Nano launch on March 23

After several months of uncertainty, the Tata Motors Nano—the world’s cheapest car, carrying a sticker price of Rs 1 lakh—is set to hit Indian roads next month. On Thursday, Tata Motors said the company would launch the much-awaited small car on March 23. Bookings will start from the second week of April.

A 35% fall in the domestic price of steel, a major raw material,over the last few months is expected to help chairman Ratan Tata deliver his pet project,the Nano,at the promised price. The launch announcement helped up the Tata Motors share price by 7.26% to Rs 150 on the BSE on Thursday.

“Tata Motors is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that prospective customers can conveniently avail of booking facilities across the length and breadth of India,” the company said in a statement.

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Jairam Ramesh resigns

Union minister of state for commerce & power Jairam Ramesh resigned from his post on Wednesday citing involvement with election campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Ramesh, who is a Rajya Sabha member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh, told FE this evening that it would be impossible to give time to party work while continuing as a minister in the government. “I need to focus fully on election campaigning. It is not easy to handle two ministries and election campaigning at the same time. In fact, it is impossible,”he said.

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Pranab unveils third package

Announcing the third stimulus package in as many months to boost flagging demand,the UPA government on Tuesday announced fiscal sops amounting to Rs 30,000 crore, the most significant being an across-the-board 2% cut in central excise duty and service tax.

Though industry chambers hailed the incumbent administration’s farewell gifts, they stressed that an interest rate cut by RBI was imperative to spur investment,consumption and reduce pressure on bond yields due to increased government borrowings.

While central excise duty has been slashed to 8% from theearlier10%,service tax will be levied at 10% from the previous 12%. As a further sweetener to corporate India, the 4% excise duty cut announced under the first stimulus package in December has been extended beyond March 31,2009.

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Toyota to pitch Prius in India

Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM), the Indian subsidiary of Japanese auto major Toyota that created ripples in the Indian auto market with its Qualis in 2000 and multipurpose vehicle Innova in 2005, is all set to launch its hybrid Prius in India.

Toyota has decided to launch the vehicle in India in 2010, when the company is expected to start its operations in the upcoming second plant for small cars near Bangalore, sources close to the development said. The world’s first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid passenger car Prius will be imported as completely built units (CBUs) from Japan for India, a Toyota official said requesting anonymity. But again, the launch will depend on the market condition and on the tax concession from the government, the official added. Talking to FE on the sidelines of 18th International Engineering and Technology Fair in Bangalore, where a charming green colour righ thand drive Prius has been showcased, TKM’s managing director Hiroshi Nakagawa, declining to provide a time frame for Prius’ launch in India, said,

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Falling prices, demand to hit Novelis in FY10

Novelis Inc, a 100% subsidiary of Indian aluminium major Hindalco, may not see a turnaround in FY2010 as the continuous decline in aluminium prices, dip in its product demand and hit on its margin will restrict the company from showing any positive performance in the next financial year, say experts.

Meanwhile, Martha Brooks, CEO of Novelis, on Wednesday had told FE over telephone, “Although the business has fallen nearly 30%, Novelis has a prominent place in the cans segment, and expects to see a turnaround in business by 2010.”

However, the company’s financial details and global economic conditions tell a different story.

Aluminium prices are expected to remain low in FY2010 as well. As much as 40% of Novelis’ business comes from the can sheet market, which has already taken a hit this quarter and 28-30% of the business comes from automotive and construction markets which is almost dented.

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Nokia to launch virtual store in India in 2009

Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, is following Apple's popular App Store model by launching virtual stores for their mobile phone applications in India.

"We intend to bring our Ovi stores in India by the second half of this year. The pricing mechanisms for India are currently being worked out," said Vineet Taneja, head, marketing, Nokia (India).

The Ovi stores will stock applications, games, videos, widgets, podcasts, location-based applications and personalisation content for Nokia Series 40 and S60 devices, amon other things. Nokia's N97 will be the first device to include the storefront.

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China Mobile wants to enter India

China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile telephony operator with 457 million subscribers, is now turning its attention to the world’s fastest growing telecom market: India. Speaking on the sidelines of the world GSM Congress, CEO Wang Jianzhou said, “We are looking to enter the Indian market.”

Jianzhou did not elaborate on his company’s India plans.However,industry analysts said if it wants to enter the country,it would only be through a partnership with a new licensee,as most incumbents already have foreign partners.In the telecom sector,74% FDI is allowed,of which up t o49% is via the automatic route.

