Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Sunday that his newly elected coalition government would put national security, economic growth and infrastructure development first. He will be sworn in as Prime Minister on October 13 after being unanimously elected as leader of the BJP parliamentary party. "Our priorities will be national security, both external and internal," the Prime Minister said in a speech after he was anointed leader of the National Democratic Alliance, which won a parliamentary majority in the month-long elections. "India has won. Every corner of India is represented in the NDA in parliament," he said.

Inflation rate falls to 1.88%

Year-on-year inflation rate measured by the WPI dropped to 1.88 per cent in the week-ended September 25 from 2.02 per cent in the previous week mainly on account of a decline in prices of manufactured products.

Maruti Wagon-R

Maruti Udyog plans to pitch the Wagon-R model in the small-carsegment to take on Hyundai's Santro, Fiat's Uno and Tata's Indica models. Expected to hit the road towards the end of the year, the 1000cc car may be tagged between the Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, company sources said.

M&M mulls tie-up with Ford

Mahindra & Mahindra may enter into a strategic marketing tie-up with Ford Motor to hawk its new-generation utility vehicle overseas as part of a strategy to give a global thrust to its much-awaited Scorpio project.

IOC internal team

Indian Oil has formed an internal team to examine the prospects of buying a 26-per cent stake in Essar Oil refinery. The exercise is expected to last a couple of months following which IOC will seek Bharat Petroleum's help to study the report on Essar Oil prepared by SBI Caps.

HCL Tech's global advisors

HCL Technologies has announced the appointment of a global advisory board comprising of three independent professionals who are globally renowned in their respective areas of expertise. Raman Khanna, EdwardThompson and Allan Gotlieb, have been appointed on the advisory board of the company, a HCL Technologies release said.

Adobe shies away from India

Deterred by ineffective enforcement of anti-piracy laws in India, the California-based Adobe Systems has deferred its investment plans, company chairman and president Charles Geschke said.

UTI Bank posts Rs 20.95cr net in Q2

UTI Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 20.95 crore in the second quarter-ended September 30, 1999, up from Rs 16.81 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Rane is joint legislature party leader

Senior Shiv Sena leader and chief minister Narayan Rane was on Sunday elected as the Sena-BJP legislature party leader and will stake the claim of the alliance on Monday to form the next government in Maharashtra.-- Compiled by Samuel Bodapaty