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Costliest Maybach unveiled
Bull run continues
Glenmark inks pact with US firm
Report says yes to GM maize, no to others
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Hero Honda net jumps 32.6 pc, to pay 500 pc
No cut in auto loan rates in old cases
Corporation Bank profit drops
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Auto Expo Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 14 The bookings for the car, priced between Rs 3 to 5 crore, is expected to start from next month even as the car was unveiled here — a day ahead of the formal inauguration of the five Auto Expo. The manufacturers of probably the best-known name in the car industry Mercedes-Benz, would be starting the bookings for the Maybach from next month. But these would strictly be by invitation which would be carefully vetted by the Daimler-Chrysler India. Maybach would cost anywhere between Rs 3 to 5 crore per unit and would possibly be available to the buyers by the first quarter of the year. Unveiling the 12 cylinder, 5.5 litre biturbo engine Maybach, in the presence of Helmut Petri, Chairman of Daimler-Chrysler, Hans-Michael Huber, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Daimler-Chrysler India said that the company was already having a large number of inquiries about the luxury car from its existing customers. However, the company would be looking at issuing the invitations carefully and start the bookings from next month. The company has as such not put any targets for the sales of this car, which is the ultimate name in luxury. Daimler-Chrysler India, which is the only luxury car manufacturer in the country achieved a 30 per cent growth in its sales last year and is looking at sustaining the same in the present financial year. Pointing out that India was the second largest potential market in Asia after China, Mr Huber said that the largest chunk of sales for the company came from the E-Class cars. As against the 1,208 cars which the company sold in 2002-2003, it achieved a sales figure of 1,581 units in 2003-2004. The sales volumes for 2003-04 was in fact higher by as much as 30 per cent that planned sales target. Export of auto component from the company increased by 11 per cent export reaching a figure of 72 million euros. 4 Skoda models this year
Skoda Auto will introduce four new models of cars in 2004. The first to hit Indian roads will be its super luxury sedan, Superb, which will be priced at 23.5 lakh. “We will launch Superb in March,” Mr Bipin Datar, General Manager (Sales and Marketing), Skoda India said. Along with Superb, the company will also launch Laurin and Klement (L and K) in March. “L and K will be priced at Rs 13.5 lakh,” Mr Datar said after the inauguration of the company’s pavilion at the seventh Auto Expo, being organized by CII, SIAM and ACMA. In August, Skoda will launch another version of its hugely successful Octavia. “The new diesel Skoda with automatic transmission will cost 12.5 lakh,” the Skoda official said. At the end of the year, Skoda will launch much-awaited Fabia. The company has still not decided on the pricing of the car. The company officials said that they are gauging the response to the car and studying the market before launching it in India.
— TNS, PTI
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Bull run continues
Mumbai, January 14 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) which made net investments of Rs 173 crore on Monday and are expected to pump in more funds in bourses, were believed to be aggressive buyers in select key counters, including the SBI, Grasim Ind, GACL, ITC, L&T, RIL, Tata Motors and Satyam Computers. The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened strong at 6157.88 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high at 6215.02 but later met with a moderate resistance at the fag-end before ending at 6194.11 as against yesterday’s close of 6132.97, a net rise of 61.14 points or 1.00 per cent. Retail investors reportedly book profits at higher levels during the last few minutes. Though operators were a bit cautious in view of reports about early Lok Sabha polls, the market witnessed widespread buying support prompted by expectations that the government might clear a barrage of reform measures in the next few days. The Cabinet meeting, which is likely to be held during the month, is expected to hike foreign investment limit in telecom sector to 74 per cent and allow foreign airlines more access in the country.
Disclose details on bulk deals: SEBI
In an effort to contain volatility in market from bulk deals, SEBI today asked stock exchanges and brokers to
disclose details about transactions in scrips where quantum of shares involved in deals was more than 0.5 per cent of the company’s equity shares listed on the bourse. The broking entities should provide details on deals in a scrip to stock exchanges where the total quantity of shares (bought/sold) is more than 0.5 per cent of the number of equity shares of the company listed on the stock exchange, SEBI said in a notification. This step is being taken to impart transparency in the bulk deals and prevent rumours and speculation about such transactions, causing volatility in the scrip price, the regulator said. The brokers should disclose the scrip name, client name, quantity of shares bought/sold and the traded price to the stock exchange, SEBI said.