Such a move could test how far the Indian government is willing to open up a ‘sensitive’ sector like telecom to Chinese FDI without raising the hackles of the security establishment.

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Pranab plays by book; markets unimpressed

The UPA’s final Budget—albeit an interim one—presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday stuck to the Constitutional script by avoiding any new big-ticket expenditure, changes in taxation or explicit economic stimuli.

While allocations were raised for the outgoing administration’s flagship schemes that would feature prominently in the Congress Party’s election campaign, the defence Budget was hiked to Rs 1.42 lakh crore (Rs 54,824 crore for capital expenditure) in a bid to quell another poll issue—internal security.

As expected, social sectors received more money. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was allotted Rs 30,100 crore for 2009-10, the National Rural Health Mission Rs 12,070 crore, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Rs 13,100 crore and Bharat Nirman Rs 40,900 crore.

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United Kingdom, Europe protectionist steps to make business process outsourcing pie sour

Even as mounting job cuts, owing to the global meltdown, is pushing several countries to take a hard look at their policies, outsourcing, the obvious one, stares at policymakers in developed economies. In fact, UK and governments in European countries are expected to bring forth more stringent protectionist policies with respect to outsourcing,say industry experts. The obvious fallout: India’s outsourcing operations will face the heat with a dent in profitability.

Peter Redshaw, VP-IAS banking & investment services, Gartner Research, says, “In a bid to generate local jobs, the governments in the UK and Europe are looking at adopting protectionist policies with respect to outsourcing. Expect these policies to be more stringent than the ones coming from the US.”

Says Rodney A Nelsestuen, research director, cross industry research at Tower Group, “It’s a kind of political risk that governments are taking.

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Stability returns at Satyam, claims Karnik

The crisis at Satyam Computers seems to be over, at least this is the pitch that the minister and the chairman have been making. For the Satyam employees this augurs as good news as their February salaries are expected to be paid.

Speaking before the board meeting began, the new chairman of Satyam, Kiran Karnik mentioned that the company had achieved some sort of financial stability and that the developments on the receivables front was giving the management some confidence. “We have put out the fire,” said Karnik before the board meeting and mentioned that the board would discuss the future of the company.

He also mentioned that the restatement of the accounts was in progress and that he could not give any time frame for the completion.

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Pakistani registers case against Kasab and 13 others

Pakistani authorities on Wednesday registered a case against Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the Mumbai attacks, and 13 others in connection with the terror strikes.

The case was registered on the basis of the probe conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency and the decision made by the defence committee of the Pak cabinet during its meeting on Monday, TV channels quoted unidentified sources as saying.

The case was registeredu nder the Anti-Terrorism Act, Geo News channel reported.

It quoted sources as saying that the case was registered at the Dockyard Police Station in Karachi.

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Indian Premier League 2 to deliver better results for advertising world

The much-hyped Indian Premier League (season 2) is expected to have a major impact on the advertising fraternity and media this year. After witnessing the success of IPL last year, many companies are now jumping onto the bandwagon to gain high visibility for their brands despite the economic downturn. In fact, many advertisers strongly believe that IPL 2 will deliver even better results than last year.

Commenting on the impact of IPL 2 on the Indian ad industry, Arvind Sharma, chairman of Leo Burnett India said, “It’s a major media event and a major advertising vehicle. IPL is one thing that advertisers feel positive and confident about. I am sure it will yield better results than last year.”

According to Sam Balsara, chairman of Madison World, the Indian ad industry is expecting IPL to have a major impact this year too. “Yes, it will impact the industry, and it the ad world will be better prepared for it since last year.

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Jet Airways set to ground expat pilots

The country’s largest private carrier Jet Airways has plans to phase out most of its expatriate pilots and not fill other vacant positions in the coming months as part of cost cutting moves. Jet, which had posted Q3 losses of Rs 214 crore, had announced in September 2008 that it would undertake a slew of cost cutting measures to keep the company afloat in testing times.

The move to trim foreign pilots comes at a time when the airline, which recently had a strategic alliance with its archrival Kingfisher Airline, is in the process of rationalising routes on its domestic and international network.

According to sources, the airline had a board meeting on Monday where decision to trim foreign pilot headcount was taken. The airline has nearly 1,300 pilots of which 250 are expats.

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With big bucks flying, Indian Premiere League just got bigger

The auction for the second season of the DLF Indian Premiere League (IPL) kicked off the usual drama and sensation.Although just about 17 players went under the hammer in the current season, and the bidders remained cautious while spending as the spending limit of all teams was set at $2 million(Rs9.8crore) each, it was not bereft of action.

