Nokia starts trial production at Chennai plant
Chennai: With the official opening of Nokia India's plant slated for March 11, the company is in the process of testing, verifying the production line, recruiting people and training them. Nokia's entry-level handset, the 1100, is being manufactured at the plant and by March this year the company would be ready to handle the higher volumes that it anticipates, said company officials.
The officials say the company began the manufacture of the basic handset 1100 to overcome all initial glitches.

The 1100 handset is one of the models that Nokia has designed and introduced with Indian customers in mind. Its features include a built-in flashlight. The company has recruited about 600 employees and has begun training them. By the end of this year the company plans to employ about 2,000 employees.

Nokia signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu Government in April 2005 to set up a manufacturing plant at Sriperumbudur, about 50 km west of Chennai on a 210-acre plot. The facility has been designated a product-specific special economic zone. At that time, the State Government had said that the company would invest US$150mn (about Rs650 crore) in the plant, its 10th such facility across the world. The plant will manufacture GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) handsets.
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GoAir to expand flight routes
Mumbai: GoAir, the budget airline promoted by the Wadia group is planning to fly to six more destinations from February 1 and will offer 10,000 free tickets on these new sectors.

The airline's routes would be in the order Mumbai-Baroda-Mumbai, Mumbai-Kochi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai, Mumbai-Indore-Mumbai, Chennai-Pune-Chennai and Pune-Ahmedabad-Pune.

Jeh Wadia, the managing director of GoAir, said the bookings for the new sectors would start on January 16. He added that the no-frills airline would connect 14 destinations. Everyday, the airline would have more than 30 flights. The airline has at its disposal three A320 aircraft. Right now, GoAir operates 18 flights in a day and connects to eight destinations.
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Infosys announces Rs.50-cr investment in Kerala centre
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies plans to invest Rs50 crore in a 1,250-seater campus at its 50-acre campus in the new Special Economic Zone in Thiruvananthapuram.

The company would soon start work on the software development centre upon full clearance from the SEZ said N.R. Narayana Murthy, chief mentor, Infosys Technologies. In the second and third phase, an additional Rs100 crore will be invested and the capacity will go up by 2,500 seats, he added. The company currently employs 550 at Thiruvananthapuram.
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Volvo mulls separate plant for buses
New Delhi: Volvo is considering setting up a separate plant for manufacturing buses in India. The company also says it is willing to help State transport corporations in arranging finance for buying city buses.

The company officials said setting up a separate plant for making buses was one of the options being considered. However, this may not happen if the company is able to expand capacity at its plant near Bangalore. They said the first priority would be given to expanding the capacity of the existing plant.

The company expects to sell 1,000 buses in a few years and for that it is important to scale up the manufacturing capacity from now onwards. The company's current market size for large city buses is around 10,000; for inter-city coaches, it is around 5,000.

Officials said once Volvo is able to scale up operations, the localisation content in these buses will also go up to 60 per cent from the current 40 per cent.
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Kaya skin clinic to expand operations: invests Rs.70 crore
Mumbai: Marico Industries' skin care division, Kaya Skin Clinic is planning to expand operations with an investment of about Rs70 crore in two years. Kaya plans to open approximately 32 clinics and 70 Kaya Skin Zones (consultancy and retail) in next couple of years, including clinics overseas at Abu Dhabi, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

Kaya would be launching its third clinic overseas at Abu Dhabi in a 6000 sq feet area, the largest clinic till date.

The company is launching clinics abroad in large formats where accessibility is not an issue, whereas in India the average size of the clinic is 1000-1500 sq ft, he said.

Kaya, which has recently roped in film actress and television presenter Pooja Bedi to endorse its age control services, has network of 43 clinics across the country including two abroad since December 2002.
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Honda to launch bike in executive segment this year
New Delhi: Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) is planning to launch an executive segment 125 cc bike, its second motorcycle in the Indian market, by April.

HMSI's entry into the crowded executive segment with the bike, codenamed 'MC2', is expected to fuel a price war in the segment.

HMSI produces the Unicorn with 100 per cent localisation and would do the same with the new bike, which means the company can price it very competitively, company sources said.

The crowded executive segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the motorcycle market and HMSI will not only have to face its Japanese rival Suzuki, but will have to take on the likes of Hero Honda, which sells Hero Honda Super Splendor and Glamour, and Bajaj Auto's Discover.

Suzuki has indicated that its 'Heat' would be priced at around Rs38,000 while the other model 'Zeus' would also be aggressively priced.
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Trai hauls up mobile operators for poor service
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has pulled up Cellular Operators Association of India noting the deteriorating quality of mobile services throughout the country. The telecom regulator says the operators are taking a plea of delay in interconnectivity and spectrum related issues as a cause for poor quality.

The operators have not taken any steps for reducing the time period in the interconnection agreements for provision of interconnection either through mutual discussions or through legal measures, Trai wrote to COAI.

Trai had issued a directive to all operators in November last year to ensure that the Quality of Service in their networks should be within the prescribed benchmarks by December 31, 2005.

COAI denied allegations levied by Trai and asked Trai to withdraw its directive as certain facts need to be verified as mentioned in the regulator's letter.
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