The land taken by Tata Motors at Singur for the erstwhile Nano car factory, and by the many companies who invested there to be vendors to the project, isn't set to change hands anytime soon.Tata and the vendors both say they plan to hold on to the lease titles, even as Trinamool Congress chief and Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee and the West Bengal government continue with their political posturing over a plan for a rail coach factory at the location.
The author tries to separate the hyperbole from reality in the Gujarat model.
Tata Motors twice fixed faulty parts of the Nano.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's emphasis on a rigid land policy has pleased the farming community but not the industry.
The boundary wall has been brought down and makeshift entrances to the unit have come up overnight.
If all goes well, Ford India will park its second manufacturing unit right next to Tata Motors' Nano factory at Sanand.
Farmers are gettong ready for another agitation.
The plea for return of land has been made under the new Singur land Rehabilitation and Development Act enacted by the West Bengal government.
Gold Plus, the jewellery division of Titan Industries, said it will come out with the world's first 'jewellery car' by embellishing a Tata Motors Nano with gold designs as it celebrates 5,000 years of Indian jewellery.
At last, rays of hope have started shining on Singur factory land, which has been lying unutilised since the Tatas decided to shift their Nano factory from there on October 3, 2008, following relentless opposition by Trinamool Congress and its allies against the company's alleged 'illegal' acquisition of farm lands.
American car maker General Motors on Thursday said it has shelved plans to launch small car in India that was planned to take on Tata Motors' 'Nano', citing viability issues.
Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee gave Singur, the erstwhile site for Tata Motors' Nano that made her popular, a miss.
NRI businessman Prasoon Mukherjee, chairman, Universal Success Enterprises, said that the West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was briefed about the status of the projects in the state. Universal Success is also investing in the projects. The main projects were the housing project under Kolkata West International City, the chemical hub of NKID, the power project of Universal Success and the motorcycle project to be undertaken by Mahabharat Motors.
A vendor said that Tata Motors had sent a mail that a meeting with the West Bengal commerce and industry secretary was scheduled for Thursday. Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen was not available for comment. However, WBIDC's public relations agency said that Sen had not sent any mail to vendors.
Karl Slym, president and managing director of General Motors India Private Limited, said the company would launch Chevrolet Cruze, its new offering in the Chevrolet Spark segment, by third quarter of its financial year ended December 2009. Slym added, "The car will be priced similar to Chevrolet Spark. As far as the minicar is concerned, we are not competing with Tata Motors' Nano, which is a different segment."
Tata Motors' Nano, the small car seen as a symbol of India's expertise in frugal engineering, is likely to be launched on March 3. Billed as the world's cheapest, the small car's first recipients may be celebrities, including political leaders, social workers, sports stars and film stars.
In 2008, the companies had planned a tripartite joint venture entity that would build and sell a $3,000 (about Rs 1.4 lakh) competitor to Tata Motors' Nano, the world's cheapest car. Bajaj was to have a 50 per cent stake, with Renault and Nissan having 25 per cent each.
According to sources in the state government, Tata Sons chairman Ratan N Tata is expected to be in town on June 2 and the plant will be inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said the company has, in partnership with Renault-Nissan, developed India's most fuel efficient and least-polluting car engine.
Sources in the West Bengal government's finance department said the state had made budgetary provisions that would run into several hundred crores every year for 20 to 30 years to attract Tata Motors' Nano project to Singur.
''The meeting between the state government and the Tata Motors officials will be held on September 28,'' Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb told reporters at the state secretariat. The meeting will take place amidst speculation that Tata Motors is preparing to pull out from Singur due to continued agitation by Trinamool Congress-led opposition demanding return of 400 acres of land to 'unwilling' farmers.
The new package put together by intermediaries includes higher compensation for land to land losers and more compensatory wages for registered tenant farmers (called bargadars), unregistered tenant farmers and agricultural labourers, and involvement of Tata Motors in the Singur resolution process, said sources close to the development.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday night formally announced suspension of the 15-day indefinite dharna, saying a final agreement has been arrived at by the West Bengal government on the Singur issue."Since the government has found a formula for the solution of the Singur issue officially, I am suspending the dharna," she said from the dharna manch, addressing a big gathering of cheering party supporters.She thanked Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi.
Irked by constant intimidation of its workforce by agitating party workers, the company had yesterday evacuated the manpower from Singur. "There has been no improvement in the ground situation so far, hence the conditions are still not conducive for resuming work today," a Tata Motors spokesperson said. "We continue to assess the situation closely," he said.
Terming Tata Motors Nano project as "very important for Bengal and industrialisation", CPI-M Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri was on Thursday hopeful that talks between the West Bengal government and Trinamool Congress on the issue would lead to a solution.
In Uttarakhand, the speculation is rife that Bajaj-Renault is trying to explore the possibility of the small car establishment at various places including the industrial hub of Pantnagar.
Tata Motors says the car which faced short circuiting has been repaired and handed back to the owner in Ahmedabad.
It was late last year when Tata Motors announced that it would set up the first plant for producing the Rs 1-lakh car at Gujarat's Sanand rather than Karnataka's Dharwad, among other places.
'We want to make Bengal an automobile hub.'
Infosys, the country's third largest software firm, on Thursday said it was undecided on going ahead with investment plans in West Bengal, where socio-political opposition has thrown Tata Motors' Nano project into uncertainty.
Last year, she drove the Tata Motors' Nano factory out from West Bengal. Three days ago, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee turned down another Tata offer a donation of Rs 27,70,660 to her party from the Tata Sons Electoral Trust.
Nearly 80 per cent of the buyers opting for the more expensive variants instead of the base-level car which is priced at Rs 1.23 lakh (ex showroom, Delhi). The trend is based on responses from dealers and banks that took bookings in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Kolkata on Thursday. The Nano CX costs Rs 1.48 lakh and the top-end LX Rs 1.72 lakh.
While the Nano is priced at Rs 1.12 lakh, Bajaj Auto's RE petrol variant costs about Rs 90,000, while its diesel variant is pegged at Rs 1.2 lakh. Analysts also say Bajaj can drop prices without any problem. "Bajaj Auto has been in the three-wheeler segment for 60 years. Which means their plants are fully depreciated and they can afford to lower the prices, which other manufacturers can't do," says a top executive from a competing three-wheeler brand.
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.
Leading vendors of the Tata Motors' Nano project intend to set the ball rolling to return their land in the ancillary park area at Singur and said they aim to begin talks with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation on the issue immediately.
Briefing the media after a three-hour tour at the project site, Ravi Kant said the trial production would commence in June-July and after a month or two, regular production would begin. "Commercial production, that is the real thing, will start in October, around the Durga Puja time," he said.
Tata Motors' Nano, the world's cheapest car that costs slightly more than some premium bikes available in the country, is unlikely to wean away buyers from the two-wheeler segment, an industry official said on Friday. "I don't ascribe to the idea that the introduction of low priced cars in the market will affect the two-wheeler segment," S Balasubramanian, executive vice-president for operations & marketing, TVS, Srichakra Ltd said.
India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki on Thursday said it has no plans to cut the price of Maruti 800 to compete with Tata Motors' Nano.
NRI industrialist Swraj Paul-owned Caparo Group, a key vendor for Tata Motors' Nano project, is setting up a Rs 120-crore (Rs 1.2 billion) facility at Singur to supply sheet metal and vehicle frames for the world's cheapest car -- due for commercial launch later this year.
The Nano price point would see a 65 per cent increase in the number of families that can afford a car.
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