New Delhi, January 9
There were a slew of launches today, a day before the Auto-Expo 2008 officially opens for the public tomorrow.

While the country’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) unveiled its three concept cars, the biggest attraction was from the stable of Skoda India in the form of hatchback Fabia.

Besides showcasing global car ‘A-star’ concept, which will be manufactured only in India, Maruti also showcased two other concept cars, Splash and Kazshi.

"Our new plant in Manesar will play an important role in Suzuki Motor Co's target of selling 3 billion units globally by the financial year 2008-09. Production of A-star will begin here from October," Maruti Suzuki India managing director Shinzo Nakanishi said.

Production of A-star will start from October this year for the Indian market and then subsequently it would be exported overseas, he said.

Nakanishi also said Maruti will launch one new model in India every year to consolidate its market position.

On the other side, General Motors, which has already carved a place for itself in the car segment, launched its all-new sports utility vehicle (SUV) Captiva while Tata Motors launched new variants of multi-utility vehicle (MUV) Sumo and sedan Indigo. The new version of the MUV has been named Sumo Grande.

Volvo Car Corporation showcased its new sedan C70 and is planning to launch it in the Indian market soon.

European car maker Volkswagen, which sells 'Passsat' and 'Touareg' in India and also has Skoda in its stable, said it would introduce two new models this year and expects to sell 110,000 cars after its plant is operational next year.

"We will get our ‘Jetta’ to the Indian market this summer, while luxury sedan ‘Phaeton’ will also be introduced this year," Volkswagen India president Joerg Mueller told reporters.

Fiat India said it would launch four new cars by the end of this year. "The company will bring in ‘Fiat 500’ and ‘Bravo’ as completely-built units (CBU) from Italy and delivery would start three months from now," Fiat India vice-chairman Alfredo Altavilla said.

Besides these two models, the company is also planning to roll out ‘Grande Punto’ and ‘Linea’ from its Ranjangaon facility in the third quarter of 2008-09, he said. Fiat markets its vehicles in India through Tata Motors’ dealer network.

However, there were two main attractions of the day. MSIL’s concept cars and Fabia at a price range of Rs 4.99-7.68 lakh would be something to possess.

The Fabia will be available in eight variants in diesel and petrol engines. It will consist of 1.4 litre PDI (diesel) engines and 1.4 litre MPI (petrol) engine.

Later in the year, the company plans to introduce the car with a 1.2 litre MPI (petrol) engines, which will be available in six colours.

The new C70 is not yet available in India, but it might find its way to the country soon, Volvo Car India managing director Paul de Voijs said.

Asked when the company was planning to launch the new car in the market, Voijs said: “By showing it in the motor show we will see the response and the enthusiasm in the market and take a call accordingly.”

On the other hand, General Motors India said it was mulling to launch alternate fuel-powered variants of its mid-size sedan Aveo, as it finalises plans to set up a power train (engine and transmissions) manufacturing facility in the country.

"We are working on alternate fuel (CNG and LPG) powered Aveo, but have not set a timeframe by when we would launch these cars in the country," GM India president and managing director Karl Slym said.

Meanwhile, according to PTI reports, German car maker BMW India today launched its luxury BMW M series and BMW Individual in the domestic market.

BMW M6 coupe has a price tag of whopping Rs 1.24 crore, while the BMW M5 sedan comes for Rs 1.01 crore. BMW M3 Coupe is priced at Rs 74.9 lakh. BMW X5 4.8i under the Individual series costs Rs 79 lakh. All prices are ex-showroom (Delhi).

Daimler India

Luxury car maker Daimler AG today launched two models Mercedes Benz 'C class' and 'CLK class' priced at Rs 27 lakh and Rs 60 lakh, respectively (ex-showroom Delhi).

The company is targeting to sell 3,000 units in this calendar year up from 2,491 units in last year.

M&M to invest addl 1,500 cr

Automobile maker Mahindra and Mahindra today said it will invest an additional Rs 1,500 crore in its Chakan plant near Pune to ramp up the overall production capacity of the plant to 3.2 lakh units per annum.

The company had initially planned an investment of Rs 2,500 crore in Chakan to have a capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum.

"We are increasing our investment in Chakan to Rs 4,000 crore to have an overall capacity of 3.2 lakh units there. The plant will be operational in the next two years," M&M president automotive Pawan Goenka told reporters.

New Delhi, January 9
In a departure from industry demand of cutting tax rates, the economists at a meeting with the Finance Minister suggested that tax rates should remain the same in the wake of global imbalances.

