MTNL to launch Rs 100 monthly rental
New Delhi: MTNL is launching new schemes with a monthly rental of Rs 100. There will be no charge for caller line identification services. Call charges will be Rs 1.90 for a one-minute call. The new tariff scheme will be available to the customers from Wednesday, according to an MTNL spokesperson. MTNL is also targeting its existing 40 lakh landline subscribers in Delhi and Mumbai by offering them telephony at zero activation fee. For others, one-time activation fee is Rs 500.

Under another scheme, which will also be launched on Wednesday, MTNL is offering calls worth Rs 300 free with a monthly commitment of Rs 300. This means that the subscribers will not be required to pay any rental under this scheme. This scheme directly competes with the prepaid schemes of all the operators. Currently, more than 70 per cent of the new cellular subscribers take prepaid connections. The idea to make post-paid schemes more attractive than the prepaid schemes, said the MTNL spokesperson.
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A-C sector may not meet 25% target
New Delhi: The retail segment of the air-conditioning sector grew by 10-12 per cent in April-July 2003-04. But the industry is unlikely to meet its target of 25 per cent growth of the segment for the financial year, industry sources were quoted as saying. Factors like the 20-day long truckers strike which paralysed the industry in April, the peak time for A-C sales, and a mild summer in May in the northern parts of the country (which accounts for 45 per cent of the industry's sales) negated the excise relief brought by the Union budget.

"About 17-18 per cent of the season's sales take place in April. The industry was hoping to recover its volumes in May, which did not happen because of the not-so-hot summer in the North. Also the net reduction in excise duty has been only to the tune of 3.6 per cent of the MRP, which is quite small," Voltas general manager
K D Virmani reportedly said.
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Bajaj to launch out twin-plug Pulsar in October
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto will become the first Indian two-wheeler company to adopt a twin spark plug in its engine with its Pulsar. Initially, the Pulsar 180cc will feature the new engine before it finds its way into the Pulsar 150cc. The technology is expected to pep up the engine from 15 bhp to 16 bhp and fuel efficiency by around 10 per cent. The price of the new Pulsar will go up by about Rs 2,000.

"The new technology will ensure better internal combustion which in turn will reduce fuel wastage. It will be a more powerful bike that will also give the added benefit of improved fuel efficiency," R L Ravichandran, vice-president, marketing and business development, was quoted as saying. The new engine has been developed entirely in-house.
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Hughes clinches $100-million Lucent 3G order
New Delhi: Hughes Software Systems Ltd (HSS), a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics (HE), has reportedly bagged a massive order valued at $100 million for the supply of software and services for 3G mobile equipment to Lucent Technologies, USA. HSS, which has a strategic relationship with Lucent, has become a key beneficiary of the recent $1 billion contract bagged by US-based Lucent from Sprint PCS for the supply of 3G mobile equipment.

Earlier this year, HSS had announced a multiyear outsourcing relationship with Lucent Technologies by virtue of which HSS took over as many as 186 employees from Lucent. About 55 per cent of these were based out of Bangalore and the rest in Germany.
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Apollo International ventures into pension funds
New Delhi: Apollo International, part of the Rs 2,300-crore Apollo group headed by Onkar S Kanwar, is venturing into pension funds. For this it has partnered with the Principal group of the US. The company is investing Rs 26 crore in the joint venture. Sunil Tandon, managing director, Apollo International, has said that the company is planning to start operations in six months' time, that is if all goes as per plans.

The recent announcement by the government to open pension schemes to both organised and the unorganised sectors on a voluntary basis has further boosted the company's plans for getting into this sector. "We are also looking forward to delinking the pension scheme from Insurance Development Regulatory Authority's regulations, which the government is working on," said Tandon. But the company has no imminent plan of creating a separate asset management company at this stage to take care of the pension fund.
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Maruti sales down 4.2% in August
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has reported a 4.2 per cent dip in sales in August due to lower production following a prolonged strike at one of its major component suppliers. The company sold 32,127 vehicles in the month against 33,537 units in August last year. While domestic sales declined by 3.2 per cent to 29,443 units, exports went down by 13.2 per cent to 2,684 units. However, cumulative (April-August 2003) sales stood higher by 40.6 per cent at 1,77,925 vehicles against 1,26,529 units a year ago.

"As informed last month, production at Maruti was affected owing to a strike at our major vendor, DCM Engineering, which supplies the bulk of our requirement of an important engine component," a company press release said. "Although alternative arrangements are being made, a shortfall with respect to our requirement continues."
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Tata Ryerson to invest Rs 100 crore
Kolkata: Tata Ryerson, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and Ryerson-Tull, will be investing Rs 100 crore in setting up new facilities and distribution centres.

Tata Ryerson managing director Sandipan Chakravortty said as part of the growth strategy, the company has also planned to acquire the entire warehousing and stockyards of Tata Steel, which will be part of this investment. Tata Steel presently has around 16 stockyards.
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