JD Power survey: Maruti and Skoda at the top
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has been ranked the highest in automotive sales satisfaction followed by Skoda and Fiat, according to the latest consumer survey conducted by research firm J D Power Asia-Pacific.

Maruti jumped two positions over the last year's rankings followed by Skoda and Fiat. Ford was ranked fourth followed by Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Opel. Toyota, Tata Motors, Honda Siel and M&M were at the bottom of the list. The study, the fifth in the series, examined satisfaction level of over 3,600 new-vehicle buyers at the time of purchase.
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Reliance to tap Europe for its polyester fibre
Chennai: Reliance Industries has begun to explore market opportunities in the European construction industry for its modified polyester fibre. It has made a "soft launch" in West Asia and carried out a test market in some European countries.

Modified polyester fibre is used for improving the quality and longevity of concrete. Reliance markets it in India under the brand name, Recron 3S.

The Indian construction industry has not yet taken to polyester fibre in a big way. Currently, Reliance is the only domestic manufacturer of polyester fibre for construction, and is able to sell it at a one-fourth the price of imported products. Reliance's key competitors in the global market are from US and Korea.
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Maruti to hike capacity for Alto
New Delhi: The Alto has seen a sharp jump in sales this year, overtaking the company's bread-and-butter car Maruti 800 to become the largest selling car in Maruti's portfolio. In order to meet the rising demand, Maruti is planning to increase capacity for the Alto in January 2005 by de-bottlenecking the assembly line. This will result in a 2,000 units per month increase in capacity for the Alto.

In July, sales for the Alto stood at 11,111 units, while only 9,554 units of the Maruti 800 were sold. The company sold 38,997 units of the Alto and 41,428 units of the Maruti 800 in the April-July 2004 period. Demand has also soared for the Esteem, following the launch of the new Esteem at a price of Rs.4.2 lakh.

To meet the sharp increase in demand, the company will be spending about Rs.3 crore to airlift 2,000 kits for the Esteem from Japan later this month.
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Birlas file for handover of MP Birla group assets
Kolkata: Khaitan & Co, the legal firm hired by the Birlas, has filed a probate application for two wills of MP Birla and his wife signed in 1982 at the Calcutta High Court.

The Birlas have also asked for an immediate handover of the entire property of the MP Birla group to P.K. Khaitan of Khaitan & Co and Kashi Nath Tapuria, brother of Priyamvada Birla. Both of them were common executors in the two wills of MP Birla and his wife. Speaking to newspersons today, N.G. Khaitan of Khaitan & Co said that the two wills were "mutual and concurrent". While the first set was dated May 10, 1981 the second was signed on July 13, 1982.

According to these two sets of wills, the property of the MP Birla group was supposed to go either to the husband or the wife, whoever died first. After the death of both of them, the property should go to a trust and should be used for public charity. Khaitan & Co has also filed a suit alleging that Mr Lodha was neither a "rightful nor a lawful" executor of any will of Priyamvada Birla.
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LN Mittal group acquires steel co in Bosnia
New Delhi: The LN Mittal group has announced the acquisition of majority stake in BH Steel of Bosnia. The group has completed negotiations with the Government of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Kuwaiti Investment Agency to acquire 51 per cent of BH Steel in Bosnia, according to an official release.

According to the terms of agreement, LNM has agreed to increase the share capital of BH Steel by a total of $80 million and invest a minimum of $135 million in a capital expenditure programme over the next 10 years, the release added.
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Reveleus tool for CitiMortgage
Mumbai: Reveleus, a business of i-flex Solutions, is going to deploy its Reveleus Mortgage Analytics at CitiMortgage and CitiFinancial Mortgage Lending businesses. The release did not elaborate on the size of the contract.
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HCL's NeoPod to hit the market
Pune: HCL Infosystems has launched the new MP3 player - the NeoPod - in the domestic market. The new player would come in with preloaded songs, including local language songs.

The MP3 player has a memory size between 10 GB and 20 GB and is priced at Rs.20, 000. The company will also launch the beanstalk neo (Rs.99,000), LCD TV (Rs.40,000), HCL digital camera and HCL MP3 device (both between Rs.15,000 and Rs.20,000) in the Pune market.

The beanstalk neo is a convergence product with a LCD screen, DVD player, VCR, a PC and a TV. The entry of these products is to boost the company's home and entertainment penetration in the market.
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Martin's launch small savings through lottery
Mumbai: Martin Lottery Agencies Ltd (MLAL), the country's largest lottery company, has rolled out a new marketing strategy by tying up with the Department of Small Savings & State Lotteries, Government of Maharashtra, as its online lottery agent. According to the company, the move would further mobilise small savings for the State government through the company's Internet-based lottery outlets.

MLAL plans to make Inlott, its Internet-based lottery system, a medium to facilitate small savings mobilisation. In each Inlott retail outlet, a separate counter would be provided for small savings mobilisations and each one would have investment advisory staff trained to handle customers, understand their requirements and accordingly suggest the right small savings scheme. Inlott, with around 3,000 installed terminals, has a sales turnover of Rs.5 crore a day with over 400 lottery draws conducted every day.

Kavitha Gupta, Commissioner of Small Savings Department of the Government of Maharashtra, pointed out that initiatives such as this will help them reach out to many potential investors who are unaware of such secure investment schemes being available. The application form would be downloaded from the Inlott terminal, and the investment advisory staff will assist the investor in filling the form. In case of National Saving Certificates and Kisan Vikas Patras schemes, the investor may exercise his option of receiving them in demat form.

Maharashtra has mobilised Rs.21,600 crore through small savings investments such as PPF, Post Office Monthly Income Schemes, Kisan Vikas Patras, National Saving Certificates, Post Office Time Deposit and Recurring Deposits for the year 2003-2004.
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Classic Diamonds plans outlet in Hong Kong
Mumbai: Classic Diamonds (India) Ltd has announced plans to open its first international exclusive retail diamond jewellery store in Hong Kong under its flagship brand, Classic Jewels, by March 2005. The store will be located in Hong Kong's high-street area Mong Kok, catering to the rich and famous.
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Mobile currency counter launched
Hyderabad: Anand's Banking Automation, a marketing agency, has introduced a new `Mobile currency counter', in two different versions.

The first version is a battery-operated gadget, which offers the flexibility of being carried around due to its compact size. The second version incorporates a currency detector to check counterfeit notes.

The product is targeted at traders, financial institutions, supermarkets, petrol stations and is priced between Rs.6,000 and Rs.8,000, according to a press release.
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