“Given the circumstances that there a number of fiscal stress points in the offing, like oil bonds, MSS, pay commission, it is not prudent to start thinking of reducing tax rates,” Standard & Poor’s Chief Economist (Asia-Pacific) Subir Gokaran said after the pre-Budget consultations between the FM and economists. The stress of the economists was to spend the buoyant tax collections for infrastructure creation and that the FM should because not roll back taxes because of high collections.

ICRIER Director and Chief Executive Rajiv Kumar said the advice given to the Finance Minister was that both personal income tax and corporate tax rates should not be altered.

“Don’t touch personal income tax, buoyant tax collections do not mean that you cut tax rates, but use the money to either improve infrastructure expenditure,” the FM was told, said Kumar. The economists have also suggested the rationalisation of excise duties whose incidence is very high, particularly in oil sector. “You can also look at the tax composition of oil prices, it is 57 per cent. Why don’t you bring that down? By cutting taxes you can give relief to customers and down stream oil Companies/section/Companies/95/,” Rajiv Kumar said

Economists’ suggestions came just a day after India Inc called for a cut in direct tax rates as well as excise duties.

Two days of consultations with the industry and economists have given the FM a different set of advices in two different ways to handle the economy, which is on a high growth trajectory and still requires funds for more infrastructure creation. It is quite surprising that the economists have not suggested on any job creation move to the FM, said a source from the Finance Ministry. It was just yesterday that the Prime Minister had voiced concern about the job growth and all-inclusive growth of the economy.

New Delhi, January 9
The Anil Ambani-owned Reliance set to bring out the largest IPO in India’s corporate history on January 15 to generate funds for the company’s ambitious plan to set up power projects worth 28,000 mw today got a boost with the Supreme Court staying proceedings against the launch in the Gujarat High Court.

The stay was granted by a Bench, headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishan after Reliance counsel Harish Salve and Mukul Rohtagi said the litigation in the Gujarat High Court was nothing but an “abuse” of the process of law by his rivals to scuttle the IPO move.

Anil Ambani’s group companies - Reliance Power and Reliance Energy - filed a petition in the apex court for transfer of the case from the Gujarat High Court to Bombay High Court on the ground that only the latter has the jurisdiction to hear any related matter for reasons that the headquarters of the companies is based in Mumbai.

“The IPO will be country’s largest by the company engaged in setting up projects of national priority to generate 28,000 mw of power and the petitions against it are motivated to cause undue harassment to it,” Reliance counsel said.

Taking cognizance of Reliance’s plea, the court issued notices to two petitioners in the High Court, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Securities Appellate Tribunal.

The petition in the Gujarat High Court against the IPO move was filed by Jagrut Grahak Sauraksha Mahila Mandal and Vatsal Jivrajbhai Patal but it has yet to be taken up for hearing.

Reliance said the SEBI had cleared the IPO after three months “intense scrutiny” and the Bomaby High Court had rejected the petition by the same petitioners earlier.

New Delhi, January 9
Union commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath today disclosed that India is in talks with the United States and Canada for a market-opening bilateral agreement, on the lines of trade pacts being negotiated with the European Union and the Asean.

"The bilateral trade agreements are currently in the pipeline with at least 10 potential partners ranging from Asean, the EU, the US and Canada," commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here.

The minister also pointed out that as a trading nation, India is now firmly established at the top of the table of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), irrespective of the outcome of the Doha Development Round.

"Currently, our global economic engagement is $450 billion and we have a target to take it to $550 billion," he told non-resident Indians gathered here at Vigyan Bhawan from all over the globe.

Nath invited the overseas Indians to reach out to global SMEs (small and medium enterprises) for catalysing their economic engagement with India, while speaking at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Plenary Session on “Trade and business opportunities”.

“I invite you to form meaningful partnerships with Indian firms looking to set up beach heads overseas by providing technology, logistical marketing and financial support. I also invite you to invest in Indian markets as financial investors,” he said.

“Overseas Indian investors would also find it lucrative to invest in India’s skill-based industries. The achievements of the IT and automobile industries have been well showcased,” he said.

“I invite you to put your money into the other emerging centres of excellence,” he said in the presence of minister for overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi, T K A Nair, principal secretary to Prime Minister and CMD of Bharti Group Sunil Bharti Mittal.

Nath pointed out that to secure the growth story, there are four levels of collaboration currently taking place viz., private-public partnerships for infrastructure projects; private companies partnering with universities to work around the skilled labour constraint; private companies partnering with each other to build efficient supply chains; and, private companies partnering with foreign investors.

As regards healthcare industry, the minister said India has the capabilities to develop world-class healthcare innovations for global use, from product development such as drug discovery, clinical trials and manufacturing, to services like diagnostics and drug delivery.

