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TVS to hit Indonesian market by October 2006
New Delhi: TVS Motor Company has said that its proposed manufacturing facility in Indonesia would be ready to roll out its products by October 2006.

The company said that it expects the trial production from its Indonesian plant to take place by July-August next year and the products to hit the market by October.

Officials also said that the Indonesian factory will be the mother plant for the region and the company plans to start with an installed capacity of quarter million units. TVS hopes to sell 50,000 units in the first year

The plant would be built at a cost of US$50mn, to be sourced from the US$100mn loan the company had received from HSBC last year, officials said. The company would collaborate with an external entity for joint marketing, distribution and sale of TVS products and was looking for potential partners, they said.

As for the proposed plant in Himachal Pradesh, being built with an outlay of Rs.70 crore, production was slated to begin by June 2006. It would manufacture only motorbikes in the 100-125cc segment and would have a capacity of 70,000 units a year.

TVS presently has manufacturing units in Hosur in Tamil Nadu and Mysore in Karnataka.
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Tata Tea's deals in North America may be firmed up in a fortnight
Mumbai: Tata Tea may be close to acquiring two brands in North America in the price range of US$100mn each, reports in the media indicate. According to reports, the company has already short-listed some brands in North America and deals may be firmed up in a fortnight.

The acquisitions would be in the beverages space, including flavoured tea and herbal tea.

The takeover would be part of the company's broad acquisition plan that could cost as much as US$1bn, surpassing its US$475mn acquisition of Tetley five years ago.

The demand for speciality tea and herbal tea has grown over 50 per cent in the last three years in the United Kingdom. In the US the growth rate is nearly 8 per cent, which is double the growth in regular tea.

Tata Tea had made its global acquisition plan public at its last annual general meeting (AGM) on August 10.
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Steel prices hiked by Rs.500-1,000 per tonne
New Delhi: After slipping for the last three months, domestic steel prices have shot up once again on the back of hardening international prices and rising demand. The domestic integrated steel producers on Thursday hiked steel prices by Rs500 to Rs1,000 per tonne.

The new price will be effective from Thursday.

Country's largest steel maker Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has increased price of benchmark hot rolled coil on an average by Rs500 pert tonne. In the last three months, the company had reduced the prices on an average between Rs1,500 to Rs6,000 per month. Tata Steel has also increased HR coil prices by Rs500 per tonne bringing it to an average rate of Rs22,000 to Rs25,000 per tonne. Essar Steel said it had increased the prices by Rs500 per tonne.

As per industry estimates steel prices have shot up between $67 and $70 per tonne internationally requiring a correction even by Indian steel producers.
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Tata Steel and Australian steel major may tie up for JV
Sydney: The Tata Group has said that it is close to signing a deal with Australia's biggest steelmaker, Bluescope Steel Ltd., for a steel coating and painting joint venture in India.

"Today we are close to arranging a Memorandum of Understanding with Bluescope in terms of working together in coating and painting lines in India," Tata's chairman Ratan Tata said after addressing a Forbes CEO conference.

Bluescope chief executive Kirby Adams had said last week that a proposal to work with Tata Steel, India's largest private sector steel company, was awaiting a decision by the Tata group.

Australia's biggest supermarket group Woolworths Ltd. is also talking to the Tata Group about setting up a consumer electronics group in India. It has said that Tata would own the retail part of the business, while the two companies would operate a joint venture at the supply end.
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Rahul and Shishir Bajaj arrive at in-principle agreement over ownership
New Delhi: Rahul Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Auto Ltd, said on Thursday that he has reached an in-principle agreement with his younger brother, Shishir Bajaj, over the ownership of companies in the Bajaj group.

"The family settlement has been made. It was settled long ago, but there are some issues relating to capital gains tax that have delayed the process," Rahul Bajaj said on the sidelines of the SIAM Annual Convention.

"According to some rough estimates, we will be paying Shishir Bajaj Rs180 crore to buy his stake in Bajaj Auto and about Rs45 crore to a charity he controls," he said.

In addition, Shishir Bajaj will control Bajaj Hindustan Ltd and Bajaj Consumer Care.
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Hero Honda Motors third manufacturing plant to start production next year
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors Ltd has said that it would announce the setting up of a third manufacturing plant by November to meet increased demand.

