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Maruti's 'Swift' launched
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog Ltd on Wednesday announced the launch of its premium compact car Suzuki Swift at a starting price point of Rs3.87 lakh, marking the company's first launch in about four-and-a-half years.

The car has been priced cheaper than its competitor Hyundai Getz, which comes at approximately Rs4.5 lakh. The Swift, which has a 1.3 litre engine, will be available in three variants with the most expensive and fully loaded variant priced at Rs4.85 lakh.

While the base model is equipped with power steering and manual air conditioning, the most expensive model will have powered windows, automatic air-conditioning and air bags.

Officials said that the pricing of the vehicle was an "introductory offer" which would be on "for a reasonable period of time" without providing details of the duration.

The response to the new launch as of now had been very good with 9,000 bookings for the Swift even before the announcement of the pricing.
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Nagarjuna Construction bags Rs.258 crore orders
Hyderabad: Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd has announced that it has secured new orders totalling Rs258-crore from various clients.

In a communiqué to stock exchanges on Wednesday, the company said it had secured an order worth Rs23-crore from Gujarat Water Resources Development Corporation, Rs79-crore from Karnataka Road Development Corporation, Rs34-crore from the Assam State Electricity Board and Rs22-crore from Karnataka Government.
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TAFE acquires Eicher's tractor business
New Delhi: Eicher will sell its tractors, gears and engine division to Tractor and Farm Equipment (TAFE), the south-based tractor maker in a Rs310 crore deal. The deal will allow TAFE to increase its market share in the country's tractor business from 14 per cent to 22 per cent.

While TAFE gets a foothold in the north Indian market, for Eicher, the sale helps it to consolidate its business and focus on heavy commercial vehicles from here on.
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Eicher to buy US engineering services firm
New Delhi: Eicher Motors Ltd has said that it has decided to invest $2.5 million for the acquisition of a US-based company engaged in computer-aided engineering and design services.

Investment banking firm Avendus Advisors is advising Eicher Motors Ltd for this transaction.

According to Eicher Group officials, the proposed acquisition of the US-based engineering and design services company will provide a strong platform for growth in the engineering services business that has tremendous potential and synergies with the commercial vehicle business.
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Jindal Stainless to set up architecture plant
New Delhi: Jindal Stainless Ltd (JSL) has finalised plans to set up a architecture plant at Manesar in Haryana, the total investment for which would be Rs25-30 crore, the company has announced.

The company has announced a capital investment of Rs25-30 crore towards the expansion of its architecture division-ARC, aimed at providing architectural solutions in stainless steel.
Within the next five year the architecture division hopes to achieve a turnover of around Rs125 crore.

The company feels that the Government's airports modernisation programme and the Commonwealth Games scheduled for 2010 would lead to much higher consumption of stainless steel.
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BSNL halves tariffs for direct Internet access
New Delhi: The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has decided to reduce tariffs for direct Internet access services (DIAS) by over 50 per cent. While the installation charges have been brought down from a maximum of Rs3,000 to a flat fee of Rs500 across all tariff packages, the monthly rental has also been reduced from a maximum of Rs1,800 a month to Rs900. The new tariffs will take effect from June 1.

The DIAS service, offered by BSNL across 42 cities in 23 States, allows subscribers to get high-speed Internet access on the same copper line as the fixed line telephone. All a customer needs to do is to install a dialling unit, which combines voice and Internet data packets on a single twisted-pair wire at the subscriber's premises.

The technology offers speeds between 64 kbps and 128 kbps and provides an "Always On" Internet access that is permanently available at the customer's premises. Like in broadband services, a DIAS subscriber can simultaneously surf the Net and use the phone. However, the data speeds drop to 64 kbps when the telephone is also in use.

BSNL has four packages with monthly rentals varying between Rs300 and Rs3,000.

