry to ensure zero percentage discharge which would put an added burden," he noted. He added: "There is a huge demand of steel in the domestic market, yet the sector is being unable to capitalise on it due to closure of iron-ore mines across the country."Iron ore production in the country fell to 144mt in 2013-14 from 218 mt in 2008-09. The Supreme Court on May 16. The closure of iron-ore mines after a direction of the Supreme Court has led to acute shortage of iron-ore in the country. Expressing concern over the surge of iron-ore export, Abbasi said that if required the government would consider levying an export duty on iron-ore pellets to protect the domestic steel industry. He added that the Commerce Ministry has been asked to revise the duty structure. Despite the challenges, Abbasi said that he expected the steel manufacturing capacity to almost triple to 300 million tonnes by 2030.

ADB to provide $150-m loan for building transmission lines in Rajasthan.

The Asian Development Bank has agreed to give $150-million loan to the Government of India to help build transmission lines for renewable energy in Rajasthan. The Government of India and ADB have signed two loan agreements. The loans form the first tranche of the $500-million Rajasthan Renewable Energy Transmission ‎Investment Program approved by ADB in 2013. The loans will be used to finance high-voltage transmission lines and sub-stations to be built by Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd (RRVPNL). "The transmission investment programme will spur the development of renewable energy in the resource-rich areas of Western Rajasthan and help to deliver more environmentally-friendly energy to the state and national grids," said M Teresa Kho, Country Director of ADB�s India Resident Mission, who signed the loan agreement, on behalf of ADB. The $150-million first tranche is funded from two sources � $88 million from ADB�s Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and $62 million from ADB's Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR). The CTF component, a highly concessional loan, has a 40-year term, with a grace period of ten years, and an annual interest rate of 0.25 per cent. The OCR component has a 25-year term, with a grace period of five years, and annual interest set in accordance with ADB�s LIBOR-based lending facility. The State Government will provide counterpart financing of about $127 million to cover the balance of the costs of activities conducted under the first tranche. Projects under the first loan are due to be completed by December 2016.

Ramco Group plans Rs. 1500-cr cement plant in Andhra Pradesh.

The Chennai-based Ramco group is planning to set up a cement plant in Kolimigandla mandal of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh (AP) with an initial investment of Rs. 1,500 crore. By the end of final phase, the total investment in the proposed unit is expected to go up to Rs. 3,000 crore, according to Parakala Prabhakar, State Government�s Communication Adviser. Ramco group is the fifth largest cement producer in the country and currently has eight manufacturing facilities spread over Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and AP with a combined capacity of 15.5 million tonnes per annum.

Petroleum ministry to invest Rs. 1 lakh cr in Odisha.

The ministry of petroleum & natural gas (P&NG) has lined up investment worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five to seven years on P&NG sectors in Odisha. The investment plan includes tapping of one tcf (trillion cubic ft) natural gas reserve in the Mahanadi river basin. "Development planning of the basin would begin soon. In the next 3-4 years, gas from the basin would reach the Odisha coast," said Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister for P&NG. He said, gas would also be produced from the two CBM (coal bed methane) blocks allocated in Odisha in the Talcher and Ib valley coalfields. Addressing the media persons, here, today, Pradhan said, "The investment plan is aimed at positioning Odisha as the gateway of energy security in eastern India. It will create 50,000 jobs in the state. The investment will also generate direct revenue of Rs. 3,000 crore every year for the state government. Incremental revenue will start flowing in from 2015-16." Commenting on the break-up of investment plan, he said, Rs. 34,000 crore would be invested on the 15 million tonne oil refinery of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) at Paradeep, the largest refinery in the PSU sector. On the petrochemicals complex of IOCL, also coming up a Paradeep, Rs. 3,150 crore would be invested on the polypropylene unit, Rs. 4,000 crore on monoethylene glycol unit, Rs. 10,000 crore on paraxylene PTA (purified terephthalic acid) unit and Rs. 18,000 crore on petcoke gasification plant. Other project wise investments include GAIL (India) Ltd's Surat-Paradeep pipeline (Rs. 5,500 crore), Paradeep-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline (Rs. 257 crore), Paradip-Haldia-Barauni crude pipeline (Rs. 321 crore), LPG terminal at Paradeep (Rs. 2,500 crore), LNG terminal at Paradeep (Rs. 5,000 crore), Paradeep-Surat and Rancbhi-Paradeep natural gas pipelines (Rs. 5,000 crore), city gas distribution network (Rs. 1,600 crore), strategic oil reserve at Chandikhole (Rs. 3,800 crore) and revival of Talcher fertiliser unit (Rs. 8,000 crore). The minister announced that a working group, to be headed by R K Singh, joint secretary, ministry of P&NG, would be constituted to oversee progress of these projects. The group will have state government officials as representatives. The minister refused a comment on the Centre's timeline to deregulate diesel prices.

