Germany-based Mutares SE & Co will acquire 80 per cent controlling stake in Mahindra & Mahindra's French unit Peugeot Motocycles. In a statement, the Mumbai-based auto major on Thursday said Mutares has submitted an irrevocable binding offer to acquire 50 per cent of equity and a controlling stake of 80 per cent in France-based Peugeot Motocycles (PMTC). As part of the deal, Purple, a fully-owned entity of Mutares Holding, would invest 7 million euros in PMTC, which would entitle it to a 50 per cent shareholding and 80.01 per cent voting rights in the French firm.
'By the end of 2022, we expect the installed base of 5G smartphones in India to reach 80-85 million.'
Brokerages expect India Inc to report an upturn in earnings for the March quarter of 2022-23, after a relatively muted showing in the previous two quarters. This growth is expected to be led by banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) companies, FMCG firms, and automobile makers. The combined net profit of the Nifty50 companies (excluding Adani Enterprises) is expected to have grown 15.6 per cent to Rs 1.77 trillion in Q4FY23, from Rs 1.53 trillion a year ago.
Insufficient technology has been transferred during the ongoing Project 75, which involves building 6 Scorpene-class submarines.
Leading automakers Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported a double-digit increase in dispatches to dealers in April as the demand remained robust especially for the sports utility vehicles. The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic passenger vehicle wholesales rose 13 per cent to 137,320 units last month as against 121,995 units in April 2022. Sales of mini cars, comprising Alto and S-Presso, fell 18 per cent to 14,110 units as compared with 17,137 units a year ago.
Auto Expo 2023 may not trigger a fresh rally in automobile stocks, say analysts, as this year's edition lacks participation from major listed players. It is also owing to the focus on electric vehicles (EVs), a segment where four-wheelers have minuscule market share. "In the passenger vehicles (PV) segment, Maruti Suzuki India and Tata Motors are the only listed players.
Only five of India's top 20 car models have seen a reduction in wait times over the past year.
'In FY23, PV sales are expected to end the year at a record 3.8 million units, up 26 per cent. In FY24, however, the industry is expecting 5-7 per cent volume growth'
India will have 30 per cent of its two-wheeler industry turning electric by 2030 as new manufacturers lead the shift, said a report on Monday. Passenger vehicles will be 15 per cent electric and the three-wheeler segment 75 per cent electric by 2030, said the report by BNP Paribas called 'India Autos-Electric vehicles: Minutes to midnight'. "We see FY22 as the year of inflection for the two-wheeler EV industry, with an accelerated EV adoption helped by incentives, wider availability, model launches, rise in crude prices and improved general awareness. We see 30 per cent of the 2W industry turning electric by 2030; the pace of incentive withdrawal presents an upside/downside risk," the report (India Autos - Electric vehicles: Minutes to midnight) said.
Reliance's big-bang entry across the solar ecosystem will cut dependence on Chinese imports drastically. And Ambani's repeated emphasis that RIL's new energy foray will be 'a truly global business' points that his group is playing not just for a share of the Indian pie but to be the OEM in the larger 5,000 GW global market by 2030, points out Shailesh Dobhal.
With just a month left in this financial year, electric two-wheeler sales, so far, are at just 62 per cent of the ambitious target of 1 million units set for 2022-23 by the NITI Aayog. According to VAHAN data, compiled by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), 620,006 units of electric two-wheelers were sold across the country in FY23 until February 21. Though the industry may miss the 1-million target, sales in FY23 are already up 146 per cent from 249,621 units sold in FY22.
The Tata group is planning to invest $90 billion in new industries such as mobile components plant, semiconductor, electric vehicles, batteries, renewables energy and e-commerce by 2027. The Tata group's investment in India is far higher than the $75-billion investments planned by Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries and $55-billion investment planned by the Adani group in the next five years in the country, the Economist reported recently. The investment by the Tata group is a shift in its strategy to focus more in the home markets instead of international markets where the group lost money.
Aided by robust festive season offtake, automobile retail sales in India witnessed a 48 per cent annual jump in October, automotive dealers' body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations said on Monday. The total retail sales last month stood at 20,94,378 units, up 48 per cent from 14,18,726 registrations in October 2021. The registrations last month were even better by 8 per cent as against October 2019, a pre-COVID month. The festive season this year turned out to be the best for the industry in the last four years.
In all likelihood, the next conventional Chinese attack on India would be preceded by a massive cyber attack designed to cripple Indian networks and interfere with our disaster-relief programmes.
But private Indian defence firms prefer to do business with the West. Indian CEOs say they encounter difficulties in obtaining full and timely payment from Russian partners.
With the IAF having rejected variants of 4 of the contending aircraft -- the Super Hornet, F-16, Gripen C/D and MiG-35 -- in flight trials carried out between 2009-2011 in the MMRCA tender, are the current contenders improved enough to pass flight trials conducted to the same standards?
From powering mobile devices, US chip designer Qualcomm has tied up with Ola Electric to power its electric scooters. Qualcomm is providing the key 4G connected octa core android platform which provides connectivity, computing capabilities and enables rich immersive displays with power saving software.
To young professionals I would say, work hard, play hard and not be constrained by fads like WLB, says Sudhir Bisht.
Photo-messaging app Snapchat on Wednesday said its monthly user base has reached 100 million in the country, and the company will continue to anchor its efforts towards growing and providing more resources to its community of Indian creators. Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, virtually hosted the second edition of 'Snap in India'. At the event, Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel announced the milestone of reaching 100 million Snapchatters monthly in India.
