News Capsules

• Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel has now become the country's biggest music company, overtaking the industry leader Saregama, on the back of its music-related value-added mobile services.
• The US buyout specialist Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has joined the race to acquire a minority stake in Vijay Mallya-promoted United Spirits Ltd.
• Indian Oil Corp may cuts its stake in the massive Farsi gas and oil field in Iran as it faces financing pressure due to continuing losses on fuel sales.
• Production at tyre giant MRF’s factories at Arakkonam and at Puducherry, has been hit following a sit-in strike by around 3,000 workers.
• Barely four months after Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rolled out the Xylo, a multi-seater utility vehicle that got a good market reception, the model has ran into a production hurdle. The company’s Nashik plant, where the Xylo is made, has been paralysed for the past five working days due to an intense labour strike.
• The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, will be increasing headcount in its R&D division to 1,000 by the end of March 2010, as the firm gears up to meet parent Suzuki Motor Corp's aim of making the Indian subsidiary global hub for small car development.
• Lupin, a generic drug maker, has settled all patent litigation with US drug maker Wyeth for Effexor XR capsules, the US firm’s branded anti-depressant.
• The success story of Hamara Bajaj scooter campaign may have ended after Bajaj Auto decided to stop production of its two key models — Chetak and Super.
• Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting Business, the FMCG, furniture and lighting arm of $5 billion software major Wipro Limited has dragged Featherlite Office Systems, a Bangalore-based office furniture maker, to court for infringement of their registered design.
• Maruti Suzuki is now looking to be an aggressive player in the diesel segment, a category which is dominated by Tata Motors. After the success of the Swift hatchback and the Dzire sedan in the diesel variant, the company is hoping to replicate this success in its upcoming model Ritz.