Toyota Launches Corollar Altis and Etios Cross

 Japanese automobile major Toyota has drawn up a two-pronged strategy to boost sales figures of
its Indian operations in a depressed market scenario, a company official said.
   
(sales and marketing) of Toyota Kirloskar Motors told reporters here today.
 Raja said that increasing the localisation content would help in cost reduction in a big way. He said that all the models produced in India have a minimum localisation content of around 50 per cent, the highest being for the Etios variants.

"We have drawn up a two-pronged strategy. First is to increase the content of localisation, and second is toincrease exports out of India," N Raja, director and Sr VP
Regarding exports, he said that the company was sending its products in the Asia Pacific countries and South Africa.

"With the kind of products offered in India, it is not possible to look at the other export destinations like the Gulf since these nations have a appetite for big cars and
SUVs," he said.

With Indian market being mostly compact cars and sedans, these products were accepted in the Asia-Pacific South African countries only.

Last year, the company exported 28,000 units to these nations. "We are planning out strategies for increasing exports to these markets," he said.
To a query, he said that there were no immediate plans for new product launches in India.

He said that although the company had not fixed any target sales this calendar year due to depressed market conditions in the first four months, maintaining last year's sales was minimum expectations which might go up depending on the demand in balance seven months of the year.
 Last year, the company sold 1,47,000 units domestically, a de-growth over the previous period.
 Toyota today launched the 11th version of Corolla Altis and the Etios Cross variant.

JLR launches Jaguar XJ at Rs 92.1 lakh

 Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover today launched locally manufactured Jaguar XJ 3.0L in
the country, with price starting at Rs 92.1 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai).

The diesel powered luxury saloon, which is being manufactured at the company' Pune plant, will be available in two variants---premium luxury and portfolio.

"We are delighted to introduce the flagship of the Jaguar brand, the epitome of extraordinary luxury, the XJ as locally manufactured, at an extremely competitive price point in the luxury saloon segment

in India," Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India Vice President Rohit Suri said in a statement.
The new 2014 XJ with new innovative features is bound to have an enhanced appeal for the discerning and successful individuals, he added.

 The vehicle comes with various luxury features including rear seat comfort pack with three massage seat functions, increased rear headroom, electric rear side window blinds and LED reading lights.

Star City Plus launches by TVS

With the launch of its new 110cc commuter motorcycle 'Star City Plus', TVS Motor Company
is expected to add an additional five per cent market share to its existing nine per cent in the two-wheeler segment in Tamil Nadu, a top company official said today.

The company expects to sell 2,500 to 3,000 units of the vehicle every month in Tamil Nadu and 15,000 vehicles across the country, company's General Manager (Sales) Sathish Kumar
told reporters here on the sidelines of the launch of the new two-wheeler.

Priced at Rs 44,326 for electric start and Rs 41,836 for kickstart model, Star City is derived from the 'Ecothrust' engine of TVS Phoenix, the 109.7 cc power mill of the vehicle provides an ideal

combination of smooth performance, power and fuel economy, he said.

 TVS Motors is selling about 1.6 lakh vehicles across the country, out of nine lakh of all brands per month, of which six lakh were in the commuter segment, he said.

As far as Coimbatore, Satish Kumar said, from the present 12 per cent, the company would increase its market share close to 15 per cent during the shortest period.

BMW Launches SUV X5

German luxury car maker BMW launched the locally produced SUV, X5xDrvie, at Rs 70.9 lakh
ex-showroom, national.
The 3-litre diesel machine was unveiled by Sachin Tendulkar, who is also BMW India's brand ambassador. The cricket icon said he has been using the first generation X5
since 2002.
 Rolled out from its Chennai plant, the all new X5xDrive30d, is around Rs 10 lakh cheaper than the previous imported models.
 The price is lower mainly on account of local sourcing of equipment. It was selling the previous model, which the company discontinued over a year ago, at 80.6 lakh.

