Maruti offers extended warranty
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog would provide an optional extended warranty cover for the third and fourth year on all its cars purchased from 1 April.

The extended warranty for the third and fourth year will be available for a nominal extra charge. It will be honoured at all the 1,830 authorised service outlets and workshops of Maruti.

At present, Maruti provides two years warranty on all the vehicles from the date of purchase.

The new warranty scheme would give two options to its customers. Either, the customers can avail of the extended warranty for one additional year or 20,000 km, whichever is earlier, from the date of purchase or they can opt for extended warranty for two years or 40,000 km whichever comes first.
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ICICI Bank to diversify portfolio
Mumbai: The strategy of ICICI Bank after the merger with ICICI Ltd will be that of building a diversified portfolio to de-risk the company.

While the merged entity will continue to be into project finance, the focus will be to tap the potential in-retail financing.

The merged entity will start with a retail portfolio of 10 per cent.

After the merger, the branch network is expected to increase by 25-50 per cent in the next year, the thrust will be to beef up virtual channels such as Internet and call centres.
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Century Flour eyes branded wheat segment
Chennai: Century Flour Mills Ltd, which has tied up with ConAgra, USA, expects to expand its presence in the branded wheat products segment during the current year.

The company has been awarded the ISO 9001: 2000 by TUV Suddeutschland AG, Munich, Germany, for good manufacturing practices and quality.

The company has set up a 1,000-tonne silo in addition to the existing 500-tonne facility at its plant in Perambur, Chennai.
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Gillette India posts Rs 28-cr loss
New Delhi: Gillette India Ltd has reported a net loss of Rs 27.79 crore for the year 2001. The company has, however, announced a dividend at the rate of 22.5 per cent from the accumulated profits after offsetting the fiscal losses for 2001.

A statement issued by the company said that the net loss was mainly on account of one-time costs of Rs 60.64 crore incurred by the company on the closure of the Duracell plant at Manesar. Sales revenue in fiscal 2001 touched Rs 495 crore.
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Prescription footwear launched
Hyderabad: Pedoright Footcare Private Ltd, a Hyderabad-based company specialising in healthcare footwear and footcare products for diabetics, pregnant women, leprosy and orthopaedic patients, has launched these products.

These specially designed footwears are also useful for common people and help in avoiding health complications of an orthopaedic nature.

The products are odour-free and microbe-free. The price varies from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000.
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Usha Intl forays into inverter mkt
New Delhi: Usha International has unveiled digital inverter to enter the Rs 200-crore inverter market in the country.

The product is an extension of Ushas efforts to upgrade its brand image by adding product lines that reflect high technology and modernity. These models come with a promise of higher and consistent back-up time, low running costs - save up to 70 per cent in electricity bills, higher efficiency battery charging with increased battery life and ensure longer life of appliances.

The digital inverters, which have been launched under the sub-brand Usha Zentra and priced at affordable rates, will be available in a range of colours.

The product will be initially launched in North India and the company is targeting a sale of 15,000-20,000 pieces in the first year.
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Toyota Kirloskar lines up top segment cars
Bangalore: Toyota Kirloskar Motors is looking at completing the homologation process at the Pune test centre to launch the D segment Camry and a trendier Qualis later this year.

Qualis is targeted to sell 30,000 units this year, up from 28,509 units in 2001.

TKM has sought FIPB go-ahead for paying the royalty and technical knowhow fee for upgrading the Qualis. A new peppier looking vehicle with some new frills is expected to be out in the market in the second half of this year.
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Royal Sports launches 3 US apparel brands
New Delhi: Royal Sporting House has lunched three American footwear and apparel brands in India.

These are the LA Gear, Umbro and New Balance brands.

With the introduction of these brands, RSH has also launched 13 showrooms in India, besides entering into a collaboration with Shoppers Stop.

The Shoppers Stop outlets at Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chandigarh would showcase shoes, apparels and sports equipment distributed by RSH.
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GKB Vision to launch multi-focal lenses
Panaji: GKB Vision will launch progressive multi-focal lenses in next three months.

These lenses so far have been imported and it is for the first time that they shall be made in India.

GKB vision is the original plant of Ratio Optiks, pioneers in manufacturing bifocals, aspheric and progressive lenses which was acquired and shifted to Goa as it was on the verge of closure on account of high labour cost in Germany.
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