Haier launches new products, expects Rs 550 cr revenue in 2008...............

Govt recognises public demand for lower home loan rates...........

Nothing can stop Indian projects: Aditya Mittal...........

Bollywood music industry needs revolution in composing: Lata.........

Eicher Motors Feb sales up 6.75 pc

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: Commercial vehicle manufacturer Eicher Motors today reported a 6.75 per cent jump in total sales in February at 2,799 units as against 2,622 units in the same month last year. The company said its domestic sales increased by 4.28 per cent to 2,583 units as compared to 2,477 units in the corresponding period previous year.

Exports during the month stood at 216 units, compared to 145 units last year, up by 48.97 per cent.

Light commercial vehicle sales in the domestic market during the month rose by 5.05 per cent at 2,163 units, the same stood at 2,059 units in February 2007.

Heavy commercial vehicle sales recorded a marginal increase at 420 units, as against 418 units in February last year, it said. (PTI)

Govt to digitise all patents granted so far: FICCI

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: The Government is in the process of digitising all patents granted so far and will make it available for the public by early next year. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) will put the task of digitising the patent database on fast track and is likely to complete it by December 2008, making it available for online public access by January 2009, industry body Ficci said in a statement.

Nodal officers have been appointed to ensure that the work is completed as per the deadlines, it said.

FICCI has urged the government to create a database covering provisional and complete specifications, legal status of the patent application/patents, data concerning the patent applications/patents.

"Such database is required to weed out weak patents," the chamber said.

FICCI and DIPP would set up a Working Group to suggest improvements in the working of Intellectual Property (IP) offices with regard to IT enabling and networking of operations and enhancing human resource capabilities.

The group, comprising representatives from industry, legal experts and the office of Controller General of Patents, Trade Marks and Designs, would seek to gear the IP offices to meet the increasing demands of trade and industry, it said.

Improvements in the working of IP offices have become imperative since Indian Patent office has been granted the status of International Search Authority and International Preliminary Examination Authority by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), it said.

The patent office has already started e-filing of patent and trademark applications through its website. Besides workshops would be organised to sensitise users about the new system, the chamber added. (PTI)

Haier launches new products, expects Rs 550 cr revenue in 2008

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: Riding on robust growth driven by new launches, Chinese consumer goods maker Haier expects to cross a turnover of Rs 550 crore in India this year.

The company, which clocked a revenue of Rs 325 crore in the previous year, is striving for a 70 per cent growth in its revenue in the current year as it announced the launch of a slew of products and product ranges coupled with aggressive advertisement campaign to achieve the target.

"This year, as Haier is introducing some new products and at the same time it is expanding some of the existing product range, we are expecting our revenues to cross Rs 550 crore," Haier Appliances (India) Whole Time Director & COO Pranay Dhabhai said while announcing the launch of new products here today.

The company has launched a new range of air conditioner comprising 16 split AC models and nine window AC models. It also introduced nine new refrigerator models, in both frost-free and direct-cool categories, besides a new range of washing machines and LCD television sets.

Haier is targeting around 8 per cent market share in refrigerator segment and 10 per cent market share in the AC segment in the current year.

"We are targeting a sale of one lakh units in washing machine and two lakh units in the TV segment," Dhabhai said.

The company also plans to launch an aggressive ad campaign in the country, with Rs 23 crore to be spent in the next two months for promoting sales.

"So far, we have been spending around 10 per cent of our revenues on promotions and brand-building initiatives. This year, we will be spending lot more," Dhabhai said.

Besides this, the company is also expanding its sales channel for its home appliances business as well and consolidating its dealer and after-sales services network across the country.

"We have 135 after-sales service centre in the country and seven call centres to support our distribution network," he said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: The Government today acknowledged that there is public demand that interest rates on home loans up to Rs 20 lakh should be slashed, but said it is for the banks and RBI to take a call.

"I shall certainly bear in mind that there is public demand that interest rates for borrowers, who borrow (housing loans) up to Rs 20 lakh, must be lowered," Finance Minister said during his post-budget interaction with industry chamber ASSOCHAM.

The Finance Minister said he agreed that housing loan borrowers of less than Rs 20 lakh should be incentivised by lowering interest rates.

"I made a number of efforts to impress upon bankers in this regard ... It is a constant effort that I will have to make... Bankers will have to take a call, RBI will have to take a call."

As much as 80 per cent of all housing loans fall in the category of below Rs 20 lakh, he said, adding that these loans have less risk weight than those above Rs 20 lakhs and, therefore, bankers have incentives to lend to these borrowers at lower interest rates.

The RBI governor’s position to strike a balance between low inflation and high growth is unenviable, he said.

"He (RBI Governor) can never please everyone. It is his judgement call what should be the interest rates in order to contain inflation and promote growth, the Finance Minister said."

