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M&M plans Scorpio variants
New Delhi: Tractors and utility vehicles company Mahindra & Mahindra is planning to come out with a range of Scorpio variants. However, the company did not outline the time of launch for the variants.

M&M has no plans for introducing any of the platform spin-offs right now, because the Scorpio's current run has strapped it for capacity.

M&M plans to rely on the Scorpio to keep up its market share in the SUV segment. The company has been pushing exports of its Scorpio and Bolero SUVs in markets like South Africa, Malaysia, the Middle East and Latin America.

The company had earlier announced plans to invest Rs500 crore over the next two years to meet increased demand for the Scorpio.
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French and Japanese dairy majorstie up for Indian launch
New Delhi: French dairy giant, Danone and Japanese company Yakult Honsha have tied up to form a joint venture to target the Indian market for dairy products.

Yakult Danone India (YDI) as the JV is called will launch Yakult's probiotic milk products early next year.

Probiotic supplements contain useful bacteria that assist in balancing the levels of indigenous micro-organisms in the human body. YDI will initially market Yakult products, and Danone probiotics range may be added later..

The duo sees a great potential in the country with its huge population and a long tradition in dairy products.
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Dabur, Amul win laurels
New Delhi: Dabur Foods and Amul GCMMFL won major laurels at the Seventh Annual Indian Dairy and Beverage Industry Awards held this week.

Dabur Foods won the Package Innovation Award and Product Innovation Award in the Beverage Category, whereas Amul GCMMFL won the Product Innovation Award and the Packaged Design Award in the Dairy Category.

The awards were presented at the Seventh National Dairy and Beverage Seminar in Goa which was hosted by Tetra Pak India.
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Facor cuts production, lays off workforce
Visakhapatnam: Ferro Alloys Corporation (Facor) at Garividi village in Vizianagaram district has cut back production and has laid off 40 per cent of the workforce, citing shortage of raw material and depressed market conditions.

The company is shutting down two of its five furnaces due to raw material scarcity and 40 per cent of the workers (745 permanent workers and 200 contract ones) were being laid off. The five furnaces produce 200 tonnes a day.

Facor, which produces high carbon and ferro chrome is facing a crisis as prices of the products have slumped in the international market due to flooding of the market by cheap products from South Africa and China. The prices of ferro-alloy products, which used to be in the range of Rs36,000- 41,000 a tonne, slumped to Rs29,000 and then to Rs25,000.
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Tata Group in final round of discussiojs with Bangladesh
Dhaka: A 20-member negotiation team of the Tata group, led by Alan Rosling, managing director of Tata Sons, has begun negotiations with the Bangladesh communications secretary Shafiqul Islam, as part of the last round of discussions between the two sides regarding the Tata group's proposed US$2.5bn investments in the country.

Sources in the Board of Investment (BoI) said this would be the final round of negotiation which might be a lengthy one as both sides would like to reach a decision on Tata's proposed investment.

As part of its planned US$2.5bn investment in Bangladesh, the Tata conglomerate will set up a fertiliser factory, a steel plant and a 1000-megawatt coal- fired power plant in the country. The development of a coal mine is also included in its investment plan.
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Zee, Sony to clone KBC
New Delhi: After the success of Kaun Banega Crorepati II, Sony and Zee are now planning to come out with quiz game shows. KBC II, anchored by super star Amitabh Bachchan, has notched up average television ratings of 8-9, likely to translate into huge ad revenue.

Zee TV is said to have roped in actor Manoj Bajpai for a show called 'Kum Ya Jyada,' which is based on a European format and will give away Rs3 crore in prize money. The show will go on air from end-November or early December.

Sony Entertainment television is also planning to launch a game show and is said to have approached actors Saif Ali Khan and Madhavan to host the show.

Sony is planning to give away Rs2.5 crore in prize money for this show.

Zee and Sony earlier got into the copying act with the stupendous success of KBC I in 2000. Zee, the leading channel at the time, launched Sawaal Dus Crore Ka, with actors Anupam Kher and Manisha Koirala with Rs10 crore prize money. Sony launched Jeeto Chappar Phar Ke with actor Govinda, also promising big prize money.
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SAIL pays dividend of 33 per cent to government
New Delhi: Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has given the second installment of a 33 percent dividend to the Government of India, which holds 85.82 per cent of the paid-up equity of the company.

Earlier this year it had paid a maiden interim dividend of 15 per cent, while now the final dividend is 18 per cent.

In a statement the company has said that the total payout will be Rs1,363 crore, which is about 20 per cent of SAIL's profit after tax of Rs6,817 crore recorded during 2004-05. The dividend paid out is the highest ever by the company.

Incidentally, this is the first time since 1997-98 that SAIL has declared a dividend.

The steel major said it is likely to grow by eight-to-nine per cent during the current fiscal year despite recording a growth of about 11 per cent till now.
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Tata Steel's Q2 production at all-time high; Sales up 14 per cent
Kolkata: Tata Steel has achieved an all-time high hot metal, crude steel and saleable steel production in the July-September quarter of 2005.

