Pune: A group of strawberry farmers from Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani has filed for Geographical Indication, or GI, status for their produce, which they claim is unique because of the climate and soil in this hilly region.
Pune-based intellectual property rights consultant Ganesh Hingmire has filed the application with the GI Registry in Chennai on behalf of about 1,300 farmers from the twin hill towns which account for almost 80% of the fruit grown in the country; India produced 17,500 tonnes of strawberry last year. The region has also been classified as an eco-sensitive zone by the government of Maharashtra.
—Sudha Menon
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Volkswagen finance arm sets up India unit
Mumbai: A financial services arm of German auto maker Volkswagen AG has set up a unit in India to cater to dealers and customers selling or buying its group brands, the firm said in a statement on Thursday.
Volkswagen Finance Pvt. Ltd will offer financial products for Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi and Skoda and also tie up with local financial institutions and insurance companies to increase market penetration.
—Reuters
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Tata Motors wins DTC contract for buses
Mumbai: Tata Motors Ltd, the country’s largest maker of trucks and buses, has won a Rs2,200 crore contract from the Delhi Transport Corp. (DTC) to supply 1,625 low-floor buses, inclusive of a Rs1,300 crore 12-year maintenance deal.
The company had won a similar order from DTC in 2007 for 650 such buses.
Last week, DTC awarded a Rs480 crore contract for 875 low-floor buses to Ashok Leyland Ltd, in addition to a Rs710 crore 12-year maintenance deal.
A DTC spokesperson said the orders were part of the corporation’s plans to modernize and augment its fleet size to more than 6,000 buses before the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
DTC currently has 3,850 buses, of which 650 are of the low-floor kind. It had floated tenders for low-floor buses in the beginning of 2007.
—Shally Seth
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IRFC seeks to borrow $400 mn from banks
Hong Kong: Indian Railway Finance Corp. Ltd (IRFC), the funding arm of the country’s state-run rail monopoly, is in talks with banks to raise as much as $400 million (Rs1,956 crore) from a five-year loan, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Banks approached by the New Delhi-based company have asked it to pay interest of at least 200 basis points above the London interbank offered rate for the loan, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is private.
IRFC director S.K. Kaushik couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
— Bloomberg
NCAER cuts growth forecast to 6.7%
New Delhi:The Indian economy is likely to expand by less than 7% this fiscal and remain subdued next year due to sluggish growth in factory output, The National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said on Thursday.