Petrol, diesel to go dearer by Rs 2.71 and Rs 2.55/l from midnight
26 Feb 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: Petrol price will increase by Rs 2.71 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.55 per litre from midnight tonight after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised customs and excise duties on the two auto fuels in the Budget. Petrol price in Delhi will go up from Rs 44.72 to Rs 47.43 a litre and diesel to Rs 35.47 a litre, as indirect tax proposals moved in the Budget come into effect immediately. This followed customs duty on petrol and diesel being hiked to 7.5 per cent from 2.5 per cent and excise duty being raised by Re one a litre to Rs 14.35 and Rs 4.60 per litre on non-branded (normal) petrol and diesel respectively. "Oil marketing companies are not in a position to absorb these (incidence of increased taxation) and are passing them on to consumers, resulting in increase in petrol and diesel price," Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan told reporters here. The entire Opposition walked out of Lok Sabha when the Finance Minister announced the hike in taxation terming it as anti-people and a measure that will fuel inflation. Mukherjee also imposed 5 per cent import duty on crude (currently nil), a move that would increase the input cost of refiners like Reliance Industries and Essar Oil. The rate hike virtually put the Kirit Parikh report on fuel pricing reforms in cold storage as implementing its recommendation of freeing petrol and diesel prices would mean a further Rs 4.94 a litre increase in petrol and Rs 3.20 per litre hike in diesel rates.
24 Feb 2010;business-standard.com:T E Narasimhan:Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government cleared JK Tyre’s proposal for setting up a new production facility in the state, which would attract around Rs 1,600 crore investment. The new facility was expected to generate around Rs 2,000 crore revenue in 2013-14, according to company officials. The company also said it was investing Rs 150 crore in Karanataka for expanding its production capacity in truck radials. According to sources in the government, the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi cleared the proposal in a meeting on Monday.
24 Feb 2010;hindustantimes.com:Mumbai:Shares in Maruti Suzuki pulled back after sliding to a six-month-low early on Wednesday, a day after India's top carmaker said it was recalling 100,000 of its A-Star hatchbacks sold overseas and in India. Maruti, in which Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp has 54.2 per cent stake, said on Tuesday that a faulty gasket leading to a potential fuel leakage problem had been identified and the company had fixed about half of the cars. "As expected initially the stock opened lower, as any recall involves costs," said Arun Kejriwal, director at research firm KRIS. "But, I think, people are awaiting more details on the costs and the full impact of it before they take a definitive view. It seems to be a one-off event," he said. Maruti shares initially fell about 2 per cent to 1,310 rupees, their lowest since Aug. 19 last year, but quickly pulled into positive territory and then eased again. At 9:33 am, the shares were up 0.05 per cent at 1,336.90 rupees. The stock has fallen 14.3 per cent this year, lagging the main index which has lost 6.7 per cent.
24 Feb 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:Pankaj Doval:NEW DELHI: The fiercely-competitive Indian small car market got its first German brand with Volkswagen, Europe's number one carmaker, driving in its Polo hatchback at a competitive price of Rs 4.34 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), pitching it aggressively against models from Maruti and Hyundai, who dominate the segment. At present, VW is a marginal player in India, considering its absence from the big-volume compact car segment. The company said it plans to boost its presence in the market with launch of the volume-model Polo. "The Indian car market is growing very fast and we plan to have a sizeable presence here. The Polo will help us lead the charge and will account for the majority of volumes for Volkswagen in India," said Neeraj Garg, member of board and director of VW's India Passenger Cars Division. The company is eyeing sale of over one lakh units annually in India over the next three to four years, largely driven by the small car. "The Polo will further intensify competition in the small car market and VW's competitive stance may even lead to a price war in the segment," said Mahantesh Sabarad, auto analyst at Mumbai-based Centrum Broking. Polo, one of the most recognisable brands of VW globally, will start with 50% localisation and Garg said the effort was to increase it further. It carries 1200cc petrol and diesel engines, both of which are being imported. While the petrol version starts at Rs 4.34 lakh, the diesel starts at Rs 5.32 lakh (both ex-showroom Delhi). Polo will compete with models like the Swift and Ritz, i20 and Fiat's Punto, and VW seems to have made every effort to keep the pricing of the car close to them. "It is a good price to launch at...but more than the price, VW needs to establish its brand first," said Pradeep Saxena of TNS.
23 Feb 2010;business-standard.com:New Delhi: The devastating fire at Indian Oil Corp’s (IOC) Jaipur fuel depot has delayed commissioning of Cairn India’s pipeline for transporting crude from its Rajasthan oil fields. Cairn had laid a 600-km heated pipeline, from Barmer to Salaya in Gujarat, to transport Rajasthan crude oil to IOC’s refineries but, the fire in October last year delayed its commissioning, sources in the know said. The pipeline was to carry Rajasthan oil to Gujarat, from where it had to be pumped into IOC’s Mundra-Panipat pipeline for onward transportation to Panipat refinery in Haryana. But the fire destroyed a pumping station of Mundra-Panipat pipeline at Jaipur, reducing the line capacity by one-third. Sources said as Cairn crude was waxy, it turned solid at room temperature and had to be blended with normal oil in not more than 10 per cent ratio for transportation in non-heated pipelines like Mundra-Panipat. It was planned that 18,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Rajasthan crude could be transported per day through the Mundra-Panipat pipeline. But with the fire destroying the Jaipur pump, the pipeline capacity fell to 6.5 million tonnes, which meant that only 13,000 bpd of Rajasthan crude could be transported. Cairn, however, felt that this quantity was too low for safe operation of its Barmer-Salaya pipeline.
23 Feb 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:TOKYO: Toyota Motor's global sales in January were up 15.3 percent year-on-year, the company said on Tuesday, as the Japanese automaker showed resilience despite being hit by massive recalls that month. Toyota sold 537,454 vehicles in January, excluding subsidiaries Hino and Daihatsu Motors, a spokeswoman said. The world's largest carmaker sold 416,411 Toyota cars, buses and trucks overseas and 121,043 units in Japan, she added. January domestic sales jumped 45.3 percent from the previous year, while overseas sales excluding Japan gained 8.8 percent. Toyota said it does not have global sales figures for Hino and Daihatsu. The new figures underlined robust demand for the iconic Japanese automaker although it faces a deep crisis over its flawed accelerator and brake systems that have forced it to pull 8.7 million vehicles worldwide. The major recalls in the United States, its biggest overseas market, as well as Europe and parts of Asia came toward the end of the month and may have had a stronger impact on consumer sentiment in February. The company also said worldwide production jumped 55.8 percent to 643,925 units in January from the previous year. Including Daihatsu and Hino vehicles, that figure amounted to an increase of 46.5 percent to 716,570. Company president Akio Toyoda is set to face a grilling by US lawmakers Wednesday, after the company revealed Monday that it had been subpoenaed in a US criminal investigation of its handling of the recalls.
