Nano bookings begin

Different options at 30,000 counters across India till April 25

NEW DELHI: With the hope of owning the world’s cheapest car by July, people in large numbers thronged Tata Group stores and State Bank of India branches on Thursday to get forms to book the Rs.1-lakh Nano, launched last month. Tata Motors is making the forms available at around 30,000 centres across India. The booking closes on April 25. There was no immediate picture available on the number of bookings done on the opening day.

Besides Tata Motors showrooms, the forms, which cost Rs.300 each, are available at Tata Group ventures including Titan showrooms, Tata Indicom centres, Westside and Croma stores. These stores are also offering discounts to customers on purchase of the forms. One person can submit only one form.

Tata Motors has State Bank of India as its main partner to sell and receive the forms, while other banks are also offering loans to book the car. Customers can either pay the entire booking amount or seek finance from 15 other banks. Booking can be done online.

The three variants of the Nano are priced between Rs.1.23 lakh and Rs.1.72 lakh in Delhi. The booking amount is between Rs.95,000 and Rs.1.4 lakh.

Tata Motors Finance will provide a 100 per cent loan for the booking at an interest rate of 12 per cent to 13 per cent with a three-year tenure.

There is no cap on the number of forms to be sold during the 17-day period, but the launch price will be applicable only to one lakh customers who will be chosen through a computerised draw within 60 days of the close of bookings. Applicants will have the option to retain their booking even if they do not get an allotment in the first phase at the initial price.

Tata Group has started producing the Nano at its plant in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, only last month — around 4,000 units a month. The carmaker hopes to produce just about 50,000 of them this year. The new dedicated plant at Sanand in Gujarat will be ready by early-2010. It will have an initial annual capacity of 2.50 lakh units. This will be scalable to five lakh units.

Response in Kolkata

Typifying the mood elsewhere, Nano fever gripped Kolkata on Thursday. Scores of buyers as well as curious onlookers crowded Tata Motors showrooms.

While some were busy assuring themselves about the robustness of the displayed model by tapping its body or viewing the engine, others were involved in conversations with showroom employees on the formalities of the booking process. There were others standing at a distance admiring the car.

Mainak Majumdar, an information technology professional posted in the U.S., had come to one of the showrooms to book a car for his wife.

Asked why he chose Nano, he replied: “It is built with indigenous technology but the features are almost similar to the car that I own in the U.S. Also, since there is so much of hype around this car, I want to try it out.”

Some people, however, seemed chagrined that the car was being manufactured in a plant in Gujarat instead of at Singur in West Bengal.

Shyamal Chakroborty is one of them. “The people of the State do not know what they have lost. Had this car been launched from here, it could have changed the industrial landscape of the entire State,” he said.

Many visitors

“We are getting a very encouraging response. Many people are visiting our showroom to enquire about the car. Some of them are also booking it on the spot,” said Binod Agarwal, director of one of the largest Tata Motors showrooms here.