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Tata Indicom launches India's first Internet radio service on mobile phones
Mumbai:
Tata Indicom, the consumer telephony service of Tata Teleservices, today launched mobile internet radio offering live streaming radio-casts in English, Hindi, Telegu, Tamil and other international languages with MP3 quality sound.

Called Cell Radio Links, the BREW application from the US-based Locate-It Info Inc, offers a bouquet of 41 choicest and globally renowned International and local Radio Stations to showcase the best of Internet Radio, making it possible for Tata Indicom users to enjoy a differentiated radio service on their phones.

The new service is initially being made available on Motorazr V3C, Samsung Wideo and Motorola World Phone and carries a subscription charge of Rs25 for 15 days across all Tata Indicom circles, including those markets where FM services haven't commenced.
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Aircel, Sybase facilitate international SMS
Chennai:
Chennai-based mobile services provider, Aircel Limited, offering mobile telephony in Tamil Nadu, has chosen Sybase 365 to offer international short message service for its over four million subscribers.

Aircel is a subsidiary of Maxis Communications, Berhad, Malaysia and Sybase 365 is a subsidiary of Sybase Inc, US.

According to KVP Baskar, CEO (South) Aircel, the deal will enable us to offer better value to our subscribers while driving SMS traffic in Tamil Nadu.

With the addition of Aircel, Sybase 365 now provides two-way interoperability services in South Asia.

Aircel says it is India's fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a subscriber base of over 6.41 million (over 4 million in Chennai & Tamil Nadu) and the fastest growing mobile operator in the country. It is present in 9 telecom circles and has licences for the remaining 14 of the 23 telecom circles in the country.
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Tata Motors launches Magic and Winger
Mumbai:
Tata Motors has launched a new range of commercial vehicles — the Magic and the Winger.

The Magic, developed on the platform of the successful sub-1 tonne commercial carrier, the Ace, now brings to urban and rural areas a comfortable, safe, four-wheeler public transportation mode.

The Winger range is a passenger range branded as a maxi-van and offers a blend of the comfort of a car with the spaciousness of a bus for intra-city and long-distance transportation needs.

Both the Magic and the Winger are being launched nation-wide, starting with Maharashtra and Gujarat, and will be extended to other parts of the country in due course.
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GM may hike capacity of Gujarat Halol plant
Mumbai:
General Motors India is expanding the capacity of its existing Halol plant in Gujarat from the current 85,000 to about one lakh cars in a couple of years even as it is set to commission a new manufacturing plant at Talegaon, Pune, next year with an initial installed capacity of 1.40 lakh cars per annum.

"The capacity of the Haalol plant near Vadodara, where the company has invested Rs1,400 crore so far, has been increased recently from 60,000 to 85,000 cars per annum. We will be making around 66,000 cars this year but, in view of increased demand, we may increase the capacity to between 90,000 and one lakh cars per annum," reports quoted P. Balendran, director and vice-president (corporate affairs), as saying.

The company, he said, was also in talks with the Gujarat government to develop an automobile ancillary park near Halol. It was in the process of tying up with technical institutions in Gujarat to ascertain the kind of synergy to be created both as a business opportunity and corporate social responsibility (CSR), he added.

The company, which had started making profit from 2004 onwards, expects to increase its market share from the current four per cent to 10 per cent by 2010. These expansion plans are in view of the projected increase in the company's market share, he said.
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Cynosure ties up with Chinese company to launch battery-run 3-wheeler, mobike
Mumbai:
Cynosure Enterprises Ltd has tied up with a Chinese company, Zhejiling Changton, to launch a battery-operated three-wheeler and a motorbike in the next few months. The company also launched an advanced version of its two-wheeler - Yash Docile Plus - which can run about 60-80 km on charging the battery at a cost of Rs3.15.

Cynosure, a subsidiary of the Mumbai-based Mobile Telecommunications, had launched the battery-operated two-wheeler, Yash Docile, last year. Cynosure's present models, which do not require the Road Transport Authority (RTA) registration, are priced at Rs 29,500.

