MTNL slashes tariffs by fifty per cent
New Delhi: The State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, has announced a whopping 50 per cent reduction in STD rates for both fixed and cellular subscribers. It has also reduced local call tariffs for its mobile users by 30 to 60 per cent.

MTNL, which provides services in Mumbai and Delhi, also announced an increase in pulse duration from 60 seconds to 90 seconds for fixed-to-cell calls. This would result in a 50 per cent cost saving for subscribers.

MTNL has announced the lowest cellular tariff yet of 80 paise a minute for the post-paid users within its own network and Rs.1.20 to other cellular phones with a monthly rental of only Rs.100.

The company has also lowered STD charges to a flat rate of Rs.2.40 a minute irrespective of distance and network, an effective reduction of 50 per cent in highest distance slab. The new tariffs for pre-paid users has been pegged at 90 paise a minute within its own network and Rs.1.50 on other phones.

For calls to fixed network and WLL phones, MTNL has announced Rs.1.50 a minute for pre-paid users and Rs.1.20 for post-paid subscribers.
The new tariffs will come into effect from October 2.
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Honda to lauch Unicorn
New Delhi: Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) has announced its entry into the Indian market saying it will launch Unicorn, a four-stroke 150 cc engine bike next month.

Unicorn will be priced at Rs.50,043 (ex-showroom Delhi), Rs.50,059 (ex-showroom Mumbai), Rs.47,811 (ex-showroom Pune), Rs.50,323 (ex-showroom Bangalore) and Rs.51,124 (ex-showroom Chennai).

The company said it would launch more new bikes in the Indian market. HMSI holds a 26 per cent stake in India's largest bike maker Hero Honda Motors.
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HAL and BEL bag DPE awards for 2002-03
Bangalore: Two defence sector entities - Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics Ltd - figure among the top 10 public enterprises rated as excellent in their performance for the year 2002-03. The awards are instituted by the Department of Public Enterprises.

BEL, which achieved sales turnover of Rs.2,508 crore and net profit of Rs.261 crore, well above the targets set in the MoU during 2002-03, said it had received the excellent rating consistently for the past five years.

The companies are judged on the basis of turnover, profitability, value added per employee, return on net worth, inventory, debtors, new products, among others.
A company release said the MoU award is given to the top 10 enterprises judged for their performance against the MoU signed with the respective administrative ministry. HAL is the largest PSE under the DoDP.
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Hind Latex among the top ten
Thiruvananthapuram: Hindustan Latex Ltd has been placed among the top 10 companies from a list of 242 Central public sector undertakings on the basis of MoU (Memoranda of Understanding) targets achieved.

The company was chosen for the award based on the outstanding performance levels achieved against MoUs signed with the Centre for 2002-03. During the period under reference, it had achieved a turnover of Rs.141 crore and a profit after tax of Rs.14.14 crore.

During 2003-04, the company bettered these results by scaling up the turnover to Rs.162 crore and profit to Rs.18.4 crore. These results are the best ever posted by the company, the spokesman added.
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Tatas to sell 11 per cent in Haldia Petro
Kolkata: Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of the Tata group, has confirmed that the Tatas would sell a major portion of their stake in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd to the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) at face value.

Talking to reporters after chairing the 41st annual general meeting of Tata Tea, he said that currently the Tatas hold 14 per cent stake in Haldia Petrochemicals but it would be reduced to a "token participation" of three per cent. The rest 11 per cent would be sold to WBIDC, one of the three major co-promoters of Haldia Petrochemicals.

Tata also confirmed that he was returning to the board of Haldia Petrochemicals on the request of the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
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Tata Tea and Tetley on the look out for acquisitions
Kolkata: The Tata group is looking at fresh acquisitions for the growth of its tea business both through Tata Tea and Tetley, according to R.N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Tea Ltd.
In the last financial year, Tetley brands were launched in Russia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In the current fiscal, these brands are likely to be launched in the West Asian markets. In this context, Tata Tea and Tetley were intent on growing and for that it was open to acquisitions.

The company said that since April this year, its brands have been registering double digit growth.
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Indian Hotels look for acquisitions
Kolkata: The Tata Group is contemplating acquisitions of hotels or a chain of hotels for the Indian Hotel Co Ltd, according to its Chairman, Ratan N. Tata.

Indian Hotels, according to him, would like to start off with a minority stake and then increase it subsequently.

According to him, Indian Hotels is eying the region around the Indian Ocean rim, including Africa. In this context, he mentioned that Indian Hotels have properties in Maldives and Mauritius.
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Telecom companies offer revenue share for ADC
New Delhi: The access deficit charges (ADC) imbroglio seems to be heading towards a resolution with private telecom operators agreeing to pay the charges if it is collected in the form of revenue share instead of loading it on the calls.

The telecom regulator had earlier suggested a similar formula whereby Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will get the deficit charges from a consolidated fund pool instead of collecting it from the calls made.

In a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), T. V. Ramachandran, Director General, Cellular Operator's Association of India said, "Probably, one of the better ways of recovering a genuine access deficit would be through a percentage revenue share levy which is linked to revenues that are accounted rather than on a per call basis which is not accounted. The revenue share levies could go into a suitable fund from which disbursements could be made to all qualifying applicants as per transparently formulated rules and procedures. This method would provide good safeguards against anti-competitive actions by any of the players."

The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) has also given its consent to the idea of revenue share. If the revenue share formula is agreed upon by BSNL, consumers can expect a further reduction in call charges.

