Low-base effect to kick in, but higher raw material prices could spoil the show.
Auto component companies -- especially the mid-size and small ones -- are facing an uphill task to stay afloat as banks have become tight-fisted in giving credit and vehicle makers are cutting orders to combat the slowdown in sales.
Bajaj Auto, the country's second largest two-wheeler manufacturer, may cut production as it sees a slowdown in motorcycle sales after the current festival season.
Say lower duties could enhance demand.
But will this dilute Bajaj's strong Indian identity that straddled the rural-urban markets and the Hindi-English divide quite easily?
Pulsar 220, the fastest bike in India, faces a challenge from new models on speed & style.
Striking workers lacked support in the Pimpri-Chinchwad-Chakan belt.
Most probably, feel analysts, it would be in the 100-125cc segment. The new Discover 100cc with a DTSi engine, launched last month, is billed by the company as the world's most fuel-efficient motorcycle, with a certified 89 km to a litre of petrol.
Bajaj Auto has phased out the Pulsar 200 model to make way for the new Pulsar 220, as both were priced on a par, despite the latter being more powerful.
Bajaj Auto, the country's second-biggest maker of two-wheelers, says it will use its famed digital twin-spark plug technology in its compact car, due for launch in 2011.
In the years that the economy boomed and consumers had more money to spend, two-wheeler makers lured buyers with performance and presence. Now, the focus is back on fuel efficiency.
Bajaj family members are in the final stages of reaching a peace formula to their six-year-old dispute over the division of group companies and assets. Sources familiar with the developments said an announcement can be expected in the next 10 days, but did not want to divulge details.
German insurance giant Allianz is planning to widen base in India with foray in banking business through its unit Dresdner Bank, besides expanding its existing non-banking financial services.
The ultra low cost car (ULC), which will be competing with Tata Nano, aims to better the mileage of 23.6 km/lt, given by the world's cheapest car from the stable of Tata Motors.
The Pulsar 200 AS and 150 AS have been positioned at the youth who want practicality on weekdays and the fun factor on weekends, writes Indian motoring website MotorBeam.
Production of the 125 cc motorcycle has started in an assembly plant in China, putting the country's second-largest maker a step ahead of competitor Hero Honda, which is also working on a motorcycle reportedly between the Rs 17,000 and Rs 20,000 price point.
Over 800 gather for the India Economic Summit.
The Mumbai-based company will take on Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and HMSI and will have models in the 100cc, 125cc and 150cc mobike segments, and also in the ungeared low and high-powered scooter segments. Hero Honda has a 60 per cent share of the motorcycle segment, while HMSI commands a 58 per cent of the scooter market. Anand Mahindra said: "Our two-wheeler project is complete; we have already begun marketing the fleet in Bangalore."
There could be some significant changes in motorcycles over the next few years says Shobhana Subramanian.
Keen competition will make the going tough even for market leaders in the segment.
Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh declared that the state has received approx Rs 20,000 FDI in the last 3 years.
Even as a court case rages over the alleged intellectual property infringement, Chennai-based TVS Motor on Thursday launched its new 125-cc motorcycle, Flame, which rival Bajaj Auto says is based on its patented twin spark plug technology.
The Bajaj Auto management and its union on Friday came to the negotiating table in a bid to end the four-day-old strike by over 1,500 workers at the Chakan plant demanding wage revision and better working conditions apart from a hefty paring of the companies shares with employees.
Leading industrialists met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (not in picture) in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss the general state of the Indian economy and other industry-related matters.
The country's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) on Monday joined hands with Renault-Nissan to launch a small car in India by 2011 that will compete with Tata Motors' Nano on price point - Rs 1 lakh.
Sebi penalised Shruti Vishal Vora - found guilty of leaking price sensitive information related to financial results of Wipro, Asian Paints and Mindtree, and Parthiv Dalal for similar action in case of Wipro earnings.
Auto giant Bajaj Auto has landed in trouble for its "misleading and deceptive" advertisements as a consumer court has asked it to compensate a scooter owner who was lured into buying the vehicle due to the company's allegedly false claims on its mileage.Holding the auto-major guilty of causing "mental agony and harassment," Justice Kapoor directed the company to pay Rs 15,000 to New Delhi resident Karan Pal Singh, whose four-stroke scooter gave him an average of 34 km a litre
The fight between TVS and Bajaj might remain out of court, but TVS Motor's stand spoke of the company's resolve infused by its chairman Venu Srinivasan.
Higher input cost is likely to weigh on Auto sector's Q4 numbers.
Hyundai Motor and Toyota Kirloskar Motor have announced the suspension of manufacturing operations at their respective plants amid coronavirus outbreak. On Sunday, various automakers like Maruti Suzuki India, Honda Cars, Mahindra & Mahindra and Fiat announced a temporary halt in manufacturing operations at their respective facilities.
Several companies, including Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto, which are setting up units in Uttarakhand, want to buy more land amid reports that plots comprising an area of 300 acres are still lying vacant in the key industrial estates of Haridwar.
The FPI holding in India's top 100 companies, which are part of the Nifty 100 index, declined to 24.23 per cent on average at the end of March this year, from a high of 27.5 per cent at the end of March 2021. This is the lowest FPI holdings in India's top listed companies in at least three years. A general sell-off by FPIs has weighed on stock prices and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex is down 8.5 per cent, from its 52-week high made in October 2021. Most analysts expect FPI flows to remain weak in FY23 as well, given rising bond yields in the US and an expected earnings slowdown in India due to high inflation and commodity prices.
'While most companies were bullish before the second wave of double-digit sales growth in FY22, that may not be the case now.'
The duty for two-wheelers and small cars has been brought down to 12 per cent in the Budget proposals, a move, two-wheeler manufacturers feel, would lead to unfair competition. "The excise duty on two-wheelers and three-wheelers should be brought down to 8 per cent," Chairman of Bajaj Auto Rahul Bajaj said.
Bajaj Auto had accused TVS Motor of infringing its patent on DTS-i -- acronym for Digital Twin Spark Plug ignition -- in TVS Flame. TVS, in its latest 125 cc motorcycle Flame, uses CCVTi technology which Bajaj claims to be a copy of its DTS-i technology. The Pune-based two-wheeler maker uses DTS-i technology in various products including the Pulsar series of bikes.
A majority of CEOs from top Indian companies including ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor GE India, and HUL, do not foresee any production slowdown in this fiscal, even as rising input and interest costs are affecting the net profit margins, a CII survey has found.
India's four-wheeler sector may post a flat profit growth in the first quarter due to a rise in input costs. The cost of automobile steel, which constitutes about 40 per cent of the total raw materials, rose by more than 25 per cent during the three-month period. Prices of raw materials like aluminium, copper, rubber and fuel also appreciated significantly.
Carlos Ghosn, the iconic CEO of Nissan Motors and Renault, is on a whistle-stop visit to India on Monday to finalise a joint venture and small-car blue-print with India's second-largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto. Renault, Nissan and M&M also have a three-way equity tie-up to make passenger vehicles in Chennai, for which the facility is yet to be built.
Shishir, Rahul factions dissent over all-important chairmanship.