Zhejiling Changton is the largest manufacturer of ebikes in China , according to A.B. Vedmehta, chairman and managing director of Mobile Telecom.

Hyderabad-based Cynosure has set up an assembly chain to indigenise the battery-operated vehicles (ebikes), which will arrive in a CKD (completely knocked down) form from the Chinese company. The company is planning a manufacturing facility for batteries, the key component of the vehicle, at Hyderabad.
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Volvo India planning to make India an export base
Mumbai:
Heavy vehicle manufacturer Volvo is planning to export its products to more countries such as China and Indonesia as is operations in India slowly turns profitable.

The Indian operations of Volvo is regarded as a centre of excellence and the company is now planning to export vehicles to countries such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Algeria and Myanmar. It already exports trucks to South Korea and some of neighbouring countries, Volvo India managing director Eric Leblanc said while addressing the India Innovation Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Volvo also sources components worth $100 million from India for its global operations, Mr Leblanc said. He said even though Volvo's trucks are priced at least three times higher than those sold by competitors in India , the truck maker has been able to sell enough trucks to make it a profitable venture in the country.

He said Volvo trucks consume 50 per cent less fuel and also operators need to buy less number of trucks to manage their operations. Volvo wanted the customers to understand that its trucks were more profitable to run than the others, he said.
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BHEL bags Rs139-cr NTPC order for transformers
New Delhi:
Equipment major, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd said on Monday that it has secured an Rs139 crore order from NTPC Ltd for supply and commissioning of 27 transformers.

NTPC will use the transformers for its Korba, Dadri and Farakka extension projects, BHEL said in a release.

BHEL's scope of work includes supply, erection and commissioning of 15 transformers of 200 MVA, one transformer of 100 MVA capacity and 11 other transformers with total capacity of 3,548 MVA, it said.

The entire order will be executed in 25 months.
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JSPL bags eco award from the World Environment Foundation
New Delhi:
Jindal Steel and Power Ltd has bagged the Golden Peacock Eco-Innovation Award-2007 from the World Environment Foundation under the Energy Sector category.

Representing the company, A.K. Parsad, Assistant General Manager (Power Plant), and Mr Devender Tripathi (Environment Management) received the award from Mr Olla Olsten, Ex-Prime Minister of Sweden and Chairman of the World Council for Corporate Governance, a company release said.

The Institute of Directors has instituted this award under World Environment Foundation.
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JBM Auto enters joint venture with Japan cos
New Delhi:
JBM Auto has entered into a joint venture with Japanese-based Sumitomo Corporation and Nisshin Steel Corporation for the production of auto steel tubes.

While Sumitomo Corporation and Nisshin Steel would hold 24.5 per cent each, JBM will retain majority holding of 51 per cent in the Rs40-crore venture.

"The joint venture would give us access to technology to make auto tubes. We are looking to tap into the domestic and the export markets through this venture," said a senior company official.

The company clocked a profit after tax of Rs7 crore on net sales of Rs145 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007.
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Delhi start-up creates online desktop
Bangalore:
A Delhi-based start-up has announced the "world's first Windows-based online desktop." The Nivio, as the system is called, helps to create a full-fledged, but entirely virtual, desktop on the web.

The trial version of the beta or advanced prototype offers the full Windows XP look and feel; 5 gigabytes of storage, and all the standard desktop features such as file back-up, virus and spam protection.

The free bundle of software tools includes the ``OpenOffice'' suite, the Outlook Express email tool and the Internet Explorer browser. Also on offer are Acrobat 8 reader, iTunes and Winamp players, Yahoo Messenger, and for ``Open'' software lovers: the choice of a Mozilla/Firefox browser and the Foxit Reader.

After a free-use period, Nivio will be offered on a monthly subscription of Rs399.

The company is a recent spin-off from the Delhi-based SMX Corporation, which operates web hosting and allied services through sister concerns in Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
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domain-B : Indian business : News Review : 19 June 2007 : companies