Qualis phased out
Bangalore: Toyota Kirloskar Motor has that it has withdrawn its best selling model, the multi-purpose Qualis. In a press statement, Toyota said Qualis will be replaced with a new model which will combine the elements of both an MPV as well as a passenger car.

The new model, Innova, built on the international motor vehicle platform, is expected to be launched towards the end of February. The statement said Qualis was being replaced because a market research indicated changing needs of the customer and with the Indian automobile market growing rapidly, it was time to replace the model.

Launched in 2000, Qualis sold a record 1.4 lakh vehicles and went on to redefine the multi-purpose vehicle segment in the country. Between 2000 and 2004, Qualis was the primary driver of growth in the MPV segment increasing the market share of the segment in the automobile industry from less than 9 per cent to over 11 per cent in a span of four years.

However, share of Qualis which touched 40 per cent share in the MPV segment in 2001 declined to 32 per cent in 2003 even though it continued to lead the segment.
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Hinduja TMT to demerge media buisnesses
Mumbai: Hinduja TMT (HTMT) has decided to demerge its media business into a separate entity. The board, which approved the proposal on Monday, has authorised a committee of directors to work out a detailed scheme.

The proposal presented by the management envisages two debt-free listed companies with mirror image shareholding. While Information technology businesses, IT subsidiaries and the main financial investments, such as in Fascel Ltd, will be part of the technology company. Media (film content, cable TV distribution network) and broadband (high-speed Internet and related value-added services) will be the functions of the demerged entity.

"The restructuring exercise will not only unlock value for the shareholders in the short term; the new entities will achieve their individual business objectives faster and better than before, thereby creating further value for the shareholders in the long term," HTMT said in a news release.
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Petroleum Ministry asks CPCL to resume naphtha supply
Chennai: Madras Fertilizers Ltd, which was to be shut down today due to feedstock shortage, hopes to continue production following Petroleum Ministry's intervention on its behalf with Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL). MFL has two days' supply of feedstock and plans to continue production.

CPCL, which had been extending credit on supplies of feedstock and fuel, began insisting on cash and carry transaction after MFL's dues increased to Rs90 crore.

However, with the fertiliser company going through a cash crunch, and the Government delaying payment of urea subsidy, MFL officials had said last week that MFL would have to shutdown if CPCL refused credit.

Officials had pointed out that MFL's financial crunch was not of its own making. Apart from the new fertiliser policy, which they said short changed it on production costs, the Government owed MFL over Rs200 crore as urea subsidy under the new policy.
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F-1 Grand Prix: Karthikeyan to drive for Jordan
New Delhi: India's Narain Karthikeyan has received an offer to drive for Jordan in the Formula One Grand Prix this season. Karthikeyan said the offer "looked good" and he was very much hopeful of making it to the top rung of the game this time round after having missed out on a chance last season.

Karthikeyan has not revealed the figure that has been quoted by Jordan, which has been taken over by the Midland group, owned by Russian tycoon Alex Shnaider, but he said that the Tatas, J K Tyre and Bharat Petroleum have come forward by way of support.
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Apple brings iPod models
New Delhi: Apple has brought to India its most affordable iPod ever - the iPod shuffle, priced at Rs8,500 for a 512 MB capacity model and Rs12,400 for a 1GB model.

The product is targeted at music lovers who want a portable device, which does not have a large capacity and is available at a low price point. iPod shuffle is based on iPod's widely-used shuffle feature which randomly selects songs from the user's music library and play-list, Apple officials said.

iPod shuffle is smaller and lighter than a pack of gum, and comes in two models — 512MB that holds up to 120 songs and a 1GB version that holds up to 240 songs. The company has also introduced its new Mac mini, touted as the most affordable and compact Mac ever. With this, Apple aims to target not only the new desktop users but also existing PC users aspiring for a Mac experience.

The Mac mini priced at Rs32,200 onwards includes a CPU and a combo drive. Mac mini offers the processing and graphics performance with either a 1.25 GHz or 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 processor and ATI Radeon 9200 graphics with 32 MB of dedicated DDR memory.

