After cashing out of the recent stock market rally, investors aren't ploughing their money into just initial public offerings (IPOs), bonds or real estate. The feel-good factor has prompted many of them to splurge on luxury cars, exclusive holidays and designer brands.
The last edition (in 2010) featured 50 launches, including 10 global debuts.
The initiative is in its early stages of discussion, with the company undertaking a basic assessment of the domestic automobile finance market. While details are yet to be worked out, the financing arm could be on the lines of services offered by the Daimler group for its clients in Europe and West Asia among others.
Price reduction by auto buyers leads to only a marginal rise in enquiry level.
Around 23 per cent of all units sold by the company in the domestic market currently are diesel cars.
The challenges of transition to stricter emission norm BS-VI from BS-IV and compliance to new safety norms thereby making vehicles costlier are lurking around the sector.
India's biggest firm, Reliance Industries, has decided to cut salaries by 10 per cent in its oil and refining divisions. Several smaller companies like Kajaria Ceramics have followed suit with cuts as high as 40 per cent for those earning more than Rs 50 lakh.
Even as domestic passenger car sales declined 29.4 per cent between April and August this year, exports grew 6.5 per cent, partially cushioning the blow from slowing sales.
Car sales in terms of numbers in India in the just-concluded financial year (2013-14) have gone down in over a decade, confirming once again the extent of the economic slowdown.
Paris-based international advisory firm Mazars predicts four per cent growth in India's automobile sector this financial year.
Reflecting the woes of the Indian automobile industry, the country's car exports remained flat at 550,466 units in 2013-14, during which domestic sales fell for the second consecutive year.
The auto maker wants to cut output in the wake of low demand.
A drive through a long endless dark tunnel best describes the journey of India's auto sector in 2013, during which the industry witnessed record spell of decline in sales, vehicle recalls and strikes.
Low price, great technology are just a few of the reasons the EcoSport stands ahead of other vehicles.
The onus is on the banks to pass the benefit to customers.
The terrorist attack in Mumbai has come as yet another blow to the Indian automobile industry, which is already reeling under a sales slump due to high interest rates and lack of finance availability.
Operating margins decline to 10.3% in March quarter on one-time payouts but may recover to 12% in FY2015.
Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Honda saw their passenger vehicle sales improve in August compared to the same month last year, although Ford and Toyota witnessed a decline.
In February, Maruti cut vehicle prices by between Rs 8,502 and Rs 30,984 across models after the excise duty reduction was announced.
CRISIL predicts no more than 6.5 per cent yearly from now till FY19, and only with a stable and decisive government; predicts problems in job generation, poverty and demand.
Mahindra Tractors is recruiting Territory Managers for their sales team.
Online travel portals and airlines say the demand from companies is being led by essential services sectors like pharmaceutical, oil and gas, and power.
Over the past four quarters, the Sensex companies' earnings trajectory has improved sharply because of a weak rupee.
Recently, South Korean Foreign Minister, Chung Eui-yong, dialled his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar, in New Delhi. His government, he said, "regretted the offence caused to the people of India". A day earlier, India had summoned the South Korean ambassador to express its "strong displeasure" over "an unacceptable social media post".
Car makers are happy with the positive response.
These are typically the nations with the biggest industries, biggest production capabilities and the biggest populations.
Investors turn their attention to export-driven sectors.
With 15% customs duty hike on locally assembled vehicles, it is cheaper to import from Thailand, says India MD
General Motors also plans to increase sourcing from India over the next 4-5 years to $1 billion annually.
In June, the new government led by Narendra Modi extended the excise duty concession by six months to December 31, which is not being further extended.
According to industry players, the commercial vehicle (CV) segment, which returned to positive territory in July after witnessing a downturn for 11 months, is likely to see encouraging sales in the coming months.
Companies have also managed to find talent created by frequent exits.
It will introduce new cars across segments and also target rural India to push up sales.
While salary growth may range from a marginally positive to stagnant or even negative, the increment for some of the "super-specialised" profiles can go beyond 15%.
India Ratings expects long products demand growth to be sharp, supported by a demand push from the government-led infrastructure investments in affordable housing, railways, rural electrification and road networks.
With multiple options in the compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) and compact sedan space, the mid-size sedan seems to be losing its charm among customers.
Pawan Munjal, chairman and managing director of Hero MotoCorp, the country's biggest two-wheeler maker, leads the pack among automobile CEOs.
Note ban, diesel ban have little impact as Mercedes posts marginal decline, while BMW sales rise 14 pc.
It perfectly blends the personality of a brawny sports utility vehicle with elegance of a sedan.
One reason for the upward revision in the forecast comes from the surprise growth of 9.45 per cent notched by the industry since the beginning of this year.
