India and Saudi Arabia on Monday decided to expedite implementation of the $50 billion West Coast refinery project, and identified energy, defence, semiconductor and space as areas for intensified cooperation during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
Passenger vehicle exports from India increased 43 per cent in FY22, with Maruti Suzuki India leading the segment with dispatches of over 2.3 lakh units, as per the latest data by industry body SIAM. The total passenger vehicle (PV) exports stood at 5,77,875 units in 2021-22 fiscal, as compared to 4,04,397 units in 2020-21. Passenger car shipments saw 42 per cent growth at 3,74,986 units, while utility vehicle exports rose 46 per cent at 2,01,036 units during the last fiscal, the data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed.
Mining magnate Anil Agarwal has said Gujarat was picked over Maharashtra for the Vedanta-Foxconn's Rs 1.52 lakh crore semiconductor project based on 'professional and independent' advice, as the political row in Maharashtra over the facility escalated on Thursday.
The global semiconductor shortage hit passenger vehicle sales in September, with major manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Mahindra & Mahindra reporting a decline in sales on Friday. Kia India and Honda Cars also reported a dip in wholesales last month as compared with the year-ago period. Carmakers like Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Nissan and Skoda, however, reported an increase in passenger vehicle dispatches last month despite supply chain issues.
Automobile retail sales in India rose 11 per cent in September as better supplies from manufacturers enabled dealers to ramp up customer deliveries amid the ongoing festive period, Federation Of Automobile Dealers Associations said on Tuesday. Last month, total retail sales stood at 14,64,001 units as compared to 13,19,647 units in September 2021. FADA noted that October is expected to witness even better overall sales due to the festive season further gathering steam.
A number of private companies have contributed to the development of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft which successfully landed near the south pole of the Moon on Wednesday evening.
Foundries in Taiwan account for more than 75 per cent of the chips that mobile devices made in India need, according to estimates by the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), which represents global and domestic manufacturers. The number is slightly lower, 60 per cent, if one considers all chips -- those of consumer electronics, PCs, laptops, autos, etc. This ties in with the fact that foundries in Taiwan, led by TSMC, account for over 70 per cent of the world's microchip supply, according to estimates by Gartner.
Global chip maker Intel on Monday said it could take a couple of years to address the supply shortage in the semiconductor ecosystem that is witnessing huge demand for tech products, accelerated by the COVID pandemic. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger noted that the work and study-from-home trends during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a "cycle of explosive growth in semiconductors" that has placed huge strain on global supply chains around the world. "We have been working diligently with our partners... to address constraints and increase output to meet demand, and we are acting to help ensure capacity to meet the world's needs for this new era... But, while the industry has taken steps to address near-term constraints, it could still take a couple of years for the ecosystem to address shortages of foundry capacity, substrates and components," he said at a virtual session at the Computex event.
Passenger vehicle wholesales in India rose to a record high in October as companies pushed dispatches to dealers to cater to the enhanced demand in the festive season. The overall passenger vehicle wholesales in October rose to 391,472 units, up 16 per cent from 336,679 units in the same month last year. Last month witnessed the highest-ever dispatches of passenger vehicles in the domestic market by Maruti Suzuki India and Mahindra & Mahindra.
MG Motor India is investing Rs 2,500 crore by the end of next year to increase the production capacity at its Halol plant in Gujarat, as it gears up to launch its mid-size SUV Astor, according to a top company official. Despite the worsening semiconductor shortage situation, which is likely to continue for at least another six months, the company expects its sales this year to grow by up to 100 per cent over last year. "We have done an investment of Rs 3,000 crore already, and by the end of next year, we will do another Rs 2,500 crore. "We will reach a total of Rs 5,500 crore," MG Motor India president and managing director Rajeev Chaba told PTI.
India's biggest car maker Maruti Suzuki said on Tuesday that its vehicle production in September will tumble by 60 per cent due to chip shortage. The company, which had earlier cut down production at its Gujarat plant, said the chip shortage will hit production in Gurugram and Manesar plants, effectively forcing the automaker to cut production by 60 per cent. Owing to a supply constraint of electronic components due to semiconductor shortage, the company is expecting an adverse impact on vehicle production in September in both Haryana and its contract manufacturing company, Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd. (SMG) in Gujarat.
Time was when you turned on your car's ignition, all that happened was that the mechanical system fired up your engine and made it run. Today, the moment you do so, your stereo system probably lights up, connects to the Bluetooth on your smartphone, and lets you make calls through an audio assistant or play music from your phone, which you can hear on the car's speakers. All these smart features in a car are powered by semiconductors, or chips, as they are commonly called.
Ratings agency ICRA on Wednesday revised downwards growth forecast for the domestic passenger vehicles industry to 8-11 per cent in the ongoing fiscal from the earlier estimate of 14-17 per cent on account of the ongoing semiconductor shortage. Similarly, for the two-wheeler segment, it said the volumes are expected to contract by 1-4 per cent in FY2022 against an earlier prediction of 6-8 per cent growth as affordability and demand sentiments of target clientele was hit sharply by the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. With around 5 lakh units of production lost by various automakers in the passenger vehicles segment due to the semiconductor shortage, ICRA said the earnings loss for the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) could be around Rs 1,800 crore to Rs 2,000 crore for the ongoing fiscal.
'The fact still remains that we will have to deliver, so the pressure is now on us to make sure we get our resources, our supplies lined up at acceptable costs.'