Both the models come with a slot-load Combo drive for watching DVD movies and burning CDs, and up to 80GB hard drive for storing digital media creations.
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HCL Tech ties up with Agere Systems for software solutions
New Delhi: HCL Technologies has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Agere Systems, a provider of semiconductors for storage, wireless data and public and enterprise networks.

Under the terms of agreement, dedicated teams from HCL will work with Agere on developing software solutions and provide customisation and system integration services to Agere's customers. This collaboration will allow equipment manufacturers to spend more time in creating the differentiating, revenue-generating equipment features of their products, an HCL release has said.

Other benefits to equipment manufacturers who use the combined Agere and HCL offerings include procuring integrated, field-proven and validated hardware and software from a single source, it added.

As part of the pact, HCL Technologies has deployed a large set of engineers to work with Agere's team on developing and validating complete solutions based on Agere's network processors, including Multiservice Access & Edge, DSLAM & NodeB.
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Zensar gets contract for training Shenzhen software professionals
Pune: Zensar Technologies has partnered with the Shenzhen Municipal Government in China to impart project management skills to 1,000 Chinese software professionals over the next three years.

These software professionals will be provided project experience and technical and customer management skills at a dual-shore centre of excellence in India and China, the company has announced.

The agreement also marks the setting up of the Sino-India International Senior Software PM Training Project, which is the first cooperative effort between China and India on senior software talent training. The contract is valued at $4.5 million over three years, which will be jointly funded by the government and industry.
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Maruti sales dip 1.2 per cent in Jan. '05
New Delhi: India's biggest carmaker Maruti Udyog Ltd has reported a 1.2 per cent dip in sales for January 2005. MUL's sales in January were down at 48,544 units from 49,141 units in the same month last year.

The company says the volumes are down on account of decline in exports and fall in demand for its Maruti 800 model.

MUL's exports have declined by 32.9 per cent to 3,244 units in January from 4,832 units in the same period a year ago. The hatchback Alto saw the highest ever units sold in January at 13,117.

In the first 10 months of the current fiscal, MUL's domestic market sales have increased by 17.7 per cent to 3,96,883 units in the April-January period from 3,37,288 units in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Sales of Maruti800 in this period fell by 29.3 per cent to 97,972 units against 1,38,503 units in the ten months of 2003-04.
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Hero Honda's Jan.'05 sales up 17.5 per cent
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors has said that its sales in January have increased by 17.5 per cent. India's largest motorcycle maker sold 2,30,280 units in the month under review compared to 1,95,982 units sold in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal.

Cumulative sales in the first ten months of the current fiscal have jumped up by 29.4 per cent. Hero Honda's sales from April 2004 to January this year were 21,66,261 units up from 16,73,421 motorcycles sold in the same period in 2003-04.

Munjals and Japan's Honda hold 26 per cent stake each in the company.
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M&M sales up 22.8 per cent in January
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra has posted a 22.8 per cent growth in sales for January on the back of robust sales of its utility vehicle Scorpio. M&M's sales in January were at 14,989 units compared to 12,210 units in the corresponding month last year.

A company release said exports in the month under review rose to 246 units from 189 units in the same month in 2004. Domestic sales of Scorpio for January were at 3,142 units up from 2,426 units in the same month a year ago.
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Bajaj two-wheeler sales up 33.1 per cent in Jan.'05
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto Ltd said that it has posted a 33.1 per cent rise in total two-wheeler sales in January. The company's sales in January were at 1,42,294 compared to 1,06,872 units in the same month a year ago.

A company release said motorcycle sales rose by 56.3 per cent to 1,32,028 units in January from 84,500 units in the corresponding month last year. Three wheelers sales fell by 18.5 per cent to 16,415 units from 20,150 units in January 2004.

The company has attributed the robust growth to the success of Bajaj CT100, Discover DTS-1 and Pulsar DTS-1.

Bajaj Auto has said it would launch two new bikes in April-June this year - one each in the entry and premium segment.
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