Business

Shillong, August 28: BSNL operator has planned to proffer their North-East user with load of additional services.

BSNL North East users would now ring the bell at local call chargers which will valid in seven states of the region.

According to sources, BSNL would also turn the roaming charges to Nil among the NE states users.

Now, according to the scheme the calls, SMSs and data charges while roaming would be the same as per your local tariffs and there would be no roaming charges.

These services would come under action from 1st September 2009.

—Agencies

Gujarat, August 28: Mercedes-Benz India has planned out its special edition C-Class cars in Ahmedabad via Benchmark Motors.
The Benchmark Motors is looking forward to sell out 60 pc of the total production in Gujarat itself.

Presently, Benchmark Motors is selling about 13 cars every month in the state.

Mumbai, August 28: Fidelity Mutual Fund has annuonced a 100 per cent dividend under the dividend option of the Fidelity Maturity Plan-Series 1-Plan A in both the retail and institutional plans, subject to availability of distributable surplus.

The record date is September 2, a press release issued here today said.

All investors registered in the dividend option on this date will be entitled to the dividend.

Tamil Nadu, August 28: TVS Motor, the country’s third largest two-wheeler manufacturer and Mahabharat Motors have joined hands.
Now TVS will get its motorcycles assembled at the West Bengal facility of Mahabharat Motors, promoted by non-resident Indian Prasoon Mukherjee.

“To begin with, Mahabharat Motors will assemble motorcycles for us from its plant in West Bengal,” TVS Motor president and chief executive officer K.N. Radhakrishnan told reporters here.

“As of now we are not picking up any stake in Mahabharat Motors,” he added.

Mumbai, August 28: As a part of its e-governance drive, the Central Government plans to provide broadband connectivity to around 50 per cent of panchayats across the country within two years, a Central Government Minister said.

“Half of the panchayats in the country will get broadband connection in two years,” Minister of State for Information Technology and Communication, Gurudas Kamat, told reporters here today.

The Government’s aim is to focus on rural India and ensure that the rural population gets benefited from the information technology revolution, Kamat said.

Kolkata, August 28: State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) has increased its production target for the current fiscal by 7.7 percent, a top official said here Friday.

“Last year, our production growth rate was 6.4 percent. This year, we have set a target of 7.7 percent,” said CIL chairman Partha S. Bhattacharyya at the annual general meeting of the Indian Coal Manufacturers Association.

He said so far CIL, the largest producer of coal in the country, has been able to meet the country’s demand for the feedstock, which is primarily driven by the power sector.

New Delhi, August 28: Fiat India Automobiles, a 50:50 joint venture between India’s Tata Motors and Italy’s Fiat, Friday said it expects to sell about 3,500-4,000 vehicles in the upcoming festive season.
The company is targeting single-digit growth this year and expects to break even in 2011.

“We expect a cash breakeven in 2011 by which time we will be selling 80,000 Fiat-branded cars,” Rajeev Kapoor, president and chief executive officer of Fiat India, told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference.

Fiat India’s models are Linea, Grand Punto, Palio and Fiat 500.

New Delhi, August 28: The joint venture between commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland and Japan’s Nissan Motors will roll out its first product by middle of next year.

“We will be rolling out the first product by mid-2010 in two versions – a 1.25-tonne diesel truck, which will also be our first LCV (light commercial vehicle),” said Ashok Leyland managing director R. Seshasayee.

The other product will be a two-tonne truck, Seshasayee told reporters here on the sidelines of the annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Ballia, August 28: The government today said the process of disinvestment in Coal India would start soon and in the first phase it would be around 10 per cent.

Priority would be given to the employees of CIL and the farmers whose land had been acquired in allotment of shares and only the remaining would be sold in the market, Minister of State Independent Charge Coal Sriprakash Jaiswal said.

Underground mining would be given priority as production through it is better and also has no impact on the environment, he added.

Mumbai, August 28: India’s foreign exchange reserves climbed by USD 932-million for the week ended August 21 to USD 271.957 billion compared to USD 271.025 billion in the previous week.

The foreign currency assets, during the week, went up to USD 260.938 billion, up USD 928 million, compared to USD 260.010 billion in the week-ago period, Reserve Bank said in its weekly report today.

Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies (such as Euro, Sterling, Yen) held in reserves, RBI said.

Mumbai, August 28: The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has assigned second rank to Bank of India (BoI) for its excellent performance in lending to the micro and small enterprises sector during FY 09.

The award was conferred by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a function in New Delhi to the bank’s Chairman and Managing Director, Alok K Misra, a press release issued here today stated.

The bank’s outstanding credit to the MSME sector as on March 31, 2009, was at Rs 25,441-crore with an impressive YoY growth of 24.71 per cent.

New Delhi, August 28: US-based carmaker Ford on Friday said it will launch its new small car during the first half of next year and was planning to start exporting the product by the end of 2010.

The company said the sub-B segment car would be made to meet the statutory requirements of having an engine capacity of 1.2 litre petrol engine and 1.5 litre diesel engine.

