ONGC Videsh bags contract for Syrian oil block
Mumbai: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of exploration company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has bagged a contract to develop an oil block believed to have in-place reserves of 600 million barrels, along with its consortium partner IPR Energy Red Sea Inc.

The companies will have to invest $20 million to develop North Ramadan block no. 6, situated in the central part of the Gulf of Suez, a news release said. OVL has a 70-per cent participating interest in the development phase and will work as a joint operator with IPR, which is also partnering OVL in developing an exploration block in Syria.

Other international oil companies that had bid for the North Ramadan block include British Petroleum, Petro SA and Ludin, the release said.
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Tata Motors unveils concept vehicle Xover at Geneva
Mumbai: Tata Motors has unveiled a 'crossover' vehicle concept called Tata Xover, at the ongoing Geneva Auto Show.

The Tata Xover will blend the benefits of a family-friendly luxury tourer with refined driving dynamics and the visual cues of an activity-oriented sports utility vehicle, an official statement said on Tuesday.

A 4.85-metre car, it uses a rugged frame-based design with large interior space. It has flexible seating that can accommodate up to seven adults, besides ample cargo area. According to the statement, the vehicle can be fitted with a range of Euro IV engines including Tata Motors' own next generation power trains.

The car would offer traction control, climate control with personalised zones, navigation system, driver-passenger and side-airbags, anti-lock braking system, 4-wheel drive and other comfort, convenience and safety options.

It has independent double wishbone coil spring suspension with a stabiliser bar in front and a five-link suspension with coil springs and stabiliser bar at the rear.

"The Tata Xover demonstrates Tata Motors' desire and commitment to innovate and address new market segments," Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Group, has said.
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Work begins on Sea-Me-We-4
Mumbai: The cable laying operation, connecting Mumbai as a landing point, in the undersea cable system Sea-Me-We-4 has begun, according to the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, one of the consortium members of the system. Sea-Me-We-4 will link France with Singapore.

The cables from both the Singapore and France sides shall land at the VSNL cable landing station at Prabhadevi. Work on this started last week, on February 24, according to a notice to the stock exchanges from VSNL.

The installation of terminal equipment at Mumbai started last month, said the notice.

Sea-Me-We-4 has a design capacity of 1.28 terabits, with two fibre pairs deploying DWDM technology.
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Prices of Corolla and Innova cut
New Delhi: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has announced a revision in prices of Toyota Corolla and the recently-launched Toyota Innova following the reduction in peak rate of customs duty announced in the Budget.

Announcing the reduction, A. Toyoshima, Managing Director, TKM, said, "We have studied the impact of the customs duty cut announced by the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram. In keeping with our policy of "Customer First," we are happy to pass on the benefit of this reduction to our customers."

The reduction in the price of Toyota Corolla is approximately Rs32,000 on the ex-showroom price and the reduction in Toyota Innova is approximately Rs14,000 on the ex-showroom price.

The price of the Corolla will now range between Rs9.73 lakh and Rs11.76 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The petrol version of Innova is priced between Rs6.69 lakh and Rs9.31 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), diesel is priced between Rs7.29 lakh and Rs9.91 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The on-road prices will vary depending on the prevailing local taxes.
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City and Accord prices benefit from duty cuts
New Delhi: Honda Siel Cars India Ltd have announced a price reduction of Rs2,500-8,000 on the Honda City and Honda Accord models following a customs duty cut announced in the Budget.

The Budget has proposed reduction in the peak rate of Customs duty to 15 per cent, a move that would benefit auto companies selling cars in the country through CBU (completely built unit) or CKU (completely knocked down) routes.

As per the price cut effective Monday, Honda City 1.5 EXi would cost Rs6,49,500; Honda City GXi would cost Rs6,99,500 and City CVT would be priced at Rs7,59,500 (ex showroom Delhi).

Honda Accord VTI-L manual variant would now cost Rs14,71,000, while the automatic variant would be priced at Rs15,42,000. Honda Accord V6 (A/T) would now cost Rs16,99,001.
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Hero Honda sales up 9.3 per cent in Feb.'05
New Delhi: Motorcycle maker Hero Honda Motors has said that its sales grew by 27.25 per cent between April 2004 and February 2005.

A company statement said, Hero Honda logged sales of 23,89,807 motorcycles in the 11-month period of the current fiscal, compared to sales of 18,77,976 units in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Hero Honda's sales in February rose by 9.3 per cent to 2.23 lakh units (year-on-year).
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Bajaj two wheeler sales up 31 per cent in Feb.'05
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto's two-wheeler sales grew by 31 per cent in February while sales in its three-wheeler segment dipped by 7.8 per cent. The company's two-wheeler sales were at 1,39,573 units in February compared to 1,06,558 units during the same month last year.

Bajaj Auto said its motorcycle sales rose by 53.7 per cent to 1,29,409 units from 84,170 units in the year-ago period. Sales in the three-wheeler segment fell by 7.8 per cent to 18,556 units from 20,120 units last February. A company release said Bajaj is expecting its two-wheeler sales to touch 1.5 million figure this fiscal and has plans to expand its capacity to two lakh units per month from this year.

Bajaj's total exports grew by 38.8 per cent with 19,204 units as against 13,831 units in the year-ago period. On the BSE, Bajaj Auto was trading with gains of Rs 6 or 0.57 per cent at Rs 1,039 in late afternoon trades.
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TVS Feb.'05 sales experience marginal fall
New Delhi: The TVS Motor Company has said that motorcycle sales have dropped by 4.21 per cent in February 2005, even as sales of its four-stroke motorcycles recorded a growth of 23 per cent. A total of 57,009 motorcycles were sold in February 2005, compared to 59,516 units in the year-ago month.

Total two-wheeler sales of the company also declined by 618 units at 96,020 compared to 96,638 sold in February 2004.

However, TVS reported a 12.06 per cent growth in sales of scooterettes at 15,900 units last month compared to 14,188 units in the same period previous fiscal. Moped sales in February 2005 also grew by 177 units at 23,111 compared to 22,934 units in February 2004.

The Board of directors of TVS Motor have recently approved setting up of a two-wheeler manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh. Also on the anvil is a two-wheeler unit in Indonesia and a three-wheeler manufacturing facility at the existing plant at Mysore.
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Maruti sales in Feb.'05 slowdown
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) February sales registered 3.2 per cent rise in vehicles at 43,603 units, including 3,777 units of exports. The company sold 42,263 units in February last year.

According to the company, "car sales in February 2005 were affected as customers postponed purchase expecting a reduction in excise duty on cars in the Union Budget." Last month, Maruti's volume in the domestic compact car segment grew by 22 per cent, while in the mid-size segment its sales increased by 55 per cent.

The sale of entry level car Maruti 800 dipped by 41 per cent to 8,038 units against 13,518 vehicles a year earlier.
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Syntel to spend another $20 mn in India
Chennai: Syntel Inc, the $187-million US-based information technology firm, plans to spend around $20 million (Rs90 crore) on capital expenditure in India during 2005. It plans to recruit about 1,500 employees during the year for its development centres in Chennai, Mumbai and Pune.

In the last six months, the Nasdaq-listed company had already spent $12 million (Rs55 crore) by way of capex in India. This includes construction of a campus in Pune in 40 acres.

The Chennai centre does work on projects in banking, finance and insurance, automobile and telecom, he said.

According to the company, it has recently formed a joint venture with a large US-based bank to offer business process outsourcing (BPO) services for the bank's investment reconciliation.
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