Chidambaram said he recognised that from the Government’s point of view it is important to promote growth without stoking inflation. (PTI)

Nothing can stop Indian projects: Aditya Mittal

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: Unfazed by delay in executing its 24 billion dollars steel projects, Arcelor Mittal top official Aditya Mittal has vowed not to give up on India venture saying even hostile reception including forced landing by gunship in Europe did not dissuade them from acquiring steel giant Arecelor.

"We are a steel family and love steel more than anything. How can we give up in India when we did not give up on Arcelor despite hostility," Aditya, considered the brain behind the takeover of the European steel giant in 2006 and the CFO of the combined entity, said.

In a nostalgic mood, Aditya recounted the "hostile and cold reception" that he got from a Prime Minister and a Finance Minister of some European countries.

"When we launched the bid (for Arcelor) there was tremendous opposition. There was a Prime Minister who went to Parliament and gave a 45-minute speech denouncing the deal and said they will everything in their power to stop this deal.

"I remember having breakfast with another Finance Minister of another country. They told me that a hostile deal deserves a hostile response. Never mind that country’s own companies have done their own hostilities. Now I remember sitting there for breakfast.

"The coffee was served but it was cold. The cuisines were there far off. No matter how much I stretched I could not get any of the bread. So there was no breakfast. Not only the coffee but the atmosphere was also cold," Aditya, son of L N Mittal who is the fourth richest person in the world, said.

Emphasising that India was the biggest focus for the group, he said the commitment to start the project would not falter and exuded confidence of breaking the ground for the two projects later this year. (PTI)

Bollywood music industry needs
revolution in composing: Lata

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: The Bollywood music industry is in urgent need of a revolution in composing to fish itself out of the slump it has witnessed in recent times, says veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar.

"If things have to improve, one of the two has to happen. Either a new musical phenomenon must emerge in composing, or some playback singer or the other should get into composing, taking charge of the music they get to sing," a new book - "Bollywood Melodies"-quotes Lata as saying.

But Lata is doubtful if either of these will happen. "For the sake of film music, I wish it did," she hopes. But according to the singer, dubbed as the ‘nightingale of India’, there is no dearth of talented singers in the country.

"It is just that there’s no composer to test a singer’s range; work on exploring the voice of the singer the way composers used to do in the 1950s."

Lamenting that the emphasis of present-day music is on instant popularity and not on creating something that is original, the book quotes, "Creative music is not happening anywhere-not in Mumbai, not in the south or even in Bengal. How can you blame the singers alone for it?"

The book, written by Bangalore-based organisation development consultant Ganesh Anantharaman, traces the evolution of the Hindi film song to its present status as the cultural barometer of the country, through an evaluation of the works of over 50 leading composers, singers and lyricists-from K L Saigal to Sonu Nigam, Naushad to A R Rahman, Sahir Ludhianvi to Javed Akhtar.

Poet-lyricist Gulzar says it’s a challenge to write according to the present-day norms and new values. But he does not want to be bogged down by nostalgia.

"How can you expect the words to be similar to what was written two or three decades ago?" he asks.

"I don’t want to keep going back to the 1960s and 1970s, because too much nostalgia for the past can make you miss what is good about the present."

Placing the song in the social context of the times, Anantharaman looks at the influences that shaped it in each era.

"If the 1930s were about the influence of Rabindra Sangeet from Bengal and Marathi Bhavgeet, the 1940s absorbed the best of folk music of north India. The 1950s saw the taming of Hindustani classical music and the 1960s Indianised pop and jazz. Though the nest three decades were not remarkable for their innovativeness or for attempts to enlarge the scope of this genre, they have nevertheless given us a steady fare of hummable tunes," the book published by Penguin, says.

Anantharaman terms 1947 as the "watershed year" of Hindi film music. "K L Saigal died early that year, succumbing to alcoholism, Lata Mangeshkar made her debut in ‘Aap Ki Sewa Mein’, Geeta Dutt gained stardom with the songs of ‘Do Bhai’, and Suraiya had her first big hit in ‘Dard’. Mohammad Rafi had his first hit in the duet ‘Yahan badla wafa ka’ with Noorjehan in ‘Jugnu’."

The writer says the biggest blow of Partition to the world of Indian film music was Noorjehan’s move to Pakistan.

But the good thing for the industry was that both Rafi and Naushad decided to stay in India, Anantharaman says.

According to him, 1970s were years when film music declined in quality and importance.

"The first generation composers, singers and lyricists were long gone, many of the second generation had all but retired. With Rafi’s death in 1980, the best articulator of melody was gone."

He terms the 1980s as a decade music lovers dread to look back on.

The 1980s confirmed that melody had lost irrevocably though there were the odd hit or two, he writes. Anantharaman does not talk much about the music of the 21^{st century which he doesn’t find "very appealing".}

^{Over the years, the Hindi film song has travelled a long way, influencing and being influenced by popular taste.}

^{Considered down market not so long ago, it is undoubtedly the most popular musical genre in India today, pervading almost all aspects of Indian life-weddings, funerals, religious festivals, get-togethers and political conventions-and emerging as a medium to articulate every shade of joy and sorrow, love and longing, hope and despair. (PTI)}