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Tata Nano goes on sale across India

At 6:46 p.m. Thursday, R. Sampathkumar signed a check for 3,809 rupees ($78) and ordered his first car: a Tata Nano. Bookings for the ultracheap car, which retails for 100,000 rupees ($2,050) plus tax and transport fees, opened Thursday across India. Sampathkumar, who is 30 years old and single, makes about 20,000 rupees a month ($410) as a goldsmith and says he wants a Nano for "status." "Automatically, women will come forward," he said, grinning.

Dozens gathered Thursday to gawk at the silver Nano sitting on a red platform with pink satin skirting at the Tata dealership in Coimbatore, a mid-sized manufacturing hub in southern India. Two DJs blasted Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin and Madonna songs, while college kids snapped photos of the snub-nosed car on their cell phones. Despite the festivities, analysts say Nano sales won't do much in the short term to help debt-strapped Tata Motors, which is facing falling sales and is in talks with banks to refinance a $2 billion loan it took out to buy Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford last year.

Vaishali Jajoo, auto analyst at Mumbai's Angel Broking, estimated that even if Tata Motors manages to sell 250,000 Nanos a year, it will only add 3 percent to the company's total revenues. Production constraints mean Sampathkumar won't get his new Nano until July, at the earliest. Violent farmer protests forced Tata to relocate at the last minute a factory that was to exclusively build Nanos, and the replacement won't be operational before year's end. Customers who want to buy the Nano must pay 300 rupees for an application form, then pay the entire cost of the car or get financing from one of 18 banks Tata Motors made special arrangements with.

Tata will accept orders until April 25 and then randomly select 100,000 people who will get the first shipment of vehicles. Everyone else will have to wait. Tata will pay interest on booking deposits: 8.5 percent for people who have to wait one to two years to get their Nano, and 8.75 percent for those who hold out longer. Tata spokesman Debasis Ray said the company would not release data on the number of orders until after the process closed, but added that "the signs are encouraging."

He said 300,000 people had visited Tata's 400 showrooms across the country since the car went on display April 1. In the last two weeks, the Nano Web site has gotten 20 million hits, he said.
K. Thamilarasu, the divisional sales manager for Tata Motors in Coimbatore, said 21 people paid for the car in full at his dealership Thursday. Another 19 made downpayments for financing arrangements.

"I have been in this field three decades," Thamilarasu said. "This is the first time we are noticing a revolution." Rajeswari Nandagopal, a teacher, paid 300 rupees for a booking form because she wants to buy a Nano for her son, 17, who currently rides a motorbike. "These days going on two-wheelers is a great risk," she said. J. Rathimasawamy, 70, a retired schoolmaster, said he sold his Maruti WagonR two months ago because he wants to buy a Nano. "It's the cheapest," he said.
Rathimasawamy, a wiry man with white hair and a dusty pair of flip-flops, took a bus from his home 25 miles (40 kilometers) away to buy a booking form. Vijayakumar Jayabal, 50, a policeman who earns 12,000 rupees ($246) a month, said he wants to buy a Nano because he can't squeeze his family of four onto his motorbike. "We only fit three people maximum," he said.

Bookings for Tata Nano begin tomorrow

Tata Motors were set to accept the application forms for the world's cheapest car, the 624-cc jelly-bean shaped Nano, from Thursday in what will be the steepest booking fee charged in India for an automobile. Over the next 17 days, prospective buyers can buy application forms for Rs.300 each and apply with an upfront payment of around Rs.95,000 - or Rs.2,999, if they wish to get it financed, company officials said. That alone will not assure them the car, which group chairman Ratan Tata had promised to deliver at Rs.100,000 ($2,000) at factory gates - and which he had managed to keep amid awe and admiration of the global automobile industry.

The company, which had to shift its upcoming Nano factory out of Singur in West Bengal last October after some protests over farmland acquired by the state government for the project, has earmarked just 100,000 vehicles for the first phase. So a lottery will decide the lucky ones who will drive out the Nano - the result of a Rs.20-billion investment, and five years of research and development by a 500-member team, which even fetched them 34 patents.

