Manufacturers Likely To Hike Prices On Rising Input Costs, Higher Excise Duty

Chanchal Pal Chauhan NEW DELHI

KOLKATA, July 17: Tata Motors is expected to price its Nano at around one lakh despite cost escalation at their Singur plant but the one time tax you would pay during registration of your newly acquired Nano would go up by Rs 2,000 once the state Legislative Assembly gives its approval to the West Bengal Additional Tax and One Time Tax on Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill. The bill would be placed in the House tomorrow.

It was daggers drawn between the steel ministry and private producers today with the country's largest private steel maker Tata Steel slamming the government for its failure to ensure price cuts were passed on to end-users. The ministry, on its part, claimed that had it not intervened at first place, steel prices would have been higher by at least Rs 10,000 a tonne. It also warned distributors that those found profiteering would be strictly dealt with.

Opens electronic components plant and R&D centre in Bangalore BANGALORE: German automotive electronics supplier, Continental AG, with 2007 global sales of euro 26.4 billion, will provide fuel pump sensors for the Tata Nano. Markus Distelhoff, Managing Director of Continental-India, told reporters here on Monday, "The details are being finalised; we believe small cars, affordable and with full functionality, will drive the market in the years ahead'. The company was also involved in the hybrid car from Mercedes, likely to be launched next year, he said.

flood Early monsoon hits India annual monsoon swept through India about two weeks early. But it brought heavy rains causing floods and landslides in eastern India. Unconfi-rmed sources say at least 52 people have been killed and over 3 million affected in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal. As on June 20, Subarnrekha river in Orissa was flowing above the danger

Bad politics could make the world

Pune July 08 Tata Johnson Controls Automotive, Tata Ficaso plan to shift units in time to meet November deadline

The government has lined up a project to end frequent waterlogging in Singur because the area was about to become "a very important location' on the state's industrial map. "Singur is going to become a very important location... Keeping in view the future of the area

Sachin Dave & Sonali Krishna MUMBAI NANO, India's most eagerly-awaited car, might be launched without much fanfare. Blame it on inflation as Tata Motors and other carmakers are slashing or are in the process of reducing spending on publicity and advertising.

With a price tag of about Rs 1 lakh, the Nano will cost about half as much as the cheapest car currently on the market. But, some environmentalists are dreading the prospect of hundreds of thousands of low-cost cars hitting polluted and over-crowded roads around the world in the next few years.