The all new X5 will be available at all the 38 dealers of BMW from next month, BMW Group India President Philipp von Sahr told reporters here at the launch.
The BMW X5xDrive30d is the third generation of its most successful 'sports activity vehicles',

globally launched two months ago in the US and Europe.

India is the fourth market after the US, Russia, Thailand and Malaysia where BMW rolls out the X series.
Sahr said the X5 is nick-named 'The Boss' for its sheer market dominance, having sold 1.3 million globally since debut in 1999.
The new X5 delivers increased space, better comfort and enhanced driving pleasure, luxury, and efficiency and innovative equipment features.

When asked about the local sourcing for the X5, Sahr refused to share details but said BMW Group has 30 OEM vendors in the country and has been sourcing equipment from here for its global supply chain, including, the US, for many years now.

The company does not manufacture the X Series anywhere in Europe, including the home market Germany.
The X5xDrive is the third launch by the company this year after the M6-Grand Coupe and 3 Series GT since January.
BMW sells the imported models like the 6 Series Gran Coupe, the X6, the Z4 and the M6 Gran
December, 2015.
 Sahr said the company will be launching 6-8 models through the rest of the year such as the M3 Sedan, the M4 Coupe and the M5 Sedan.
 It may be noted that after being the market leader in India in the luxe car space for three years continuously, BMW lost its market leadership to two other German rivals?

Coupe through its 38 dealers. Sahr said the number of dealerships will touch 50 by
The late entrant Audi and Mercedes Benz in recent years.
 In fact, Audi has been so successful that it has even pushed Merc to the second slot last year.

The BMW Group has three brands in the country the BMW, the MINI and the Rolls-Royce, and has so far invested Rs 390 crore (51.8 million euros) in the Chennai plant, which has an installed capacity of 13,000 units per annum, which Sahr said is being ramped up to 17,000 units shortly.
 But he did not put a timeline for this or investment plans.
  The BMW Group introduced the MINI as a premium brand in the country in January 2012 with the launch of the Hatch, the Convertible and the Countryman.

#VelfieOnNokiaXL Bada hai to Accha Hai

The D Day has came for the launch of Nokia XL smartphone from Nokia (Microsoft) in Delhi.

 It was My First Nokia Bloggers Meet and I was more enthused to meet and see Both Food Guru Vikas Khanna and Gadget Guru Rajiv Makhni on  same Platform at The Oberoi.

The meet from Nokia was full of Competitions.Each one is more attractive then the first one.I also tried to take part to win Nokia XL but unfortunately I was not chosen by the hosts. The Gurus on the floor enhanced our knowledge about Nokia XL.The Indi Team organised the meet very well as before.Keep it UP.

Well, The food Served by the Oberoi was very delicious.

Some Facts About the Nokia XL

The Smartphone comes with bright colors like orange, blue, yellow and green.
The Display size of the phone is 800 x 480 which is enough to love XL size of phone.
It’s a Dual SIM phone with 3G,Wifi and wifi hotspot  as well.

Smart phone comes with 5 MP camera with flash.

4GB internal memory to keep your data with you every time.
Though user can’t access Google Play store but still user can download apps from other mobile stores.
And yes this phone has the multitasking features.

I must say with price range of 11500-12000 it will be good choice.

Maruti Suzuki Celerio CNG Launched

Maruti Suzuki launched a CNG variant of its latest compact car 'Celerio', priced at Rs 4.68 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The CNG-powered 'Celerio Green' will be available with manual transmission in VXi trim, MSI said in a statement.

MSI Vice President (Marketing) Manohar Bhat said the idea of introducing a bi-fuel CNG variant was to strengthen the brand and offer more fuel choices to the customer.

"We are confident that factory fitted iGPI technology on the Celerio Green will bring all the benefits to customers such as smooth drive and hassle-free maintenance and help us in expanding the Celerio brand," he added.

It delivers best-in-class fuel efficiency of 31.79 km/kg in CNG mode, the company said.

