Honda to introduce 100cc bike in India
New Delhi: Honda Motorcycle Scooters India (HMSI) is developing a new motorcycle in the 100cc segment for the Indian market which is expected to be launched in three years.

According to company officials the new 100cc model could be positioned slightly higher than the existing ones in the market and would sport a premium price tag.

The bike would be produced from Honda’s existing facility at Manesar and would take about two years to develop while another year would be spent for commercial production and marketing.

The company has already announced investments of Rs400 crore for increasing Manesar plant capacity to 12 lakh units per annum from the existing 9 lakh units, as well as marketing initiatives and product development.

The company is also looking at the possibility of introducing its popular high-end bikes in the domestic market that could cost a whopping Rs10 lakh per unit as high-end bikes are levied 60% duty.
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Wipro in deal with EMC for information infrastructure
New Delhi: Indian IT giant Wipro and EME Corporation, a global information infrastructure technology provider, have announced a strategic alliance to deliver higher value to global customers.

This alliance will also enable Wipro and EMC in enhancing their reach in the $60 billion worldwide information infrastructure market.

According to EMC globally organizations desire to enter the global market which leads to large government and business investments on upgrades, digitisation and associated information infrastructure technology. EMC intends to help certify more than 1,000 Wipro practice resources on EMC technologies to support pre-sales, delivery, and solution development.
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Reliance shuts down 160,000bpd coker unit
New Delhi: Reliance Industries has shut a 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) delayed coker unit at its Jamnagar refinery, according to industry sources.

The throughput at the 660,000 bpd refinery -- the world's third largest – is said to be reduced by about 20 percent after a shutdown on Tuesday that may last another 10 days because of a crack in the coker's drum.

Another source said there was a problem with the coker and loadings of a residue product which had been delayed. A coker unit takes residual fuel oil and makes distillate transport products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as petroleum coke.

Reliance does not usually sell fuel oil, but is an export-oriented refiner selling gasoline and other fuels to Asia, the Middle East and the United States. Shares of Reliance ended down 1.53 percent, lagging the 0.9 percent drop in the broader market.
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Wockhardt moves in a big way to Tier-II cities
Ahmedabad: Wockhardt Hospitals has announced plans to build 15 new hospitals in India, most of which are expected to come up in Tier-II cities in the next year-and-a-half.

At present, Wocjhardt has 10 hospitals in the country which would be increased to 25 by building 15 more new hospitals across different cities in the country a senior official of the company. These hospitals will largely be multi-speciality hospitals while some will be critical care facilities the official said. The hospitals will come up in the next 12 to 15 months and would mostly come up in Tier-II cities like Nasik and Nagpur which do not good facilities.
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Yash Raj, Disney tie up for animation films
Mumbai: Bollywood production house Yash Raj Films and US-based picture company, The Walt Disney Studios, have entered into a tie-up and will co-produce a series of animated feature films for the Indian audience.

The studios will be equal partners in the initiative and plan to make one computer-animated movie each year. Apart from jointly producing films, the studios also plan to launch merchandising and enter new media such as gaming based on the movies they spin together.

The alliance is the first of its kind for the foreign studio. The Walt Disney Studios has never in the past co-produced animation movies in any country.

The first movie under this alliance, ‘Roadside Romeo’, based on a dog’s life on Mumbai streets, will hit the screens next year during the summer. The movie is targeted at the Indian audience, and will release in Hindi and later in other Indian languages. Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor will lend their voice for the film.

Songs will be developed by Yash Raj Films, while the movie’s merchandising will be developed by Disney. The global animation industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.6 per cent in the next four years, according to a PwC report.
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Trouble brews between HUL, Tata over tea process patent
Mumbai: Tata Tea, the world’s second largest tea maker, has sued Hindustan Unilever, India’s biggest fast moving consumer goods firm, over a patent granted by the Indian government for the process of making instant tea from cold water.

HUL says its parent company, Unilever, already owns the invention and has already patented it in Europe and the United States. The patent was granted to HUL by the Indian government in 1997.

Tata Tea has filed an appeal challenging the patent to the Bombay High Court which referred the petition to the Appellate Tribunal of the Indian Patents Office last week.

Tata Tea’s contention is that the process of making tea has been known to Indians for centuries and is not an invention and cannot be patented in India where consumption is the highest in the world. Tata Tea has sued the Anglo-Dutch company on two counts: the process itself and on the instant tea product made from cold water.
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Areva T&D to invest Rs100 crore in new unit
Mumbai: Areva T&D India Ltd said on Wednesday it plans to invest Rs 100 crore in a new transformer-manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu. The unit, Areva's third in the State, will employ 300 employees at full capacity, it said in a statement.
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Emami to invest Rs220 crore for expansion
New Delhi: Emami Group said it would invest about Rs220 crore for expansion of its FMCG segment, which includes acquisitions in personal care and healthcare space and product portfolio enhancement through forays into new categories.

The company is foraying into new segments such as baby care, hair care and expansion in men's grooming categories and has also renewed its advertising contract with Bollywood superstar Amit abh Bachchan for another three years. The company is looking at launching 18 new products this year in hair care, baby care and men's grooming segments.

He said the company invests Rs120 crore on brand investments every year, out of which Rs40 crore would be spent on the new launches.
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Ansal Housing to develop 98 acres in Haryana
Mumbai: Ansal Housing & Construction has received a licence to develop 98 acres (39.66 hectares) of a residential project in Haryana. The project is expected to have a turnover of Rs250 crore over the next 3-4 years with sizeabl e profits, the company said in a statement.
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Nimbus plans to telecast ODIs on 6 channels
Mumbai: Sports broadcaster Nimbus, which operates Neo Sports, has announced a six-channel, five-language television broadcast in India for its Summer Series of six One Day Internationals (ODIs), including the Future Cup and the Friendship Cup.

The events will be broadcasted live with commentary in English on Neo Sports, Hindi on SAB TV, Tamil on SUN NEWS, Telugu on Gemini News and in Kannada on Udaya Varthalugu. The five Indian matches against Pakistan, South Africa and Ireland will also be telecast live on Doordarshan, as per the Sports Act 2007.

Nimbus had earlier acquired media rights for the 4 India matches in the Summer Series from BCCI and the 2 Ireland matches from the Irish Cricket Union.
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