Auto industry records highest ever sales this financial year
27 March 2010;business-standard.com:Yogima Seth Sharma:New Delhi: The domestic auto industry is set to hit an all-time high sales figure of 12.2 million units in 2009-10, surpassing the previous sales record of 10.1 million units in 2006-07. The strong growth is in terms of passenger car volumes, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles. This also represents a growth of 25.48 per cent over 2008-09 (9.7 million units). The phenomenal growth rides on the back of a low base, new launches — primarily in the compact car category — lower interest rates and the 4 per cent reduction in excise duty as part of the fiscal stimulus. Rajiv Dube, president, Tata Motors, said: “The 25 per cent growth in 2009-10 is a two-year growth happening in just one year as the last financial year was nearly flat. If financing continues, as over 60 per cent of the vehicles are purchased on finance, it is expected that the demand would be sustainable in the medium to long term though it may not be as high as this.” The growth for 2009-10 would also be more than double of what the industry had predicted earlier. At the beginning of the financial year, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) had predicted low single-digit growth for the sector. Later, the figure was revised to low double-digit growth following a spurt in sales during the festive months. “The Indian automobile industry has recovered faster than any other market, post the global meltdown and we expect sales to cross the 12 million unit mark in 2009-10. Out of these passenger vehicles will be approximately 2 million units this time,” Dilip Chenoy, director general, Siam, said. As per Siam, passenger vehicle sales in the country have gone up by 26.1 per cent between April and February at 1,750,139 units, as compared to 1,387,545 units in the corresponding period of the last fiscal. “March has always been a high growth year for the industry and this time also we expect the overall industry to grow by over 30 per cent by this month end compared to the same period last year. This, despite the two consecutive hike in car prices and a marginal increase in interest rates,” Ankush Arora, vice president (sales and marketing), General Motors India, said. However, according to Rakesh Batra, national leader (automotive sector), Ernst &Young, the higher base of the ongoing financial year will have a slowdown effect in the coming months. “The overall industry is expected to grow by around 15 per cent in 2010-11 and then it would slow down to anywhere between 10 and 15 per cent growth on a sustainable basis for the next three to four years.” “The sector got a major boost from the government stimulus last year and this could have a lowering effect on sales in the coming financial year as the base is exceptionally high. Moreover, if new emission norms come into force, there could be another 3-4 per cent hike in car prices that would impact sales in the long run,” Abdul Majeed, analyst and partner, Price Waterhouse explained.
26 March 2010;deccanherald.com:Mumbai: When the software company employee took delivery of Tata's dream car Nano last Sunday from its showroom at Prabhadevi near Mumbai's landmark Siddhi Vinayak temple, he had no inkling of how nightmarish the drive back home to Mulund would be. "I was at the steering with a driver from the showroom sitting next to me, while my wife Nutan and son Vedant were on the rear seat when the AC suddenly stopped working. Though it restarted on its own soon after, my wife felt the stench of something burning when we reached Mulund-Airoli bridge," Sawant told reporters. Soon they saw smoke coming out from the rear of the car where its engine is located and immediately stopped it on the eastern expressway, hardly five minutes drive from his Mulund home. "Alarmed, all of us got out of the car and I had barely managed to pull out the documents from the glove box when the vehicle was up in flames. Thankfully, none of us was brought to any harm," said Sawant, who turned 37 two days later. Now a livid Sawant wants a detailed analysis of what went wrong and criminal action against those responsible for what could have led to a tragedy for him and his family. Sawant, however, is undecided about taking the Tatas or the dealer to court. "I am in touch with Kirit Somaiya (former MP and BJP national secretary) on the issue, but we have not yet decided what to do. But certainly we want criminal action against whoever is responsible, the company or the dealer," he said. He is also angry over the Tatas "thinking their responsibility is over" after sending a two-line letter regretting the inconvenience caused and offering to compensate him by either giving a new car or refunding the entire 2.9 lakh Sawant shelled out for it. "They are treating it like a small incident. It was the first car in my family and I felt so happy driving it home. It was all so psychologically disturbing and traumatic. Who will compensate us for that?" he said. Meanwhile, Tata Motors has described it as a "one-off incident" and clarified that there was no manufacturing or design lacunae in the Nano. "We are trying to ascertain what happened--it is just a stray, one-off incident. The proof of this is that there are close to 30,000 Nanos on Indian roads presently," a Tata Motors spokesman told reporters.Sunday's incident follows a few others of smoke emanating from Nano cars last year in New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, a few months after its launch early last year.The Tata Motors spokesperson attributed it to a faulty switch which was rectified. "We have attended to that problem. We proactively checked all cars out at that point of time," he said, denying any connection between those incidents and the Sunday's one in Mumbai. He said despite the company's offer to return Sawant his money or give him another car, "he has not yet got back to us".
