Pressure is mounting on Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India, India's fourth biggest two-wheeler maker by volume, to resume normal supplies of scooters and motorcycles to its dealers, who are forced to ask customers to wait for up to four-five months for delivery.
Although most companies had geared for increased production at their plants, most say the surge in demand was unexpected, partly driven by yesteryear purchases which had been postponed earlier due to lack of funds.
The oldest brand in the non-salt biscuits segment is fighting back to regain market share
The base variant of Rio will be priced at Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000), making it 30 per cent cheaper than its nearest competitor and the launch will take place this month after Diwali.
Affluent Indian automobile buyers may get another brand to choose from. Nissan, Japan's third largest carmaker, is looking at the possibility of launching Infiniti, a luxury brand owned by it, in India. Known for its luxurious features and power-packed driving characteristics, Infiniti is a premium brand which competes with benchmark ones globally such as Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Audi and Accura.
Renault and Nissan's decision to launch their own compact cars is independent of a tie-up with Pune-based motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto to develop a low-cost car that is expected to debut in 2011. A formal joint venture agreement is yet to be signed among the partners, though work on the small car is progressing at a slower pace.
John Brumby, Prime Minister of the state of Victoria in Australia, decided to cancel his scheduled trip to Mumbai after a detailed advisory issued first by the US and then by Israel, which said terrorists are planning attacks in India.
At the grand global policy-making level, the Indian government is heatedly arguing with the developed world over its share of stringent new carbon emission reductions.
Second hand demand entirely for the top-end LX variant
As competition in the low-cost carrier (LCC) space increases, many of them have doubled their advertising spending, increased promotional offers and even gone in for a completely new look and feel, as they take on growing competition from the likes of Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Air India.
Global motorcycle majors find a surging response.
Under the scheme, the government provided incentives of $1,000-5,600 directly to those buyers who were willing to trade their old, gas-guzzling vehicles for new, fuel-efficient vehicles. Indian auto bigwigs, including Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, among others, through the association of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), had approached the government to implement a similar programme. However, they are yet to succeed.
The below-average monsoon this year and the subsequent shortfall in the production of sugarcane in India will see the prices of Indian Made Foreign Liquor increase by 10-15 per cent in the next financial year, say industry experts.
Prices of key inputs up 44% to 74%; analysts expect earnings squeeze after a quarter or two.
India's biggest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero Honda, is already predicting a certain impact by November-December.
Come September, the company will launch its Time Travel -- Journey 1 album with Sonu Nigam to be released on Nokia's 5130
Companies that made expensive overseas acquisitions lead the way in driving cost efficiencies.
With both leisure and business travellers dropping Pune from their itineraries, 30 to 50 per cent of all grades of rooms in the city are vacant. This steep fall comes as double whammy for these hotels, since they were forced to pare tariffs 35 to 40 per cent owing to falling occupancies as a result of the economic slowdown.
With the rural segment accounting for 60 per cent of sales for fast moving consumer goods companies and 40-50 per cent for consumer durables manufacturers, the government's admission of sowing having fallen almost 20 per cent due to the weak monsoon, and declaring 161 districts as drought-prone, has put these sectors under a cloud.
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