The proposed exemption in customs duty on import of lithium, cobalt and other rare minerals in the Union Budget 2024-25 is likely to lower the battery production cost and help in making electric vehicles more affordable for the buyers, auto industry leaders said on Tuesday.
The company, which rents cars by the hour, day, week and month, has Mahindra E2O Plus and Tata E Tigor available on the platform for which it charges a subscription fee of Rs 15,000-20,000 per month.
Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer of Ola, is encouraging developers to switch from Google Maps to Ola Maps. Ola is offering developers a year of free access to Ola Maps on the company's Krutrim Cloud and over Rs 100 crore in free credits. This initiative comes after Ola replaced Google Maps with its own Ola Maps, leading to annual savings of around Rs 100 crore.
Signals received from the government in the past one year reflect a state of utter confusion, says Abhishek Tripathi.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
Four companies - Rajesh Exports, Hyundai Global Motors Company, Ola Electric Mobility and Reliance New Energy - are eligible for receiving benefits under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced chemistry cell battery storage, the heavy industries ministry said on Thursday. The allotment was made for a total of 50 GWh of battery capacity to the four successful bidders. These firms, the ministry said, will receive incentives under India's Rs 18,100 crore programme to boost local battery cell production.
Overall, the BGauss RUV 350 is a feature-packed electric scooter with a unique design and competitive performance.
Foundries in Taiwan account for more than 75 per cent of the chips that mobile devices made in India need, according to estimates by the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), which represents global and domestic manufacturers. The number is slightly lower, 60 per cent, if one considers all chips -- those of consumer electronics, PCs, laptops, autos, etc. This ties in with the fact that foundries in Taiwan, led by TSMC, account for over 70 per cent of the world's microchip supply, according to estimates by Gartner.
German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz is considering assembling more electric vehicles at its plant in India not merely to gain cost advantage but also to meet its zero emission mobility and carbon neutral setup goals, according to a senior company official. Mercedes-Benz India, which currently assembles its flagship electric luxury sedan EQS at its Chakan unit, is considering localisation of other models depending on demand.
India's e-commerce market alone is projected to reach $200 billion by 2026, making it a prime industry for ambitious entrepreneurs, explains rediffGURU Harsh Bharwani.
The average cost of data breaches in India reached $2.18 million in 2023, marking a 28 per cent increase since 2020, according to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Currency and Finance report for 2023-24. The report said that India's average data breach cost was still below the global average. The most common attacks in India are phishing which was at 22 per cent and stolen or compromised credentials was 16 per cent. The automotive industry is highly vulnerable to cyber attacks, whereas the banking and financial services sector, benefiting from stringent regulations, enjoys comparatively stronger protection.
As a 75-year-old septuagenarian, Bajaj Auto has adapted itself as a nod to competition, regulations, and changing buyer preference. It will continue to do so, said its managing director Rajiv Bajaj at the launch of the all-new Pulsar 250. This was in response to a question on the company's preparedness for disruption by electric two-wheeler start-ups.
As Mumbai's real estate and electric vehicle penetration grows, two of the city's private power distribution companies, Adani Electricity and Tata Power, are eyeing a bigger business pie, particularly betting on high-value customers. Adani Electricity Mumbai (AEML), the subsidiary which houses Adani Energy Solutions' Mumbai distribution business, recorded a six per cent growth in total units sold in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), the company's presentation shows. This gain came at over 13 per cent growth in the year-ago period.
Passenger vehicle sales are expected to experience muted growth in the current financial year.
Two sons return to their dead father's village to keep alive memories, and are the only ones living in the crumbling hamlet, discovers A Ganesh Nadar.
The company resurrected electric vehicle market with cars that are visually appealing and performance driven.
Tesla Inc, the world's largest electric car producer, is looking to make a significant investment in India, said its chief Elon Musk, who saw India as holding more promise than any other large country around the globe. Musk, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said he plans to visit India in 2024. "I am confident that Tesla will be in India and we will do so as soon as humanly possible," Musk told reporters after the meeting.
A digital economy can only work with uninterrupted electricity supply. So, states now face the unpleasant task of telling their citizens that electricity rates need to be hiked. Subhomoy Bhattacharjee reports.
Kinetic on Wednesday relaunched the iconic two-wheeler Luna in an electric avatar, addressing the demand for affordable electric vehicles (EVs), more than two decades after its initial introduction. e-Luna will be available at an introductory ex-showroom price of Rs 69,990, as announced by Sulajja Firodia Motwani, founder and chief executive officer of Kinetic Green, after Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari launched the vehicle. Motwani pointed out that the current top 10 electric two-wheelers in the country are priced between Rs 1.05 lakh and Rs 1.49 lakh, making them a "luxury" that is not "practical and accessible" for most people in India.
