While the latest, fourth-generation Swift makes no pretence of being a performance car or the last word in luxury, what it does stand for is amply evident, notes Pavan Lall.
The winners for the year 2019 are from fields as diverse as agriculture, sports, handicrafts, afforestation and wildlife conservation, armed forces and education.
Concessional rate of tax on dividends received by Indian companies from foreign subsidiaries will be done away with from April 1, a change that may hamper global expansion of Indian companies and compel some firms to move their headquarters out of India to geographies such as Singapore and Dubai. At present, dividends received by Indian companies from their foreign subsidiaries are subject to a concessional tax rate of 15 per cent under Section 115BBD of the Income Tax (I-T) Act. The provisions of this section shall not apply from assessment year 2023-24 onwards, according to the Finance Bill.
India's hiring rate has recovered moderately from 10 per cent in April to 35 per cent in May 2021, but the aftermath of the second COVID-19 wave has left professionals in India increasingly vulnerable to the economic uncertainty, as per LinkedIn data. India's hiring rate on LinkedIn dropped from 50 per cent in March 2021 to 10 per cent in April 2021. The hiring rate witnessed a modest revival to 35 per cent in May 2021, as localised curfews gradually lifted and economic activity partially resumed.
Homegrown auto major Tata Motors on Tuesday said it will raise $1 billion (Rs 7,500 crore) in its passenger electric vehicle business from TPG Rise Climate at a valuation of up to $9.1 billion. Tata Motors Ltd (TML) and TPG Rise Climate, the dedicated climate investing strategy of private investment firm TPG, have entered into a binding agreement in this regard. Under the agreement, TPG Rise Climate along with its co-investor ADQ, will invest in a subsidiary of Tata Motors that will be newly incorporated, the company said in a statement.
By the year 2026, India will be the third in the world after China and USA in engineering, manufacturing and export of vehicles and auto components.
Auto major Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) on Wednesday said it will invest $150 million (around Rs 1,103 crore) to set up a global digital hub in Hyderabad to help the group develop new technologies to cater to its automotive operations across the globe. The facility, which is FCA's largest digital hub outside of North America, would create nearly 1,000 jobs by the end of next year.
For every one experienced candidate being recruited by e-two wheeler companies, 10 have no prior experience; recruitments are for skilled, low-end jobs, not for managerial or supervisory roles.
Earlier in May, Ford India announced that it had dropped its plans to make electric vehicles (EVs) in India, which it intended to export, under the production-linked incentive scheme (PLI). Ford was among 20 companies that had signed a Champion OEM Incentive Scheme under the PLI project with the government in February this year. The decision comes as a blow for the 4,000-odd employees at Ford India's Maraimalai Nagar plant near Chennai and in Sanand, Gujarat. In September last year, the company had announced that it would exit the India market, which it had entered in 1995 through an on-again, off-again joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra (they split in 1998, signed a JV in 2019 and split again in December 2020), retailing petrol and diesel brands such as the EcoSport, Figo, Aspire, and Endeavour.
Leading carmakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported robust dispatches to dealers in May on the back of strong demand for passenger vehicles across regions, even as the global semiconductor shortage continued to impact production. Mahindra & Mahindra, Kia India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Honda Cars and Skoda also witnessed strong demand for their models last month. The month of May also witnessed Tata Motors race ahead of Hyundai in terms of domestic wholesales.
'A soft landing of the Indian economy would be a long-term positive for the equity markets.'
India's equity markets are on a roller-coaster ride, after delivering spectacular returns for two consecutive years - in 2020 and 2021. The benchmark National Stock Exchange's (NSE's) Nifty50 is down 1.5 per cent in the first nine months of the current calendar year 2022 (CY22) as foreign portfolio investors sold Indian stocks due to rising bond yields in the US and across global markets, including India. The sell-off in the Indian equity markets has, however, not been broad-based and largely limited to sectors facing earnings headwinds from rising interest rates, lower commodity and energy prices, and likely economic recession in advanced economies.
Indian auto and pharma industries import several critical components and raw materials from China.
Four XUV700s entered the challenge and all four recorded over 4000 km in 24 hours, says Rajesh Karkera.
The country's leading automakers Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor reported a decline in dispatches to dealers in March as shortage of electronic components impacted production. On the other hand, Tata Motors, Skoda and Kia India posted their highest ever monthly wholesales last month. Toyota Kirloskar Motor said its dispatches in March were the highest in the last five years while Mahindra & Mahindra also reported a robust increase in its passenger vehicle dispatches in March.
The Tata group flagship has sold more sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the domestic PV market in the past four months than any other automotive manufacturer, cementing its no.1 spot. It first grabbed pole position in the SUV segment in October 2021 after the launch of the Punch - a sub-compact SUV offering.
New products being designed mainly for auto, oil & gas sectors; firm is raising Kalinganagar plant capacity from three mtpa to eight mtpa
The keenly-awaited Mahindra Thar 2020 was finally unveiled on August 15, 2020. Here are the first images of one of the finest off-roaders!
Automakers are caught in a chicken-and-egg situation: Prices have to come down if volumes are to increase, and volumes won't increase unless prices come down, notes Pavan Lall.
At risk of entrenched rough times are sectors like hospitality and those with discretionary spends.