The company produced 1.32 million tonnes of hot metal, 1.23 million tonnes of crude steel and 1.21 million tonnes of saleable steel, thereby registering a growth of 17 per cent, 15 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, over the corresponding period of last year.

Besides an all time high hot metal crude steel and saleable steel production in the second quarter, Tata Steel also posted sales at 1.18 million tonne registering an increase of 14 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.

The company said the improvement in sales was largely due to the product mix of Tata Steel. The supplies to the auto sector, comprising cold rolled (CR) and galvanised products, were up by 10 per cent and 221 per cent respectively as against the corresponding period last year.

Sales of branded products, Tata Shaktee (corrugated galvanised sheet) and Tata Steelium (cold rolled sheets) had witnessed an increase of 16 per cent, whereas sale of Tata Tiscon registered an increase of 15 per cent as compared to the second quarter of last year.
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illy Cafe to initiate a coffee growers cooperative
Bangalore: illy Caffe, the Italy based coffee roaster, is initiating a coffee growers cooperative by bringing quality coffee growers from south India under one roof.

The company says it has found that coffee growers are diverse and dispersed over vast areas in the southern states.

A lot needs to be done to uplift their condition by initiating quality awareness and the best global farming practices through a single platform.

The company operates through growers' co-operatives in coffee growing countries like Brazil, Guatemala and Colombia. This has become a direct platform for interface, he added. illy Cafe uses Indian raw coffee upto 20 per cent in its Espresso blends sold in 130 countries globally.

It presently sources over 2,500 tonnes of Arabica coffee varieties.

illy Caffe has toed up with Fresh & Honest Cafe, a Sterling Infotech Group company, to invest US$15-20mn to install 6,000 coffee vending machines across India over the next five years.
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Bajaj, TVS, Hero Honda record higher sales
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto has sold 1,80,926 motorcycles a 43 percent sales increase for September 2005 over 1,26,420 motorcycles sold in the previous year's corresponding month.

The company's three wheeler sales stood at 23,118 in September 2005, a flat growth compared to 23,182 numbers registered in the previous corresponding month.

Hero Honda's September sales grew by 22.3 per cent over those of last year. The company sold 2,66,071 bikes in September 2005 as against 2,17,507 bikes in the corresponding month last year. Sales during August also jumped by 9.6 per cent over the previous month (August 2005),when the company sold 2,46,304 motorcycles.

In September, Bajaj recorded sales of 23,118 three wheelers driven by strong demand for the Bajaj LPG and CNG three wheelers. The company recorded highest ever exports at 23,463 units owing to strong demand from all major markets.

In the July-September quarter Bajaj recorded sales of 5,54,220 two and three wheelers, a 24 per cent growth as against 4,45,428 numbers registered in the previous corresponding period.

The cumulative sales during the period have increased to 14,29,992 motorcycles from 12,23,919 motorcycles during April-September 2004.

TVS motor company today reported a 16 per cent rise in sales at 1,21,108 units during September 2005 as compared to 1,04,837 units in the same month last year.
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BSNL sends disconnection notice to Tata Tele on ADC
New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has directed all its circle units to issue disconnection notice to Tata Teleservices for non-payment of access deficit charges (ADC) while offering fixed wireless telephone services (Walky).

BSNL says the Tata company is to be given 30 days to pay up the dues after which the points of interconnection will be disconnected without further notice.

The Tatas have approached the Supreme Court challenging the order by the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal allowing BSNL to charge ADC on Walky services. sThe case is slated to come for hearing on October 3.

If BSNL manages to get a disconnection, Tata Tele subscribers will not be able to call a BSNL user and vice versa.

Last year, BSNL had given a similar disconnection order to Reliance Infocomm for allegedly not paying ADC on international long distance calls.
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BSNL on new connections drive in Orissa
Bhubaneshwar: Bharat Sanchar Nigam is going full speed ahead on new connections and plans to provide 30,000 new landline connections, 2.25 lakh mobile lines and 50,000 WLL lines in Orissa during the current financial year.

BSNL plans to lay an additional 30,000 land lines during the current fiscal and all the pending landline connections would be cleared by 31 March, 2006. The organisation also plans to open 12 new landline exchanges in rural areas and induct a new WLL equipment with 50,000 lines capacity in the BSNL network primarily covering the rural areas. It also plans to augment the existing capacity of the existing mobile network by 5 lakh lines in the first phase. Till date, BSNL has provided 3.53 lakh mobile connections in the state, thus becoming the number one mobile service provider in the state.

It has also launched a new post-paid plan (Plan 100) under mobile services for Central, state government and PSU employees from 1 October to 30 November while a new pre-paid SIM card namely Own Your Vanity Prepaid (OYVP) worth Rs3,000 had already been launched from 16 September. Another scheme has been launched both for post paid and prepaid mobile service under which a customer can get their disconnected numbers restored on payment of a reconnection charge of Rs220.
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