New Delhi, May 26
Italian luxury sports carmaker Ferrari today made its official debut in India with the opening of the first dealership in the national capital. The company will sell popular models such as the California , 458 Italia, 599GTB Fiorano at the latest model FF, at prices starting from Rs 2.2 crore.

India is the 58th market around the world where a Ferrari, with its popular symbol of the prancing horse, would now be available.

“Till yesterday, Ferrari was present in 57 countries. Now we are in the 58th country, which is India. We should have been in India much earlier. We expect to be able to sell more than 100 cars in the next 2-3 years,” Ferrari SpA Chief Executive Officer Amedeo Felisa told reporters here at the launch of the dealership. The company has appointed the Shreyans Group as its official importer. Bookings for the cars started today with the opening of the first dealership and the second showroom is scheduled to open in Mumbai in the second half of 2011.

The Shreyans Group is involved with luxury retail in India, including interests in products such as yachts, super bikes, fashion articles and jewellery, besides cars.

Explaining the late arrival of Ferrari in India, Felisa said it was waiting for the right time to enter the market. “We are in India for the long run and we wanted to be here at the right time after testing the market,” he said. In 2008, Ferrari had conducted a 'Magic India Discovery Drive' in India, covering more than 13,000 km and touching 57 cities over 74 days as part of a market testing exercise. Felisa said globally, Ferrari sold 6,500 cars in 2010 and this year, the company expects to do much better.

"This year, we expect to beat our best-ever sales of 6,700 units achieved in 2007," he said. The US is Ferrari's biggest market, accounting for about 30 per cent of sales, followed by Germany, while Japan is the biggest in Asia. The Ferrari range which will be sold in India includes the Ferrari California priced at Rs 2.2 crore, 458 Italia at Rs 2.56 crore and 599GTB Fiorano tagged at Rs 3.37 crore. All prices are ex-showroom Delhi. Ferrari’s latest model FF will also be available at a price tag of Rs 3.41 crore.

New Delhi, May 26
After petrol, price of diesel, LPG and kerosene are likely to be hiked next month when a ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee meets to decide on passing rise in crude rates to consumers.

"The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has been scheduled to meet on June 9," a top oil ministry official said here today.

"Price of diesel, LPG and kerosene will have to go up (to cover for rise in input crude oil cost). What EGoM has to decide is by how much," the official said.

State-owned oil firms had earlier this month hiked petrol price by a steep Rs 5 per litre and the Oil Ministry may push for a Rs 4 per litre increase in diesel and at least Rs 20-25 per 14.2-kg cylinder hike in domestic cooking gas (LPG) rates.

Kerosene price hike too is on the cards.

There is no escaping this time... nothing can be treated as sacred," the official said stressing that rates of all three commodities will be hiked.

EGoM was originally scheduled to meet on May 11, a day after polling in West Bengal ended but the panel meeting was postponed and has now been scheduled for June 9.

"Public sector oil companies are losing close to Rs 500 crore per day on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government controlled rates. We cannot continue with this for long," the official said. Oil companies are losing Rs 16.49 on sale of every litre of diesel at current price of Rs 37.75 per litre in Delhi. Besides, state oil firms lose Rs 29.69 a litre on kerosene and Rs 329.73 per 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder. — PTI

New Delhi, May 26
Software giant Microsoft today said it was looking at working with Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia to develop "next-generation" mobile devices.

"Our partnership with Nokia is an important step forward ... The key there is not only to innovate on software, which we will work together over time, but also work on next-generation hardware innovations with them," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told reporters here.

He added that India would be the company’s "priority market".

In February this year, Microsoft and Nokia announced the formation of a "broad strategic partnership that would use their complementary strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem".

In the partnership, Nokia would contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a wide range of price points, market segments and geographies, the companies had said. — PTI

Mumbai, May 26
Star India and Zee Group today came together to form an alliance for distributing television content.

In a landmark deal announced here, Star Den Media Services Pvt Ltd and Zee Turner Ltd will form a a joint venture to combine distribution of their respective channel bouquets in the country.

