India's Lanco Infra to provide power equipment for Maharashtra
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NEW DELHI, July 30 Asia in Focus - Infrastructure firm LANCOINFRATECH (BSE:532778) on Thursday said it has bagged acontract from MAHARASHTRA STATE POWER GENERATION COMPANY forsupplying equipment for the company\'s power plant at Nagpur inMaharashtra. Lanco Infratech has bagged a contract fromMaharashtra State Power Generation Co Ltd (Mahagenco) forbalance of plant (BOP) package for three new units of 660 MWeach being set up for Mahagenco\'s Koradi Thermal power Plantnear Nagpur, an official statement said.

* The scope of work includes supply, civil work and servicesincluding erection, testing & commissioning of complete balanceof plant package, including major packages like coal handling,ash handling, de-mineralised water plant, cooling towers, fueloil handling, compressed air system and water treatment etc.

* However, the company did not divulge the financial detailsof the contract.

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China Everbright Bank plans to list in Shanghai on Aug 18
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BEIJING, July 30 Asia in Focus - The Beijing-based CHINAEVERBRIGHT BANK plans to raise 20 billion yuan (about US$2.9billion) in its initial public offering (IPO), and will belisted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 18, accordingto a media report. An anonymous source disclosed thatEverbright Bank may release its IPO prospectus on Friday andinitiate its road show for the IPO next week.

* The China Securities Regulatory Commission on Mondayapproved the initial public offering (IPO) application of ChinaEverbright Bank.

* The Beijing-based bank would sell, at most, 6.1 billionshares in its IPO, or up to 7 billion shares if anover-allotment option is exercised, to expand the deal by 15percent.

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Chinese wireless search market crosses 400 mln queries a day
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BEIJING, July 30 Asia in Focus - The volume of China\'swireless search market reached 401.3 million times a day in thesecond quarter of this year, up 9.6 per cent from the previousquarter, according to market research firm ANALYSYSINTERNATIONAL. Analysys International analyst Ren Yanghui saidthat the wireless search market experienced a stable growthover the past three quarters with no fluctuation.

* The traffic of page refresh of the wireless search fromthe final quarter of 2009 to the second quarter of 2010maintained stable at about 200 million times.

* Analysys believes that the continuous growth of wirelesssearch is mainly boosted by two factors:

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India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp earns US$788 mln Q2 profit
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NEW DELHI, July 30 Asia in Focus - State-owned OIL ANDNATURAL GAS CORP (ONGC) (BSE:500312) on Thursday reported a24.5 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 3,661.14 crore(US$788 million) for the quarter ended June 30, as its fuelsubsidy payout jumped nearly 12-folds. The company had reporteda net profit of Rs 4,847.92 crore in the same period previousfiscal year.

* "ONGC paid Rs 5,515 crore in April-June quarter towardsfuel subsidies as against Rs 429 crore in the year-ago period,"Company\'s chairman and managing director R S Sharma saidhere.

* Upstream firms like ONGC and OIL meet one-third of therevenue retailers lose on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPGand PDS kerosene below cost.

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India's Hero Honda sees June qtr profit edge down to US$106 mln
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NEW DELHI, July 30 Asia in Focus - H\'it by rising commodityprices, the country\'s largest two-wheeler maker HERO HONDA(BSE:500182) on Thursday reported 1.68 per cent decline in itsprofit after tax for the quarter ended June 30, at Rs 491.69crore (US$106 million). The company had posted profit after taxof Rs 500.11 crore in the same period last fiscal year.

* Total turnover during quarter stood at Rs 4,296.61 croreas against Rs 3,829.16 crore in the year-ago period, up 12.21per cent, the company said in a statement.

* "It was a challenging quarter for the bottomline due torise in commodity prices. Switching over to the new emissionnorms also added to expenditure, even as we witnessedsubstantial increase in input costs in the first half of thequarter," Hero Honda managing director and CEO Pawan Munjalsaid.

