Toyota launches new Camry
Bangalore: Toyota-Kirloskar is gearing up for the launch of the latest version of the Corolla with new features such as an anti-lock braking system (ABS) and the electronic stability programme (ESP). This will be followed up by the launch of the Land Cruiser Prado.

Toyota has launched the automatic transmission version of the Camry in two variants priced at Rs17.89 lakh and Rs18.9 lakh respectively. The company expects to sell more than 1,200 units of Camry this fiscal, nearly 200 more than the previous fiscal.

The ABS and ESP features are standard features in the Corolla models sold around the world. The new Corolla is expected to be launched during the first half of 2005. Corolla commands 33 per cent share in the market and is a leader in its segment.

Toyota intends to bring in the Land Cruiser Prado as a completely built unit. The five door Prado can seat between five and eight people and has three engine sizes - 2,700 cc, 3,000 cc and 3,400 cc - which use both petrol as well as diesel. The 2004 edition of Prado is priced between $32,000 and $39,000, depending on the features of the model.
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Hyundai displays new look Sonata at Paris
Paris: Korean auto major Hyundai has displayed the Sonata with a whole new look and platform at the Paris Motor Show recently.

The car has 2, 2.4 and 2.7 litre engine options and will initially go on sale only in the US and Korea. The car is not likely to be launched in the country at least till June 2005 since it is still to develop a right hand drive model which will be a must for India and markets like the UK.

Hyundai has also displayed the Tucson, a mini-SUV, which was launched at Geneva earlier this year. Tucson is likely to hit India by December or January and will be priced at about Rs14-15 lakh.
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BHEL bags second Oman order worth Rs.115 crore
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has bagged a Rs115-crore order in Oman for three compressor packages against stiff international competition, according to a company release.

The order has been received from Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) - a joint venture company of the Government of Oman and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, Total and Partex.

BHEL would be supplying three compressor packages to be installed at Yibal, located about 500 km from Muscat.

The compressors are to be delivered by March 2006.
This is the second order for compressors received from PDO. The first compressor order, received in June for PDO's Lekhwair project, is presently under execution, the release added.
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Piaggio to expand manufacturing base
Hyderabad: Piaggio Vehicles, a subsidiary of Piaggio, Italy, has drawn up plans for the expansion of its manufacturing base aimed at making the Indian assembly line its global sourcing hub.

The company has firmed up a slew of launches including the four-wheeler Quadricycle that would take the company's turnover to Rs1,000 crore from Rs600 crore now. The expansion project would enable the company to increase production capacity from about 1,00,000 to about 1,25,000.

The expansion project would not involve significant capital expenditure but would be through vendor consolidation.

Piaggio has launched the Ape 1.3 tonner commercial vehicle, targeting the light cargo movers and by year-end it plans to launch a passenger variant of the same. The company currently accounts for about 40 per cent of market share in the commercial pickup segment and plans to do the same for the passenger segment currently led by Bajaj Auto. The Piaggio Ape one tonner has already achieved market leadership in the commercial vehicles category below one tonne and today there are over 2,00,000 Ape one tonners on the Indian roads.
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GV Films collaboration
Chennai: GV Films Ltd has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it will collaborate with St. George Films Ltd, UK, to renovate cinemas and provide all the technological inputs and investments required for the purpose.

According to the information provided to the stock exchange, GV Films is eyeing 1,000 such theatres all over the country. The proposed project calls for an investment of Rs2,000 crore.
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LG India targets $3-b export turnover by 2010
Mumbai: LG Electronics, India, which is slated to be the South Korean electronics major's export hub for West Asia and African markets, aims to touch an export turnover of $3 billion by 2010.

The company has said that there will be fresh infusion of funds over the next six years from 2005 to 2010, which will be close to $250 million.

The company's targeted turnover for 2004 is Rs7,000 crore. The company also foresees the Indian subsidiary contributing 10 per cent of the company's total worldwide turnover by 2010.

