INDIA'S GLOBAL MAGAZINE
India Corner 

India’s first euro iv-compliant cars

Good news for environmentalists on the pollution front! Tata Motors will soon be the first vehicle maker in India to upgrade the Euro IV emission norms, when vehicles fitted with Euro IV petrol engines roll out of its Pune facility by the first week of December.
Poduction of Euro IV diesel vehicles will begin early in 2006, according to Rajiv Dube, senior vice-president, passenger car unit, Tata Motors. This is also puts to rest the speculation that Tata Motors may use Euro IV engines from Fiat SpA, with which it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in September this year.

The Euro norms are being implemented to control the emission level from vehicles to reduce environmental pollution.

Kingfisher Air may hit an air pocket

Vijay Mallya had inked an Rs 120-crore deal with IA to buy, among other things, the surplus kilometers that state owned carried operates in social sector (caaled Category 2 and 2A in aviation parlance). This allows Kingfisher to focus only on operating the profitable trunk and semi-urban (Category 1 and 3) routes. Under government norms, all airlines have to deploy 10% of their metro route capacity on Category 2 routes. DGCA, government official said, have informed Kingfisher about shortfall and asked it to take remedial measures. This has now forced the airline to start negotiations with rival private carriers like Air Deccan for purchasing their surplus capacity in these social sectors.

Karan Johar to be inducted on Adlab’s board

Karan Johar, the dapper Bollywood filmmaker, is joining the board of film processor and multiplex-owner Adlabs as the Anil Ambani group moves to reconstitute the board following its Rs 350 crore acquisition of the company. Johar, whose movies, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham, became household hits for their dreamy romanticism, youthful spunkiness and a stiff dose of family values, will be formally appointed as member of the board at its meeting. The other board members include Adlabs founder Manmohan Shetty and his daughter Pooja Shetty. Industry sources said Johar will not attend the board meeting as he is out of the country shooting for his forthcoming venture Kabhie Alvida Na Kehana. Anil Ambani’s Reliance Land and Reliance Capital took control of Adlabs in July this year by buying out Mamania and infusing about Rs 250 crore into the company. The acquisition was a part of Ambani’s desire to buy large stakes in well-run, well-established companies in the fast-growing sectors of the economy. Ambani followed it up by buying small stakes in a call centre company Spanco Telesystems, textile firm Celebrity 
A seat on the board of directors of Adlabs is the latest in a series of new forays for Karan Johar, who is a director, producer, script writer and a host of a well-known TV celebrity chat show.