Is Volkswagen losing plot in India?

There is no doubt that Europe’s largest carmaker Volkswagen has ambitious plans for India. The firm has openly declared its intentions to emerge as the largest car maker in the world by 2018 and to that end, India has a big role to play. For it is in emerging markets like India, a country where it is a late entrant, that it can get large scale incremental volumes.

To give them their due, Volkswagen has acted fast after its entry in 2007. Starting with the Passat and Jetta, it launched its first small car—Polo—in just three years. That was followed by the launch of its entry level sedan based on the same platform—Vento—barely 6 months later.

Others like Toyota and Honda who have been in India for much longer, have in comparison taken ages to get into the small car segment. These launches gave the German company much needed momentum. It grew in high double digits and sometimes even in triple digits throughout 2010, a historically high growth year for the industry, and even in 2011 when the industry witnessed some strains, it did quite well. A lot of this growth could be misleading. For example in April 2011, VW’s sales grew by a staggering 370% on the back of a ridiculous 900% plus growth in March 2011. But in absolute terms it sold a mere 7000 cars, less than a tenth of market leader Maruti Suzuki. In economic terms, such a scenario is described as a result of base effect. Even then these numbers would have been heartening for a new entrant.

Agent Vinod

Movie Name : Agent Vinod
Release Date : March 23, 2012

Genre : Thriller, Crime


Producer : Saif Ali Khan, Dinesh Vijan

Director : Sriram Raghavan


Music Director : Pritam


Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Prem Chopra,Ram Kapoor,Adil Hussain, Gulshan Grover, Ravi Kissen.


Synopsis:





A spy thriller with a nuclear twist! That’s what Saif Ali Khan’s home production Agent Vinod is about. The film is an action thriller and has Saif playing a slick, stylish and a daredevil spook. Since Saif is also co-producing apart from acting in it, a lot of brainstorming sessions were held between him and director Sriram Raghavan to make it an action thriller with a difference. Interestingly, Saif’s girlfriend Kareena Kapoor plays a character with shades of grey. Moreover, she’ll be seen doing some deadly stunts.

Bollywood’s most lovey-dovey couple will romance together in forthcoming movie ‘Agent Vinod’. The movie is going to be produced by Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor will be his leading lady.

As the title denotes, the movie is said to be a detective thriller with lots of action and sans usual humdrum and it takes on after a popular old movie with the same name. Saif has said to be doing body work outs diligently, for his character as a detective agent in this movie while Bebo plays a secret agent with slim and agile features.
THe movie is a classic suspense thriller with loads of chemistry between the most happening duo round the town Saifeena......

Lets wait for its release and see if this time the couple can create some magic on reel life too after Not so well done in Tashan!!!!

Hundred x 100: Sachin's tryst with destiny

Mirpur: One year and five days since he scored his 99th international century, Sachin Tendulkar reached the unprecedented landmark of 100. For over a year a legion of fans had watched in anticipation as Tendulkar strode to the crease in India, England and Australia, and at 17:07 local time, when he nudged towards square leg for a single, there was a collective release of emotions.

Tendulkar, 38, had been stuck on 99 international centuries since March 12, 2011 when he scored a century against South Africa during the World Cup. During the time he took to move from 99 to 100, so much has changed for the Indian cricket team. In the last 12 months they have won the World Cup, slipped form their No. 1 perch in the ICC’s Test rankings, been whitewashed in consecutive overseas Test tours, failed to make the finals of a tri-series, and have seen Rahul Dravid make his exit from the international scene


In those 12 months, Tendulkar’s batting returns had also diminished. In 11 Tests he has scored 778 runs at an average of 37.04, with a best of 94. He came close to scoring that a hundred a couple other times too; at The Oval he made 91 and in Sydney he reached 80. That innings of 94 was the best chance he had of getting to three figures – Tendulkar came out on the fourth morning in Mumbai in robust mood – but an unwarranted dab to third man ended up in the slips.

Tendulkar did not play an ODI since the World Cup final on April 2, 2011 until he was named in India’s squad for the CB Series after the Test debacle in Australia. That period included four ODI contests, against West Indies and England home and away. Injury played its part, with Tendulkar being ruled out of the ODI leg in England. In 12 ODIs since that century in Nagpur Tendulkar had made 307 runs at 25.58, with his best shot at the 100th hundred being his chancy 85 against Pakistan in the World Cup semi-final. He had not crossed 48 since then, until today.

