Indian govt officials discuss Turkmen gas pipeline pricing
13 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:Kalpana Pathak:Mumbai: After signing of various heads of agreement for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) gas pipeline in September, India has begun negotiating the pricing and security issues with the other three nations. A delegation led by a joint secretary from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, to discuss these. “India is more keen on the Tapi pipeline than the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, where nothing has moved since the past two years due to opposition from the US,” said an official. Addressing India’s concern on Tapi will be significant for all the partners, since it will consume more than a third of the gas to be transported by the $7.6-billion pipeline. India wishes to see resolution of issues related to security, pricing and transit fee by December. “Ensuring safety of the pipeline will be the responsibility of member countries, which are also the user countries in this case. Afghanistan has given a presentation on security in the meeting held last week. Pakistan is also expected to give a presentation on security, probably in the next meeting,” Jitin Prasada, minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, had told Business Standard on his return from Turkmenistan in September. Through the Tapi transnational pipeline, India is expected to get 38 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) of natural gas from Turkmenistan. Earlier, a formula had been proposed where the four nations would work towards finalising a multiple linked to the Japanese Crude Cocktail. Turkmenistan is keen to close a deal for the purchase of gas by December and begin work on the pipeline by 2014. Of the 90 mscmd of gas to be pushed from the Dauletabad field in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan would consume 14 mscmd, while 38 mscmd each would be taken by India and Pakistan. IPI has faced stiff opposition from the US since Iran is under sanctions from the United Nations for its nuclear programme. Tapi, on the other hand, has backing from the Asian Development Bank.
13 Nov 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:Chanchal Pal Chauhan:NEW DELHI: Scooters, shunned by Indian consumers in favour of the motorcycle for much of the first decade of the century, are back in the Indian market. In October, one out of five two-wheelers sold was a scooter. That’s not exactly a return to the glory days of the past, which, in the case of scooters, were the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. By the late 1990s, motorcycles were becoming dominant so much so that Pune-based Bajaj Auto, which introduced the scooter, now only makes motorcycles. According to scooter makers, sales would have been much higher, but a delay in expanding their factories restricted growth. Indeed in an odd throwback to the 1980s, there is once again a waiting period for scooters. Customers have to wait for four months or so for the more popular models like Honda Activa, Suzuki Access and Hero Honda Pleasure. These new generation of scooters can now compete on mileage and power with their arch-rival, bikes, which had pushed them into virtual oblivion a decade back. Given the growth in the segment, the market leader Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) is considering ramping up its production after it failed to cut months of waiting time for its popular models like Activa and Aviator. In some cases, officials say, buyers who had booked the vehicle in January are still waiting. HMSI is 100% owned by Honda Motors, a Japanese company. “We have almost doubled our production, but the demand gap continues to grow. We hope to cater to the Indian demand with our second plant coming up in Rajasthan next year, but till then we are forced to struggle to cope with this massive demand,” said NK Rattan, head of marketing & sales at HMSI. The emergence of smaller families has helped the cause of scooters as have the increasing number of women that buy two-wheelers as their preferred mode of personal transport. Women, who comprise around 10-12% of the 10 million-strong Indian two wheeler market, mostly prefer scooters. “Scooters match the aspiration of women and teenage customers. Also, these machines have evolved as a product in terms of technology and style that is expected to propel future growth,” HDFC Bank’s senior vice-president (auto loans), Rajan Pental said. The market has also expanded with the entry of new players like Mahindra & Mahindra and Suzuki Motorcycles India, an Indian unit of Suzuki that makes two-wheelers. Two new entrants, Global Auto and Yamaha India Motor, are all set to foray into the segment. The choices available to the Indian customer have also increased and things will only get better, industry officials say. “We cannot cope with the demand as our single scooter offering, Access 125, currently has a booking backlog of around 50,000 units. We are planning to launch more scooter models to bridge the gap in this fastest-growing segment of the Indian two wheeler market,” said Atul Gupta, a VP in charge of marketing & sales at Suzuki Motorcycles India. Hero Honda, the world’s largest bike maker, has also joined the party. It clocked 120% growth in scooter sales in October. Its scooter, which is sold under the brandname Pleasure, sold 27,000 units now, up from last year’s 12,000. “The growth in the scooter segment is being fuelled by several socio-economic factors, including the rising number of working women,” Hero Honda’s senior VP (marketing) Anil Dua said.