"The third plant would start production before Diwali next year," said the Hero Honda managing director, Pawan Munjal. He, however, declined to disclose any further details on the location of the plant.

"Considering the way we are growing and the increasing opportunities in the market, the third plant will go up to the scale of the current plants in the long term," Munjal said, when asked about the plant's capacity. Hero Honda currently has two manufacturing facilities at Haryana.

The company is also planning to foray into the scooter segment this fiscal, Munjal said.

Hero Honda, at the moment, enjoys a more than 50 per cent market share in the motorcycle segment.
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Skoda to roll out Combi this month
New Delhi: Skoda Auto India has said that it would launch its premium station wagon Combi later this month followed by the Skoda Superb diesel.

"The Combi will be followed by the Superb diesel in November this year,'' Skoda Auto India managing director, Imran Hassen, said here on the sidelines of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Annual Convention.
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Toyota conducting feasibility study on small cars
New Delhi: Toyota Kirloskar Motors Ltd said on Thursday that it is conducting a feasibility study on entering the small cars segment in India.

"We need to have something in the small car segment. We are still in the feasibility stage, but we are working hard to conclude the project," Atsushi Toyoshima, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motors Ltd, said on the sidelines of the SIAM annual convention.

The company has not yet decided whether the car would be a Toyota brand or one from its Daihatsu affiliate, Toyoshima added.

Speaking about the company's plans to set up a second factory in India, Toyoshima said the decision to set up a plant would be directly linked to the small car project.
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Automobile sales post robust figures in August
Mumbai: Except Tata Motors, all automobile makers have posted robust growth in sales for the month of August 2005.

Maruti Udyog, the market leader in passenger cars, sold 41,717 vehicles in the domestic market in August this year. This is 10.8% more than the 37,660 vehicles it sold in August 2004.

Tata Motors's car sales dropped by a marginal 0.6% in August 2005, to 13,879 vehicles against its car sales in August 2004. General Motors India sold 3,159 cars in the said period, registering a 40% jump over sales in August 2004. Czech car maker Skoda Auto India sold 775 units, including 20 Skoda Superb in the month of August 2005, registering a 29% jump in sales as compared to 603 units in August last year.

The top three two-wheeler makers have also posted double-digit growth in August. Market leader Hero Honda reported a 28.5% rise in motorcycle sales in August this year at 2,46,304 units against 1,91,635 units in the same month last year.

Motorcycle sales of Bajaj Auto grew 40% in August at 1,49,415 units against 1,06,745 units in the same month last year. The company's two-wheeler sales in August, including scooters, were up 37% at 1,64,020 units, against 1,19,895 in the same period the previous year.

TVS Motor Company's motorcycle sales in August 2005 stood at 59,675 units compared to 49,020 units in the same period last year, recording a growth of 22%. The total two-wheeler sales of TVS in August 2005 stood at 1,03,063 units compared to 89,500 units, during the same period last year, recording a growth of 15%.

In the tractor segment, leader Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 44% growth in tractor sales for August 2005, at 5,688 units as compared to 3,939 units sold in the same month last fiscal.
The leader in the commercial vehicles segment, Tata Motors, reported a sales of 17,070 units, an increase of 24.8% over 13,682 vehicles sold in August last year.

Three wheeler sales of Bajaj Auto stood at 22,782 units in August 2005, a growth of 15% over 19,848 units sold in August 2004.
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T-Sky awards setup contract to Globecomm Systems
Mumbai: Globecomm Systems, a global provider of end-to-end satellite-based communications solutions, has been awarded the infrastructure contract valued at approximately US$3.2mn from Tata-Sky, the 80:20 joint venture between the Tata Sons and Star Group. T-Sky will begin its DTH operations from 2006.

Globecomm will design and build a new direct-to-home uplink facility. The facility will be outfitted with multiple 9.3 meter and 4.5 meter antennas, equipment shelters, high power amplifiers and switching and related subsystems.

Globecomm Systems provides end-to-end value-added satellite-based communication solutions by leveraging its core satellite ground segment systems and network capabilities, with satellite communication services capabilities.

This DTH joint venture, established in 2004, is committed to building a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure for pay television in India. T-Sky will be a nationwide Direct-to-Home (DTH) service that will reach every Indian home, however remote it might be. The service plans to offer its subscribers the best of cable channels, new innovative programming and interactive services.
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