Weekly News25th October- 30th October 2010

Tata Motors pips RIL to emerge as India's top brand

The Tata Motors-Jaguar-Land Rover combine, with a valuation of $8.45 billion, has over taken Reliance to top the list of the 50 most valuable corporate brands in India.

The brand valuation of Tata Motors-JLR grew 172% over its 2009 value of $3.1 billion when it was at No.5 in the pecking order.

Reliance, the petrochemicals-to-retail major, saw a10% erosion in its brand value at $7.04 billion, down from $7.8 billion in 2009.

25th October 2010

 

Toyota output, sales fall in Sept CAR RECALLS,FALLING DOLLAR BRING MORE PAIN. JAPANESE auto giant Toyota suffered the first drop in a year in September

on slower domestic sales and exports while its rivals reported robust growth.

The worlds largest automaker, which has been battered by a global recall crisis that has affected more than 10 million vehicles worldwide, last week announced a further recall of 1.5 million vehicles to fix a brake problem.

The figures come as a Monday report claimed the company faces a near $2-billion loss.

Toyotas worldwide production, excluding output by Daihatsu and Hino subsidiaries, fell 1.3% from a year earlier to 672,604 units in September

Domestic production in Japan fell 1.4% from a year earlier to 305,853 units, the first drop in 11 months

Rivals with robust growth Nissan Motor’s global production soared 27% to 395,658 units, a record for a

single month, as exports rose 38.3%. Honda’s worldwide production rose 9.2% to 328,368 with exports surging

67.1%.

26th October 2010

 

ArcelorMittal Q3 profit jumps 48%,outlook muted ArcelorMittal, the worlds largest steel maker,posted

on Tuesday a 48% jump in third quarter net profit, but higher raw material prices and muted demand dampened its expectations for the rest of the year.

Net profit rose to $1.35 billion in the third quarter, from $910 million a year earlier, as the global recovery boosted demand for steel.

Sales increased 30% to $21.04 billion from $16.17 billion a year earlier.

But earnings were down from the previous quarter and the company warned of tougher market conditions ahead.

27th October 2010

 

Bharti,Aircel keen to buy Qualcomm biz BHARTI Airtel and Aircel Cellular are interested in buying the

yet-to be-launched Indian wireless broadband business of Qualcomm

Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile phone company, is primarily interested in QUALCOMM's airwaves and permits for Delhi, complementing the 3G frequencies it won in the circle.

Aircel, a unit of Malaysia's Maxis Communications and the country's seventh-biggest operator, has shown interest in the Mumbai and Kerala circles.

Qualcomm had sought a minimum of 5,000 core for its airwaves and permits in Mumbai, Delhi, Haryana and Kerala. It paid 4,913 core to win the licenses in an auction in June.

28th October 2010

 

LG losses widen, cellphone biz a drag LG Electronics suffered a second straight quarter of

record losses from its main mobile-phone business as the worlds third-largest handset maker struggles to compete against Apples iPhone in the smartphone market.

Losses from mobile phones swelled to 303.8 billion won ($270 million) in the third quarter, more than double the previous record in the preceding three-month period,

That led to a 99% drop in net income. The company is trying to put its mobile phone business

back on track and so LG introduced the Optimums One smartphone this month to compete in the fastest-growing segment of the mobile-phone industry.

29th October 2010

 

Rlys invites SAIL to set up plant in WB THE Railways has invited SAIL to build a factory for making freight

bogies for use in its proposed 70,000-crore Dedicated Freight Corridor.

The proposal for the new factory at Andal in West Bengal was announced by Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee

She was speaking at a function to inaugurate a proposed joint venture between Railways and Sail for a wagon-making unit in Kulti.

The coming together of SAIL and Railways is indicative of the latters growing reliance on public sector units for executing big ticket projects.

The Railways attempt to set up projects under the public-private partnership route has failed to attract any significant private sector participation.

Railways is also in the process of entering into an alliance with another PSU steel major, RINL, for a 300-crore wheel and axle plant at Jalpaiguri,

the Railways will sign an MoU for a proposed 74: 26 joint venture with power major NTPC for a 1,320 mw thermal power plant at Adra in West Bengals Purulia district

At Kulti, a JV between SAIL and RITES, moves are afoot for the manufacture of 1200 BOX-N type wagons, including high-end wagons every year.

31th October 2010