Tata Motor Finance offer easy EMI and free gift
Customers interested in buying the Indica, the Indigo or the Marina can avail a special gift if they opt for finance through Tata Motor Finance. The gifts vary from a Titan watch to a free trip to Europe. The company will fund up to 90 per cent of the ex-showroom price of the car. The per lakh EMI is Rs1,533 over a seven-year period.

Bharti, ICICI Bank, Visa offer the 'mobile wallet'
Bharti Tele-Ventures in alliance with ICICI Bank and Visa have launched a credit card on the mobile phone.

The new service, mChq, will allow Airtel subscribers in Delhi and Mumbai to purchase goods for as low as Rs50. Once the product is bought, the retailer sends an SMS to the customer from a special mobile phone mentioning the amount.

The customer then has to enter his PIN number and send back an SMS to the retailer acknowledging the amount to be paid. The transaction gets completed on both the parties getting a confirmatory SMS.

According to a press release, "The service eliminates the need for carrying cash for making a purchase and also does away with the need of a point of sale (POS) terminal since the mobile phone serves as a secure POS and a payment mechanism.

The service is known as mobile wallet in other parts of the world.

C3 supermarket to expand
Tai Projects' C3 supermarket chain is expanding operations and plans to open the third outlet in Kolkata very soon.

Thereafter, two more C3 supermarket outlets would be opened in Kolkata at the end of the current year and next year C3 outlets will be opened in Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Siliguri and Shillong.

The setting up of each C3 outlet will entail an investment of between Rs3 crore and Rs4 crore on infrastructure, excluding the cost of inventories.

The C3 chain will focus exclusively on food products, kitchenware and personal care products.

The C3 chain currently accounts for about 30 per cent of the Rs37-crore turnover of Tai Industries, engaged in trading of food products, ferro silicon and calcium carbide. Food products on offer at the C3 supermarkets include imported canned foods, fruit drinks, cold cuts and low alcoholic beverages such as beer and wines can also be bought off the shelf at C3 outlets. In the current fiscal, revenue from the C3 supermarket chain is expected to surpass Rs15 crore.

Campco launches new products
Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) has launched three new products — one each in chocolate, semi-finished cocoa and arecanut segments.

The company has introduced the Fadcha brand of arecanut, which will provide a value-added arecanut to panwallahs, who are its biggest users. According to the company panwallahs can directly mix this arecanut pieces with the pan and will eliminate the work of cutting whole arecanut into pieces.

In the chocolate segment the cooperative has come out with `Fun Tan' chocolate, which is rich in cocoa, and bitter in taste. Considering the demand for semi-finished cocoa products among housewives and bakery owners, the cooperative has launched small packets of cocoa powder. The cooperative already supplies large quantities of cocoa powder to various chocolate manufacturers, and now wants to cater to the retail segment.

The cooperative has nearly 10 per cent market share in finished cocoa product segment. It has a major share in the semi-finished cocoa product segment.

Lifestyle, SBI launch co-branded credit card
Lifetyle and State Bank of India have launched the SBI-Lifestyle co-branded card.

The new co-branded card would enable customers to make payments for purchases from Lifestyle stores in installments. The cardholders also earn reward points on purchases from Lifestyle stores and purchase of fuel from IOC and IBP petrol pumps and discounts from select companies. The card comes free of annual fee for the first year.

The fee from the second year would vary depending on the spend of the cardholder.

Lifestyle is also planning to expand its retail network with expansion would entail investment of Rs170 crore which would be met by both internal accruals and debt.

Champagne Indage to take wine to the masses
Champagne Indage is trying to give a makeover to wine perceived in India as an elitist and mild product that does not give a high.

The company has launched a red, white and sparkling wine priced below Rs100. It is offering Vino in a 750ml size priced at Rs92 plus four per cent sales tax. With 12.5 per cent alcohol content, this compared favourably against some of India's semi-premium whiskies priced at Rs190 and a 20 per cent sales tax.