He further emphasised that India has huge investment potential in the sectors like entertainment industry, tourism, chemicals industry and education.

New Delhi, January 9
Looking to unlock shareholder value across the group, ICICI Bank will list at least four of its subsidiaries and the process could commence within six months, starting with its brokerage arm ICICI Securities, the bank’s Managing Director and CEO K V Kamath said today.

Asked whether the first of the subsidiaries would hit the market in next 3-6 months, Kamath said: “I would think that six-month period is a fair expectation... we have not yet taken board approval.”

Noting that ICICI Securities could be the first of the lot to hit the capital market, he said it could be soon followed by two insurance arms-life insurance unit ICICI Prudential and general insurance arm ICICI Lombard, and the bank’s housing finance arm. He said listing of insurance and mutual fund subsidiaries would be subject to the previously proposed holding company for these businesses not coming through. The proposal for this is awaiting RBI nod. — PTI

New Delhi, January 9
Concerned with the spurt in cement prices, the government today said it would not tolerate profiteering though it understood the need of businesses to earn profits. “We are reviewing cement prices from time to time. While cement companies can make profits, profiteering cannot be allowed,” commerce minister Kamal Nath told newspersons here. The minister’s warning to cement makers comes a few days after the Tamil Nadu government threatened to nationalise cement companies if private cement manufacturers failed to check the prices of the construction material.

The commerce minister, however, admitted that there was demand-supply gap, which is also one of the reasons for spurt in prices. “To plug the gap, the government has made import (of cement) liberal… However, the long-term solution would lie in capacity addition,” Nath said. There is a huge increase in construction and this had led to the demand-supply gap. So, the new capacities coming in coupled with greater imports is expected to soften the prices, Nath added.

Pvt Cos to supply at subsidised rate in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: In the wake of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi issuing a directive to reduce cement prices, private manufacturers will offer 20 lakh bags of blended cement every month to economically weaker sections in the state at a subsidised rate of Rs 200 per bag.

In a letter to the CM, representatives of the cement industry said each company in the state would adopt certain districts and provide subsidised cement to economically backward sections. — PTI

New Delhi, January 9
The government today said enough spectrum would be available for existing as well as new players after allotting the radio frequency to Reliance Communications (RCom) for its GSM operations. Appearing before telecom tribunal TDSAT on behalf of the government, solicitor general G E Vahanvati rubbished GSM operators' claims that no spectrum would be left if alloted to Anil Ambani group's RCom.

"It's absolutely nonsense that after giving spectrum to RCom no spectrum would be left. We will show this to you during the next hearing on January 24," solicitor general said. He assured that the government would utilise the available spectrum in an efficient manner.

The government reply came when TDSAT chairman Arun Kumar asked about a report on spectrum by Telecom Engineering Centre and the expert committee set up by it.

Meanwhile, Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) adjourned the hearing on GSM operators' petition on spectrum allocation and crossover technology amid confusion over a High Court order on the issue.

TDSAT notice to govt

Meanwhile, telecom tribunal TDSAT today issued notice to the government on a petition filed by Reliance Communications, seeking withdrawal of additional spectrum held by rival GSM operators. It also allowed the request of RCom and directed to implead eight GSM operators, including the trio Bharti Airtel, Idea, Vodafone Essar, as a party.— PTI

New Delhi, January 9
Minister of State for Industry and Commerce Ashwani Kumar today said that there is a strong case for the Indian Diaspora to step up their level of engagement with India. The global experience that the effects of overseas networks as sources and facilitators of trade and investment, purveyors of remittances and as ‘brain banks’ can be substantial, he added.

Kumar was addressing a session on “America’s” during Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2008, here.

The minister further stated that education and skills are among India’s most important challenges and Indian corporates are waiting to participate in primary and higher education and skill development in India. This remains the best possible area of partnership for overseas Indians, he added.

“An institutional framework for private sector initiatives is needed on the lines of the Indian American Council. The need for work is in the districts, and not just in cities. I would like to use this forum to call upon Diaspora members to go back to their villages and small towns, and contribute in local development in any area they can,” the minister added.

Kumar further stated that the second generation Indian-origin kids are sure to have ingrained Indian values but perhaps have a world-view completely at odds with their parents and we need to find mechanisms to attract them to come and spend some time in India.

He acknowledged the deep-rooted and non-negotiable tradition, value and cultural bonding between the Indians within the country and with the countries in the US region and the significant role of Diaspora to carry forward this bonding. He said, ‘India is known not only for living standards but also for standards of life ... which India has given to the rest of the world’.

He sought more investment from the Indian Diaspora in the philanthropy, business, social development like education and health.