The minimum rental under the existing scheme is under Plan 1 with rentals of Rs450 per month. Plan 2 with monthly rental of Rs850 would now be available for Rs500 a month with free download of 1 GB compared to 0.6 GB under the existing plan. Plan 3 with monthly rental of Rs1,800 would now be available for Rs900 a month with free download of 2 GB compared to 1.5 GB now.There is no change in the rentals for the unlimited download package. However, the installation charge has been reduced from Rs3,000 to Rs500.

BSNL is the number one Internet service provider in the country with more than eight lakh dial-up subscribers. The company is also rolling out broadband services, which offers data speeds of 256 kbps, across the country.
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H-P launches PDA phone
New Delhi: Hewlett-Packard India has forayed into the cellular segment with the launch of a PDA phone, the IPAQ h6365 Pocket PC, which comes with an inbuilt camera.

"This is the first handheld featuring built-in integrated three-way wireless capabilities (GSM, GPRS, WLAN, and Bluetooth - all wireless technologies used for mobile communication)," said a company press release.

" HP's new line of iPAQs features capabilities that address the converging data and voice needs of mobile professional and consumers, allowing them to take full advantage of the rich digital services that today's wireless networks provide," HP officials said.

The Microsoft Windows-enabled PDA phone is equipped with Wireless 802.11b, Bluetooth, Quad-band GSM mobile phone, MP3 stereo, digital camera and a detachable snap-on snap-off keyboard.
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Moving Picture Co. to invest Rs.15 crore in studio facilities
Mumbai: Moving Picture Company India Ltd has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it will be investing up to Rs15 crore in its TV studio infrastructure for the launch of its city-specific channel, "Dilli One".

It has received the up-linking license from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting as well as the beefing up of its animation wing. The entire expansion will be completed in two phases. In the first phase, Moving Picture is setting up a TV studio infrastructure at its existing premises at Film City in Noida, with a view to launch "Dilli One".

In the second phase, the entire infrastructure for the animations wing will be upgraded by year-end. The company has secured orders worth $2 million for the production and distribution of a 3D animations series. It is also on the verge of acquiring a major animations contract from Australia by June-end.
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Bose India launches 'Bose Wave'
New Delhi: Bose Corporation India Pvt Ltd has launched a 'Bose Wave' music system priced at Rs29,900, the lowest priced system in the company's portfolio in India. The company is also looking at introducing more models within the price range of Rs30,000-60,000 over the next six months.

The Bose Wave Music system is a complete home system which can play CD, MP3 along with FM radio.

In India, Bose owns nine exclusive stores and is looking to add two more over the next six months. A privately held company, Bose Corporation has eight manufacturing facilities globally, with an annual sales turnover of $1.7 billion.
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Corporate Results: SAIL, Scandent
SAIL net jumps 171 per cent at Rs.6817 crore
New Delhi: The Steel Authority of India has posted an impressive 171 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 6,817 crore for the fiscal ended March 2005. During the last fiscal, the total turnover stood at Rs31,800 crore, recording a 32 per cent jump.

The net profit in the fourth quarter stood at Rs2,678 crore, up 164 per cent. And the company's other income in the reporting period was at Rs81.6 crore as compared to Rs45.3 crore clocked a year ago.

The company's board has also announced a final dividend of 18 per cent for 2004-05, which is in addition to the 15 per cent interim dividend declared in January this year.

The company has also announced that it is keen to take over Neelanchal Ispat

Scandent Q4 revenues up at $16.52 mn
Bangalore: Scandent Solutions Corporation Ltd has reported a 5.7 per cent increase in revenues for the fourth quarter ended March 2005. A company release has said that gross revenues for the fourth quarter were $16.52 million, up from the $15.64 million in the third quarter.

Earnings after taxes for Q4 were $2.207 million ($1.801 million).
The company said that the earnings per share translated into Rs3.31 for the fourth quarter and on an annualised basis it was Rs13.24.

The core verticals of banking financial services and insurance, government and manufacturing contributed 27 per cent, 26 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively, of the revenues during the last quarter.
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