12 Nov 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: Carrying forward his Green agenda, environment minister Jairam Ramesh wants gas guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) off Indian roads saying they emitted more carbons and called their use in the country as "criminal". Suggesting that the luxury SUVs survived on subsidised diesel, Ramesh also said there should be a reformed diesel policy as the real beneficiaries of the subsidy are the owners of the "BMWs, the Benzs and Hondas" and not farmers. "The luxurious growth of large-size vehicles like SUVs is really a growth of concern... use of vehicles like SUVs and BMW in countries like India is criminal," Ramesh said at a UN function here. "I think, we seriously need to think about fuel policy regime," he said. "We are subsidising diesel. We have reformed policy as far as petrol is concerned. We are yet to reform as far as the net effect of diesel subsidy is concerned," he said. Stating that the subsidy in the social security sector should be really for LPG and kerosene, Ramesh said to control carbon emission, there was a need to have a fuel policy regime. "And certainly put a penalty on the type of cars that you don't want to see on the roads which is diesel driven car, SUVs," the minister said. "We cannot ask people to buy or not to buy a particular car. But through an effective fiscal policy, we can certainly have an impact," he said. Ramesh said the transport sector contribute 7.5 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the country and this is expected to be 15 per cent in the next 15 to 20 years. "We are worried and we are looking at how to control these emissions from transport sector. For this to happen, there should be mandatory fuel efficiency standards," he said. The minister added that a national transport policy committee has been constituted and the committee will give its recommendations in next 12 to 15 months. Dismissing the notion that the increased use of electric car will help reduce carbon emission, the minister said those who advocate for it think that "electricity comes from heavens." Ramesh on an earlier occasion said "I am worried seeing the number of vehicles on the roads today and with the number of increasing big SUVs, it can be a recipe for disaster like the US... I am not happy... I have no control over it, unfortunately," Ramesh added. He said a mandatory fuel efficiency standard for auto makers will be brought soon to promote environment friendly technologies in the country. India is the only country in the world which does not have a mandatory fuel efficiency standard, according to Ramesh.
Nissan to recall 604,500 vehicles in North America
12 Nov 2010;hindustantimes.com:New York: Nissan Motor Company announced a voluntary safety recall of 604,500 units of three vehicle models sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico due to glitches in their power steering systems and batteries. Eligible for the free repair service are 303,000 units of the Frontier pickup truck, 283,000 units of the Xterra sport-utility vehicle and 18,500 units of the Sentra compact, it said on Thursday. All of the vehicles were built outside Japan, in countries including the United States and Brazil. None of the vehicles were sold in Japan. Problems have been found in parts of the Frontier and Xterra that coordinate the handling of the steering wheel with the movements of the wheels on the ground, whereas Sentra cars could be fitted with faulty batteries, according to Nissan.
12 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:Swaraj Baggonkar:Mumbai: Tata Motors seeks more engines from Ford Motor Company for its Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) models to match production when it starts assembly operations in Asia for the two luxury brands. The company is in the process of setting up two assembly plants, one each in China and India. Ford Motor, the Michigan, US-based company, has also been asked to brace up for additional volumes, which could spring up after the opening of the two units. Ford, the erstwhile owner of JLR before it was sold to Tata Motors in 2008 for $2.3 billion, is in an agreement with the Mumbai-based company to supply engines for JLR. C Ramakrishnan, chief financial officer, Tata Motors, said, “Currently, Ford is delivering more than what it had contracted for, but our need is even higher than that. We believe Ford has ramp-up plans to tackle the additional volumes.” The executive was talking to analysts on a conference call. Tata Motors has multiple contracts with Ford for the engine supply and they have different time lines, which extends beyond 2013. The company is in the process of giving Ford the engine volume (estimate) for 2013. Ramakrishnan said they could look at alternate sources for getting engines. “Our agreement with Ford doesn’t prevent us from doing that. We can look at the Tata Motors range (of engines) too,” he said. The new assembly plants in Asia will make JLR models, starting with the premium sports utility vehicles of Land Rover. The plants will assemble parts shipped from the United Kingdom.
Commercial production of Tata's first electric car to start in Q1 of 2011
12 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:S Kalyana Ramanathan:Birmingham: The most keenly awaited electric car from the Tata Motors stable, the Indica Vista EV, will go into commercial production from the first quarter of 2011, said a senior official with Tata Motors European Research Centre (TMERC). Speaking at the SME conference here organised by the Indian High Commission, Omar Hadded, director of marketing and commercialisation with TMERC said Vista EV will be targeted at international markets like the UK. The electric version of the company’s blockbuster mini truck Ace will go into commercial production from next month. The official said the fuel cell technology in a demonstrable format was being tested now, but the product was far from ready for the market. The fuel cell technology was the most coveted technology among auto makers around the world, he added. The price of Vista EV will benchmarked with industry standards and retailed at around £29,000, while the ACE EV will be priced at around £13,000-14,000. The Vista EV will get a UK government subsidy of £5,000 and would cost the end customer £24,000. The electric version of an established car has been created in record time, considering Indica was first rolled out in 1998, until which Tata Motors had never made passenger vehicles. The TMERC was created only five years back, in part to fulfil the group’s commitment to produce environmentally friendly vehicles. Vista EV will be a four seater with provision for luggage and will have a maximum speed of 70 miles an hour or around 110 kmph. It will meet all intertional safety standards with ABS and Li-ion super polymer batteries and a range of 160 km to run without recharge. Full recharge will be possible in eight hours. The Vista EV had won two awards last weekend among future cars between Brighton (south of UK) and London for being the most economic passenger electric vehicles.
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