Modi sweep: Muslim majority town elects all BJP candidates

Tuesday, February 12, 2013, Ahmedabad, Feb 12: It was a straight fight and the BJP created history by winning all 27 seats of town municipality in Salaya, a Muslim-majority town in Dwarka district. Salaya is know for its mega power project and now it will be known for giving Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi another triumph in the development agenda. Among BJP's 27 candidates, 24 were Muslims while remaining three were Hindus including one Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidate. The BJP's sweep in a township comprising 90 percent Muslims will take wind of many psedo-secular elements. Of the 27 seats spread over nine wards, BJP candidates won unopposed on four seats in state municipal elections. Voting for remaining 23 seats took place on Sunday (10th February) with Congress in straight fight with BJP. The Congress party candidates even lost deposit on three seats. Salaya has been enjoying fruits of development with Essar Energy's integrated energyc company establishing a power unit to generate 1200 mw. Salaya I is Essar Energy's first coal fired power project and has been built at a total investment cost of US$1.1 billion. Most of the power produced will be sold to the Gujarat state electricity utility, GUVNL, under a long term contract. When all the units are commissioned, the project is expected to generate nearly 2000 mw power. Salaya will also be getting a world-class marine infrastructure project with a state-of-the-art material handling facility. The bulk handling port will be capable of handling 20 MMTPA of cargo. The jetty is located in the Salaya Harbour, which is naturally protected by two islands - Kalubhar Tapu and Dhani Be. Essar has been conducting various projects under its social development initiative in Salaya. To empower the local women, Essar Foundation runs a stitching centre in Salaya. The Foundation is supporting the stitching center by providing skills and creating new business opportunities. This will also provide the associated families with an alternative source of income, by establishing market linkages. The stitching center at Salaya initially started as a small community program by the local Wagher Muslim Community Jamat, with the idea to provide skill development to the women without them having to leave their houses. The center is also imparting the women several life skills such as basic literacy, personality development, accounts and business entrepreneurship. News credits : Oneindia

India Inc calls Narendra Modi leader with vision

Anil Ambani teams up with China’s WandaNarendra Modi making false claims, Congress saysNarendra Modi accused of crony capitalismInflation: Narendra Modi demands Sonia's apologyGadkari’s plight a Narendra Modi plot? GANDHINAGAR: There were no lofty investment promises but captains of the industry and a battery of foreign diplomats queued up to hail Gujarat's economic progress on Friday when the sixth edition of the two-day Vibrant Gujarat business summit started at Mahatma Mandir here on Friday. Apart from tycoons, several foreign dignitaries, including Japanese ambassador to India Takashi Yagi, Canadian high commissioner Stuart Beck and UK high commissioner James Bevan were present. As were heads of US India Business Council, UK India Business Council and Japan External Trade Organisation. While most industry captains praised Modi, the most lavish praise came from ADAG chairman Anil Ambani, who placed Modi on the same pedestal as Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Dhirubhai Ambani, as a visionary. He called Modi "king of kings"; at last year's Vibrant Gujarat, Anil Ambani had controversially said Modi should become a national leader. Ratan Tata, the star attraction of the 2009 Vibrant Gujarat summit for bringing Nano factory to Gujarat from West Bengal, said Gujarat stands out, the credit for which goes to Narendra Modi. He has set "high standards" for investment, said Tata. Adi Godrej, who came as Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) representative, spoke of Modi's "futuristic approach" in making Gujarat "one of the best investment destinations". Shashi Ruia of Essar, whose company was forced to pay thousands of crores as sales tax dues to Gujarat government, also referred to "Modi's vision and unparalleled leadership" — which was in complete contrast to his reference to being treated as "ghar ki murgi" (taken for granted) at a previous summit. Most tycoons confined their focus on what they called "the entrepreneurial spirit of Gujarat". In fact, speaking of the great strides made by Gujarat in the past, General Motors' Lowell C Paddock recalled how Halol, where the GM plant came up decades ago, was connected with a "high-speed highway" with Vadodara. "Earlier, it took four hours to reach Vadodara but after the highway it takes just half-an-hour," he said. Modi, who concluded the inaugural ceremony, said this summit was about "finding solutions" to the impact of global slowdown. "Despite the slowdown, Gujarat did reasonably well," he claimed, adding, "We did well with 10% rate of growth in service, industry and agricultural sectors." Modi further claimed Gujarat accounts for 72% of nation's employment generation, and the growth rate of small and medium industries was 85% in a year. The Times of India News

Chidambaram should be sent to jail on 2G:Yashwant Sinha

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should protect himself rather than shielding Home Minister P. Chidambaram who is involved in the allotment of 2G telecom spectrum scam .

