Nano booking to start in April

Mumbai: The maker of Jaguar and Land Rover luxury vehicles, Tata Motors Ltd, will start accepting bookings for the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, in the second week of April.

Limited stocks: Tata Motors unveiled the Nano last year aiming to sell it at Rs1 lakh, almost half the price of the country’s next cheapest model. Ramesh Pathania / Mint

The auto maker will display the Nano at dealerships from the first week of April, Tata Motors said in a statement on Thursday. The Mumbai-based company will elaborate on thebooking process on 23 March.

Tata Motors unveiled the Nano last year aiming to sell the car at Rs100,000, almost half the price of the next-cheapest model in the country.

Chairman Ratan Tata’s plan to begin sales of Nano from the last quarter of 2008 got delayed as the company had to relocate its factory because of protests by farmers about acquisition of agricultural land.

“We expect only limited quantities to be produced now—maybe about 3,000 a month—so the waiting period could be long,” said Surjit Arora, autos analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd.

Tata Motors’ new Nano plant in Gujarat is not expected to be ready until the year-end. The company has said it would make the first Nanos at one of its two existing plants in Pune, about 170km north of Mumbai, and at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

The company, also India’s largest maker of trucks and buses, will sell the Nano in Europe for €5,000 (Rs3,20,000), Bild said, citing an interview with Tata. The car maker will present the European version of the Nano next month at the Geneva car show, the newspaper said.

Tata Motors gained 7.26% to close at Rs150 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The shares have declined 10% this year, extending last year’s 78% slump.

Inflation at 14-month low, price rise slows to 3.36%

New Delhi: India’s inflation fell to a 14-month low in mid-February as cheaper fuels fed into a slowing economy. The Wholesale Price Index, the most widely watched inflation measure, rose 3.36 % in the 12 months to 14 February, lower than the previous week’s 3.92% but slightly above a forecast of 3.31% in a ‘Reuters’ poll.

It was the lowest reading since 24 November 2007 when inflation stood at 3.11%. It was 5.66% a year ago. “Fiscal year 2008-09 is likely to end with inflation at 1% or below,” said Sujan Hajra, chief economist at Anand Rathi Securities in Mumbai. “I see very aggressive monetary action by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India), with the major part of the cuts coming in the next four months,” Hajra said.

GDP growth dips to 5.3% in third quarter

The economy grew 5.3% in the December quarter from a year earlier, below forecasts of 6.2% and the previous quarter’s 7.6% as the global economic crisis cut demand and exports

New Delhi: India’s economy grew at its slowest annual pace in almost six years in the December quarter, throwing into doubt growth estimates for the full fiscal year and raising expectations the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would soon cut rates.

The slower-than-expected growth in Asia’s third-largest economy saw a weak sharemarket extend losses to more than 2%, and analysts said the RBI could cut rates as early as Saturday.

The economy grew 5.3% in the December quarter from a year earlier, below forecasts of 6.2% and the previous quarter’s 7.6% as the global economic crisis cut demand and exports.

It was the slowest growth since the March quarter of 2003.

“We have been calling for significant rate cuts for a long time. We are looking for a 100 basis points cut as soon as probably tomorrow in the repo rate and reverse repo rate,” said Sailesh Jha, senior regional economist at Barclays Capital.

“After seeing this number, I think the market is now pricing in a 100 basis points cut.”

The central bank cut its main lending rate, the repo rate, by 350 basis points to 5.5% in four moves between 20 October and 2 January, but held rates steady at a review in late January, saying banks were yet to pass on its rate cuts.

The rupee, which hit a record low of 50.78 in morning trade, was supported by buying from state-run banks, which traders said was likely to have been on behalf of the central bank.

LOSING ALTITUDE

India’s economy has lost altitude from growth rates of 9% or higher in the past three fiscal years, and economists said the government’s forecast of 7.1% growth in the 2008-09 fiscal year ending 31 March was now too optimistic.

The manufacturing sector fell 0.2% in the October-December quarter from a year earlier, while the farm sector contracted an annual 2.2%.

Analysts were surprised by the contraction in farm sector growth, with some expecting the numbers would eventually be revised up, but said the overall picture remained grim.

“Whatever the government is doing is not going to be very effective as large-scale demand stimulus world over has not proved to be effective in restoring business confidence,” said Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief economist at Bank of Baroda in Mumbai.

“Eventually interest rates are going to come down but the Q1 and Q2 of fiscal year 2009-10 are going to be very challenging for India.”

Now STD at 50 paise for calling anywhere in India

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, BSNL will launch the ‘India Golden 50’ scheme to take Indian mobile telephony into the sub-one rupee tariff structure. The scheme, for mobile phone users, would see STD or long distance call rates drop to 50 paise a minute.

Launching BSNL’s 3G services through video-conferencing from his hospital bed, Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi also rolled out the ‘India Golden 50’ scheme. The scheme will be launched for pre-paid mobile services on March 1.

Charges for ‘India Golden 50’ will be Rs 375 plus applicable taxes with free talk value of Rs 50. In addition, customers can make local and STD calls to selected BSNL numbers at the rate of 20 paise and 30 paise per minute respectively. Each SMS will be charged at 50 paise.

BSNL has also tweaked its landline plans. The hitherto 60-second pulse for a call has been doubled to 120 seconds. This effectively allows the caller to speak twice the time at the same tariff.

RCom introduces long-validity STD pack for Reliance CDMA users

Reliance Communications on Thursday introduced a all-India long-validity pack for users of Reliance CDMA, which will bring down STD calling tariff by up to 30 paise per minute or even low. Reliance has always kept the interest of those CDMA subscribers, who need regular calling to other Reliance CDMA subscribers," Reliance Comm Regional Head (Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand) Saleem Haq said while introducing the offer.

On Rs 2,222 recharge, 500 minutes of free STD/local talktime per month for 12 month would be offered, while Rs 4,444 recharge pack gives 500 minutes of free STD/local talktime per month for lifetime.

The long-validity all-India Reliance CDMA to Reliance CDMA calling packs are encouraged to increase STD usage from this segment -- which brings down Reliance to Reliance effective calling tariff to 30 paise per minute or even lower, Haq said.

"This is in addition to already introduced STD calling products STVs for the benefit of those who repeatedly recharge with STD STVs every month," Haq said, adding these packs are available till March 31, 2009.