Indica and Indigo to launch in S Africa
Durban: Indica and Indigo, two models from the Tata Motors stable, will be launched in South Africa within a month, Tata Group chairman Ratan N Tata has announced. The chairman made the announcement at the Auto Africa exhibition in Johannesburg where the cars are currently on display.

According to the company, a network of 20 dealers would market the cars in the first phase.
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Maruti's Q2 net up 48 per cent
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has posted a 48 per cent rise in net profit for the second quarter this fiscal. It's net profit stood at Rs183 crore during July-September 2004 as compared to Rs123 crore during the second quarter of the last fiscal.

Net sales surged 25 per cent at Rs2698 crore during the second quarter over Rs2157 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal. Sales of the company grew 19.7 per cent at 129,848 units during the first half of this fiscal.

Net profit jumped 45.1 per cent at Rs354 crore during the first half of this fiscal over Rs244 crore during the year ago period.

Maruti's net sales during April-September 2004 reached Rs5213 crore during the first six months of this business year over Rs4190 crore during the first half of last fiscal. Vehicle sales of the company surged 19.2 per cent at 253,472 units during the first six months of 2004-05.
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Apollo Tyres launches Acelere tubeless car radials
Vadodara: The Rs2,300-crore Apollo Tyres Ltd is looking to garner a 20 per cent market share in the passenger car radial category by the end of this fiscal, with the launch of H rated Acelere range of tubeless car radials.

The market size for replacement segment of passenger car radial category is about 2,80,000 units a month. Apollo Tyres claims that it is currently enjoying 18 per cent share in this segment.

The company said that the Acelere range of tubeless car radials is being offered both for the domestic and the export market. The company has launched H rated Acelere range of tubeless passenger car radials for select B segment cars and a complete range for the premium C, D & E segments.
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Maruti and Toyota top customer satisfaction survey
New Delhi: Maruti and Toyota have topped the 2004 four-wheeler total customer satisfaction study, released by TNS Automotive, ranking highest in six of the 10 vehicle parameters.

The `2004 4-wheeler Total Customer Satisfaction' study conducted by TNS Automotive, provides a measure of commitment that a given model or brand enjoys with its customers. It represents the responses of more than 7,000 car buyers towards the performance of over 40 models in the areas of sales satisfaction, product quality, vehicle performance and design, after-sales service, brand image, and cost of ownership.

The 10 models ranking highest in their respective segments for total customer satisfaction are: Maruti 800 for "entry compact"; Maruti Zen Petrol for "premium compact"; Tata Indica Diesel for "small car - diesel"; Maruti Esteem Petrol for "entry midsize"; Mitsubishi Lancer Petrol for "midsize"; Toyota Corolla for "premium midsize"; Mitsubishi Lancer Diesel for "midsize car - diesel"; Toyota Camry for "entry luxury"; Toyota Qualis for "SUV"; and Ford Endeavour for "premium SUV."
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RBS Home unveils six new Siemens products
Chennai: RBS Home Appliances Pvt. Ltd, sole distributors for Siemens Home Appliances in India, has launched six new products of freezers and refrigerators. It has made an entry into the mass market with the launch of the 270-litre `Direct Cool' refrigerator priced at Rs14, 990. The company has also come out with refrigerators of 420 and 470-litre frost-free, which cost over Rs40,000. Other new products that the company is introducing are a 140-bottle capacity wine cooler and a 200-litre stand-alone freezer for home usage.

The products are imported from Germany and Brazil.
RBS Home Appliances has also entered into tie-ups with hotels such as the Taj Group and the Hyatt to furnish their service apartments with Siemens products. The company has also entered into an agreement with Voltas for servicing at 650 franchisee locations.
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Sahara challenges Star One branding
New Delhi: The Sahara Group has approached the Delhi High Court challenging Star India's decision of naming its new entertainment channel Star One.

Sahara contends that the name Sahara One is an umbrella brand for its entertainment business. It said that it had registered the logo sometime back and had unveiled it last month.
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ABB's engineering and operations centre at Bangalore
Bangalore: ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has announced that it would establish a dedicated engineering and operations centre at Bangalore. The new facility will be managed by the Group's Indian subsidiary and will serve as a vital resource base for ABB units across the world.