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Indian BPO firm Genpact books 6.2% slump in Q2 net
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NEW DELHI, July 30 Asia in Focus - India\'s leading BPO firmGENPACT on Thursday reported a decline of 6.2 per cent in netincome at US$27.8 million for the second quarter ended June 30,2010, as against Q2 of last fiscal year. The company had netincome of US$29.7 million in the April-June quarter of 2009,Genpact said in a statement.

* Its revenues rose 12.7 per cent to US$307.6 million, upfrom US$272.9 million during Q2 2009.

* The company generated US$30 million cash from operationsin the second quarter of 2010, down from US$49 million in thesecond quarter of 2009.

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Uzbekistan Railways launches new line
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TASHKENT, July 30 Asia in Focus - UZBEKISTAN RAILWAYS SJSChas launched an 114 km-long electrified Tukimachi-Angrenrailway line, linking Tashkent with the town of Angren.Government representatives, Uzbekistan Railways\' management andemployees, and foreign diplomats including ambassadors fromChina, Germany and Kuwait, participated in the launch ceremony,according to news agency UzA.

* The Tukimachi-Angren railway line project is worth US$85.4million and built through credit funds from German developmentbank KFW and KUWAIT FUND OF ARAB ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

* Chinese, German, Latvian and Russian companiesparticipated in the electrification project, which will reducecosts and improve the region\'s environmental situation.

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India's SAIL sess profit plunge on lower steel sales
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NEW DELHI, July 30 Asia in Focus - The Indian state-ownedSTEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA LIMITED (SAIL, BSE:500113) on Thursdaysaid its profit for the first quarter of the current fiscalyear declined by 11.55 per cent to Rs 1,176.55 crore (US$253million) mainly due to lower sales and high input costs. "Inthe first quarter, the input cost was up by 42-45 per cent thanthe year-ago period. Our sales in terms of volume was down by0.46 million tonnes at 2.32 million tonnes. Besides this, therewas a performance-related pay to our employees for the lastthree years, which amounted to Rs 299 crore. This has alsoreflected in our results," SAIL chairman C.S. Verma said.

* The country\'s largest steel maker had posted a net profitof Rs 1,330.43 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

* SAIL quantified the increase in input cost at Rs 556crore, of which Rs 368 crore was on account of imported coal.

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Sri Lankan power generator Hemas increases June qtr profit 967%
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COLOMBO, July 30 Asia in Focus - Sri Lanka\'s HEMAS POWERsaid net profit for the June 2010 quarter shot up 967 per centto 80 million rupees (US$710,800) from a year ago, based on asharp increase in earnings from hydropower. Sales of thecompany, a unit of the HEMAS HOLDINGS GROUP, fell five per centto 729 million rupees owing to lower thermal power revenue, thecompany\'s stock exchange filing said.

* "The reduction arose mainly from an 11 per cent reductionin revenue at Heladhanavi," said Hemas Power\'s managingdirector, Kishan Nanayakkara.

* "However, the excellent performance of the hydropowersector, reflecting a 405 per cent increase in revenue betweencomparative quarters, helped to nullify this impact to somedegree."

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S Korean tire maker Kumho sees 160% surge in Q2 earnings
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SEOUL, July 30 Asia in Focus - South Korea\'s second-largesttiremaker KUMHO TIRE CO. (KSE:073240) said Friday itssecond-quarter earnings jumped from three months earlier onstrong global demand and cost-cutting efforts. Kumho Tireearned 53.9 billion won (US$45.5 million) in the April-Juneperiod, up 160.4 per cent from 20.7 billion won in the firstquarter, when it swung back into the black for first time inover a year, the company said in a regulatory filing. It posteda net loss of 113.2 billion won in the second quarter of lastyear.

* Sales rose 34.1 per cent year-on-year to 628 billion wonin the second quarter. From three months earlier, revenueincreased 7.1 per cent, the company said.

* Operating profit more than tripled from the first quarterto 66.9 billion won, also a major turnaround from its 44.9billion won loss a year earlier, it added.

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