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram came under severe attack from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) leader Yashwant Sinha said on Saturday”There are many evidences that point fingers towards Chidambram’s role in 2G scam while he was holding the finance portfolio. Further adding that he should be in Tihar jail alongwith A Raja.

The BJP-led Opposition is now gunning for Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister when the alleged scam occurred and the prime minister Manmohan singh as both of them was aware of the massive spectrum scam but did nothing to stop it.
The party demanded that the role of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister in the alleged scam should be investigated with senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha saying Chidambaram should be sent to jail.
Documents in public domain shows that prime miniter Manmohan Singh was complicit in telecom activities.
Sinha remarked on the silence maintained by the Prime minister on the entire issue , and said " I admire A Raja. He informed the Prime Minister at every step. He even informed the Prime Minister about advancing date of licences being issued. The Prime Minister kept silent which will be seen as approval not silence. The Prime Minister will defend Chidambaram because if Chidambaram is touched, the Prime Minister will be touched. Like with Raja, when Chidambaram goes to jail, he (Manmohan Singh) will stop defending Chidambaram and will saart defending only himself. The government has been soft on Chidambaram. Chidambaram's place is where A Raja is, the same cell in Tihar Jail."

As per the RTI documents,the reports said that the then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran had written to the Prime Minister, asking him to stay off the spectrum pricing issue.
And Prime Minister himself who had allowed the Telecom Ministry to keep spectrum pricing out of the terms of reference of the Group of Ministers.

After the BJP accused prime minister Manmohan Singh of protecting the “guilty”and wondered why P Chidambaram is not being sacked as PMO fears the "embers of the fire" may reach it.

Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayansamy said it was "inappropriate" on the part of BJP to have commented on PM in connection with the 2G spectrum.

V Narayansamy also reiterated that there was no rift between Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

DMK leader and ex-Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, besides a host of senior Government
officials and corporates executives are behind bars in the 2008 case.
Samay Live

2 G Scam - Great Combination revealed

Auto Expo 2010: Over 2 million visitors, 25 new launches

New Delhi, January 11, 2010 PTI

The seven-day Auto Expo, which drew to a close on Monday, had over 2 million enthusiasts passing through its doors to catch the buzz surrounding some of the most advanced cars showcased by global majors.

The global economic gloom notwithstanding, the show saw more new launches than any other previous edition with international firms taking the lead. A total of 25 new models were unveiled.

The success of the expo is a testimony to India’s emergence as a global manufacturing hub, Union Minister of state for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday at the valedictory function of the 10th Auto Expo.

“The expo has grown from strength to strength since 1986. This year we received over two million footfalls,” Mr. Scindia said.

He said the Indian automobile market is a “relatively virgin” one with only nine cars per thousand persons as against 27 per thousand in China.

”...India is becoming an attractive destination for its low-cost design innovation and design of scale and is becoming a hub for manufacture of small cars... The Indian automobile market is growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 30 per cent and last fiscal exports grew by 52 per cent,” he added.

Speaking at the occasion, Hero Group’s Sunil Kant Munjal said 2,105 exhibitors took part at the biennial auto show.

“In terms of product launches, this expo surpassed all the previous editions with 25 new models revealed. This is the biggest and the best show we have ever had so far. We hope this expo will be the springboard for future development of the automobile and manufacturing sector,” Mr. Munjal said.

Bajaj, Renault bury hatchet; to announce details of ultra low cost car

10 Nov 2009

Bajaj Auto and Nissan-Renault have resolved their differences and are set to announce the details of the proposed joint venture for making the ultra Bajaj small car prototype

low-cost car on Tuesday. Nissan Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn met Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj Monday evening to settle issues relating to branding and the basic concept of the car that were delaying the project.

With Rajiv Bajaj being the only partner Mr Ghosn met in this current visit to India, it seems likely that the $2,500 car will be Nissan-Renault’s flagship project in India. The two partners have decided to go to market together with the ultra low-cost car. Nissan has a joint venture with Ashok Leyland for light trucks and Renault with Mahindra & Mahindra for the Logan sedan. Both these joint ventures are facing problems and Mr Ghosn had last month said it was possible that his group would end up with only one partner in India.

