Indian software giant Wipro Limited has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire US-based NerveWire Inc, an IT consulting company offering financial services, for about $18.7 million.

NerveWire Inc, with a team of over 90 domain experts and IT consultants primarily in the US and offering financial services to clients in the security services, trading/investment management, banking, insurance and high tech industries as well as private clients, would bring to Wipro more than 40 client relationships with over 20 active engagements.

Commenting on the acquisition, Girish Paranjpe, President, Financial Services, Wipro Technologies said, "In the last 12 months we have built momentum in our financial services business through marquee client wins and demonstrated execution excellence.

"The team of 90 plus consultants from NerveWire bring in deep domain knowledge and strong customer relationships. We believe this acquisition will be a strong catalyst for growth by creating better customer value," Paranjpe said.

NerveWire provides strategy and business case development, business requirements definition, IT strategy and programme management, business and technology architecture development, package and technology analysis and selection, and systems development and integration.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, April 24, 2003

State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and Oriental Bank of Commerce are all set to put up overseas banking units (OBUs) in Special Economic Zones, expectedly from June this year.

10 applications for OBUs, out of which five are from SBI, two each from ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda and one from OBC, have been approved.

The units have been permitted to accept funds from Non-resident Indians and individuals.

Government has also allowed OBUs in one SEZ to fund units located in another SEZ, he said.

He said Government had not received any application from foreign banks. Foreign banks had sought to be allowed to lend overseas.

Reserve Bank of India had recently issued guidelines for the banks, either in private or public sector, to set up OBUs with a minimum capital of $10 million.

The interest of banks to set up OBUs also comes in the wake of India's ambitious target of attaining $80 billion exports or one per cent of global trade by 2007.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, April 23, 2003

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Thursday said it has discovered gigantic oil reserves, west of the Vasai gas field, off the Mumbai coast.

The Vasai West is estimated to contain 240 million barrels of in-place oil plus oil-equivalent gas, a company statement said.

"ONGC made six new discoveries, at Vasai West (oil and gas) in Western Offshore, GS-49 (gas) and GS-KW (oil and gas) in Krishna Godavari offshore, Chinnewala Tibba (gas) in Rajasthan, Laipling-gaon (oil and gas) and Banamali (oil) both in Assan," the statement said.

Laipling-gaon is estimated to contain 100 million barrels of in-place oil reserves.

At Chinnewala Tibba, testing indicates presence of sweet gas with more than 7000 Kcal/m calorific value, against usual range of 1250 to 3100 Kcal/m in other gas finds in Rajasthan.

ONGC's crude production in 2002-03 crossed the 26 million tonne mark, an increase of 1.3 million tonne over the production in 2001-02.

"The increase came mainly from ONGC's prime asset, the Mumbai High field, thanks to the re-development projects launched in 2001," the release said.

The company achieved highest-ever production and sales of natural gas, 24.3 billion cubic meter and 19.5 billion cubic metre respectively. Production of 3.8 million tonne of value- added products -- petrochemical feedstock, LPG, naphtha and natural gas liquids, kerosene -- also reached all-time high levels.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, April 03, 2003

Technology once again seems to be the foremost drive of growth in the Indian economy. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) - India Report 2002 has ranked computer software (services), telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and drugs, auto-motive and transport equipment and internet-related activity as the most entrepreneurial sectors of the economy. All these sectors, it notes, belong to the, "new and growing high-tech areas."

The overall picture presented by the ranking of the sectors is that entrepreneurship in India would be quite active in the years to come, in spite of the several problems with the framework conditions," it says.

In fact, the country appears to have risen above the global recession of the past few years. The GEM-India Report 2002 notes that the economy is going through a vibrant phase, with an exceptionally high rate (17.9%) of entrepreneurial activity, second only to Thailand (18.9%), among 37 countries that participated in the GEM Project 2002.

Chile is third with a score of 15.2 per cent, Korea fourth with 14.9 per cent and Argentina fifth with 14.8 per cent. India ranked higher than China, the US, Israel, Singapore, the UK and Germany.

This includes countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, the US and the UK, among others. The '02 figure of Total Entrepreneurial Activity for India at 17.9%, is 6.3% higher than the 11.6% recorded in '01, implying an over 50% growth in the level of entrepreneurial activity over the past one year. This growth rate outpaces the global average as reported by GEM, which shows a fall of 25% between '01 and '02.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 02, 2003