Mumbai, August 28: Engineering & construction major Larsen & Toubro today said that it is likely to get fresh orders worth Rs 10,000 crore in the next four to six weeks from power, oil & gas and infrastructure sectors.

“We have a good chance to get Rs 10,000 crore orders in the next four to six weeks. It will come from sectors like power, oil & gas and infrastructure,” L&T Chairman & Managing Director A M Naik said at the company’s Annual General Meeting here today.

Mumbai, August 28: Leading drugmaker Novartis India Ltd today launched the spray form of Otrivin, a nasal decongestant.

The product has been launched by OTC Business Unit, which is part of the company’s operations in India.

Otrivin will be available as a topical nasal decongestant in a modern, easy-to-use direct acting spray format, OTC Business Unit’s India Head, Vineet Singhal, said in a statement here.

The spray will be available over-the-counter (OTC) at chemist stores and is priced at Rs 44 for a 10 ml unit.

New Delhi, August 28: Samsung has changed itself a lot in all virtue. Even if we talk about its gadget or marketing strategy then Samsung has defined it good position in the market.

Samsung has launched a no. of product this year but its handset S5230 turn out to be a millionaire as Samsung Star S5230 has sold more than 5million handsets in the market.

Samsung S5230 measures 104.0 x 53.0 x 11.9 mm in size and weights about 93.5 gm this is a touch handset which is compiled with the latest features and dashing look which attracts most of the people towards it.

Mumbai, August 28: After bringing their much aspirated ‘Terracan’ and then later ‘Tuscon’ to Indian shores, they did received response but negatively. The Terracan was not able to establish its market in the country; it may be because of its unreasonable ‘value for money’ or the vehicle’s appeal which not really exaggerated the buyers to put their hands over. Now they plan for Santa Fe and an another 800cc hatchback

London, August 28: Oil prices edged towards 73 dollars today, extending the previous day’s rally as the market was buoyed by rising equities and a weakening US dollar, analysts said.

New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, rose 21 cents to 72.70 dollars a barrel in afternoon trade.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October gained 34 cents to 72.85 dollars.

Crude futures had rebounded yesterday after two days of losses, lifted by a weaker dollar late in the session and rallying US share prices.

Mumbai, August 28: Nusli Wadia-controlled Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company has shifted its focus to develop residential property from commercial property due to the current market environment, a top company official said.

“We have 64-acres of land-bank and are now developing 1-million square feet of residential property in Mumbai,” Bombay Dyeing’s Chairman, Nusli N Wadia, told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting here.

Mumbai, August 28: Extending gains for the seventh straight session today, the Bombay Stock Exchange barometer Sensex rose by over 140 points as fund houses picked up stocks following strong global cues.

The 30-share index, which gained 6.5 per cent in the last six trading sessions, added another 141.27 points to close at 15,922.34 points. The index touched the day’s high of 15,957.67 points.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 44.15 points to 4,732.35 points.

New Delhi, August 28: The government is committed to doubling credit flow to micro, small and medium enterprises, which employ 6 crore persons and contribute 45 per cent to India’s manufactured goods, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today.

“Credit is the lifeline of any business. The government is committed to double the flow of credit to MSMEs in five years,” Singh said after giving away national awards to entrepreneurs in the sector here.

New Delhi, August 28: The Petroleum Ministry has allocated additional natural gas from Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore gas fields to three power plants to meet electricity deficit in northern states reeling under drought.

Oil Minister Murli Deora this week approved a ‘fall-back’ or temporary allocation of about 3.7 million standard cubic meters per day of KG-D6 gas to Lanco’s Kondapalli power plant in Andhra Pradesh, Utran plant in Gujarat and Pragati Power in Delhi and supplies are likely to begin in a week to 10 days.

New Delhi, August 28: German luxury car maker Mercedes- Benz is likely to register lower sales this year compared to 2008.

The company,however, is going ahead with the launch of the advanced version of its E-Class Sedan by the end of this year and hopes to register impressive growth from next year onwards.

New Delhi, August 28: The Supreme Court of India Friday deferred hearing on petition filed in regard to the Ambani gas dispute to October 20

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan decided to pose the matter for October after Reliance Industries counsel suggested the matter be heard on the 20th of that month

Anil Ambani group counsel Mukul Rohtagi said he had no objection

San Francisco, August 28: US computer maker Dell reported a 23-percent drop in second-quarter profits Thursday as corporate spending continued to lag.

But the earnings of $472 million on sales of $12.76 billion narrowly beat Wall Street expectations, and the Texas-based company said that its prospects for recovery were improving.

‘If current demand trends continue, we expect revenue for the second half of the year to be stronger than the first half,’ chief executive Michael Dell said.

Mumbai, August 28: Despite weak global cues, Indian equities opened on a positive note Friday, after a minor loss for a key index during the previous day, even as investors expected trading to turn choppy later as in the past few sessions.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 15,770.19 points and soon shot up to 15,871.52 points, against the previous day’s close at 15,781.07 points.

Some 10 minutes into trading, the barometer index was up 60.33 points, or 0.38 percent at 15,841.40 points.