Bharti likely to slash rates by 20 paise per minute
New Delhi: Bharti may announce an acquisition by March and roll out mobile services in six new circles. "Mobile tariff in the country could also come down by 10 to 20 paise per minute airtime," says Sunil Mittal, chairman, Bharti group. The company is in talks with some banks for acquisition of firms in new circles after unified licensing regime comes in place, he said.

Asserting that the sector will see a lot of action in terms of mergers and acquisitions by March 2004, Mittal said the company is in talks with some banks over the issue, but did not reveal the plans. "Bharti is ready to start operating from six months of grant of licence." Terming 4-per cent spectrum revenue sharing as high, he said the company has allocated about Rs 600 crore for taking over six new circles. Asked about 3G, he said it will take about two-three years to arrive in India and asked the TRAI to bring stability in the market.
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Launch of Ford Endeavour delayed
New Delhi: Ford India has encountered a delay in the launch of its Endeavour sports utility vehicle (SUV). This is because the company is yet to receive approval from the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI). Ford had originally scheduled to roll out the Endeavour to dealerships by October-end and start selling the vehicle in November. That has not happened as yet. ARAI, a non-profit organisation formed by the automotive industry, is authorised by the ministry of road transport and highway to certify vehicles as fit to be used in the country.

Vinay K. Piparsania, vice-president (external affairs) and director (sales), Ford India, said the homologation at the association is taking "a bit longer than we anticipated." Piparsania said he expect the approval to come in the next one week and sales to start soon thereafter. "We had given the vehicle around July-August for the homologation. We understand it has been in queue at ARAI." An official said a delay could occur if a specification of the vehicle needs to be changed to suit Indian road conditions or if the manufacturer is required to furnish more information on the vehicle. He did not cite any reason for the delay with regard to the Endeavour.
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MUL selected to make Suzuki's new compact car
Pune: Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) has been selected to be part of a five-country new product launch programme by Suzuki Motor Corp, which has announced its New Compact Car (NCC) project on a brand new platform. Suzuki's new project envisages a brand new compact car that will be developed in Japan and manufactured across four other countries including Hungary, Thailand and India, top company sources were quoted as saying in a business paper.

They added that MUL has already commenced work on the new car, which will fit into the B segment of the car market and is scheduled to be launched in the market by end-2005. The sources, however, said that initial work on the project has already commenced, adding that MUL was in the source evaluation stage for manufacturing it in India. Suzuki is expecting to launch the new car in Japan by the second half of 2004 after which it is scheduled for staggered launches in the other four countries, India being the last stop. According to information available, the car is likely to be in the 1,100-1,300 cc range.
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Maruti to launch upgraded Grand Vitara
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog is launching an upgraded version of the Grand Vitara XL-7, making it the most powerful sports utility vehicle (SUV) in India. The new Grand Vitara XL-7 will have 2.7 litre V6 engine, with a maximum output of 166 bhp, sources close to the launch said. This is more powerful than all other SUVs in the domestic market. Like the earlier version, the new Grand Vitara XL-7 will also be imported as completely built unit (CBU) from Suzuki Motor Corporation in Japan.

Maruti had recently launched a new look Zen, which was designed and styled in-house. With the new Grand Vitara XL-7, it is trying to establish itself in the power and luxury category as well.
The new Grand Vitara XL-7 will also have some changes externally. The launch in India is part of an international launch by Suzuki.
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NDDB to invest Rs 580 crore to build up operations
Mumbai: The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is investing Rs 580 crore to strengthen its dairy cooperatives. Close to half of this investment will be for developmental activities in dairy cooperatives under the four thrust areas — developing cooperative business, enhancing productivity, managing quality and building a national information network while the balance investment will be for building processing infrastructure.

Apart from the proposed investment of Rs 580 crore, it has already invested Rs 293 crore covering 78 milk cooperative unions up to March 2003. In partnership with cooperative federations and unions, NDDB is working to raise productivity through better breeding, feeding and health care, increasing efficiencies and lowering overheads at every level of the chain.
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Record profits for Bhilai Steel this fiscal
Kolkata: Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) is all set to post record profits this year. In the first eight months of the current financial year, the plant has registered profits of Rs 1,000 crore compared with Rs 735 crore in the whole of last year. Sales turnover was at Rs 5,100 crore during the same period as against Rs 6,400 crore in the whole of last year. This included Rs 660 crore and Rs 706 crore turnover in October and November, respectively.

The plant's sales turnover in April-November 2002 was Rs 3,768 crore. The sales turnover was backed by growth in production of hot metal, crude steel and saleable steel at 17.8 per cent, 15.7 per cent and 18.9 per cent, respectively. BSP, which happened to be SAIL's top export earner, had so far despatched plates, wire rods and billets valued at Rs 515 crore compared with Rs 260 crore during the same period last year.
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Sun sells Rs 2-crore software deal
Chennai: In one of the single biggest office software deals in the world, Sun Microsystems has sold 10,000 user licences of its Star Office productivity suite to United India Insurance. The deal is valued at Rs 2 crore.

Sun outsmarted software giant Microsoft in the bargain for the deal. A similar big order in the past by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation for about 8,000 odd user licences was won by Microsoft.
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