Targeting NRI customers, GV Films Ltd. plans to begin web-casting of movies from Chennai from January 19, followed by further launches in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Singapore.

The web-casting division is expected to commercially exploit the library of about 6,000 films, for which the company holds Internet rights. Speaking to this newspaper from Madurai, the company’s COO V. Subramanian said GV Films would provide the content and marketing expenses. Thrushya would provide the web-casting technology and the Singapore-based OneNet would host the content.

The target audience for this initiative would be the 20 million Indian diaspora spread across the world. "We will be charging three types of subscription fees from the customers. The first will be $100 for a year, in which subscribers can enjoy movies without advertisements; in the second type of subscription, the company would charge $50 a year for movies that will have few advertisements, while the third set at $30 per year will have more of advertisements," Mr Subramanian said.

The revenue will be shared by three companies, OneNet will get 18 per cent share, Thrushya will get 39 per cent and the remaining revenue will go to the GV Films. The Chennai-based company has Internet rights for 4,000 plus Tamil movies and the remaining 2,000 movies are in Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam.

House of Pearl Fashions Ltd., a ready-to-wear apparel company, is embarking on a major expansion drive by increasing its production capacity from 20 million pieces to 40 million pieces a year in three years. The company is also entering the niche retail space.

"We plan to enter into the retail space with our own outlets and through strategic acquisitions in foreign countries. We will focus on the niche youth fashion segment with accessories like shoes, sunglasses and other related products," said Palak Seth, vice-chairman of the company.

The company is likely to outsource accessories from China. To part-finance its the expansion, the company is entering the capital market with a public issue of 59.85 lakh equity shares through a book building process.

The price band of the issue has been fixed between Rs 525 and Rs Rs 600 per equity share.

Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said on Thursday that there is a limit up to which Vodafone can go to acquire a stake in Hutch Essar.

Reacting to the reports that Hutch Essar could be valued up to $21 billion, Mr Sarin said that there is only a certain valuation to which Vodafone will go and not beyond it. Mr Sarin told reporters on the last day of his two-day visit to India that the company is looking at various prospective allies and called Essar a natural partner.

Mr Sarin said that the company is talking to several companies. "We will see who we can have as partner on a long-term basis," he added. Mr Sarin said the company is also open to partnership with other suitors including Reliance Communications.

Mr Sarin said he would come back to India in the next few weeks but gave no time frame for a formal bid to acquire Hutch Essar.

Meanwhile, in another development Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani on Thursday met finance minister P. Chidambaram and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran. Mr Ambani didn’t say anything to the media about his meetings. Even the official spokespersons of the two ministries refused to say anything on these meetings. It is being presumed that Mr Ambani briefed the two ministers about Reliance Communications plans and to gain government’s support in its endeavour.