On Wednesday, the company announced operations at its Rs150-crore Ranjangaon plant, near Pune, having an installed capacity for one million colour televisions, 1,00,000 air-conditioners, one million refrigerators, 2,00,000 washing machines, 50,000 microwave ovens and 1,00,000 colour monitors.

The plant is LG India's second in the country, the first being in Greater Noida.

The Ranjangaon plant will also have a cell-phone production line operational by 2005. Total investment for this facility is pegged at $60 million by 2010, half of its planned production of 20 million units slated for export. The plant will start by making GSM phones, but may look at CDMA sets also later.

Since its entry into India in 1997, LG has invested Rs750 crore ($160 million). The total investment till 2010 is forecast at Rs1,900 crore ($410 million).
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GM sales up 69 percent for 2004
New Delhi: With the sale of a record 3,207 cars in September, the highest in a month since its inception, General Motors India has recorded over 68.5 per cent growth in the first nine months of 2004.

It sold 1,062 units of Chevrolet Optra, 1,370 units of Chevrolet Tavera, and 768 units of Opel Corsa last month.

In the first three quarters of 2004, the company sold 18,517 cars as against 10,987 in the same period last year. These included 7,344 Optras, 6,932 Opel Corsas and 4,072 units of the multi-utility vehicle (MUV) Chevrolet Tavera.
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Tata Motors total sales up 25 per cent in September
Mumbai: Tata Motors has reported a 25.1 per cent rise in total vehicles sold (including exports) to 35,406 units for September against 28,306 units in the previous corresponding month.

The company's commercial vehicle sales for the month increased by 22 per cent to 17,180 units.

In passenger vehicles, Tata Motors sold 15,926 units, an increase of 22 per cent and its highest-ever domestic sales in a single month. This included 3,816 units of the Indigo family (Sedan and Estate) and 9,256 units of Indica.

Sumo and Safari registered sales of 2,852 units for the month. Total exports for the month were 2,300 units (1,184 units for the year-ago period), according to an official statement.

For the first half of FY05, Tata Motors' total sales was up 30.3 per cent to 1,80,494 units (138,552 units).

Domestic truck sales grew by 31 per cent to 83,954 units (64,132 units), including a 36 per cent rise in medium & heavy commercial vehicle numbers to 57,895 units and a 20.5 per cent gain in light commercial vehicle numbers to 26,059 units.

Passenger vehicle sales for the first half grew by 28 per cent to 85,948 units. This included a 45 per cent increase in the Indigo family numbers to 19,166 units, a 31 per cent rise in Indica numbers to 52,456 units and a 3.5 per cent gain in Sumo and Safari numbers to 14,326 units.

First half exports totalled 10,592 units (7,416 units), a 43 per cent rise, the statement said.
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BSNL to go for undersea cable link to Lanka
Mumbai: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. is planning an undersea cable route between Chennai and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is on the route of several undersea cable systems crossing the seas from the Africa-West Asia region to South East Asia; BSNL would connect with those cables from Sri Lanka.

BSNL is getting into international long distance business in right earnest - it has already entered into direct agreements with carriers in seven countries - Italy, Canada, Singapore, Kuwait, Japan, France and Hong Kong.

BSNL's capital expenditure plan of between Rs10,000 crore and Rs12,000 crore includes a broadband deployment plan targeting 1 million customers across 200 cities by December 2005. Another plan is to take its GSM cellular subscriber base from 5 million in December 2004 to 25 milllion by December 2005. BSNL would be tendering for equipment for the purpose very soon, he said.

BSNL has also said that it would be making a series of "positive announcements" around October 14, including some on tariff rebalancing and the like.
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GSM operaters add 1.5 m subscribers in September
New Delhi: Global System for Mobile (GSM) based cellular operators have added another 1.53 million users in September to take the total subscriber base to 33.5 million. This is the highest ever increase in subscriber base recorded by cellular operators, beating the previous best of 1.5 million users in March.

