Falling demand has forced South Korean car maker Hyundai Motor Company to cut its production in India from next week.

Speaking to media-persons after opening a new showroom here, Hyundai Motor India managing director H S Lheem said the first quarter sales in 2009 was likely to be weak and the demand is likely to pick up only during the second half.

He said the company would go for a two-shift production instead of three shifts.

With the aim to beat the economic slump, the Railway Ministry has announced that it has clinched a long-term coal transportation pact with GVK Power (Goindwal Sahib) Ltd, for transportation of coal for the 540-MW power plant in Punjab.

According to sources, under the said agreement, Railways will get a committed coal traffic of 2.528 million tonnes per year for a period of 25 years.

To give a boost to its slowing economy, the government of India has trim down prices of petrol by Rs 5 and diesel by Rs 2 a litre.

According to the sources, the price cut is effective from Friday midnight.

The sources further revealed that the prices of LPG (cooking gas) and kerosene are kept unchanged.

While commenting on the price cut, Mr. RS Pandey, Petroleum Secretary stated, "the fuel price cut is an interim measure to provide relief to consumers."

In order to boost sales in a depressed market, Hyundai Motor India has announced that it has trim down prices of its cars by up to Rs 33,000, besides providing benefits like free insurance and exchange bonus.

According to the sources, the company's popular sedan Santro will now be cheaper by Rs 33,000 at Rs 299,000.

The company also sweetened the offer on its Accent and Verna models. The price of Accent will further slashed by Rs 7,200 to Rs 499,903, while Verna will be cheaper by Rs 24,000.

Expressing confidence in India in spite of Mumbai terror attacks, Actis, a leading worldwide private equity investor, has announced that it has decided to pump one billion US dollar (over Rs 5,000 crore) in the country in the coming 3-4 fiscals.

According to the sources, the firm, has raised 2.9 billion US dollar for pumping across emerging markets.

While commenting on the investment, Mr. J M Trivedi, Actis Partner and Head for South Asia stated, "We remain positive on the Indian growth story and will continue to build value for our partners and investors."

Lava Electronics, a leading Sweden-based luxury electronic goods maker has announced that it is proposing to enter in the Indian market in the third quarter of next year.

While commenting on the plans, Mr. Christian Svantesson, Lava Electronics Managing Director stated, “The Indian LCD television market is growing tremendously. Looking at that, we are looking at an Indian entry in the third quarter (July-October) of 2009 and we are on the lookout for an Indian partner for the entry.”

National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) has announced that it envisages entering into the warehousing space by building over 10 modern warehouses across the country.

According to the sources, the exchange is searching the option to build warehouses with an initial investment of Rs 500 million.

The sources further revealed that the warehouses will be equipped with most modern facilities including grading, assaying and certifying on it’s own.

IDEA Cellular, a leading Indian telecom provider, and Taiwan-based multinational company HTC joined hands together to launch HTC Touch Pro T7276 and HTC Touch viva T2223.

The two models, which offer touch screen experience, are based on Windows mobile platform.

Taiwan-based multinational company, Asus has introduced its new business phone Asus P565.

Coming with the Glide technology, ASUS P565 is considered as the world’s fastest processor at 800 MHz. With the help of Glide technology, a user of this business phone can scroll, select, zoom and flip easily.

Blue Dart Express, a leading player in the courier business, announced that it has decided to invest Rs 100 crore in fiscal 2009 with the aim to upgrade its infrastructure.

According to the sources, Rs 100 crore investment is a part of Rs 1,000 crore capex envisaged by Blue Dart at the end of last fiscal.

While commenting on then plan, Mr. Anil Khanna, Blue Dart’s managing director remarked, “We want to strengthen our infrastructure at warehouses and airports. The capital expenditure will be met through internal accruals. We are cash rich and zero debt company.”