“There are pork derivatives and alcohol in most cosmetics products, so Muslims should really use something else,” Mandi said.

From Islamic banking to alcohol-free hotels, products tagged as halal have become popular among devout Muslims — who pray five times a day and perform other rituals. Under the concept of halal — which means “lawful” in Arabic — pork and its by-products, alcohol and animals not slaughtered according to Koranic procedures are all forbidden.

Top Mahindra Satyam officials in Hyderabad confirmed the news. Mahindra Satyam’s corporate affairs president, Sujit Bakshi, is reported to have conveyed the company’s decision to Victoria’s IT minister, John Lenders, in a letter.

Reports in “The Australian” and “Geelong Advertiser” have quoted Bakshi as saying: “The need to concentrate on an extensive internal restructuring program of our business precludes Mahindra Satyam from embarking on expansion projects of this kind. While Mahindra Satyam is disappointed that it cannot proceed with the centre, it reaffirms its commitment to future expansion in Victoria when circumstances allow.”

The reports also suggest that Mahindra Satyam had agreed to pay back the hitherto undisclosed cash grant that the Brumby government had paid Satyam.

The pullout has already intensified the political storm that the Brumby government has been facing over the project. Terming the collapse of the Geelong project as devastating, Victorian MP and opposition spokesperson Kim Wells is quoted has having said: “We want an explanation of what has happened to the money, how much money has been handed over, we want to know the status of the 10 hectares of land and we want to know what the Brumby government is going to do to replace these 2,000 promised jobs, especially for the young people in Geelong whose hopes have been dashed.”

Incidentally, it was in July that Vineet Nayyar, executive vice chairman of Mahindra Satyam, as Satyam Computer Services is now known, had said during a visit to Australia that the company was committed to the project but was looking into its viability.

The fate of the IT hub at Deakin University’s Waurn Pond campus , tipped to transform Geelong into a Silicon Valley by creating 2,000 jobs, had been hanging in balance after the multibillion-dollar Satyam fraud came to light in January 2009.

The Deakin Satyam project was reportedly codenamed project “Cricket” by Brumby, who had termed it “as a great partnership, almost like Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh coming together” in a statement to the Victorian parliament.

“Nokia aims at reaching the many, not the few, with our rich portfolio of services. We are doing this through an increasing number of open partnerships with world leaders in many fields,” chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a statement.

Nokia is the world’s largest maker of smartphones, with 45 per cent of the market in the second quarter, but its product line has been seen as ageing as Canada’s RIM and Apple have snatched market share with more advanced models.

The new Nokia N97 mini will have a touch display and will feature the Lifecasting with Ovi application, enabling users to update their account on the Facebook social networking site with their cell phone.

Meanwhile the Nokia X6 and X3 will update the Finnish company’s music phone selection.

In recent weeks Nokia has also launched a mini laptop “Booklet 3G” and the N900 smartphone, and announced that Microsoft Office software will be available on Nokia smartphones as of next year.

But while analysts said Nokia was moving in the right direction, they do not expect the new devices to have a big impact on profitability this year.

“It is not likely that there will be much impact from this in terms of sales or profitability during the remainder of this year, but it will be visible next year,” FIM Bank analyst Michael Schroeder said.

“Time will tell how Nokia can turn these (new products) into sales and how consumers will accept them,” he said.