Currently, deficit charges is collected as part of the tariff from each call. Local calls, for instance, attract ADC levy of 30 paise per minute. In the proposed method, the charges will be collected just like the universal services obligation (USO) fund is collected now. All operators pay about 5 per cent of their annual revenues for the USO fund, which is disbursed by the Government as when a phone is deployed in unviable areas. ADC is also a levy imposed by TRAI for funding loss-making telephones in economically backward segments.

Operators said TRAI must ensure that the monetary support in the form of ADC to BSNL is channelled only to fund its rural obligations and does not allow BSNL or anyone else to use ADC to predate on competition and to subsidise non-rural operations.
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TVS Electronics launches thermal printer
Chennai: TVS Electronics, computer peripherals manufacturer, announced its entry into the thermal printing category, with the launch of TVS Smart, a compact thermal printer.

TVS Smart is suited for billing, receipt, label, tickets and barcode printing applications for all retail, transportation and logistics customers, says a press release. Priced at Rs.13,500, it comes with a one-year, on-site warranty.

The advantages of thermal printers include high speed, low noise, compactness and low maintenance. In addition, thermal printing technology does not require additional consumables such as toner or ink ribbon.
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Siemens to invest Rs.100 crore
Mumbai: Siemens has announced that it would be investing around Rs.100 crore in India towards expansion of its factory infrastructure in the areas of transportation, power and information technology.

The company is also open to making investments in terms of acquisitions in the areas of manufacturing, engineering and software.

These investments would be part of the $500 million (around Rs.2,250 crore) that Siemens AG decided in 2002, to invest in India, he said. The Rs.100 crore investment would constitute the first phase of this larger investment plan.

A new traction motor factory in its existing manufacturing area in Kalwa (Maharashtra), extension of its manufacturing base in Nashik to produce invertors, a new software development centre in Bangalore, doubling of capacity at its medium voltage factory in Kalwa and expansion of its switchgear factory in Aurangabad are on the cards.

Siemens won a Rs.483 crore order last year for supply of the complete electrical equipment including the traction package for Mumbai suburban trains.
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Tata group to make fresh investments in Bengal
Kolkata: The Tata group is looking at fresh investments in West Bengal and is also setting up a cancer hospital on the occasion of the birth centenary celebrations of JRD Tata and Naval Tata.

This was announced by Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata group, at the 41st AGM of Tata Tea. He said that the group felt it had not done much for the State, hence the plan to set up the hospital.

Once the hospital comes up, it would be the first such speciality hospital to be set up by the Tatas outside Mumbai. According to Tata, the details of the hospital are being finalised in consultation with the top brass of the Mumbai-based Tata Memorial Hospital.

In this context, he said that the Tata group was looking at fresh investments in the State. He added that Budhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Chief Minister, wanted to know whether the Tatas could invest in the auto sector or in production of automobile components. Tata said that no final decision has been taken and that the proposal would be examined by the group.
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Maruti on vendor consolidation drive
Hyderabad: Maruti Udyog Ltd has embarked on a major vendor consolidation process that has helped cut costs and pass them on to customers.

From about 500 vendors, the number has been drastically cut. While it was about 230 in 2002, it has gone up to about 299 in 2003. This has been further slashed to 217 as of 2004.

Maruti also said that it expects to cross the 300-dealer mark shortly. The overall volume for cars continues to expand in the country across various markets and Andhra Pradesh is one of the fastest growing State.

The company said, that with the roll out of the New Esteem and the Baleno in the A3 segment it was averaging over 3,000 cars a month and this segment continues to expand. Sales of the New Esteem has almost doubled and it is selling about 2,300 Esteems a month and about 700 Balenos.
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Toyota sales up 20 per cent over last year
Bangalore: Toyota Kirloskar has said that its largest selling vehicle, Qualis, sold 20 per cent more units between January and August this year compared with the same period a year ago.

In a press statement, the car maker said during the first eight months, Qualis sold 24,153 units but during August this year, Qualis sold 2,562 units, 45 less than the same month last year.

Corolla sold 6,837 units during the first eight months but during August this year, it sold 741 units, nearly 11 per cent less than the same month last year. Camry's sales for August were flat at 57 units.

Cumulative sale of Toyota vehicles in 2004 currently stands at 31,644, a 22 per cent growth over the corresponding period in 2003.
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BSNL adds 6.2 lakh customers in August
New Delhi: The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has created a record by adding 6.2 lakh mobile subscribers in August, making it the highest month-on-month addition by any GSM operator ever since cellular telephony was introduced in the country.

Reliance Infocomm, a CDMA-based operator, however, still holds the record for the largest number of new subscribers in a month across all mobile segments. The company added over 10 lakh new users in July last year.

The feat takes BSNL's subscriber base to 68 lakh, making it the third-largest operator after Reliance Infocomm and Bharti Tele-Ventures, which have 87 lakh and 82 lakh subscribers, respectively.

BSNL had lost out to other operators in the last few months since it ran out of capacity. The company is now rolling out 120 lakh new cellular lines across the country and is aiming at taking the number one slot by the year-end.

According to the Cellular Operators Association of India, GSM continues to hold 79 per cent of the total mobile market and the GSM additions in August represent 85 per cent of all new additions. The trend clearly is in line with international trends, where GSM continues to be the predominant choice of customers globally.

That the mobile revolution is going beyond the metros is indicated by the fact that Circle B States of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have now overtaken the four metro cities in terms of subscriber base. While Circle B States have 94 lakh cellular users, metros account for 92 lakh. However, Delhi continues to be the single-largest market, with a subscriber base of 35 lakh. Circle A States, comprising Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, have the highest concentration of mobile users, with 118 lakh subscribers.
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