Tendulkar’s 100th century was a fluent innings, which began a brilliant cover drive for four in the second over of India’s innings in Mirpur. His cutting and driving was especially eye-catching, and the way he maneuvered the Bangladesh spinners was masterful. His half-century came up with a lofted boundary over extra, off the 63 balls, and three figures came in the 44th over, off 138 deliveries and with ten fours and one six.

Upon reaching three figures, Tendulkar closed his eyes and looked up to the skies as he has so many times before this. And yes, a big sigh of relief.

Beetel launches touchscreen mobile @ Rs 3300

NEW DELHI: Beetel Teletech, a Bharti Enterprises group company and one of India's leading manufacturer and distributor of telecom and IT products, announced the launch of GD-470, a dual sim 2.8" full touch screen mobile phone for the Indian market. Beetel GD 470 will be available in India at an MRP of Rs 3300.

Beetel GD 470 is a dual sim 2.8" full touch mobile device with a 1000mAh battery which gives 3-4 hrs of talk time and 200 hrs of standby time.

It has an attractive stylish design and excellent sound quality with features like bluetooth, video play of .3GP, .AVI, .MP4 formats up to 25fps and MP3 playback facility. GD 470 supports MIDI, AMR, and WAV formats of music making it a perfect combination of features and style.

Beetel GD 470 is equipped with a 1.3 MP camera, FM Radio and it can support expandable memory up to 8GB storage capacity. GD 470 offers "Beetel World" packed with a number of social networking and infotainment features like Facebook, Snaptu, Mig 33, Yahoo, ibibo, Vuclip, Reuters, Hungama and Penguin. The mobile has Indian calendar for users to check Indian festival and Tithis on the move.

Commonwealth Games off to colourful start

Pratibha Patil declares Games open; Prince Charles reads out a message from the Queen
India switched on its spotlights on Sunday evening to display its new vibrant, energetic and progressive avatar providing its guests from the Commonwealth nations a glimpse of its art and culture at the opening ceremony of the Games.
For precisely three hours, all the unsavoury episodes in the days leading to this spectacular event were forgotten and the audience of around 60,000 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here carried home memories of a gala evening that presented a fine mix of the country's glorious past, a dynamic present and a promising future.
Against low expectations and mounting criticism of India's capabilities to hold the Games in keeping with its growing reputation of a developing economy, the show did more than just entertain those present. It left the audience upbeat and restored the country's pride that had been so badly bruised in the weeks gone by.
There were several moments that brought the roars from an enthusiastic Delhi crowd. Among those, the one that stood out — soon after Prince Charles read out a message from the Queen — was when President Pratibha Patil declared the Games open, with the words, “Let the Games begin.”
A little earlier, Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar handed over the much-travelled Queen's Baton to Prince Charles. Boxer Vijender Singh carried the baton into the stadium, passed it to five-time world women's boxing champion Mary Kom before it reached shooter Samaresh Jung and Sushil.
The sombre spirit was lifted with the rising of the aerostat — the much-talked about helium balloon costing over Rs. 40-crore — that spectacularly displayed the magnified images of the happenings on the ground below.
The ‘Rhythms of India,' a vibrating five-minute show comprising 800 drummers set the tempo. Thereafter, 1,050 school children from the capital performed choreography of Namaste, an acknowledged sign of welcome and respect to the guests.
The song, Swagatam, smartly incorporated nuances of Hindustani, Carnatic and Qawwali forms of music, with the credit for this fine fusion going to noted singer Hariharan. The customary athletes' parade was headed by Australia, the superpower in Commonwealth sports. India, led by Olympic champion shooter Abhinav Bindra, brought up the rear to thunderous ovation. Never before would an Indian contingent have turned out so smartly for any Games.
Bindra later took the athletes' oath and among various presentations that followed, the “Great Indian Journey” encapsulated 5,000 years of Indian culture, after an eye-catching presentation by the Indian Railways.
The grand finale featuring music composer A.R. Rahman was a fitting one, with his Jai Ho turning out to be more popular than the theme song, Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto.
Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi was booed by a section of the crowd.