Passenger vehicle market leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai on Saturday reported a decline in wholesales in December 2021, although homegrown majors Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra reported growth, amid semiconductor shortage continuing to impact production. Other manufacturers Nissan and Skoda also reported an increase in December 2021 sales although Honda Cars India witnessed a decline last month. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported a 4 per cent fall in wholesales to 153,149 units in December 2021 as against 160,226 units a year ago.
For the year 2012-2013, the Union Budget should address the challenges of keeping the economic engine running in the midst of the global uncertainties that can have a ripple effect in India.
The July-September quarter results of software companies in the engineering research and development (ER&D) segment were broadly in line with expectations, though there have been cuts in revenue growth guidance. While results were a mixed bag, and there are cautionary views on the near-term outlook, brokerages and global consulting firms highlight the strong growth trajectory for the sector. They expect this segment of the software sector to grow by 8-12 per cent going forward.
Get more people working, get more people working in modern manufacturing and services in our cities, and get people working better and longer, suggests Naushad Forbes, past president, CII.
Driven by a rise in sales during the current year, German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz said on Thursday that the company is expecting a growth in sales of around 8-10 per cent in the next few years. This comes at a time when the company is ready to surpass the previous highest sales of 15,538 vehicles (2018) in 2022. During the first half, the company sold 7,600 units. It already has an order bank of around 7,000 vehicles. In 2021, the company sold 11,242 vehicles.
India on Thursday said it promotes engagement with Taiwan in several areas including trade and investment and Taipei's decision to open an economic and cultural centre in Mumbai should be seen in that context.
'The semiconductor supply is constantly improving, with visible green-shoots in the situation as compared to earlier part of last year'
Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales saw a significant growth in October due to increased availability of semiconductor chips and rising consumer confidence. The sales figures during the month - which coincided with the first post-Covid festival season - released by the top ten carmakers saw a jump of 30.7 per cent to 322,885 units in October. Auto companies count wholesales - units dispatched to dealers - as sales.
Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai reported single-digit sales growth in July with the sports utility segment continuing to drive overall demand in the market. Mahindra & Mahindra witnessed a 29 per cent increase in passenger vehicle dispatches while Tata Motors saw a marginal increase in the wholesales last month. Maruti Suzuki on Tuesday said its total domestic passenger vehicle sales stood at 152,126 units last month as compared to 142,850 units in the year-ago month, a growth of 6 per cent.
The migration of domestically developed intellectual property to foreign corporations within India reflects an anomaly in the demand pattern of the country's job market, points out Kanika Datta.
Passenger vehicle dispatches from factories to dealers in India fell 8 per cent in January, mainly due to semiconductor shortage, auto industry body SIAM said on Friday. The total passenger vehicle wholesales dropped to 254,287 units in January 2022 as compared to 276,554 units in the same month of last year. Last month, passenger car dispatches stood at 126,693 units as compared to 153,244 units in the year-ago period. Similarly, van dispatches declined to 10,632 units in the period under review from 11,816 units in January 2021.
The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government has been facing flak after Vedanta-Foxconn chose Gujarat to set up its multi-billion semiconductor plant.
In a full-page coverage inside The Washington Post, the paper notes 'In Prime Minister's address before Congress, Modi puts his focus on growth.'
National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications (NSCCSC) John Kirby on Tuesday told a press conference in Washington, DC: "India will be a critical strategic partner for the United States in the coming decades."
Passenger vehicle sales in India could hit a record of over 38 lakh units in FY23 but the strong growth momentum is not expected to carry over to 2023-24 with pent-up demand already been released, according to Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles managing director Shailesh Chandra.
'If the situation deteriorates and there is further escalation, the USA is in preparedness.'
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.
Underlining the contribution of non-resident Indians, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said remittances sent to the country by overseas Indians were about $100 billion for the year 2022, an increase of 12 per cent in one year. Speaking at a session during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, she described NRIs as the "real ambassadors of India" and appealed to them to use made in India products and services as far as possible so that the country's individual brand can be promoted across the globe. Sitharaman also said that after the "China plus one" policy, the world is now talking about the "European Union (EU) plus one" policy.
Passenger vehicle wholesales in India declined by 27 per cent year-on year in October with semiconductor shortage hitting production of automobile manufacturers, auto industry body SIAM said on Friday. Passenger vehicle sales last month stood at 226,353 units, as compared to 310,694 units in the year-ago period. As per the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), two-wheeler dispatches to dealers also witnessed a 25 per cent decline at 15,41,621 units, compared to 20,53,814 units in October 2020.
New investment projects announced in the manufacturing sector declined in the three months ended June 2023. The value of new projects was lower than in the March quarter, as well as the year-ago period, shows data from project tracker the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The new project announcements worth around Rs 85,000 crore in the manufacturing segment in June were a 48 per cent decline from the Rs 1.6 trillion in March and a 66 per cent decline from the Rs 2.5 trillion seen in June 2022.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India and Italy have decided to elevate their bilateral ties to a strategic partnership, opening a new chapter on defence cooperation.
Prime Minister Modi's visit saw India and the US signing several major deals to boost cooperation in key areas such as defence, space and trade.
Automobile dispatches from factories to dealerships across the country declined 23 per cent in February, as various supply-side challenges, including semiconductor shortage, and rise in vehicle prices due to the implementation of new regulations continued to impact demand scenario, industry body SIAM said on Friday. Wholesales of domestic passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers declined 23 per cent to 13,28,027 units last month, compared with 17,35,909 units in February 2021. Overall, passenger vehicle dispatches in February 2022 declined six per cent to 262,984 units, compared with 281,380 units in the same month of last year.
The two-day State Visit to Egypt at the invitation of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is also the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister since 1997.
India's overall imports from Taiwan during April-February rose by 34 per cent to $7.5 billion.
