At the helm of India's most enterprising ministry, Mamata Banerjee promises the best service from the Indian Railways.
Tough times have made car manufacturers think hard about which brands to keep and which to discontinue.
Tatas' drive into Sanand area for their Nano project has given a major fillip to Mumbai-based real estate major K Raheja Corp to set up its support infrastructure projects in the area.
Many vendors who had lost their investment in Singur, West Bengal, after being forced to abort production there, are yet to decide on relocating to Sanand. Most of these suppliers will address the demand for components from their existing plant locations to meet this year's Nano production needs.
Zahir Haq lost his farmland to the Nano factory, but still applied for a car, when bookings for the Tata Motors Rs 1 lakh car opened at Singur on April 9. And he is not alone: an appreciable number of Singur residents booked the Nano through the bank branches in the area, with the State Bank of India branch as the nodal point.
Nano vendors say if all-India bookings cross 500,000, Tata Motors may have to explore the option of having a satellite plant to its present mother factory at Sanand near Ahmedabad. Many who had taken up space at the vendor park in Singur, the centre of the main dispute with the give-us-our-land-back agitationists led by the opposition Trinamool Congress, are hanging on in this hope.
"I will not ride in the Nano which has been manufactured with the people's blood," said Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee whose party has been blamed for the shifting of Tata's small car factory from West Bengal.
In the automobiles sector, some recent products such as Mahindra's XUV 500, the Reva electric car and (arguably) the Tata Nano have breathed life into that possibility.
Among other things, Ratan Tata also said, 'All I can say at the moment is that the project is highly profitable. After all, I am not doing it for philanthropy.'
Recently, another version of the Nano, one with a compressed-natural-gas engine, was launched.
Tata Motors will distribute all Nano cars from Pantnagar through its new subsidiary, Tata Motors Distribution
Big vendors left with smaller amounts as formula for compensation based on despatches.
The race among Indian automobile manufacturers to make cheap cars, initiated by Tata's Nano will further create pollution, road congestion, global warming and health problems, says a new book.
The issue of acquiring farmland for industry is threatening to jolt West Bengal's Left Front, the world's longest-running democratically elected communist government, says Sumit Bhattacharya
The company has already unveiled the European version -- Nano Europa -- at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month -- which is likely to be fitted with a more powerful engine than the Indian version complying with Euro-V emission norms.
Auto analysts suggest that Tata Motors may not be able to generate more than three to four per cent on net profit margins and five to six per cent on EBIDTA margins on the car. In addition, while production of the model is ramped up, sales will also have to rise in tandem.
Forget about the Tata Nano for Rs 100,000. Or buying a sleek Yamaha R15 for over Rs 97,000. An array of car models is now available at prices under Rs 100,000, thanks to an expected 20 to 25 per cent fall in used-car prices on certain models, in response to the government's decision to reduce Central value added tax (Cenvat) four percentage points for new cars.
This would be another major blow to West Bengal after the pullout of the Tata Nano project.
Nano, the small car from the Tatas, is projected to become India's second best selling car next year, according to market research firm JD Power.
The company, which unveiled the electric version of the small car -- Tata Nano EV -- would also launch the version in the domestic market. However, no possible timeframe has been fixed for its launch in the home market.
West Bengal's new Minister of State for Agriculture Becharam Manna on Wednesday faced angry protests from farmers who had lost their land in Singur. The farmers said they would not have joined the agitation against Tata Nano's project had they known they would be left to their fate.
The bank said in its 'Global Development Horizons 2011 - Multipolarity: The New Global Economy' report that Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Russia will help drive growth in lower income countries through cross-border commercial and financial transactions. It said the international monetary system will no longer be dominated by a single currency.
The state government was under a mammoth debt of Rs 2 lakh crore.
Although the company has not yet revealed its exact price, the buzz in the market is that the Bajaj RE60 is likely to be priced between Rs 125,000 and Rs 200,000, giving tough competition to the Tata Nano which is the cheapest car in the world currently.
Consider this: by 2015-16, nearly one of every three cars that roll out in the country could be from Gujarat. If that's not enough, in the next three-five years, half the installed capacity for making cars in India will be located in the state.
Tata Motors' planned vendor park at its 1,100-acre Nano project site in Gujarat may be delayed by at least six months, triggering speculation among suppliers of a delay in the Nano project. The delay is mainly on account of global recession, which has slowed down demand for vehicles, according to Rajkot-based suppliers.
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.
If Mr Tata really wants to do something for India, wouldn't he have done better if he had developed a tiny car with serious fuel emission and fuel economy innovations, instead of simply a brand?
Tata Motors was, till late on Saturday, collating booking numbers it had received from over 30,000 sale points from over 1,000 towns and cities. It will announce the final figure only on April 28. Tata Group insiders said that, till Saturday afternoon, the total bookings could range between 650,000 and 800,000. With more customers likely to join the bandwagon later in the day, the final number could be close to one million.
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.
The industry minister said the small car project could not come up if 400 acre was returned as demanded by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Nirupam Sen, who had discussed the Singur project with Tata in Kolkata on Thursday night, said that the state government wanted to work out a solution and was was open for talks to find out an acceptable solution.
A lot if you think of it! For starters, image strategist Avneet Kohli lists out six life lessons.
Known to be the world's least expensive car, Nano is expected to redefine personal transportation in modern India. Customers can expect to own a car coming at a price between Rs 1.20 lakh (Rs 120,000) and Rs 1.30 lakh (Rs 130,000), depending on the version.
The commercial vehicle business is one of the mainstays for the Tata group, highlighting the importance of Girish Wagh's appointment.
Rakesh Oberoi, a Tata Motors dealer, said he was getting hundreds of enquiries related to Nano everyday. Tata Motors was given over 950 acres of prime land by the state government at Pantnagar for setting up its manufacturing facility.
This car has been codenamed H800 and is also called Hyundai HA and it will take on Tata Nano, Maruti Alto and New Maruti 800.
With hundreds of new industries setting shop at Pantnagar, just a stone's throw away, the economic impact is quite discernible in Rudrapur, the district headquarters of Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district. And now that Tata Motors is said to be gearing up to launch the first Nano from Pantnagar, there is fresh excitement in the area. The business community here is ready to give a red carpet welcome to Nano.
Honda, Bajaj, Yamaha and Mahindra are revving launch plans for the 200cc and above motorcycle segment.
Is this the car you were waiting for? Will you buy the Nano?
'We are bothered about the people's problems. The government forcefully and illegally occupied the land at Singur -- that's why we opposed the forceful occupation of the land,' said firebrand political leader Mamata Banerjee, who forced the Nano project to move out of Singur.
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