Moneymakers
green wheels: Greaves Ltd, a New Delhi-based Thapar group company, will be launching eco-friendly petrol and diesel versions of three-wheelers in the coming financial year. The diesel version, known as Greaves Garuda six-seater, will cost around Rs 60,000 per vehicle and will be powered by the Greaves diesel engine. The diesel version and the four-stroke petrol version have been engineered to meet the latest emission norms. The company will also manufacture tractors in the 454 horse power segment in collaboration with the Italian multinational Same.
healthy prospects: Brazilians will have access to low-cost healthcare, thanks to a joint venture between Aetna, the US life and health insurer, and Sul America Seguros, Brazil's largest insurance company. Aetna will invest us $300 million in the venture, to be called Sul America Aetna. It will market healthcare products developed by Aetna with the help of Sul America's distribution network reaching out to about 8.5 million customers. Sul America has life and health businesses worth US $1.4 billion. Aetna will gradually introduce US-managed healthcare practices in Brazil.
sound and safe: Pesticide containers in the US will soon come with an alarm system to warn users on safe use of the products. ISD, a computer chip manufacturer based in San Jose, California, has developed two prototypes, one for household use and another for agricultural use. The household pesticide containers have a round chip in the lid, while the agricultural pesticides come with a chip the size of a playing card attached to the product's information booklet. The chips will sound an alarm to warn the users to carefully read the safety instructions.
easy access: Compa- nies seeking information technology solutions can look forward to Tata Technologies Ltd (TTL), launched recently by the Tata group in Mumbai. The company will provide services like business process reengineering, implementation of enterprise resource planning systems, engineering automation and custom-built software systems. "We are launching TTL to provide leading-edge solutions to companies in engineering, manufacturing and distribution to enable them to meet the challenges of a global market,' claimed group chairperson Ratan Tata.
bike bargain: Taking advantage of the Chinese government's decision to ban gasoline-powered bicycles in Shanghai, Forever Bicycle Co, a city-based company, has tied up with ZAP Power Systems of California, US, to market electric bicycles. Under the agreement, ZAP (which stands for zero air pollution) will provide up to 5,000 electric motors a month for a six-month sales test programme. Around seven million Shanghai residents commute to work on bicycles every day. The electric bikes come with a battery and a motor which costs around US $300 a piece.
zooming ahead: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to expand its base in the space imageries market by entering into a US $2 billion deal with the US-based Space Imaging Group (SIG). ISRO will supply space imageries to SIG's clients worldwide over a 15-year period. SIG is a consortium of Lockheed Martin, E-Systems, Mit-subishi and Kodak. The company will market space imageries to be used in town planning, natural resources monitoring and environmental studies.