Under Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Vidyut Yojana, leading infrastructure and construction development company Maytas Infra Ltd has received Rs 222.25 crore contracts for four rural electrification works from state-run Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.

The contract will enable the Hyderabad based company to electrify nearly 4125 villages. The company will execute these projects in Khurda and Sundergrah districts of Orissa and West Midnapore district of West Bengal.

In a bid to explore nuclear fuel generation possiblities in the country, engineering and construction firm Punj Lloyd has entered into an agreement with US-based Thorium Power.

With this, the two companies would be able to set up joint venture projects in the area of nuclear fuel in India and neighbouring regions.

Hindustan Motors have launched a mini-truck co-branded with Chinese auto company Shandong Shefing. Christened HM-Shifeng Winner, the vehicle will roll out of HM's Uttarpara plant.

With retail finance becoming a serious problem in the last three months, Ambassador sales had nearly halved between July and October as compared to the same quarter in 2007. The mother unit at Uttarpara has an annual capacity of 24,000 units.

Hindustan Motors Managing Director R. Santhanam said, "With the new car 'HM-Shifeng-Winner' we hope to utilise some of the excess capacity."

ZTE, the worldwide provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has strengthened its focus on the research and development (R&D) to introduce cheap products in the global market without compromising on the quality.

ZTE, which has 16 R&D centers in China, spends around 10 percent of its income on R&D activities.

Moreover, the company also has 7 R&D centers in other countries comprising India and Pakistan.

About 40% of its work force comprise of personnel from the R&D department.

On Wednesday, India's No 2 private carrier, Kingfisher Airlines reported that it has got the approval from the federal government to operate flights on nine international routes.

A spokesman of the company said, "Kingfisher has received approvals to operate Mumbai-London, Kolkata-Dhaka, Kolkata-Chittagong, Mumbai-Hong Kong, Mumbai-Singapore, Chennai-Colombo, Bangalore-Colombo, Bangalore-Bangkok and Mumbai-Bangkok flights."

He added, "The time frame for launch of these services will be announced progressively."

Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company Ltd (Jusco), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, has secured Rs 152-crore water management contract for Mysore city.

The pact to this effect was signed on Tuesday between Jamshedpur Utilities, Mysore City Corporation and Karnataka Urban Water Supply & Drainage Board.

The project, to be executed in three phases over a period of six years, will utilize the already sanctioned JNNURM fund (80 % of the project cost) for improving the water supply infrastructure in Mysore city.

While the rest of funding will be provided equally by the Karnataka Government and Mysore City Corporation.