MONEYMAKERS
sip in success: Dalmia Industries Ltd (DIL) has come up with a new cure for students having problems with remembering things. They have launched a memory drug Learnol, which is packaged both as a capsule and a child-friendly drink. It is an enriched potion containing the highly potent extracts of Brahmi ( Bacopa monnieri ), an ancient Indian herb, in a tasty milk and cereal nutritional base. DIL claimed that Learnol promotes mental health including learning ability, concentration and overall mental growth. A daily intake of 10 gm of Learnol for six months starts producing results.
pure drink: Brita Wasser-Filter Systeme GmbH, a leading manufacturer of water filters in Germany, is all set to flood the Indian market by tying up with Usha Shriram. The water filters of the new joint venture will be tested in the market this month and introduced next year. The production capacity is estimated to be around 45,000 pieces per month. According to a company spokesperson, the filters would be priced lower than the other filters available in the market. Brita will be supplying the technical know-how for the production of the filters in India.
green repellant: Hyderabad-based Biotissue Laboratories (BTL) will soon introduce a new weapon to fight the mosquito menace: a genetically-engineered plant, Citrosa, that can repel mosquitoes. The plant is a cross between geranium and the grass of China. Citrosa has been developed by a Dutch horticulturist. BTL has tied up with Fidari Pedro Plant Co of the Netherlands and Norwa Laboratory of Poland for transferring tissue culture technology, with exclusive rights in India, for producing the wonder plant. Each plant will be sold at a cost of Rs 250.
oriental base: The Chinese biotechnology sector will get a fillip with the entry of Novo Nordinsk AS of Denmark which will open a US $10 million research and development centre in Beijing. The state-of-the-art centre will provide advanced technology and strengthen local research activities in the fields of industrial enzymes and diabetes care products. Nordinsk will invest a total of US $250 million over the next few years in China, primarily on the production plant in the coastal city of Tianjin. The plant will start production of enzymes in 1998.
gas gains: Gas sales in North America are going to be more competitive with the alliance of Westcoast Energy Inc of Vancouver, British Columbia and Coastal Corp of Houston, US. The companies have agreed to combine their natural-gas marketing operations to create North America's fourth-largest seller of gas. Both Coastal and Westcoast own extensive gas-gathering, storage and pipeline networks and market a combined 6.9 billion cubic feet of gas a day.
for a bigger byte: With the launching of its first line of desktop personal computers (PC), Toshiba Corp of Japan is all set to give other PC giants a run for their money. Toshiba, which has a strong hold in the notebook-computer market, has introduced three machines at prices ranging from US $1,700 to US $2,800.
Its most expensive model is equipped with a 200 megahertz Pentium microprocessor alongwith 32 megabytes of internal memory and three-gigabyte hard-disk drive, which is double the capacity of comparably priced machines.