The centre's main scope of operations will include the development and execution of system and engineering solutions to support automation activities across the ABB Group.

The new centre, expected to be established in early 2005, will initially target a phased build up to around 500 man-years of engineering and systems support to other ABB operations, over the next few years. It will focus on activities including project-based engineering services, material cost migration to high-productivity countries, enabling systems for supply chain management and information technology, as well as development projects.

A multinational team from ABB's automation business will facilitate exchange of technology between the new centre and other ABB units as well as help foster best practices.
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Usha Martin to scale up production at Dubai JV
Kolkata: Usha Martin Ltd (UML), the world's second biggest wire rope manufacturer, has transformed its Dubai unit into a joint venture with Gustav Wolf of Germany, one of the leading names in the industry.

The 60:40 venture is now set to scale up its production from around 450 tonnes per month to 700 tpm. A significant part of the production will be used by the overseas partner. The majority control of the JV is with Usha Martin.

The unit currently manufacturers an assortment of products - crane rope, elevator rope and ropes used in the oil exploration industry. The management of the unit remains with UML.

During the second quarter of the current fiscal, UML has reported a PBT of Rs14.25 crore (up from Rs6.44 crore) and a PAT of Rs8.63 crore (Rs4.4 crore). Net sales stood at Rs312 crore compared to Rs207 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year. Usha Martin has also further secured its association with Otis, the leading elevator manufacturer. The latter has now started sourcing UML's products for its own use.

UML is now considering new distribution ventures in Australia and Saudi Arabia.
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Sonata declares 30 percent interim
Bangalore: Sonata Software has declared an interim dividend of 30 per cent for the half year ended September 30. For the July-September quarter, the company earned a consolidated revenue of Rs81.2 crore as compared to Rs49.2 crore for the same quarter last year. Profit after tax was Rs3.9 crore (Rs2.4 crore).
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NIIT Technologies Q2 net up 50 percent
New Delhi: IT solutions major NIIT Technologies has posted a 50 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs15.2 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2004 over the same period a year ago.

It reported consolidated revenues of Rs137 crore, reflecting a 7 per cent growth on a QoQ basis. Of the total revenues of Rs137 crore, Americas contributed 35 per cent, Europe brought in 41 per cent and Rest Of the World 24 per cent. The pending order book at the end of the second quarter stood at $141 million, of which $64 million is executable over the next 12 months.
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Dabur India net up 28 percent
New Delhi: FMCG major Dabur India has reported a 28.17 per cent jump in net profit for the second quarter this fiscal to Rs43.13 crore, compared to Rs33.65 crore in the year ago period.

The company has also declared a dividend of 100 per cent to its shareholders.

Net profit for the first half (April-September 2004) grew 42.1 per cent to Rs63.7 crore, from Rs44.8 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The company's sales increased 9.47 per cent to Rs302.83 crore as against Rs276.63 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Dabur India's consolidated net profit, which includes the earnings of its subsidiaries Dabur International, Dabur Nepal and Dabur Foods, during the first half surged 38.9 per cent to Rs64.9 crore as against Rs46.7 crore in the same period last fiscal.
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Godrej Consumer Q2 net up 25.7 per cent
Mumbai: Godrej Consumer Products Ltd has posted a 25.75 per cent rise in its second quarter net profit at Rs17.43 crore, compared to Rs13.86 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The company's board has declared a 50 per cent interim dividend on the share of the face value of Rsfour each for the current fiscal.
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Asian Paints consolidated Q2 rises 3.04 percent
Mumbai: Asian Paints India has posted a 3.04 per cent increase in net profit at Rs48.73 crore, on a consolidated basis, in the second quarter ended September 30, 2004, compared to Rs47.29 crore recorded during the same period of the previous fiscal.The company's board has approved a 40 per cent interim dividend for the current fiscal.

The paint manufacturer's total income for the quarter under review rose to Rs697.06 crore, as against Rs622.23 crore posted in the September quarter a year ago.

On a stand alone basis, Asian Paints posted a net profit of Rs48.81 crore for the quarter ended September 30, compared to Rs46.92 crore registered during the same period of previous fiscal.
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