Currently, Zee channels are distributed by Zee Turner Ltd, a joint venture company of Zee's parent Essel Group and Turner International, which runs channels like Cartoon Network and Pogo in India.

Star channels, on the other hand, are distributed by StarDen, a 50:50 joint venture between Star India and Sameer Manchanda's DEN Networks. The newly formed company, Media Pro Enterprise India Pvt Ltd, will be a 50:50 joint venture between Zee Turner and Star Den Media Services and would jointly aggregate and distribute channels licensed to Zee Turner and Star Den.

Commenting on the deal, Zee Entertainment Enterprises CEO and MD Punit Goenka said: "The Indian Television market is growing rapidly and provides ample opportunities for the JV company to create value." Star India CEO Uday Shankar said coming together of "the two leaders will lead to a larger consensus around a growth blueprint for the Indian electronic media industry".

The new JV would mark the reunion of the Zee and Star groups, which are among the earliest entrants into the Indian private TV space. — PTI

Paris/New Delhi, May 26
Amid dissenting voices raised by developing nations over a European holding top IMF post, French finance minister Christine Lagarde is planning to visit India, China and Brazil to drum up support for her bid to become the chief of the global lender.

Lagarde, who announced her candidacy yesterday, has said that she was prepared to visit China, India and Brazil to muster broad support and not just the backing from Europe.

"China, Brazil and India are an absolute necessity...," she told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

"I would certainly prefer to be endorsed by a very large majority rather being the European candidate pushed by the Europeans," Lagarde said.

The post of IMF’s Managing Director fell vacant after the ignominous exit of Dominique Strauss-Kahn this month over sexual harassment charges.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said developing countries are trying to consolidate their position to take a view on the candidate for IMF chief post. — Reuters

New Delhi, May 26
Poor TV viewership for IPL Season-IV has prompted advertisers to call for reduction in pricing for ad spots.

Heavy advertisers such as LG and Havells said while IPL remained a strong platform for brand communication, the changing viewership called for a price correction.

“LG is using IPL to promote its range of 3D television and we have seen a great response from consumers in terms of sales. IPL is a great property but given the declining ratings, SET MAX will have to rejig its pricing,” LG Electronics India Ltd consumer electronics business head Amitabh Tiwari told PTI.

Havells India Vice-President Vijay Narayanan said: “The overall (viewership) ratings are about 25 per cent down. Advertisers were hoping that the ratings will go up in the fourth season and the event as a whole will become bigger which has not happened. So there is obviously a sense of loss.”

He said the company would engage in discussions with the broadcaster on the ad rates and other deliverables after the tournament.

Industry sources said that Multi Screen Media (MSM), the parent firm of the channel, had charged about Rs 5 lakh per ten second spot for the IPL matches.

MSM President (Network Sales) Rohit Gupta said: “While the total viewership and the reach of IPL has been good this season, the TV ratings have gone down, which is a matter of concern. — PTI

BRIEFLY

US economy expands 1.8%
Washington: The American economy expanded at a slower than expected pace at 1.8 per cent in the first three months of 2011, amid lower consumer spending. The economy was widely projected to see a growth of over 2 per cent in the 2011 first quarter. — PTI

SEBI to probe irregularities in Vaswani IPO
Mumbai: Market regulator SEBI today said it will probe alleged irregularities in subscription of shares of sponge iron producer Vaswani Industries and investigation will be completed within 30 days. SEBI, on May 13, had withheld the listing of the company's IPO following complaints by about 100 investors alleging large-scale withdrawal and rejections in the issue. — PTI

Food inflation surges to 8.55%
New Delhi: Food inflation surged to a one-month high of 8.55 per cent for the week ended May 14, driven largely by the spiralling cost of fruits, and experts have warned of the recent petrol price hike further fuelling the rate of price rise. The firming up of food inflation, coupled with rising prices of manufactured items, may prompt the RBI to take more steps to tackle price rise at its mid-quarterly monetary policy review next month. — PTI

Honda plans 3rd unit
New Delhi: Japanese auto giant Honda on Thursday said it will set up a third two-wheeler manufacturing facility in India at Narsapuram, Karnataka, with an installed annual capacity of 12 lakh units by 2013. — PTI