MONEYMAKERS

FUIELLING SUCCESS:
Ballard Power Systems of Canada has
entered into big
league by tying up
with Daimler-Benz
of Germany. The
latter recently announced that it will
invest US $290 million in Ballard's
technology, which aims at generating
non-polluting energy in both stationary power plants and cars. Under
the agreement, Benz will form
two joint ventures with a 25 per
cent stake in ballard. The alliance
will help Ballard to mass-produce
fuel cells for cars. These cells can coniwert methanol, natural gas or hydrogen into iisal;le electricity without
generating yater vapour as exhaust.

FUNGAL REMEDY: A new fungicide
developed by the UK-based Zeneca
has been approved by the US for use
on crops. It is based on naturally occurring fungicides called strobilurins, which are found in some
species of wood mushrooms. The
Environmental Protection Agency of
the US has registered the fungicide
Abound for use on grapes, pecans,
peanuts, peaches and bananas.
Abound is expected to touch sales of
US $500 million, which would make
it one of the biggest selling products
for Zeneca.

JOINT PROGRESS: In an attempt to
strengthen their base in the Indian
pharmaceutical market, Hoechst
I* Marion Roussel, a
German multina
NW tional company, has
tied up with Ran
baxy Laboratories
(India) for a range
of antibiotics and
anti-ulcer products. Antibiotics constitute over 16 per cent of Ranbaxy's
turnover. Its key brands include
Cifran (for typhoid and skin infections) and Roscillin, a semi-synthetic
penicillin. Hoechst is also planning
to forge an alliance with Lupin
Laboratories in the anti-tuberculosis
drug sector.

ALTERNATE VEHICLES: Ford Motors of
the US has planned to make 250,000
Ranger compact pickup trucks,
Windstar minivans and Taurus
sedans fitted with flexible fuel
engines that allow them to run
on both ethanol and gasoline. The
company plans to introduce the
flexible fuel scheme gradually over
a period of three to four years.
The cost of converting engines to
the new technology would be about
US $75 million for all 250,000
vehicles. Ford also sells limited
number of vehicles running on
methanol and ethanol.

MARCHING AHEAD: Biona, the
natural pharmaceutical products
division of Hyderabad-based Biological E Limited, is all set to extend
its marketing base to the northern
parts of the country. The company
has already launched its products
in the southern and
western regions. Its
natural products
include Remember,
a memory enhancer, X-Pain, a pain
reliever and Young
and Fit, a restorative for body and mind. "We win
be launching our products in
the northern part by July end
and hopefully in the eastern
region by the year end," said S
Ramachandran, in-charge of the
products division.

PREMIUM PELLETS: A fuel pellet plan1to
be set up in Vijaywada, Andhra
Pradesh, by Zen Global group of
companies, aims at making use of
200 tonnes of municipal solid
waste per day. The plant has a capacity of 60 tonnes per day, and
will make use of refuse-derived fuel
technology. The pellets would be
used in industrial boilers and they
will have only one to five per cent of
ash content. The company claimed
that tests carried out in different
industries proved that 22 per cent
fuel saving can be achieved by mixing
pellets and coal.