"We have already sold 50,000 forms at our dealerships. This figure does not include the sale at our Westside apparel stores and Croma appliance outlets," said an official with Tata Motors in Mumbai. "State Bank of India will begin the sale of forms from tomorrow," the official said, adding some 1,350 branches of the commercial bank in 850 cities would assist the booking process.

"We have sold some 500 forms at our three showrooms in Delhi and the figure is likely to go up next week as the submission process begins to hot up," said Ravi Bhattacharya, Nano sales manager with Autolink Delhi. He said that ever since the car was commercially launched, his outlets received at least 100-200 unique enquiries daily. His firm has decided to deploy additional salespeople to handle the expected rush for the bookings. Tata Motors - part of India's largest industrial house, the $62.5-billion Tata group - also has on offer online bookings for the Nano, the first such option in India. An online application will cost Rs.200.

Along with the provision to retail co-branded Nano merchandise such as watches, T-shirts and phones on the Internet, the dedicated website for the "people's car" has a section to apply online, with a secure payments gateway.
Bhattacharya said most customers were looking at getting their Nano financed. "Majority of the clientele is wary of the huge booking amount and is hence enquiring about the financing options available for the car." Tatas have also tied up with 15 national banks such as Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and Dena Bank to facilitate the easy disbursement of loans for its vehicles.

Winners from the draw of lots would be announced 60 days after the bookings close April 25 and customers can drive the Nano out of showrooms from July. The first set of cars is being manufactured at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand and Pune in Maharashtra. Eventually, it will roll out from the new project site at Sanand in Gujarat, some 45 km from the state's commercial capital Ahmedabad. This site will initially produce 250,000 cars, going up to 500,000 units by the end of next year.

Apple is the world's most admired company

The inventor of iPhone, Apple, for the second year in a row has topped the Fortune list of the most admired companies in the world, but no Indian company has made the cut. However, PepsiCo, led by India-born Indra Nooyi, has found a place in the list top 50, prepared by American business publication Fortune.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway and Japanese auto maker Toyota are ranked the second and the third, respectively. "The new most admired list is the definitive report card on corporate reputations," Fortune said in an accompanying report. While Nooyi-led PepsiCo is at the 21st position, its rival Coca-Cola is way ahead at 12th rank.

Another US company, search engine giant Google, shares the honours at fourth place, closely followed by Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble. Fortune has compiled a list of 363 most admired companies in which the United States alone accounted for 273 entities. Again India drew a blank on the enlarged list as well. There are 19 companies from Japan and 17 from Germany.

The top 10 sex mistakes men make in bed!

Dr. Yvonne K Fulbright, a sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder of Sexuality Source Inc, has come up with the top ten mistakes men make in bed, reports Perth Now.

The biggest mistakes men are as follows:
1. Foreplay doesn't start in the sack.
The timer for enticing does not start once you hit the sheets. Your pre-game show is best approached as an all-day affair. Women love to be wooed. Sex is a head game -- in more ways than one -- and women want to know you can't get them out of your mind. We love knowing that we are desired.

2. Don't head south straight away.
Diving in for the genitals too soon usually isn't the best idea. A woman needs to be properly aroused before any below-the-belt action feels good. Be sure to focus on her entire body -- head to toe -- before going for the gold.

3. Remember the clitoris.
Many men think a woman's orgasm results from penetration. More than 70 per cent of women experience clitoral orgasm when it comes to maximum reaction, so men need to make sure they are not ignoring the clitoris. It also helps if you actually know where the clitoris is -- some men have been known to rub the urethral opening, which can be a big no-no for some ladies.

4. Get to that G spot.
In digging for buried treasure, many guys don't know that 'X' doesn't always mark the spot. Found on the front wall of the vagina, a woman's G spot may be a little higher or lower, or more to one side than the other, than often depicted.

5. Don't be too goal-oriented.
There is nothing more endearing than a man who wants to play. Just don't get caught up in yourself. Your sexual exploration should be playtime for two. Stay 'present' in the moment -- connecting with your partner will bring the ultimate climax for both of you.