Singh made the remarks while addressing a "CEOs' Roundtable" at the 14th edition of Aero India at the Yelahanka Air Force station complex on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Maruti was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 6 per cent, followed by M&M, Bajaj Auto, NTPC, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank. NSE Nifty advanced 1.90 points to record 17,855.10.
Overall, the credit profiles of players will be supported by healthy balance sheets and liquidity. Prudence in capital and development expenditure, efficient working-capital management, and recent equity raising will help sustain credit metrics in FY22.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said if the US-based Tesla is ready to manufacture its electric vehicles in India then there is 'no problem' but the company must not import cars from China. In an interactive session at the Raisina Dialogue, Gadkari further said India is a large market and there is a huge potential for all electric vehicles. "If Elon Musk (Tesla CEO) is ready to manufacture in India then there is no problem ... Come to India, start manufacturing, India is a large market they can export from India," he said. The road transport and highways minister said his request to Musk is to come and manufacture in India.
Automobile dealers' body FADA on Tuesday expressed concern that the chip shortage issue could derail passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales during the festive season, as automakers are struggling with an adequate supply of vehicles to dealers due to production challenges. Terming semiconductor shortage as a "full-blown crisis", the industry body warned of a lacklustre festive season, especially for the passenger vehicle dealer fraternity, with low inventory levels and non-availability of the fast-moving model variants ahead of the peak festive period.
Engineers based in India are estimated to be writing roughly 35 per cent of the 100 million lines of codes required to develop one fully driverless car for global vehicle makers.
An EV has to be purchased along with the battery as there are hardly any battery swapping, rental, or leasing business models available across India.
Passenger vehicle retail sales in India witnessed an 11 per cent year-on-year decline in December as semiconductor shortage continued to impact the segment, automobile dealers' body FADA said on Wednesday. The passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales last month fell 10.91 per cent to 2,44,639 units from 2,74,605 units in December 2020. "The month of December is usually seen as a high sales month where OEMs continue to offer best discounts to clear the inventory due to change of the year.
American automaker Ford on Thursday said that it had withdrawn plans to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) in India and it won't invest in the country under the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. "After careful review, we have decided to no longer pursue EV manufacturing for exports from any of the Indian plants. "We remain grateful to the government for approving our proposal under the PLI and for being supportive while we continued our exploration. "Ford India's previously announced business restructuring continues as planned, including exploring other alternatives for our manufacturing facilities.
This would provide a major boost to the indigenous design and construction capability of submarines in India.
'The semiconductor supply is constantly improving, with visible green-shoots in the situation as compared to earlier part of last year'
Unlike conventional subs that must surface every 48 to 72 hours, these subs can stay submerged for up to 14 days.
Nearly a decade ago, the first fully electric vehicle (EV) caught fire on the road in the US. It was a model from Tesla, the world's most admired EV maker. A metal fragment punctured the underbelly of the vehicle, penetrating its battery pack, leading to a fire. Indian lawmakers and automakers have had nine years to study the incident (in fact, three Tesla Model Ss caught fire in two months in 2013) but seem to have learnt little.
Passenger Vehicle makers are likely to see their cumulative earnings at an operating level erode by Rs 1,800-2,000 crore in the year ending March 2022 on account of the shortage of semiconductors, rating agency Icra said at a webinar on Wednesday. The industry, it pointed out, is estimated to lose production of 500,000 units at the end of FY22 due to the chronovc shortage the chip, which is critical in safety, entertainment and the various other smart features of a car. "In absence of the chip crisis, the industry volumes are likely to have exceeded the all-time peak annual volumes." Icra has pared its growth estimates for the PV market from the earlier 10-14 per cent to 8-11 per cent now in FY22.
The fresh restrictions imposed in Maharashtra to contain the second wave of COVID-19 are likely to impact the festive season auto sales, as Navaratri and Gudi Padwa are falling in April, according to rating agency Icra. These two festivals account for a sizeable chunk of the annual vehicle sales across the country, especially in Maharashtra, it said. Gudi Padwa, which is a major festival of Maharashtra, will be celebrated on April 13, while Navrarati will also begin on the same day.
The heavy industries ministry has asked US-based electric car major Tesla to first start manufacturing its iconic electric vehicles in India before any tax concessions can be considered, government sources said. They said that the government is not giving such concessions to any auto firm and giving duty benefits to Tesla will not send a good signal to other companies that have invested billions of dollars in India. Tesla has demanded reduction in import duties on electric vehicles (EVs) in India.
Apart from bringing new suppliers on board, Xiaomi is also hoping to take advantage of the newly launched PLI scheme that offers incentives on incremental production of smartphones with 2020 as the base year.
The status of the current submarine force level is alarming and we need to address the threat perceptions expeditiously. Critical decisions pertaining to national security cannot be delayed any further due to the rapidly changing maritime threat perceptions and growing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region, asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The institutional portion was subscribed 143 times, the wealthy investor portion by 360 times and the retail investor portion by 24.5 times.
Vehicle sales have been hampered by weak consumer sentiment and still-weak availability of financing following tighter liquidity at non-banking lenders since the middle of 2018.
Passenger and commercial vehicle prices are expected to rise as automobile companies invest in upgrading vehicles to meet stricter emission norms that kick in from April next year. The Indian automobile industry is currently working to make their products meet the second phase of Bharat Stage VI, equivalent to Euro-VI emission norms, in real time driving conditions. Four-wheeler passenger and commercial vehicles will need more sophisticated equipment to be added to meet the next level of emission standards.