India's Feb crude imports up 13% at 10.7 mn tonnes
26 March 2010;business-standard.com:New Delhi: India's crude oil imports jumped up 13.2 per cent in February even though domestic fuel demand dropped marginally, according to data released by the Oil Ministry. Domestic fuel sales at 11.39 million tonnes in February were 0.2 per cent lower than 11.41 million tonnes of petroleum products consumption in the same month a year ago. Auto fuel consumption rose as carmakers sold a record number of vehicles in February. Diesel demand soared 8.7 per cent to 4.67 million tonnes, while petrol sales rose 12.6 per cent at 1.06 million tonnes. Jet fuel or ATF consumption was up 9.3 per cent at 379,700 tons reflecting a revival in the aviation business. However, naphtha sales fell a massive 42 per cent to 754,500 tonnes as natural gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 field replaced the liquid fuel in power and fertilizer plants. Demand for fuel oil, another feedstock used in factories, was also down 14.7 per cent to 849,300 tonnes for the same reason. India imported 10.67 million tonnes of crude oil in February, up 13.2 per cent from 9.42 million tonnes a year ago. Petroleum product imports were almost flat at 1.2 million tons but exports fell 5.3 per cent to 2.07 million tons. Diesel shipments were down 76.8 per cent at 232,100 tons. During April-February, fuel consumption was up 3.8 per cent to 125.81 million tonnes with diesel sales rising 9.1 per cent to 51.15 million tonnes. Petrol demand was up 14.3 per cent to 11.66 million tonnes. Naphtha sales dropped 25.3 per cent to 9.51 million tonnes. Crude oil imports were up 20.5 per cent at 140.39 million tonnes as fuel exports soared almost 24 per cent to 41.23 million tonnes.
25 March 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: Oil and Natural Gas (ONGC) has lost out on acquisition of Uganda oil fields to China’s CNOOC, the latest instance of Chinese firms outbidding the state-owned explorer in race for scarce oil properties. ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of the state-owned firm, was originally interested in acquiring Heritage Oil’s 50% share in Block 1 and 3A in the Lake Albert Rift Basin of Uganda, sources in know of the transaction said. Heritage, however, decided to sell its stake to Eni, Italy’s biggest energy producer, for about $1.5 billion. But the deal couldn’t go through as UK’s Tullow, which held the remaining stake in the Uganda blocks, exercised its right of pre-emption to block Eni. It matched Eni’s $1.5-billion bid and later sought investors to sell the stake. Sources said Cairn India was interested in the property, as the blocks held similar kind of crude oil as the one it had discovered in Rajasthan. OVL and Cairn teamed up to make an offer to Tullow, but Cairn backed out once it saw the Chinese entering the scene. Cairn was replaced by OIL and IOC and the offered about $2.1 billion. But they were outbid by China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), China’s biggest offshore oil producer, which offered as much as $2.5 billion for the 50% stake. Along with CNOOC, French explorer Total SA was the other top bidder and Tullow has now stated that it will sell each one-third stakes in the two blocks and another oil field in Block 2 (where it has a 100% stake), to help fund its $5 billion cost of developing the Ugandan fields. Tullow, which operates in 15 African countries, plans to produce at least 5,000 barrels a day in Uganda in 2012, with output rising to 150,000 barrels a day within five years. Competition for new resources in Africa is heating up as traditional fields go into decline and nations from Venezuela to Russia curb access to resources. Over the last six years, Tullow and Heritage have invested over $700 million in the Lake Albert Rift basin. They drilled 27 wells to discover over 700 million barrels of oil reserves and identify over 1.5 billion barrels of potential yet to be explored. Sources said Tullow was currently awaiting the Ugandian government approval for its proposed purchase of Heritage Oil’s 50% stake in their jointly owned exploration areas 1 and 3A. It already wholly owns exploration field 2.
25 March 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:Dipak Kumar Dash:NEW DELHI: Though the traffic mess at the 32-lane Delhi-Gurgaon expressway toll plaza shows no signs of easing up, car users taking the stretch may have to pay Rs 2 more as toll from April 1. Sources in the National Highways Authority of India said the revised rate, to be notified by month-end, will be Rs 20 for cars against Rs 18 now. Last year, toll was increased by Re 1 while a similar hike took place in 2007. NHAI officials said toll rates are revised on the basis of the wholesale price index which has surged in the past year. But many commuters said the move was unjustified as services have not improved.
Auto exports up 16% in Apr-Feb FY10; value at Rs 1.62 trillion
25 March 2010;dailypioneer.com:New Delhi:Led by Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Ford and Ashok Leyland, India’s automobile exports during April-February of this financial year grew by 16 per cent generating a revenue of Rs 1.62 lakh crore. As per the Government data, auto exports during the 11- month period in 2009-10 stood at 16.45 lakh units against 14.16 lakh units in the year-ago period. “Auto exports from India have not reached the full potential as yet...Joint industry and government action could enhance the rate of growth,” Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Director General Dilip Chenoy said. Among the different segments, goods carriers registered maximum growth (47 per cent) in exports for the period under review, followed by multi-purpose vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers. In the passenger car export segment, Maruti Suzuki India clocked a growth rate of 128.7 per cent to 1,30,713 units, Hyundai Motor India clocked 262,124 units, up 13.01 per cent.
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