Simultaneously, Champagne Indage is building its case against beer, with the popular strong beer, with eight per cent alcohol content, costing Rs55 per 650ml. Against this, the company has positioned the 500ml-Vino bottles at Rs48. If stress is also on wine being a healthier drink, minus the potbelly in case of beer.

The company is also marketing Vino in PET bottles with the cork giving way to screwed-on caps.
The company will follow up Vino with an even lower priced wine, Hammer, in less than a month. A port wine, Hammer, will have an alcohol content of 18 per cent and will be priced at Rs75.

Hammer, too will come in red, white and sparkling versions. Though port wine, normally, does not have the sparkling version, Hammer will have sparkling wine, that too in red, quite popular in Australia.

Champagne Indage had sales of Rs37.5 crore in the last fiscal and is at a turnover of more than Rs80 crore this year with incremental growth coming from new products and product extensions.

Cricketer Harbhajan to endorse Newport brand
Arvind Brands has roped in cricketer Harbhajan Singh to endorse its new festive line of the Newport brand of jeans in addition to its present brand ambassador, Saif Ali Khan.

The campaign revolves around Naya Style Fundas — where the stars tell us how to be more stylish, the Newport way.

The campaign is designed to showcase Newport's strong sense of style. Saif and Baji are known to be the fashionable stars in their respective fields and popular youth icons too. Newport's festival range offerings are priced between Rs 399 and Rs 699 and denim jackets are priced at Rs799 to Rs899.

Planet Sports associates with Prakash Amritraj
Planet Sports, India's leading lifestyle and sports retailer today has signed up "Prakash Amritraj," one of India's successful tennis players, to endorse Prince tennis brand.

With this association, Prakash will now play his famous serve and volley game using Prince brand of racquets.

According to the company, Prakash represents the type of brilliance that Prince stands for and his game fuses genuine tennis shots with world-class athleticism.

Planet Sports has also launched the high-tech Prince O3 racquets into the Indian market.

The company claims that Prince has revolutionised the art of racquet design; The racquet has a 54 per cent larger sweet spot than any other racquet, which allows for greater velocity and directional control. The O3 racquet also allows faster swing speed, which determines the ball speed and ball spin. Finally, the O3 racquet also brings greater stability.

This breakthrough in Tennis technology has been achieved by transforming traditional Pin sized holes into giant O-ports. The O-ports provide Total String Freedom, which allows the strings to flex and propel the ball like never before.

Amritraj has side stepped numerous talented Indian tennis players in India in just two years of his career. He spearheads India's in the Davis Cup as well as other tournaments in the ATP circuit.

Haier's festive offer
Haier the China-based home appliances company has launched its mega consumer offer which offer customer three chances to get fantastic gifts. The offer is open to customers from 15 September to 15 November, 2005.

The promotion entails assured gifts on every purchase of Haier Products. Consumers buying Haier products from any retail outlet get a pack of playing cards, which carries one scratch card. The scratch card has three scratch areas designated as 1, 2 and 3.

On scratching the Trump card in the pack of cards, consumers can get various attractive gifts ranging from Haier plasma televisions, side-by-side refrigerators, mini bar refrigerators, Z-100 mobile phones, rice cookers, strolley bags, wall clocks, beverage container sets, steam Irons and weighing scales.

Toyota's offers attractive test drive
Toyota has launched a campaign according to which it is offering a free tour on purchase of the Corolla and a tour on test driving the Innova. As part of the campaign, prospective customers who test-drive the Innova between September 8 and November 30 would be entitled to participate in a lucky draw.

The winner of the draw will get a holiday, along with a companion, for a day in Goa with Aamir Khan — the brand ambassador for Toyota's vehicles — at the company's cost. The offer is restricted to the owners.

Toyota promises to bear the cost of two economy class return air tickets from the airport nearest to the winner's residence.

— Compiled by Mohini Bhatnagar