The petrol variant of the Celerio VXi is available for Rs 4.06 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

"With Celerio Green, Maruti Suzuki has strengthened its CNG portfolio and offers iGPI technology on six models, Alto 800, Wagon R, Ertiga, SX4 and Eeco," the company said.

MSI had launched Celerio with the Auto Gear Shift technology during Auto Expo 2014. The auto gear shift technology gives flexibility of having both manual mode and auto drive mode in the same car, with a simple shift of gear lever.

"Time to Transform!" with ASUS T100

ASUS Transformer Book T100 is the product for today’s generation, from which i comes.

As I want to use my gadget on every move. Its glossy look un control me for touching it.

ASUS Transformer Book T100 which is Ultra portable laptop cum tablet from ASUS is value for money with cost of 32,999/- (INR).

ASUS  Transformer Book T100 comes with Intel® AtomTM Z3740 Processor, 2 GB LPDDR3 1067 MHz RAM which is quite good.

http://asusindia.co.in/T100/

Laptop comes with 8.1 windows Operating system .The keyboard dock is perfectly designed 19mm travel distance provides a comfortable typing experience.
USB3.0 port transfers files with super speed.

Laptop is installed with Microsoft Office & Student 2013. Windows Store and XBox Live is vry helpful in collecting  games and music.

Battery life of ASUS  Transformer Book T100 is incredible. An outstanding 11 hours of continuous web browsing keeps me in action.

 So grab it if you loves action in computing.

Leakage of MOTO E image

A Brazilian retailer has now put up pictures of the upcoming Motorola Moto E. From the looks of it, it’s going to be very similar in design and feel to the Moto G and will also come in multi-colour shells that will be interchangeable. The specifications are also as good as official. According to the retailer, the Moto E will sport a 4.3-inch display, 3G, 5MP rear shooter, 1GB RAM, dual-core Qualcomm chipset andwill run Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box.

Motorola has sent out invites to the Indian press for an event to be held in Delhi on May 13, presumably for the launch of the Moto E.  Moto E is known to be a watered down version of its best selling Moto G, and we had expected the device to be priced well below Rs 10,000.

Musical Fountain

No good hope from New Govt in Retail

A new government is unlikely to bring any cheers to the domestic retail industry unless it spells out its foreign direct investment policy for the sector in which investors are holding back investments due to lack of clarity, industry experts have said.

"Everyone is talking about a stable government and growth prospects of the country. But I do not feel there is any good news for the retail sector, especially when there is no clarity on foreign direct investment in the sector," DTZ India Chief Executive Anshul Jain said.

He said due to lack of clarity on the policy front, especially on allowing FDI in the retail sector, international investors are not ready to invest.

"The manifesto of BJP has clearly said it will not allow FDI in multi-brand sector. Unless the government takes certain favourable decisions on this, the growth of the sector is unlikely," he added.

Investors, both domestic as well as international, are also not keen on investing in developing retail real estate, Jones Lang LaSalle Country Head Anuj Puri told PTI.

"Since 100 per cent FDI is allowed in development of commercial properties according to norms, the investor has to do all the ground work, including getting all the approvals for building layouts and infrastructure facilities among others. Investors fear the challenges that come along with this.

"Besides, there is no guarantee about getting the right retailers and are sceptical about returns. Therefore, they are unwilling to take the risk," he said.

Similar is the case with domestic private equity investors, who are forced to look at other options in the real estate sector.

"There was a time when we witnessed huge investments in mall development from domestic players. But due to the risks like delay in approvals, rising cost and low returns, even they are cautious," Puri said.

"We do not see any relief to the sector at least in the near future. It is only if the existing norms are tweaked that the industry will move on the growth path," he added.