— PTI
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Glenmark inks pact with US firm
Mumbai, January 14 “The generic products under this agreement have annual branded sales in excess of $ 2.5 billion and expect sales to start by end of 2005,” Glenmark Pharma managing director Glenn Saldanha told reporters here today. The agreement inked by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc also provides for development and licensing of additional generic Abbreviated New Drugs Application (ANDA) products as well as certain “branded” speciality products, which may incorporate the company’s proprietary platform controlled release technology, he said. However, he declined to divulge details about the products or their segments. The $ 80 million deal, includes upfront fee, milestone and royalty payments from K.V. Pharma in exchange for marketing rights to Glenmark products, Saldanha said, adding that, most of the milestone payment is expected to come in FY-05. The whole amount is expected to come in a space of 10 years, the MD said. The companies would also collaborate to secure US regulatory approval of the products, he said. Glenmark Pharma US has a marketing agreement with US-based Lannet Company Inc to market ANDAs, which the former would file in 2004-05. Glenmark US CEO Jeffrey Weiss said this agreement allows the company to utilise its core strengths in product and formulation development while accelerating the building phase of the US
commercial operations.
— PTI
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Report says yes to GM maize, no to others
London, January 14 The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) analysed results of GM trials of maize, beet and spring-sown oil seed rape which have taken place at some 60 sites across Britain over the last three years. “In a sense, we are saying ‘yes, but’ to the maize and ‘no, but’ both to the beet and the spring-sown oilseed rape,” said Jules Pretty, deputy chairman of ACRE, told a press conference yesterday. “That’s not ‘yes, no, no’,” Pretty said. “That’s very important. This is neither a green light for GMs nor a death knell for them.” Environment Minister Margaret Beckett said the findings would be considered “very carefully”, alongside other research, before London reaches an opinion on which GM crops can be approved for cultivation in the European Union.
— AFP
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Hero Honda net jumps 32.6 pc, to pay 500 pc
New Delhi, January 14 The company also announced an interim dividend of 500 per cent (Rs 10 per share of the face value of Rs 2), a top company official told PTI after the board meeting. The net sales jumped 15 per cent during the October-December quarter to Rs 1,581.41 crore from Rs 1,376.04 crore a year ago. The net profit during April-December, 2003, went up by 19.7 per cent to Rs 517.02 crore from Rs 431.8 crore last year. The net sales also grew by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,152.31 crore from Rs 3,886.31 crore.
— PTI
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No cut in auto loan rates in old cases
Chandigarh, January 14 Customers say though the current market rate of interest have come down to below 10 per cent for auto loans, but ICICI, CitiBank, HDFC and HSBC are still charging 14 or 15 per cent rate of interest from those who has taken loans three or four years ago. The bankers say since the RBI or the government has not issued any instruction, so they are not bound to pass on the interest rate benefits to the customers, who had taken loans earlier. Further, unlike housing loan market, the auto loans are mostly given on fixed interest rate basis. Mr
R.K. Bajaj, Chief Manager, SBI, admitted that a number of customers, especially from private banks, were approaching them to take over their loans due to higher interest rate and exorbitant charges in case of default. He said," The SBI has reduced interest loans on cars up to 9.25 per cent for 3 years without any hidden costs. Further, in case of unknowingly default in repayment the bank will charge just Rs 50 unlike up to Rs 500 charged by some of the banks." Mr Raminder Singh of Mohali alleged, "In January, 2001, I had taken a loan of Rs 2 lakh from the HSBC Bank at 14.5 per cent for 7- year. I felt disgusted when the bank illegally deducted Rs 500 as fine from my saving account though I had deposited repayment cheques in time. Despite repeated requests, the bank declined to reduce my EMI though the interest rates had substantially
declined." Consequently, I decided to shift my loan account to the SBI and got a benefit of over Rs 20,000. It was despite the fact that I had to pay penalty of 1.5 per cent and other charges to the HSBC, he added. Mr Devinder Singh, another industrialist, alleged that he was forced to shift his car loan account worth Rs 1.90 lakh from CitiBank to another bank, as the bank was imposing Rs 500 fine every month for delay in payments though I used to deposit the amount by 7th of every month, he added. The bankers admitted that during the past two years the interest rates for auto loans had come down. Stiff competition had badly affected the profit margins and they were making efforts to add new customers. Said a senior official of the ICICI Bank," Since we have paid heavy commission to our agents to get customers, we cannot reduce interest rates overnight for old customers. Further, NPAs of around 4 per cent add to the costs of the banks." To deal with ''tough and valuable'' customers, he said, the regional managers were given discretionary powers to reduce interest rates by 3 to 4 per cent Otherwise, they would have to pay a penalty of 3 to 4 per cent on the outstanding amount to shift their loans to other banks, he added.
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