Danny Goodman &Amp; Kirtika Suneja In New Delhi

Stories by Danny Goodman &Amp; Kirtika Suneja In New Delhi

Will the Ritz beat Swift in sales?

Will the Ritz beat Swift in sales?

Rediff.com   26 May 2009

Maruti Suzuki has launched the Ritz to consolidate its share in the fast-growing market for compact cars. This segment accounts for almost 70 per cent of the car market and Maruti Suzuki already has a 58 per cent share with brands like the Swift.

Spice plans Rs 500 cr education initiative

Spice plans Rs 500 cr education initiative

Rediff.com   25 May 2009

As part of the initiative, the group will launch around 100 courses, both professional and vocational, to cater to people in small cities. The company hopes that the initiative, which is at the the planning stage currently, would begin by the year-end.

BPOs outperform IT firms

BPOs outperform IT firms

Rediff.com   25 May 2009

The Business Process Outsourcing companies in India appear to be handling the impact of the global economic crisis much better than IT firms

Auto companies want cheaper loans for customers

Auto companies want cheaper loans for customers

Rediff.com   19 May 2009

Battered by the recent economic downturn, the Indian automobile industry is looking up to the newly elected government to implement some key measures to kickstart car sales. Top on their wish-list is ensuring availability of auto loans at lower rates of interest, continuation of some of the sops announced earlier in a stimulus package and a reduction in taxes.

Malvertisements trick web users

Malvertisements trick web users

Rediff.com   14 May 2009

Ads are used by all websites to monetise and can be seen on every webpage, which makes them a very soft target for malware authors. Compounding the problem is the fact that a single malicious advertisement may only appear once every 1,000 page views or only to viewers from a certain geographic region, thus making it more challenging to detect and eradicate.

Removable drives: India's new malware home

Removable drives: India's new malware home

Rediff.com   7 May 2009

These infected drives are used to steal data and leak confidential information. Most of the data theft happens in the banking, financial services and insurance space but medical research and manufacturing are the new additions because these have expensive and valuable intellectual property, templates and patents. Customer information like credit card information and intellectual property are another area of theft.

IT services firms sweeten deals to retain clients

IT services firms sweeten deals to retain clients

Rediff.com   4 May 2009

Among the ways of sweetening deals are cost-saving assurances, doing portfolio assessment or feasibility studies for free, opting for fixed-price contracts, picking up smaller engagements with existing clients and offering more services for the same money.

Indian cos eye US, Europe for electric vehicles

Indian cos eye US, Europe for electric vehicles

Rediff.com   1 May 2009

Bangalore-based Reva Electric Car Company, two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors are finalising plans to launch electric vehicles in Europe and the US to take advantage of subsidies these countries are offering as part of their environmental agendas.

It's time to vote, say spammers

It's time to vote, say spammers

Rediff.com   30 Apr 2009

The kind of spam mails visible around election times are those encouraging voters to view websites of various electoral candidates, sending party manifestos, requesting for votes and party propaganda mails.

Maruti to launch hybrid cars in 3 to 5 years

Maruti to launch hybrid cars in 3 to 5 years

Rediff.com   13 Apr 2009

Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car company by sales, is working on an ambitious plan to launch electric cars and compressed natural gas variants for three or four models in the domestic market.

Viruses change ploy; attack and mutate

Viruses change ploy; attack and mutate

Rediff.com   9 Apr 2009

From 'just-for-fun' kind of viruses, the attackers moved to crimeware or Trojans. Now, even as the number of virus attacks has increased, the duration of the assaults has decreased, making it all the more difficult to detect, leave alone kill them. In all years cumulative from 2002 through 2007, internet security firm Symantec created a total of 800,000 unique malware signatures. However, in 2008 alone, this went up to 1,800,000.

B-school students opt for teaching as a career

B-school students opt for teaching as a career

Rediff.com   6 Apr 2009

The economic slowdown has forced many students to take up entrepreneurship because of lack of jobs in the market.

Blogs, too, can trick users to host spam

Blogs, too, can trick users to host spam

Rediff.com   2 Apr 2009

Blogs may be good to read but the blog you just visited and commented on, could be a storehouse of spam having links pointing to pages that use social engineering tricks and infect your computer.

Car makers see fading hopes of turnaround

Car makers see fading hopes of turnaround

Rediff.com   2 Apr 2009

Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker, continued its three-month dream run by notching up a 15 per cent jump in domestic sales in March. Maruti's March sales follow a 19 per cent growth in February, when it sold a record 70,625 cars -- the highest ever by the company. In March 2008, the car maker sold over 64,000 cars.

Nano effect: 3-wheelers to be cheaper?

Nano effect: 3-wheelers to be cheaper?

Rediff.com   31 Mar 2009

While the Nano is priced at Rs 1.12 lakh, Bajaj Auto's RE petrol variant costs about Rs 90,000, while its diesel variant is pegged at Rs 1.2 lakh. Analysts also say Bajaj can drop prices without any problem. "Bajaj Auto has been in the three-wheeler segment for 60 years. Which means their plants are fully depreciated and they can afford to lower the prices, which other manufacturers can't do," says a top executive from a competing three-wheeler brand.

Nano offers little to dealers

Nano offers little to dealers

Rediff.com   28 Mar 2009

Typically, about 70 per cent of a car dealer's revenue comes from businesses like servicing, arranging finance, sale of spare parts and accessories, insurance renewals, offering driving lessons, etc. A New Delhi-based dealer said even those ancillary services might not fetch them the margins they earn from servicing other models of Tata Motors like Indica and Indigo.

PCs to decipher all Indian languages soon

PCs to decipher all Indian languages soon

Rediff.com   19 Mar 2009

The DIT will have the software ready by end of September which will help decode 22 languages recognised by the Constitution.

Now, instant message your way into a job

Now, instant message your way into a job

Rediff.com   12 Mar 2009

"Gmail users can both search and apply on Naukri but if you are not registered on Naukri with a Gmail id, you can still search for jobs and view job descriptions, but can't apply," said Vibhore Sharma, senior vice-president, Product and Technology, Info Edge (India). The user may note the jobs he wishes to apply to and can then log on to his Naukri account whenever he wants to apply.

Soon, it will be Honda vs Honda in India

Soon, it will be Honda vs Honda in India

Rediff.com   10 Mar 2009

The Honda company is working on entering the same segment, with a sporty bike, in 2010. It hopes to sell a few lakh of these a year, to begin with

IT-BPO firms step up training spend

IT-BPO firms step up training spend

Rediff.com   2 Mar 2009

Indian IT-BPO firms have stepped up investments by around 30-70 per cent on training and education of employees despite the economic slowdown.