Sony launches Xperia Z2

Buoyed by strong growth in the smartphone and television business, Japanese tech giant Sony
is confident of garnering revenue of Rs 12,000 crore in India during this fiscal, with about Rs 5,500 crore coming in from the sale of mobile devices

Sony India, which sells products like televisions, audio
systems, smartphones and cameras, among others, had registered
revenue of Rs 8,000 crore in FY'14.
"Last year, we saw growth of 30 per cent in smartphones
and 35 per cent in TVs. This year, mobile business is expected
to be bigger than television... Even though we have sold off
Vaio, this year we are expecting Rs 12,000 crore in revenue,"
Sony India Managing Director Kenichiro Hibi told PTI.
Growth will be fuelled by smartphones like the Xperia Z2
which was launched today and priced at Rs 49,990, he added.
"According to GfK (research firm), we have 10 per cent
value share and six per cent volume share of Indian smartphone
market. Last year, we launched Z and Z1 and the response has
been great. Going ahead, we will continue to deliver innovation and grow our market share in the premium category," he said.
On marketing budget, Hibi said Sony India will invest about Rs 350 crore for mobile phones from its total budget of Rs 800 crore for the year.
Asked if the company would bring out affordable smartphones to compete with the likes of Micromax and Karbonn, which dominate the Indian market, Hibi said focus continues to be on mid and high-end products.
"For Sony, the Rs 20,000-25,000 price range sees the maximum sales. We have sub-Rs 10,000 products too but will continue to position ourselves as a premium brand," he added.
Smartphone sales in the country grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013, buoyed by a strong uptake of affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn, as per research firm IDC.
Samsung led the market with 38 per cent share in Q4 of 2013, followed by Micromax (16 per cent), Karbonn (10 percent), Sony (5 per cent) and Lava (4.7 per cent).

Available for sale from May 12, the Sony Xperia Z2 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat and features a 5.2-inch Triluminos display, 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor and 3GB RAM.
 With 16 GB built-in storage, the handset supports expansion upto 64 GB. It also features 20.7 megapixel rear camera and 3000 mAh battery.

Sony also launched its SmartBand SWR10 in India, priced at Rs 5,990. The SmartBand, introduced at the Mobile World Congress in February this year, focuses on tracking fitness and health of users and monitors sleep, receives notifications and handles media playback options.
 The Xperia Z2 will be bundled along with the SmartBand initially for free. Sony will also bundle six free HD movies for download, one full-HD cricket game, and three months Bigflix subscription as well as a Sony flipcase.

NSEL SCAM:Jignesh Shah Arrested

Jignesh Shah of FTIL arrested for involvement National Spot Exchange Limited case.This is the 10th arrest by EOW in NSEL Scam.Jignesh is the promoter of FTIL. FTIL is the one of the company behind 5600 crore scam. He is arested after hours of quizzing done by authorities.

AirAsia gets flying license from DGCA

Finally AIR ASIA INDIA gets flying Approval From DGCA.Now Air Asia is free to operate from India.It is well known that Air Asia of Malaysia wants to operate from India seeking license from DGCA amidst protest from S Swamy.Court will hear case on Air Asia from Swamy on 11th.  With the AOP in hand, Chennai-based AirAsia will file a flight schedule for its first few routes that are likely to be limited to South India.Air Asia Headed by Mittu Chandilya as CEO, AirAsia (India) is the first new domestic airline to start operations after the government in September 2012 allowed foreign airlines to pick up to 49% in domestic carriers. The carrier is a joint venture between Tony Fernandes-led Malaysian carrier AirAsia Bhd (49%), Tata Sons (30%) and Delhi-based business man Arun Bhatia’s Telestra Tradeplace (21%). The airline would initially focus on connecting non-metro towns and replicate its low-cost, no-frills model that has seen considerable success in Southeast asia.

Don't take fine on prepayment of Loan

Providing relief to borrowers, Reserve Bank on Wednesday directed banks not to levy any penalty on individual borrowers for pre-paying floating loans.

"...it is advised that banks will not be permitted to charge foreclosure charges or pre-payment penalties on all floating rate term loans sanctioned to individual borrowers, with immediate effect," RBI said in a notification.

Floating loan products include housing, corporate, vehicle and personal loans.