Bullish on huge profitability and deep pockets, Corporate India started 2008 with an aim to conquer the world and pocket global firms, but ended with blues caused by bitter controversies, be it Tata's Nano, ICICI Bank share debacle, Satyam fiasco or Ambani vs Ambani battle.
A Nano-like mission to provide good-quality, good-performance has the power to make an incredible positive impact on the Indian economy.
This Diwali the Indian car buyer has ample choices to decide what they want to drive home.
Having been outwitted by Trinamool Congress' Mamata Banerjee after she sent the Tata Nano car project packing from West Bengal by demanding that land be returned to unwilling farmers, the Communist Party of India-Marxist is getting ready to do a Singur on Banerjee.
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.
Japanese auto major Nissan Motor Co plans to launch a $3,000 car (about Rs 134,000) in 2012 in India to challenge Tata Nano, the world's cheapest passenger car.
When minister of state for industries Saurabh Patel announced on Monday the new industrial policy in a press conference, there were a flurry of questions pertaining to the incentives given to the Tata's car project, which was relocated from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand near Ahmedabad.
Alan Rosling, executive director, Tata Sons Limited, said on Monday in New York that it will be a sad day for the Tatas if the project to manufacture Nano, the company's Rs 1-lakh small car that has generated worldwide interest, cannot succeed in Singur, West Bengal.
It epitomises a significant opportunity lost, just when the state was beginning to shed three decades of leftist inhibitions in favour of economic reform.
Second hand demand entirely for the top-end LX variant
The Nano's mileage is being projected between 17 to 20 km per litre. Last month, Tata Motors had conducted various test runs of Nano on the hilly, serpentine roads of Uttarakhand. Government officials in Dehra Dun claimed the company has given a commitment to Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri that it would roll out the first Nano from the state itself.
The wait for the world's cheapest car could soon be over as Tata Motors could commence limited commercial production of the Rs 100,000 Nano from alternate locations so that the first car could roll out towards the end of March 2009 from Pantnagar till the mother plant came up in Sanand near Ahmedabad.
While returning from Beijing after attending the Asia Europe Summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave media persons an insight into his views on the Indian economy, his economic legacy of last four-and-a-half years, reforms done and not done, farmer's land issues and even on Tata's Nano project.
Putting up a brave front after the exit of Tata's Nano project from Singur, West Bengal Chief Minister Budhdhadev Bhattacharya on Sunday said the state government will fight and overcome the obstacles for industrialisation, observing that the state has lost one battle but not the war.
He promised a complete loan waiver to farmers as soon as the Congress formed government in the state.
Insurance premium is not common for all types of cars. Hence, you should know the premium amount before you decide to buy a car.
The supply of Tata Motors' much-awaited small car, the Nano, is going to be well below the demand for quite some months.
BMC authorities had sent notices to Tata Motors owner Ratan Tata and Parsi Gymkhana officer-bearer P C Cooper for putting up 14 unauthorised hoardings at the venue of the Nano launch. "They paid fine of Rs 112,986 today (Wednesday). The hoardings were removed immediately on Tuesday and a fine was imposed on both the parties under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, for not taking prior permission," said Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Zone I) Kishore Kshirsagar.
We find out how the Nano factory has changed Sanand, from a sleepy village to a town bustling with activity and development.
Despite the hiccups experienced by the auto component industry, better growth prospects and low valuations suggest that it's a good time to buy solid companies in this space.
Auto Expo ended leaving India on the global automative map. It broke records in footfalls and business queries generation.
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.
The speech, short, crisp and delivered with feeling, saw Tata take head-on all the criticism targeted at him and Tata Motors in the four years that the car was under development. It ended on a triumphant note as Tata emphasised that he had delivered on his promise to provide a car that was more affordable than any other in the world.
Banks make criteria tougher for funding the car. Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata's dream to help the common man own a four-wheeler may meet its bete noire in bankers as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and rival lenders realign rules to finance the Nano, touted to be the world's cheapest car.
As the Nano made its commercial debut, automotive industry experts opined that the Rs 1 lakh wonder from the Tata stable can give an additional 14 million Indian families access to an affordable car, thus creating a niche segment.
"If Nano has gone out of West Bengal and is rolling out from Gujarat on Monday, the Opposition in Bengal, the unholy alliance of Trinamool Congress and Congress is responsible," CPI-M Politburo member Brinda Karat told reporters in New Delhi.
It seems like after Tata Nano, Maruti Cervo and Bajaj-Renault-Nissan's ultra-low-cost car plans it's Toyota's turn to bring out a product for the entry level segment.
Call it the "Nano effect" but less than a month after Tata Motors displayed its competitively-priced small car at the Delhi auto show, prices in the 1.3-million used-car market crashed 15 to 30 per cent, if not more.
Renault Kwid is taking things one step further with the French automaker offering a product that is high on value and style.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
Unitech is pinning its hopes on the sub-Rs 5 lakh category of flats to counter the slowdown in the property sector. So are a host of others. Apart from Unitech, others such as Omaxe, Raheja, Tata Housing and Ansal API are planning new projects in the suburbs of satellite towns or smaller cities to target the bottom segment, to generate more cash.
Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata said shifting the Nano car plant from Singur in West Bengal was a prudent move in hindsight but gave the group a high negative cost.
To begin with, the Indigo CS and the Indica Dicor are available right now, and since we last drove either car, there have been improvements.
Deep in Tata Motors' largest factory, engineers don 3D glasses to play with car designs and prototypes projected from a 10-metre wide computer screen. Their quest? The automaker's next blockbuster car model.
Rs 1,199 spread comfortably across 84 months or 7 years. The rate of interest is 11-11.5 per cent, which is cheaper than a two wheeler loan.
Though most people expected Tata Motors to select either Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka for its Nano project, it was clear that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had done the impossible and coming from nowhere bagged the prestigious project.
'I think Ratan felt he had to do everything that he could to retain control of the company started by his forefathers, because that was the first priority and nothing else mattered compared to that.'
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.
JLR is developing its own autonomous car technologies, which could one day trickle into Tata's more affordable people carriers.
SBI may charge 14 to 14.75% for 5-year loans.
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