10 Sept 2011;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:Rupali Mukherjee:MUMBAI: If you want to witness the action at the Indian Grand Prix in October, prepare to shell out more moolah. Air fares to Delhi across all sectors have shot through the roof for travel in the last week of October (October 28-31st), which is still one and half months away. A return trip from Mumbai to Delhi has shown the highest spurt, with fares up by 100-200% to Rs 15000-22,000, from the average Rs 7,000. Notably, these fares are for mostly low cost carriers, and for travel on October 28 morning (in time to reach the F1 venue), and return on October 30 late night, right after the event is over. During the same period, the average hike for other sectors (Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai) to Delhi ranges 20-25%, while flight and hotel packages are up by 50%. Bookings through travel agents and on-line websites have registered an increase of around 30% as of now, with a further spike expected over the next couple of weeks. "The market is still warming up. We have seen a spurt of 15-20% in bookings till now. We expect a further spike over the next week or so", says Manmeet Ahluwalia marketing head, Expedia India, an online travel website. Normally the last week of October would not have witnessed this spurt in fares and bookings, as most of the long weekends and festive season would be over. Industry experts attributed the spike directly to the Formula1 races, which will be held from October 28-30 at Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh). Fares from Mumbai-Delhi show a spurt of 50% right from October 27 at Rs 4,500-plus one-way, from the average fare of Rs 3,000 for a low cost airline. So if you take the October 28thmorning 7.55 Indigo flight to Delhi, and return by the 9.20 pm Spicejet flight in the night, the total fare is nearly Rs 14,000, while if you take the Kingfisher one (9.40 pm), the fare goes up by over 4,000. It crosses Rs 23,000, if the return flight is at 11'o clock in the night by GoAir. Most Delhi-Mumbai flights post 9 pm in the night, are between Rs 15-18,000 (one-way), which is the ideal time to reach the Delhi airport from Greater Noida after a meal on the way. In case of most of sectors, the spurt is pronounced post October 27, and for flights which leave Delhi on October 30 late evening are the most expensive. So a Bangalore- Delhi sector is at Rs 14,000 return, Pune-Delhi Rs 17,000 return, while Hyderabad and Chennai are lower at Rs 11-12000 return, each for the cities (for return to the respective cities on October 28 late evening). The last 'abnormal' spike in fares was witnessed in June when all the carriers had upped fares to take advantage of the Air India strike. It's not airfares alone. Hotel bookings have also shown a spike of 20-30%. Industry sources said that the budget properties (three and four star) are already sold out, while the five start hotels have some room inventory. Says Sabina Chopra, co-founder and EVP operations,Yatra "there has been a tremendous spurt of 30% in hotel and flight bookings, with hotel tariffs going up by four times. We expect a big hike in flight bookings closer to the event". Tariffs of budget properties have gone up to Rs 10-20,000 from the average Rs 2500-7,500 charged earlier. Amongst the premium hotels, Park Hotel is offering a package (air fare and stay) of Rs 40,000 per person, while Taj Palace hotel has a package of Rs 53,000 per person.
RIL, OilMin flouted rules in D6: report silent on govt loss
09 Sept 2011;business-standard.com:New Delhi: The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has attacked the petroleum ministry and the country’s largest company, Reliance Industries Ltd, for violations in the production-sharing contract (PSC) governing Reliance’s crown jewel, the KG-D6 block. In its final report on the functioning of hydrocarbon PSCs tabled in Parliament on Thursday, the government auditor has recommended revisiting the profit-sharing formula. It is, however, silent on the loss that an increased capex in D6 may cause to the government. In its draft report, the auditor had said the increase in estimated capex from $2.4 billion to $8.5 billion between May 2004 and October 2006 was likely to have ‘significant adverse impact on government’s financial take’. Shares of RIL lost 2 per cent during intra-day trades before recovering to close in positive territory on Thursday. The stock of the country’s largest private sector entity has been under heavy selling pressure since June, when details about the draft CAG report came out in the open. In the last three months, it lost 30 per cent but gained 20 per cent in the last 10 days. On Thursday, its share price at the BSE touched a monthly high of Rs 859 and closed at Rs 853.50, up 2.6 per cent, hinting the market had already discounted for the adverse CAG report. In the final report, CAG has accused RIL of hoarding exploration acreage. It said “RIL was allowed (by DGH) to enter the second and third exploration phases without relinquishing 25 per cent each of the total contract area at the end of Phase-I and Phase-II in June 2004 and 2005, respectively, as against Articles 4.1 and 4.2 of PSC by treating the entire contract area as discovery area. Subsequently, in February 2009, the government also conveyed approval to treat the entire contract area of 7,645 sq km as discovery area, thus enabling the operator to completely avoid relinquishment of area”.
