Microsoft touts Xbox sales but laments online woes

Microsoft Corp sold 43 lakh (4.3 million) Xbox 360 video game consoles in the last three months of 2007, helped by hit titles such as “Halo 3” and “Mass Effect”, according to company data released on Thursday, reports Reuters from San Francisco.

But the software giant also said it was “disappointed” with problems that had plagued its online gaming service for days and offered a free downloadable game to more than 80 lakh (8 million) worldwide users of the network. A total of 177 lakh (17.7 million) Xbox 360s had been sold worldwide since it first went on sale in late 2005, Microsoft said. Earlier sales data from the software giant showed 134 lakh (13.4) million consoles sold by the end of September.

AMW launches  31 ton truck at Rs 17 lakh

To consolidate its position in the commercial vehicle segment, HCV manufacturer Asia Motor Works (AMW) on Friday launched its 31 tonne capacity truck here, priced at Rs 17 lakh, reports UNI from New Delhi.

“With better road infrastructure and the Supreme Court ban on overloading of trucks, the demand for heavy commercial vehicles has increased tremendously,’’ AMW MD and CEO Anirudh  Bhuwalka told reporters here. The company expects to sell 1,000 units of the truck in the next fiscal, he added. The product aims at servicing cement, containers, tankers, petrochemicals, fertilizers etc.

Axis Bank organises home loan exposition in City

Axis Bank on Friday announced that it has organised a home loan exposition in Bangalore from Friday to Sunday. The exposition has been branded as the ‘Own Your Home.’ The ‘Home For All Expo 2008’ is being held at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium. The expo intends to cover all the needs of the home buyers for a site, flat, row house, or villa and offers visitors fixed rate of 9 per cent for the first 12 months, 0 per cent processing fee, with 1 per cent booking amount offered by the participating builders who offer freedom from pre EMI/EMI during the first 12 months.

Blackstone offer for stake in Gokaldas opens on Jan 9

Blackstone Group’s open offer made to the shareholders of garment manufacturer Gokaldas Exports for a 20 per cent stake in the company will open on January 9. The offer was scheduled to open on October 5 and close on October 24, 2007. As per the revised schedule of activities the offer would now open on January 9 and close on January 28, Gokaldas Exports said in a in Mumbai on Friday. However, the other terms and conditions of the offer remain unchanged, the company added.

ICICI venture firm acquires Alved Pharma

ICICI venture firm RFCL Ltd on Friday said it would acquire Chennai-based veterinary healthcare firm Alved Pharma and Foods for an undisclosed amount. RFCL has signed a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire Alved Pharma, which would see transfer all key people, assets, all contracts including exports and the brand name, the firm said in New Delhi.

Hyundai plans to raise price of  i10 from Jan 12

Hyundai Motor India announced on Friday that it will revise the price of the recently launched i10 across all its variants effective from January 12, 2008 up to a maximum of Rs 5,000 for the top trim. Hyundai Motor India will also increase the price of some other models in the next few weeks.  According to the company till date has received bookings of around 15,000 units.  Arvind Saxena, Sr VP – Marketing & Sales, Hyundai Motor India said, “With our input costs rising from this January ’08, we are increasing the price of i10 and some other models.”

GTI achieves record handling performance

Gateway Terminals India Pvt Ltd (GTI) on Friday announced that it has set a new record of handling 1.176 million TEUs (designed capacity of 1.3 million TEUs). GTI, which celebrated its first anniversary on Friday, has set other records and benchmarks in terms of productivity, safety, security, environment-friendliness, use of the latest equipment, modern IT systems and world class processes, said a press release. The container handling capacity of JNPT increased by 27 per cent in Jan – Nov ’07 over the same period in ’06, and of this, GTI’s contribution was 99 per cent.