Operators using the Code Division Multiple Access technology are expected to add another 4 lakh users taking the total mobile strength in the country to 41 million.

At this rate the mobile subscriber base will overtake the fixed line subscriber base, which stands at just over 42.5 million, by November end.

The biggest gainer in September was State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, which added 6.8 lakh new users. This is the second month in a row when BSNL has added more than 6 lakh new mobile subscribers.

BSNL now has the second largest subscriber base with 7.5 million mobile users.

Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd continues to top the GSM market with 8.7 million users. Bharti added over 4 lakh new subscribers during the month. Bharti has 25 per cent of the cellular market.
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AT&T's Wipro contract renewed
New Delhi: AT&T has announced that it has won a contract renewal for hosting and voice services from Wipro Technologies.

"As part of the hosting contract, Wipro's data servers will be located in AT&T Internet data centres in California and New Jersey and provide high-speed connectivity to and from Wipro's 35 offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. AT&T owns and operates 25 IDCs on four continents around the world," a release said here. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The contract expands an agreement under which AT&T has provided voice and data services to Wipro for the past five years.
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HCL Tech develops OpRisk for banks
New Delhi: HCL Technologies has developed an operational risk management and measurement engine called OpRisk Shelter to identify, measure and manage expected loss related to operational risks of a bank.

OpRisk Shelter helps banks in complying with operational risk requirements under Basel II by addressing Pillar One (calculation of capital charge) and Pillar Three (reporting requirements).

It uses the Advanced Measurement Approach (AMA) and the popular scorecard model to calculate capital charge required for operational risks, the release added.
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MindTree buys ASAP Solutions
Bangalore: IT services firm MindTree Consulting has said that it has acquired the Noida-based ASAP Solutions for an undisclosed sum in an all cash deal.

The buy-out would help MindTree expand its capabilities in areas of enterprise resource planning, client-server, Internet and integration solutions, the company said in a release.

The 120-strong ASAP Solutions focuses on implementation of SAP, maintenance, and application integration.

It also has a data management practice, through which it works with large enterprises on architecture and the maintenance of mission-critical systems.

MindTree, which has close to 1,500 people, expects its revenue to touch $50 million by the end of the current financial year. The company, which closed 2003-04 with revenue of $29.2 million, aims to grow at around 60 per cent in the current fiscal.
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Trianz buys out Eximsoft Tech
Bangalore: Trianz Consulting, a US-based business execution consulting firm, has announced the acquisition of Bangalore-based Eximsoft Technologies Pvt Ltd.

The acquisition was a total buy-out, with Trianz having acquired the stake held both by the founder members and the venture firm. Pre-merger, ICICI Venture held a 25-per cent stake in Eximsoft. Post-merger, the new entity would be called Trianz India.
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Bharti's 'Broadband Friendly' offer
New Delhi: Bharti is offering a computer, broadband connection, telephone line, Microsoft windows XP and pack of games for just Rs999 a month.

Bharti Tele-Ventures has tied up with HCL and Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd, which will enable consumers to get a package deal called Airtel Broadband Friendly Offer.

The offer is available in Delhi and Haryana for now. Customers have a choice between two HCL Ezeebee XP PC configurations with a broadband Internet connection. The technology will allow users to simultaneously talk on the telephone while surfing the Internet.

One of the PCs on offer is equipped with an Intel Pentium IV processor while the other has an Intel Celeron D processor. Both the models come with a 17-inch monitor, a CD drive and a Windows XP Home edition. With the Intel Pentium IV processor model, customers also get a five-pack Microsoft Gaming Pack, free of cost.

However, there is an upfront payment attached to the deal. A customer has to make an upfront payment of Rs4,963 for the Intel Celeron D model and Rs8,125 for the Intel Pentium model.

The monthly installment for the Intel Celeron D is Rs999 for of 48 months and for the Intel Pentium processor, it is Rs1,445 for 36 months.
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