Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a leading drug maker, said Thursday one of company's plants has been found to be in compliance with WHO norms for making anti-AIDS products.

The WHO approval is an important prerequisite for several global ARV (anti retroviral) drugs sourcing programmes, said a company statement issued to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

WHO had invited expression of interest from manufacturers of pharmaceutical products across the globe for provision of medicines for the management of HIV-related ailments.

To participate in the programme, pharmaceutical firms are required to be pre-qualified by the WHO norms. Only the pre-qualified manufacturers may be invited to bid for the supply of the product by UN agencies or by associated NGOs.

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Avance inks outsourcing pact with US firm

Avance Technologies Ltd., a mid-size Indian tech firm, said Thursday the company has tied up with a leading business process outsourcing (BPO) consultancy firm in the US for managing call centres.

Under the agreement, US-based SES-INC will outsource call centre jobs in the subcontinent to Avance Technologies, said a statement issued to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Initially, Avance Technologies plans to set up a 200-seat call centre for a mortgage campaign for the US, said the statement, adding that the revenue from this business would be nearly $316,000 per month.

These campaigns are completely in bound with fixed dollar per hour rate and the company is looking for a suitable location to execute this work in India.

Avance Technologies is looking for an "ideal call centre" to take over for executing the job.

SES-INC has also promised to outsource other BPO jobs such as medical billing, insurance claim processing and data matching to Avance Technologies for execution in India, said the statement.

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Patel Engineering plans to raise funds

Patel Engineering Ltd. said Thursday that the company is planning to raise additional long-term resources for future expansion plans.

A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on July 6 to consider the proposal for raising funds, said a statement issued to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company had said Wednesday that it had won three contracts from the state-run National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) worth Rs.3.61 billion ($82 million) for widening and strengthening of national highways. Both these projects will be executed with a joint venture partner.

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HCL signs pact for chip technology

HCL Technologies Ltd., one of the leading IT services firms, said Thursday the company has signed an agreement to join Power.org, the movement dedicated to accelerating collaborative innovation on the Power microprocessor technology.

Power.org is dedicated to promoting the IBM Power Architecture as the preferred open-standard hardware-development platform for electronic system for consumer electronics, networking storage, and automotive industries.

The community comprises a range of leading innovators across the value chain spanning IT industry segments and consumer electronics providers, said a company statement issued here.

The Power.org partnership will enable HCL Technologies to closely align its design methodologies with the needs of designs based on the power architecture.

"The Power.org movement will allow us to dynamically influence this architecture and shorten our time to market with our design offerings and enhancements for various power architecture platforms," said Shiv Nadar, chairman and chief executive officer of HCL Technologies.

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Infosys to unveil first quarter results July 12

Infosys Technologies Ltd., the country's second largest software exporter, said Thursday that the company would announce its April-June quarterly financial results July 12.

A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held July 12 to consider audited financial results as per Indian GAAP for the first quarter ended June 30, 2005, said a statement issued to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The un-audited financial results of Infosys Technologies as per US GAAP for the first quarter would also be considered in the board meeting.