Consumer stocks remain the biggest laggard on the bourses. The Nify50 weighting of FMCG stocks declined to a decade low of 9.9 per cent at the end of March this year, down 150 basis points from 11.4 per cent a year ago. At their peak in March 2013, major FMCG stocks, such as Hindustan Unilever, ITC, and Asian Paints, together accounted for 15 per cent of the Nifty50. But now together with automobile stocks, the consumer goods sector accounts for only 14.7 per cent of the index, down 200 basis points in the past 12 months and 37 per cent from the record high weighting of 23.4 per cent at the end of March 2014.
On the Sensex chart, IndusInd Bank was the biggest gainer, spurting 5.45 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, SBI, M&M, Kotak Bank, Tata Steel and HDFC Bank.
'It can be used to build three-wheelers, vans, too'
Singing a different tune than its foreign partners, Bajaj Auto on Friday said it will launch a four-wheeler commercial vehicle in mid-2012 from the ultra-low cost car (ULC) platform, which was originally planned to roll out a car with Franco-Japanese alliance Renault-Nissan.
According to sources, the products would be priced in the range of Rs 2.3-2.4 lakh in the European market. However, the Indian market price is yet to be determined.
An alternative to a small car, it is expected to be priced ex-showroom between Rs 260,000 and Rs 300,000, and will offer better mileage (more than 30 km a litre) and less pollution than a car, and will be a convenient alternative to a two-wheeler but at the same operating costs.
A knee-jerk reaction, they said, could be detrimental to the fortunes of an industry that is highly dependent on the country given the huge competitive advantage it offers, in terms of cost and speed.
He said Bajaj Auto is a small company and it is wasteful to create expensive concepts
This is part of internal transactions. Nothing has been sold outside the group.
Among the 30-share basket, 27 stocks led by Bajaj Auto and Bharti Airtel ended with losses.
Analysts caution against volatility and recommend buying stocks of companies that are on strong fundamental footing that have been beaten down badly in the recent carnage.
Skoda Auto, Volvo Cars and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles are not participating in the Expo.
Bajaj Auto on Tuesday launched its new 200 cc performance bike 'Pulsar DTS-i' priced at Rs 65,497.
In an interaction with former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on the impact of lockdown on India's economy, Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto, said India tried to implement a hard lockdown which was still porous and ended up with the worst of both worlds.
Bajaj Auto on Monday unleashed a price war in the 150cc motorcycles segment with the launch of its new Discover priced at Rs 46,000 ex-showroom, Delhi), which will be cheaper by at least Rs 6,000 from competitors.
In a little over six months, Bajaj, the country's second biggest two-wheeler maker, has sold over 500 units of the Kawasaki Ninja 250R, price Rs 2.69 lakh (the 269,000 same as a Maruti Suzuki Alto car).
The new Pulsar will be manufactured from the company's Chakan plant and will have a capacity of 35,000 units per month.
"As per the agreement, the design, engineering, sourcing and manufacturing will be handled by Bajaj Auto while marketing and selling will be by Renault-Nissan Alliance."
Anticipating a robust demand during the festive season, the company is targeting to sell over five lakh motorcycles in the next two months
However, notable absentees from the expo will be Honda, Toyota, Ford, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover along with two-wheeler majors Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor Co.
Aamir Khan has bought himself a humble V15 which has been marketed very well by Bajaj Auto, says Indian automobile website MotorBeam.com
In September, sales of 125cc models - that include the Hero Glamour, Splendor, Pulsar 125, Victor Star City, among others - grew by a whopping 30 per cent over the same period a year ago to 305,615 units.
To jointly manufacture complex and powerful engines soon.
The company, which saw a sharp dip in sales last financial year, seems to be coming out of the slump. It is selling more than 250,000 motorcycles a month (including exports). This is a huge jump from the 110,000-unit figure almost a year ago. The jump in sales has resulted in the two-wheeler manufacturer facing a capacity shortage.
Bangalore-based Reva Electric Car Company, two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors are finalising plans to launch electric vehicles in Europe and the US to take advantage of subsidies these countries are offering as part of their environmental agendas.
'Bajaj is proceeding as before to implement this project and any financial or other constraints that Renault-Nissan may have will have no bearing on the ability of Bajaj to implement this project,' Bajaj Auto Ltd Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said in a statement. He, however, did not elaborate on what kind of financial constraints Renault-Nissan is facing while carrying out the project.
The company is also ramping up production at its Pantnagar facility, where it enjoys a 10-year tax holiday, and expects to achieve full capacity utilisation in the next five-six months. BAL has three plants with a total installed production capacity of 2.2 lakh units a month, while on an average it produces 1.6 lakh units.
Hero Honda, the country's largest and most valuable two-wheeler company, said it logged sales of 370,575 two-wheelers in April, up 29.5 per cent from April 2008.
Austrian two-wheeler maker KTM Power Sports is developing three intra-city transportation models - a trike, a budget car and a scooter - in a joint collaboration with Bajaj Auto. Bajaj, India's second-largest motorcycle maker, owns 21 per cent stake in KTM.
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.
A day before the settlement of the six-year-old Bajaj family dispute, the Bombay High Court has asked Rahul Bajaj, the family patriarch and chairman of Bajaj Auto, to compensate the Pittie family, a minority shareholder in group investment firm Bachhraj & Company.
The Madras high court on Saturday restrained TVS Motor Company from manufacturing, marketing and selling its bike 'TVS Flame 125' in the ongoing patent infringement case with rival Bajaj Auto Limited.
The country's second largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Bajaj Auto, on Sunday said there was no case for any layoff in the company even though there has been a cut in production due to a slowdown in demand. According to the figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, motorcycle sales in the country during October was down by 18.17 per cent at 5,38,353 units, against 6,57,874 units in the same month a year ago.
The Chennai-based company is developing bikes in the range of 200cc and above to compete with Bajaj Auto's Pulsar range, which begins with the 150cc variant and ends with the 220cc model at the top of the ranks, sources, who declined to be identified, said.
The Pulsar 200 SS has been eagerly awaited and is bound to be a massive success among bike enthusiasts, says Faisal Ali Khan
TVS Motor Company on Monday re-launched Flame, a 125cc motorbike, with a single-spark plug ignition system. The move comes in the wake of the Madras High Court restraining the country's third largest two-wheeler maker from making and selling Flame for using the controversial twin-spark plug system.
Japan's Kawasaki Motors plans to tap long-time partner Bajaj Auto's vendors for putting together its high-end motorcycles for the global market.