Sonata Software, which operates as an information technology (IT) consulting and services company, has announced the opening of its second Offsite Facility (OF) for Software giant Microsoft, at Sonata's new Global Village in Bangalore.

The company stated in a communiqué that the new development centre has been designed keeping in mind flexible, scalable and independent operations. The facility would provide design, development, testing, production and maintenance of Microsoft's products.

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Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, is set to declare a mega integration of the group's cement business, presently housed under two different entities — Grasim Industries and UltraTech Cement.

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India is improbable to maintain its December 7 dateline for the auction of 3G airwaves, which are essential for high-end services such as video conferencing and ultra-fast internet on mobiles.

Reports suggest that Department of Telecom (DoT) has been unable to commence even the initial step to kick off the auctions as per plan.

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The World's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal has warned that troubles in receiving land in Jharkhand and Orissa would force the company to search for alternate sites to house its $20-billion steel projects planned in the two states.

A company official, who is close to development, has informed that the company continued to work on its only greenfield steel plants globally, but if in the event that land acquisition continues to prove difficult, then it will start to look for alternate sites in India.

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The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the oldest stock exchange of India, has announced a cut in transaction fee in the cash segment of the market from October 7.

From Wednesday, the cost of transaction in BSE’s cash segment will be Rs 3.25 per lakh, against Rs 3.50 that the exchange charges now. In addition, for passive orders, the transaction charge will be slashed from Rs 3.5 per lakh to Rs 2.25 per Rs 1 lakh.

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Anil-Ambani promoted Reliance Communications has finally halved its outgoing call rate to 50 paise per minute for its mobile subscribers with its newly revealed ‘Simply Reliance Plan’.

Under the Plan, subscriber can make calls on any network for just 50 paise per minute (local, STD and roaming). However, to enjoy this facility they have to recharge their mobile with special tariff voucher.

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Positive global cues and firm buying at lower levels helped the Sensex recover early losses and close higher. The Sensex swung 366 points from its low point of 16,622 to finish up 92 points at
16,958. The Nifty gained 24 points to close at 5,027 after hitting an intra-day low of 4,921. Constant buying was seen in metal, FMCG, banking and capital goods stocks while telecom, technology, cement, realty and oil marketing shares remained under pressure. The Oct Nifty future ended with 10 points premium.

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US-based handset manufacturer Motorola has made announcement about the launching of its seven new handsets by the next three months in the Indian market.

Targeted at economic group, the new handsets would be available in the price range of Rs 3,500 and Rs 8,000.

Out of seven, six handsets would be a part of the company’s popular ‘Yuva’ series.

Motorola’s launch is in synchronization with the forthcoming festive period that would boost sales.

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Crude oil: The counter recovered from the bottom of 3245 and closed positive just above the open of 3343. The yesterday’s movement indicates reversal in the trend. Thus prices can move positive if maintaining above the 7 DMA of 3315. The immediate resistances are seen at 3425 and 3460 levels.

Copper: The counter turned positive in the later session after making a low of 280.8. The RSI and ADX continue to indicate downtrend in the counter. Thus prices are expected to remain below the channel ie. 290 levels. Breaching above the 290 levels prices can test 21 DMA at 296.9.

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Nissan Motors, Japanese auto manufacturer, has revealed the sketches of its global compact car model on Thursday. The global compact car will be manufactured in five different countries including company’s Indian manufacturing unit in Chennai. The company has planned to launch three different versions of the car. There will be a hatchback and sedan version as well as a MPV, multipurpose vehicle, version. The name and other details of the car are yet to be disclosed.

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Nokia has joined hands with Verizon Wireless to introduce its new colorful handset - Nokia 2705 Shade, which is a compact and light weight phone that connects with colors in a unique way.

The Nokia 2705 Shade is a flip phone having a unique and stylish design. It will be available in both versions with and without camera.

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Fujifilm has introduced world's first 3D camera, FinePix REAL 3D W1, in India. The camera is based on Fujifilm’s innovative imaging technology, the 'FinePix REAL 3D System' that enables the user to click or view 3D pictures with naked eyes.

Mr. Kenichi Tanaka, Managing Director, Fujifilm India said that Fujifilm is committed to provide world class technological innovations to their customers.

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Nokia Corp has introduced a major firmware update for Nokia N86. The new firmware v20.115, which is for Nokia N86 8MP, is claimed to improve the performance significantly. It will give N86 an edge over other phones in terms of camera specific features.

The company has released the update a week before its release date. The firmware v20.115 is available over-the-air as well as via Nokia Software Update. The over-the-air up gradation code is *#0000#.

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India Yamaha Motor announced that it has registered a growth of 160% in its sales during September.

The company's 26,394 units sold in September 2009 marked an encouraging growth on the 10,142 units sold in September 2008.

Recently, the leading two-wheeler maker has also rolled out its flagship bike VMAX in the Indian market.

It should be remembered that VMAX, which comes with a 1679 cc engine, is the third CBU launched by Yamaha Motor in India after superbikes YZF R1 and MT 01

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Skoda Auto India has recorded a 52.84% jump in its sales figure during the last month (Sep 2009).

In a statement, the Indian subsidiary of Czech-based luxury car manufacturer sold 1,857 cars in Sep 2009 as against 1,213 units during the same period of the last year (Sep 2008).

Thomas Kuehl, SkodaAuto India Board Member (Sales and Marketing), stated, "We are optimistic that the 2009 festival season will continue to see a much stronger response to out products and services and help drive growth in our sales in the coming months."

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Vodafone, India’s second largest telecom operator, has reduced base tariff on its local and STD call charges in Bihar and Jharkhand. The new base tariff for local call is 50 paisa per minute, whereas for STD it is Rs.1 per minute.

The new base tariffs will be applicable to all new as well as existing Vodafone subscribers irrespective of their current plan. The subsisting users don’t have to buy any additional voucher or bonus card.

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Bose Corporation, Global audio systems manufacturer, has introduced a very innovative SoundDock 10 digital music system for iPod. It is the latest system among the various Bose SoundDock products, which comprise of SoundDock Classic, SoundDock Series II system and SoundDock Portable system.

The new docking station is based on an advanced version of Bose proprietary waveguide technology. The system is developed to uplift the sound standards of an iPod using various new technologies.

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MOZILLA'S vice president of engineering, Mike Shaver has favored Microsoft against Google's Chrome Frame.

The Google’s Chrome Frame is a piece of software that on installing places Google's browser engine at the Internet Explorer’s tool bar.

Google claimed that the Chrome frame plug-in would improve the performance of Internet Explorer’s version 6, 7, and 8 by enhancing the page loading speed and JavaScript performance. On the other side, Microsoft said that the new plug-in has decreased the security feature of its web browser.

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Targeting the market of low cost touch screen phones, Samsung India has launched its new handset, Samsung Corby S3553, in India. The company already has its popular ‘Star’ series touch screen phones in the price range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000. But, the Corby is available at a price of just Rs 9,600.

The Samsung S3653 Corby comprises of a 2.8-inch capacitive touch screen, which offers a resolution of 240x320 pixels with 256K colors. It has a 2 Mega pixel camera with smile detection feature. It is available in various bright colors.

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