The biggest headwind to the consumption story in FY23 is a sharp decline in government subsidies on food, fertiliser and fuel, and overall decline in revenue expenditure net of interest payments. This, analysts say, will adversely impact purchasing power of households at the lower end of the income pyramid, translating into lower spending on consumer goods and services.
The 51-year-old BJP leader Vaishnaw, born in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, is a suave and former Odisha cadre IAS officer from the 1994 batch. He managed to wrangle support from the ruling BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik despite being in the rival camp.
S&P Global Ratings on Thursday upgraded ratings of five companies of the Tata group including Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reflecting its reassessment of the ongoing influence and the potential for 'extraordinary financial support' from the parent, Tata Sons. Under the revised exercise, S&P Global said ratings on Tata Steel Ltd and its 100 per cent-owned financing subsidiary ABJA Investment Co Pte Ltd have been upgraded to 'BBB-' from 'BB' with stable outlook. Similarly, Tata Motors Ltd and its wholly-owned arm TML Holdings Pte Ltd have been upgraded to 'BB-' from 'B' ratings with stable outlook.
'The IPO market is cooling off and getting a reality check.'
Maruti being the market leader with a disproportionately high share of the passenger car market helped its component makers grow as an industry all these years and hence, the exit from a segment is a jolt if not a big setback.
Automobile dealers' body FADA has urged the government to formulate a task force to monitor the compensation structure being worked out by Ford India for its dealer partners across the country. In a letter to Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, FADA president Vinkesh Gulati also requested the government to instruct Ford India to keep the industry body in the loop regarding the compensation structure for the dealerships. "We humbly request your Ministry's intervention... Create a task force which takes day-to-day updates from Ford India to monitor the compensation plan for automobile dealers and dealership employees," Gulati said in the letter.
On Thursday, the prime minister is scheduled to hold one-on-one meetings with top five American CEOs. Two of them are Indian Americans -- Shantanu Narayen from Adobe and Vivek Lall from General Atomics. The three others are Cristiano E Amon from Qualcomm, Mark Widmar from First Solar, and Stephen A Schwarzman from Blackstone.
Tata Motors on Wednesday unveiled Tigor EV, its second electric model in the personal mobility space after Nexon EV. The auto major has tasted success with Nexon EV, which currently commands about 70 per cent market share in the domestic electric vehicle segment. The Tigor EV comes powered by the company's high voltage electric architecture - Ziptron - and has been developed based on three pillars of technology, comfort and safety.
According to experts, Tata Tiago JTP and Tigor JTP -- a sedan and hatchback -- are not only powerful and faster than every other car in the segment, but also in the segment above, including their peers Maruti Baleno RS, Volkswagen Polo and others.
Seven years after it announced Nexa, there's no mistaking the seriousness with which Maruti wants the segment to grow, says Pavan Lall.
Former managing director of Maruti Suzuki India, Jagdish Khattar, passed away on Monday morning following a cardiac arrest, according to people close to him. Khattar (79), a former bureaucrat, was considered as one of the most high profile leaders of the Indian automotive industry, laying the foundation for Maruti's future growth after the government began its disinvestment in 2002 and gradually exited from its joint venture with Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC). He had joined the then Maruti Udyog Ltd in July 1993 as director (marketing) and went on to become executive director (marketing) in the next six years.
More than 60 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are expected to tap the market in one year to raise equity funds for supporting their business requirements, a BSE top official said on Wednesday. These companies will get listed on the exchange's SME platform, Ajay Thakur, head of BSE SME and Startup told PTI. Last year, only 16 SMEs had tapped the initial public offering (IPO) route and raised Rs 100 crore.
Among the cars unveiled at the Auto Expo on Wednesday was Mahindra and Mahindra's e-KUV for Rs 8.2 lakhs ex-showroom Delhi. With a single charge range of 150 km and a 55 min fast charging upto 80 pc, it was both a head-turner and a conversation-starter.
Besides, Toyota and MG Motor also reported nil sales as they suspended operations even before the imposition of lockdown on March 25 to check the spread of coronavirus. In two-wheeler segment, niche bike maker Royal Enfield said it had zero sales in the domestic market but exported a total of 91 units last month.
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.
Ola founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Bhavish Aggarwal will step back from day-to-day operations to focus more on engineering functions, team building, and products, apart from focusing on long-term strategic projects, such as two-wheelers, cars, and innovations in quick commerce and international expansion. "I'll be spending more time with all engineering functions, team building, and on products," said Aggarwal in an internal note, adding, "I'll also be increasing my focus on our longer-term strategic projects, including new two-wheeler products, our car project, innovations in quick commerce, electrifying ride-hailing, our cell research and development (R&D), international expansion, building our Pune technology (tech) centre, and Futurefoundry UK." To drive scale, speed, and quality, Aggarwal said he is expanding Ola Group's chief financial officer (CFO) G R Arun Kumar's role to help him steer 'day-to-day operations' across the group.
What technologies do you fancy in your new car? Here are some popular cars in India with the most sought after technologies.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will deliver 1,000 units of its all-new Thar SUV during Diwali festive period, the company said on Friday. The latest version of the iconic SUV was launched on October 2, in two trims -- AX and LX -- with both petrol and diesel powertrain option, and is priced between Rs 9.8 lakh and Rs 13.75 lakh
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.
A car that gives you a better resale value will reduce the cost of your next purchase, points out Bindisha Sarang.
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