Kingfisher Airlines launches operations, takes on Jet, IA with low fares
Bangalore: Kingfisher Airlines has taken off on its maiden flight on the Bangalore Mumbai Sector. In the process the airline has given a price shock to Indian Airlines and Jet Airways. The airlines has announced fares on the Bangalore-Mumbai sector, which are 35 per cent lower than those offered by Indian Airlines and Jet Airways.

Kingfisher's lowest fare is Rs3,900 for the Bangalore-Mumbai sector and the next highest is Rs4,900 and the highest is Rs 5,900. About 30 per cent of the seats will be reserved for the first and the second set of fares and the rest for the highest priced fares.

The airline will operate on this sector from next month.

However, Air Deccan's highest priced ticket will still be 40 per cent lower than the lowest fare of Kingfisher Airlines for both the Bangalore-Mumbai and Bangalore-Delhi sectors.
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IA Express goes full on the Indo-Gulf sector
Mumbai: Air India's budget carrier, Air-India Express, is going full on the India Gulf sector. Now the airline is under pressure to rapidly expand its footprint across India. The airline is actively looking for three more aircraft to meet demand this fall (Sept-Oct).

Air India's only competitor in the Indo-Gulf low-cost space, is the Sharjah-based Air Arabia. In future budget airlines from Singapore and Malaysia are likely to increase competition in the sector.
A-I Express commenced operations with three leased Boeings on April 29 with Kerala as the initial gateway because of the focus on the Gulf routes in the first phase.
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Tatas Rs sub-Rs 1-lakh car to be on road by 2008
Mumbai: Tatas sub-Rs 1-lakh car is likely to be on roads by year 2008 and is at present in the prototype stage according to chairman of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata in an interview to The Week magazine.

He said that the new vehicle may also be exported to other developing countries depending on its success in India.

According to him the next major releases from the company will be variants of Indica and Indigo.

He also said the company would be launching a small one-tonne commercial vehicle, which will have a passenger version similar to MUL's Omni Van.
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Tata to export Indica to SA
Bangalore: Tata Motors plans to export the cars made for the now bankrupt U K carmaker MG Rover Group to South Africa and other countries, chairman Ratan Tata said.

Rover collapsed last month after the U K government declined to bail out the company with a loan.

Tata Motors plans to increase overseas sales by also manufacturing vehicles in South Africa and possibly in Latin America, Tata, 67, said. The company this year began selling two buses and a mini-truck in India, Asia's second-fastest growing major economy, to meet rising demand there.

The Ace mini-trucks, which compete with three-wheeler vehicles to deliver goods within cities and rural areas, began selling for 225,000 rupees ($5,180) to 235,000 rupees, the company said on Friday.

Shares of Tata Motors, which is a part of Tata Group, on Friday gained 5.35 rupees to 425.50 rupees in Bombay Stock Exchange composite trading.
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LIC charts aggressive expansion plans overseas
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation has asked for funds of over Rs 1,500 crore from the Centre to fund its overseas expansion plans.

The corporation says the money would be needed over a period of five years and the first tranche of Rs280 crore has already been given to us. The life insurance behemoth, (the corporation's surplus in 2003-04 is estimated at Rs10,988 crore) had sought the funds from the centre as it cannot spend policyholders' money as capital to expand its overseas operations.

The ministry of finance had agreed to return 50 percent of the amount the company pays to the centre. LIC distributes 95 pe rcent of its surplus among policyholders as bonus and pays the rest 5 per cent to the centre. LIC wants to continue the arrangement for another four years, and is therefore seeking total fund support of Rs1,500 crore.

The corporation is aggressively charting out overseas expansion in Asia (particularly west Asia) and Africa (the West Indies) tapping the growing Indian diaspora. The corporation has received its licence to foray into Saudi Arabia with New India Assurance, with a capital investment of over Rs 100 crore.
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Cell firms' operating costs decline
Mumbai: According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), telecom companies have entered the golden phase of falling costs despite falling tariffs. For telecom companies the cost per subscriber, has fallen from Rs992 per month in 1999 to
Rs210 in 2004.

The study says that incremental subscribers are pulling down the operating cost per subscriber consistently. In the last one year, the cost per subscriber has decreased by 27 per cent.

The biggest drop in costs was during 2000-2001 (from
Rs845 per subscriber per month to Rs453).

The cost of operating networks decreased from Rs377 a month per user in 2000 to Rs62 in 2004. Similarly, the cost incurred for sales and marketing has come down from Rs204 per user per month in 2000 to Rs90 in 2004. Personnel costs have dropped from Rs 101 per month to Rs31, while administrative costs have declined from Rs163 per user per month to Rs27. At the same time there has also been significant improvement in bad debts. Bad debts, as a percentage of net service revenue, reduced from
6.5 per cent in 2003 to 3 per cent in 2004.
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Tata Motors launches Ace, a sub-Rs 2.5 lakh mini-truck
Bangalore: Tata Motors has launched Ace, a sub-one ton vehicle aimed at rural and urban markets in the light commercial vehicle category. The Euro II version of the truck will sell for Rs 2,25,000 while the Bharat III-version for Rs2,35,000.

Ace is powered by a twin cylinder 16bhp 1,700cc-diesel engine.

With an average mileage of 20 km a litre, Ace can carry loads of up to 650kg, travelling at a speed of 60-65 km an hour. Its fuel tank has a capacity of 30 litres.

The company has an installed production base of 30,000 units a year at its Pune facility, with an option of doubling capacity when demand outstrips supply.

Prior to launching Ace, Tata Motors introduced a pick-up vehicle in the LCV segment in the two-tonne category and notched a market share of 38 per cent during fiscal 2004-05.
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Kalpataru Power net up 103 percent
Mumbai: Kalpataru Power Transmission has reported a 103 per cent rise in net profit for the financial year 2004-05 as against the previous year and a 56 per cent increase in gross turnover for the year.

The gross turnover of the company for the year 2004-05 stood at Rs567 crore (Rs362 crore).

The profit before tax (PBT) shot up by 137 per cent to Rs43.46 crore in FY05 (Rs18.34 crore). The PAT for the year stood at
Rs28.72 crore, up 103 per cent (Rs14.12 crore).

The board of the company has recommended an annual dividend of 50 per cent for the year as against a dividend of 30 per cent the previous year.
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Volkswagen decides to set up base in Vizag
Hyderabad: Yet another auto major is setting up base in India. German auto company Volkswagen has chosen port city Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh as its manufacturing location in India.

Government officials said initially the company has decided to assemble its vehicles in Visakhapatnam was to be an assembling unit with parts coming from its manufacturing facilities around the world. Now the company has decided to set up a a full-fledged manufacturing unit and ancillary units in the state.

The expected investment would be in the range Rs4,000 crore to Rs5,000 crore.
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Tata Motors' April vehicle sales down
Mumbai: Tata Motors total vehicle sales stood at 23,889 units in April, down 4.3 per cent from the same month a year earlier. According to the company undispatched stock of vehicles were higher than earlier due to unanticipated difficulties in certification and procurement of some critical parts.

The company is making efforts to streamline the availability of vehicles and expects to make up in the next two months.

Tata Motors' sales of cars and utility vehicles stood at 12,736 units in April. Sales of its Indica hatchback rose 7.9 per cent on year to 7,819, while sales of its Indigo sedan were up 5.8 per cent to 2,881.
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