09 Sept 2011;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:GANDHINAGAR: Leading Japanese car-maker Suzuki Motors will take another three months to decide whether it will set up a manufacturing plant in Gujarat or not, said 81-year-old chairman of the company Osamu Suzuki after an hour-long meeting with chief minister Narendra Modi at his residence here on Thursday. Maruti Suzuki, the Indian arm of the Japanese car-maker, is looking for a site to build its third plant in the country. The car-maker is also exploring other locations in India, though Gujarat seems to have an edge to become the second state after Haryana to have a Maruti plant. In May, Maruti had announced that it, along with vendors, could invest up to Rs 18,000 crore in Gujarat to produce about 20 lakh units in the long run. "Currently, we are carrying out a study of our future plans. We want to expand in India. Whatever we decide will need approval of the Maruti Suzuki board in India and then the Suzuki Corporation in Japan. Thereafter, a final decision on where to set up the plant will be taken," Suzuki told newspersons after the meeting with Modi. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd chairman RC Bhargava, who accompanied him, said land was an important issue that would first need to be sorted out. "We are looking at different locations in India. However, I do not talk want to about other states in Gujarat." Speaking about Maruti-Suzuki's requirement, he said, "We need 500 acres land for our main manufacturing unit to produce 1 million cars per year, and another 500 acres for vendors." Answering questions, Bhargava did not say which location in Gujarat was preferable, adding, at this stage there is no scope for speculation. The company has liked some sites shown to it in the state, including Santalpur, Mandal and Bahucharaji - all three in north Gujarat.
08 Sept 2011;dailypioneer.com:French car maker Renault on Thursday rolled out its premium SUV ‘Koleos’ in India for `22.99 lakh(ex-showroom Delhi) as part of its aim to sell one lakh vehicles in India by 2013. Renault made its debut in the Indian market with the premium sedan Fluence in May, 2011 and the launch of the Koleos is a step forward in Renault India’s plans to introduce five cars in the Indian market by end -2012. India is the second market after China where the new ‘Koleos’ has been introduced. It will be followed by Europe this month at the Frankfurt Motor Show. “India is a key strategic market. We will launch ‘Koleos’ in 40 countries and India is one of the firsts among these. The first country was China where the SUV was launched on Wednesday and now it is India,” Renault India Vice-President (Marketing, Sales and Network) Len Curran told reporters here. The SUV is the company’s second vehicle in the Indian market after the sedan ‘Fluence’, which was launched in May this year. It has so far sold 700 units of ‘Fluence’. The ‘Koleos’ is powered by a 2.0 litre diesel engine and is available in four wheeled drive option with six speed automatic transmission.
08 Sept 2011;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: Carmakers are opposed to any move by the government to hike tax on diesel cars to offset the subsidy the fuel receives. "A measure like this would effectively kill diesel automobiles. Diesel vehicles are more dearer than petrol due to their expensive technology. This (higher tax) more or less offsets the gain a diesel vehicle owner makes by buying fuel at a lower price," said Pawan Goenka, outgoing president of Siam, on Wednesday. Goenka, who is also the president of Mahindra & Mahindra's automotive division, said decontrolling of diesel price was a better way to make car owners pay more. "We have always supported price parity, though I admit that this is difficult to implement. However, this is a wrong time to take this measure as the industry is in the middle of a slowdown." Earlier in the day, differences within the government over pricing of diesel came to the fore with Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, favouring decontrolling of the fuel, while heavy industries minister Praful Patel advocating subsidies to continue to meet the government's "social obligation". Addressing the annual convention of Siam, Ahluwalia said India needed to adjust its policy to the "energy reality", as the world was entering an era of high energy costs. "The present distortion of diesel and petrol prices should be corrected first. Subsidized fuel is not sustainable in the long-term and we need to have rationalization of energy security." Reacting to Ahluwalia's comment, Patel said: "Diesel and petrol price disparity will stay. It will not go away as we have a social obligation..." The minister also said that policy planners and the government need to review their definition of diesel as a dirty fuel. "There has been a question over the environmental sustainability of diesel technology...But if we look at Europe or other developed world, the technology has developed so much and proved to be even better than the petrol technology," Patel added. Patel also rejected the possibility of diesel being freed from government control in the near-term, saying, "At this moment, there is no move in the government to bring any change in the pricing." While the government had in June last year freed petrol prices, diesel still continues to be sold at a subsidized rate.
Suzuki to meet Modi today to finalise Maruti plant in Gujarat
08 Sept 2011;business-standard.com:New Delhi: Osamu Suzuki, chairman, Suzuki Motor Corporation, is likely to meet Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow to finalise plans to set up a manufacturing plant for Maruti Suzuki India. According to sources, Suzuki will meet Modi in Gandhinagar after attending the company's annual general meeting. He will be accompanied by Chairman R C Bhargava, Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi and Production Head M M Singh. Earlier in May, MSI had said the company and its vendors, could invest up to Rs 18,000 crore in Gujarat as it looks to produce about 200,000 units in the state. Although the company has said Gujarat will be a strong possibility for its next plant, the source said as it is as good as finalised. The company will seek about 1,000 acres from the state government for its next plant, sources said. The company has already invested in developing infrastructure at Mundra port from where it exports A-star to Europe. Maruti Suzuki's move to look for a location in Gujarat comes at a time when it is looking to have a market share of 50 per cent in the Indian passenger vehicle segment, which is expected to be 4.5 million-5 million units per annum by 2015. The company has recently started partial production at its second unit at its Manesar plant while the third unit is being set up. By 2012-13, the company will have a total capacity of 1.75 million units per annum from its Manesar and Gurgoan facilities put together. The company has a medium term investment plan of Rs 6,000 crore in Haryana for adding additional capacity at the Manesar facility, including expansion of engine production and development of a test course in Rohtak.
Petrolstop is a division of Car Fuel Info Solutions, LLC Petrolstop.com is a registered trademark owned by Car Fuel info Solutions, LLC Website Design by Onazari Technical Solutions