The biggest action took place when the battle for capturing Mashrafe Mortaza, the Bangladesh all rounder heated up, between the Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders. The heated bidding started from $50,000 for Mortaza and finally KKR got him for $6,00,000, 12 times more than the base price. This climb set a new record after was Manoj Tiwary’s, bidding had seen a jump from $100,000 to $675,000 last year.

Another high of sorts was created when English cricketers Andrew Flintoff bagged by Chennai Super Kings and Kevin Pietersen bought by Bangalore Royal Challengers for Rs 7.5 crore each,

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Satyam names new Chief Executive Officer

The government-appointed interim board of Satyam Computer Services on Thursday selected AS Murty as CEO. Murty, who is currently chief delivery officer, has been with Satyam since 1994. He will draw an annual salary of Rs 5crore.

The six-member board also announced the appointment of Tata Chemicals former MD Homi Khusrokhan and Murugappa group former CFO Partho Datta as special advisors to the board. As Datta will oversee the company’s financial operations, the board decided not to appoint a separate CFO at this juncture.

In a statement issued after its two-day meeting, the board also confirmed a sanction of Rs 600 crore to meet the company’s working capital requirements.Satyam has been staring at an acute shortage of cash ever since the dramatic disclosure on January 7of a Rs 7,800-crore accounting fraud by Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.

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Obamanomics at work: car buyers get tax breaks, CXO pay capped

The US Senate voted to give tax breaks to new car buyers, even as President Barack Obama moved to impose a cap of $500,000on the compensation of top executives at companies that receive significant federal assistance.

Anamendment added on Tuesday to the Senate’s draft of the plan aims to help the auto industry by temporarily allowing some buyers of new cars and light trucks to deduct sales taxes and interest payment son car loans from their tax bills.The amendment’s sponsors estimated it would cost $11 billion, which would push the cost of the stimulus to about $900 billion.

“Everyone wants to save auto manufacturers, but no matter how much government aid we give to the Big Three automakers, they can’t survive if consumers don’t start buying cars,” said senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democ rat who sponsored the amendment. “We can help by getting the consumer into the showroom.”

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Shilpa Shetty buys 12 percent stake in Rajasthan Royals

Raj Kundra, Essential General Trading LLC (Dubai) chief executive officer, and Bollywood celebrity Shilpa Shetty have bought 12% stake for Rs 73.92 crore in Australian spinner Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals team, champions of inaugural Indian Premier League , 2008.

As part of their strategic development of the Rajasthan Royals brand, the franchisee has lined up a slew of initiatives, licensing and merchandising plans to enable their army of supporters to uniquely connect with the team and the brand. Rajasthan Royals recently created and launched a five-tier Royals Army fan club membership programme by adopting global best practices and combined with elements that make the packages attractive for their community of fans, both locally and globally.

Manoj Badale, chairman and joint owner Rajasthan Royals said, “It is our pleasure to welcome our new investors Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty to the family.

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Sebi mulls open offer relaxation for Satyam buy

Markets regulator Sebi on Monday said it was considering a waiver of regulations that guide how shares should be priced in an acquisition in the case of Satyam Computer Services. Chairman CB Bhave told reporters after a Sebi board meeting that he had received a letter from the newly constituted Satyam board to exempt it from certain provisions of the Sebi (Substantial Acquisition of Shares & Take overs) Regulations,1997.

Bhave said the January 7 acknowledgement of a Rs 7,800-crore accounting fraud by erstwhile Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju had created an unusual situation in the pricing of the scrip. Hence, there was a genuine need to look into this matter, said Bhave. “We will not take this on a case-to-case basis, but will look at it generally and will make changes in the amendments so that such abnormal cases are handled through a transparent mechanism,”he said.

The mechanism of arriving at the price will be looked into later, Bhave added. Sources in Sebi said they expect this would be concluded by the end of the week.

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Hindujas join race for Satyam Computer

The number of suitors for the beleaguered Satyam Computer is increasing as Hinduja Global Solutions, an arm of the Hinduja Group, has evinced interest in acquiring the troubled IT company.

Company officials said that HGSL has sent a formal communication to Goldman Sachs, the newly-appointed investment banker for Satyam, saying that it is keen to participate in the bidding process as and when it starts.

The company has over$100 million in books and if required promoters Hindujas would also chip in, the officials said.

The Satyam board, which is meeting on February 5, is likely to take stock of such proposals.

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