Six short-listed for JNPT liquid cargo terminal.

Six parties including Adani Ports, SP Ports of Shapoorji Pallongi Group and United Liner Agencies have been short-listed for building the Rs. 2,500-crore liquid cargo terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The board of trustees of JNPT, which met in Delhi recently , approved their initial applications, a JNPT official said. Others in the race are IOT Infrastructure, IMC and Srei Infrastructure, the official said. The project with a capacity to handle 26.5 million tonnes cargo a year will be implemented in two phases. The first phase - four berths with a capacity to handle 15 million tonnes - is expected to be ready in four years. The project, which will be implemented under the private public partnership (PPP) mode, was cleared by the CCEA earlier this week. This will be the second liquid terminal at JN port. The largest container port in the country already has a liquid terminal with a capacity to handle 5.5 million tonnes cargo, operated by oil companies BPCL and IOC. The liquid bulk terminal is the third project taken up by JNPT to enhance its capacity. Earlier this year, it awarded a Rs. 8,000-crore container terminal project - largest in the domestic port sector - to PSA of Singapore. DP World, Dubai, which is already operating a terminal at the port, is setting up another facility at a cost of about Rs. 1,000 crore. The port is also developing a Special Economic Zone, which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister last month.

KBR bags contract from Fertial for construction of 2 ammonia plants.

The US-based EPC company KBR Inc has been awarded a contract by Fertial SpA to provide licensing and basic engineering design services to revamp Fertial�s Annaba and Arzew ammonia plants in Algeria. Under the terms of the contracts, KBR will supply Fertial its proprietary ammonia technology to significantly increase the production capacity of the Annaba and Arzew plants while simultaneously helping Fertial increase energy efficiency and overall reliability. Jorge Requena, Chief Executive Officer, Fertial, said, "Fertial has embarked on an ambitious plan to revamp its ammonia plants in Algeria and we are very pleased to enter into a contract with KBR to help us achieve our strategic objectives." Considered a world leader in ammonia technology, KBR has been involved in the licensing, design, engineering and/or construction of more than 230 ammonia plants worldwide. "This contract is a testament to KBR's expertise in the ammonia industry. We are pleased to continue our work with Fertial as it expands its Annaba and Arzew ammonia plants," said Stuart Bradie, KBR President and Chief Executive Officer.

L& T Hydrocarbon wins orders worth Rs. 1,920 cr.

L& T Hydrocarbon Engineering, a fully-owned subsidiary of L&T, has secured orders worth Rs. 1,920 crore from domestic oil and gas majors. An offshore contract worth Rs. 1,340 crore from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), includes engineering, procurement, construction and installation of five wellhead platforms at the Mumbai High North field. The project, a part of ONGC's strategy to re-develop Phase-III of Mumbai High North to enhance production from the existing reservoirs, is scheduled for completion by March 2016. In the onshore segment, it has secured a contract valued at about Rs. 580 crore from a leading company engaged in hydrocarbon downstream processing. The contract involves engineering, procurement and construction of a dual service cryogenic storage tank facility suitable for liquid ethane and liquefied natural gas and engineering work for the balance of the facilities to be installed at the manufacturing complex.

WhatsApp may soon get free voice calling

NEW YORK: If media reports are to be believed, mobile messaging service WhatsApp is set to launch a free voice calling feature for its 600 million active users. 

Recent changes in the interface of the app suggests the feature is coming soon. 

"The leaked images of the upcoming user interface shows that the app has been enabled with other language translations which will be displayed at the time a person receives a call via WhatsApp," a report on thefusejoplin.com stated. 

The translation feature available in the latest version of WhatsApp has made it clear that the voice calling plug-in is on its way. 

While the voice calling feature is all set to be released on WhatsApp, there is no update if there is going to be a similar feature on Facebook, it added. 

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has witnessed a 15% rise in its traffic since the acquisition. 

WhatsApp has crossed 50 million active users in India alone.