6. Thinking you're still hot after gaining weight.
'For better or worse' should include weight fluctuations, but don't let yourself go completely.

7. Let her be naughty.
Sometimes she needs to get in touch with her adulterated side. In fact, research has found that women are more aroused by explicit fantasies than romantic ones. It's not always about the prince on a white horse or canoodling on the beach.

8. She's not a porn star.
As seen in porn films, many men expect their lovers to fulfill their every fantasy. Remember that porn is fantasy, not reality. Expecting her to act like a porn star is simply not fair.

9. And men aren't supposed to look like porn stars.
Despite what XXX-rated films indicate, most women are not lusting after a three-legged man. Maybe some women are up for the challenge, but many are fine with the guy who fits within the norm. Don't be too hard on yourself for being just that.

10. One orgasm is not always enough.
Women are not as quick to come down from their aroused state as men are post-sex. Many can be launched right back to bliss, and many women do crave more action and orgasms, even if they were perfectly satisfied the first time round.

Bill Gates signals end of PC mouse era

Microsoft is developing a system that could spell the end of the use of computer mouse, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has said.

"The way you interact with the system will change dramatically," the billionaire said at a conference in Canada, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph on Friday. He said that computer users of the future will control their machines by voice and pen as well as touch.

Users of Windows 7 will issue commands by touching the screen rather than by the traditional keyboard and mouse combination that has dominated since the 1970s.

Windows 7 is due to be released in 2010 and is Microsoft's attempt to catch up with Apple, whose touch screen iPhone has proved popular.

Touch screens are appearing on a host of other devices, including sat-navs, mobile phones and remote controls. A touch screen BlackBerry is expected shortly

Fuel price hike put off over quantum

The Congress's core ministerial panel on Friday gave its green signal to raising motor fuel prices but the quantum of increase emerged as a hitch. A decision is now expected only next week, after two high-profile political meetings — that of the Congress Working Committee on Saturday and the BJP's national executive convention on Monday — get over. The rise of inflation to 8.1%, announced in the morning, left little elbow room for the core committee to reconcile the differences between oil minister Murli Deora and finance minister P Chidambaram. While Deora is pressing hard for reduction in duties to keep the quantum of hike — if at all — to bare minimum, Chidambaram has consistently refused to tinker with taxes.

The BJP executive committee's two-day national convention, beginning on Sunday, too weighed heavy on the core committee. Coming close on the heels of its victory in the Karnataka elections, the jamboree is bound to draw eyeballs. Raising fuel prices while the convention was on would have provided the BJP a very visible platform to criticize the Congress and the UPA coalition. While there may be a general agreement in the Congress on the need to raise at least motor fuel prices, protests from within the UPA coalition show no signs of ebbing. The Left once again said prices should not be increased and denied that Deora had consulted its leaders. The CPM central committee said it was not even willing to discuss anything but duty reduction to cushion consumers.

Amid such political wranglings, various options such as higher price, more bonds and duty cuts — and their combinations — are being tossed around in the government. One such option is to raise prices of both branded and unbranded petrol substantially, while leaving diesel price unchanged to avoid inflationary pressures, along with some marginal duty cut. This may not work as the losses on diesel are estimated the highest at Rs 140,710 crore.

Other options include steps such as raising petrol prices by Rs 3-5 a litre and diesel by Rs 1-2 a litre, along with some duty reduction. A Re 1 hike in petrol and diesel price would yield Rs 1,036 crore and Rs 4,575 crore, respectively, to the three state-run oil marketing firms in the remaining 10 months of the fiscal.

Similarly, a Re 1 cut in excise on petrol would result in revenue loss of Rs 1,380 crore to the government and a similar reduction on diesel would decrease revenues by Rs 5,270 crore. The package being worked out for oil retailers, which face a situation where they would not have cash to import crude in the next few months, also includes raising the share of upstream companies like ONGC in subsidizing fuel.