Growing the number of electric vehicles on Ola's platform is part of the terms SoftBank has put forth for the funding
Armed with swanky showrooms, decked with plush fixtures, and offering indulgences such as high-end perfumes and customisable accessories, BMW, Mercedes, Audi are rolling out the red carpet for the well-heeled.
With rising petrol and diesel prices driving up demand for its CNG vehicles, the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India plans to widen its CNG portfolio by offering the fuel option in four more models 'very shortly', according to a senior company official. The company, which plans to launch an electric vehicle (EV) in the Indian market by 2025, is also currently keeping a close watch on the country's EV ecosystem "to find out what is the best way of evolution" to be able to offer affordable EVs with hassle free charging infrastructure in order to clock high volumes for a sustainable business.
Citing information from corporate officials, fire official Kim Jin-young stated that the nationality of the remaining deceased worker was not yet determined.
Investments worth more than Rs 80 trillion are expected in roads, railways and urban infrastructure between now and FY30 and the supply chains helping to build this core infrastructure are also readying to cash in on the growth. In the first half of the current financial year, orders worth more than Rs 2.6 trillion were tendered in the roads and railways segment alone, according to data sourced from ICRA Ratings and Research. "India's transportation infrastructure sector is in high gear, and we enjoy a sizable share of it," said S V Desai, whole time director and senior executive vice president (Civil Infrastructure) for Larsen & Toubro.
Bajaj Electricals Ltd has entered into a tie-up with US-based construction equipment company Multiquip for outsourcing and marketing mobile light towers and globugs in India.
Tata Motors on Wednesday expanded its electric vehicle range in the country with the launch of Nexon EV MAX, priced between Rs 17.74-19.24 lakh (ex-showroom). Equipped with a 40.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, the Nexon EV Max offers 33 per cent higher battery capacity than the Nexon EV, delivering ARAI certified range of 437 km (under standard testing conditions), ensuring uninterrupted inter-city travel. ARAI refers to Automotive Research Association of India. The model produces 105 kW (143 PS) of power and delivers a torque of 250 Nm, resulting in 0 to 100 sprint times in under 9 seconds.
The pint-sized i-Road has two front wheels that move up and down independently of each other.
'A murder has occurred in the room, but there were no signs of struggle.' 'RG Kar says the body was discovered at 9:30 am. But the media was informed at 8:30 am.' 'We realised that crucial evidence was being destroyed.' 'She had several bite marks on her neck, but no swab was collected.' 'My daughter had 28 injuries on her body. But there was no DNA of the assailant under her nails.' 'Are you saying she did not try to defend herself?'
Auto major Mahindra has ambitious plans for its electric cars project, that include ramping up its output to 60,000 units a year, high-end electric powertrains, and 380 to 650 volt battery systems.
China's covid crisis could provoke a raw material crunch for India's EV industry later this year.
Besides electric vehicles, some start-ups present are working in the area of bike customisation, motorsports, auto gaming arena, autonomous vehicle and so on
'The second generation of migrant labourers is not enthusiastic about continuing in this field.' 'The parents of the next generation do not wish their children to be part of this trade.'
'The global semiconductor shortage has inadvertently provided an immense fillip to the pre-owned car market'
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Palakkad (IIT-Palakkad) have introduced a pioneering method of generating renewable energy from human urine.
'I have faced 18 hours of darkness daily all my life.'
Auto manufacturers have focused on launching CNG variants of their popular models to meet consumer demand for vehicles with lower running costs.
For IT services companies, ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) metrics are becoming a crucial component in winning deals as clients are considering sustainability a top priority and are keen to work with partners who are on the same page. "Sustainability is becoming an important part of the client's evaluation. "There is a tremendous focus across the world on sustainability, and it is becoming one of the top five business priorities.
In a big push to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the government has nearly doubled (increase of 81 per cent) the allocation in five key industry segments from Rs 8,405 crore in the Revised Estimate of FY24 to Rs 15,198 crore in the Interim Budget for FY25. The segments cover over eight PLI schemes, including mobile phones, IT hardware, pharma (PLIs for medical devices, intermediates and pharmaceuticals), food processing, telecom hardware and, auto and auto components. In FY24, DPIIT officials, however, said that the disbursements would be much higher at around Rs 11,000 crore than what has been budgeted for the year.
If the drop in sales over the past two years is anything to go by, India's dream of putting seven million electric vehicles on road by the end of this decade has come a cropper.