Announced in 2007, the Bajaj-Nissan-Renault partnership has been working on the small car for two years now. The project ran into hiccups over branding, product detail and concept issues. This summer Rajiv Bajaj went on record to say he had asked for all the work done on the project to be scrapped. He wanted major modifications on design, positioning and other details. The new concept that the team came up with has now met with Mr Ghosn’s approval as well.

Mr Ghosn’s India strategy has come under pressure lately because of the poor performance of the Logan sedan which Renault makes and markets in India in partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra.

Relations between Renault and M&M became strained with the Indian partner unhappy over its lack of control on product design. His other JV between Nissan and Ashok Leyland will also see a significant reduction in investment from the earlier announced $500 million.

At the ongoing World Economic Forum summit, Mr Ghosn admitted that there were problems with his partnerships in India but added that he was gung ho about the $2500 car which will compete with the Rs 1 lakh Tata Nano when it rolls out in 2011. He told ET Now on Sunday that Renault, which had earlier frozen overseas investments during the financial crisis, will now resume its investments in India including its share of the $1 billion new factory in Chennai which it will share with Nissan.

"We had suspended the second phase of Chennai investment until we could see where the global car market would end up," Mr Ghosn had said. "Now that the estimate is that the year will end with around 60 million units, up from around 55 million last year, we seem to have hit a plateau. So all plans of expansion can be resumed with a more solid understanding of the future. The Chennai plant will be inaugurated early 2010 and I will be there for it."

With the investment tap turned back on, the ultra low cost car is likely to be the biggest beneficiary. The $2500 car is crucial to Nissan Renault not only because it has been Mr Ghosn's pet dream since 2007 but also because it is at the center of his plan to make India a frugal engineering hub for the group. "I am absolutely convinced about not only the potential of the internal market in India, but also the potential of India as an exporter and also the potential of India as an important participant to the engineering effort and product planning effort of the group," Mr Ghosn had said on Sunday.

Renault had earlier reportedly invited Bajaj to be a part of its 49:51 JV with M&M but Mr Bajaj had turned down the offer. The Logan sedan, Renault's best-selling low cost car worldwide, did not succeed in India. Its product size made it ineligible for the small car excise benefits in India. Cars that are less than 4 metre long or have engines bigger than 1.2 litre for petrol and 1.5 litre for diesel, pay only 8% excise duty while bigger cars pay 20%. Logan sales have declined 69% during the April-September period to 2,901 vehicles.

Economic Times News

Sensex seen at 14k by Budget

18 May 2009 ET Bureau

MUMBAI: The euphoria is palpable. A stunning mandate, absence of any Left interference, and the likely entry of young faces in the new government could not only liven up Dalal Street punters and local institutions, but also trigger buying by India-dedicated foreign funds that stayed away from the recent rally.

But it may not be a one-way street for all. There are disturbing rumours that many traders and some big operators have been caught on the wrong foot following UPA’s convincing win. These are people, who, last week, went short on the market by writing call options, buying puts, and building naked futures positions. While some of these players are staring at massive losses, they are clearly in a minority.

According to the average of an ET snap poll of 15 leading brokers and fund managers, the benchmark Sensex is expected to rise between 700 and 800 points on Monday in early trade.

All the respondents expect the mood to be euphoric, and nine of the respondents were of the view that the Sensex could rise to 14,000 by the time of the Union Budget. Two of the respondents expect the Sensex to trade between 12,000 and 13,000 by Budget, while the remaining three declined to give any estimates.

In terms of best-performing sectors, an overwhelming majority of the respondents have placed their bets on banking and infrastructure stocks, expecting them to gain from government spending. The consensus view is that sectors like FMCG, pharma and IT could underperform in the near term.

“There are still lot of short positions in the market. That, and the renewed wave of buying, could push the market up by 700-800 points at opening itself,” says A Balasubramanian, chief investment officer, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund.

Vikas Khemani, executive vice-president and co-head institutional equities, Edelweiss Capital, expects the Sensex to open with a gap of 8-10% over Friday’s close. This view is also shared by Nirmal Jain, chairman and managing director of India Infoline.

“The market will be in an uptrend for the next one week, with most of the gains coming in the first two days of the week,” says SA Narayan, managing director, Kotak Securities. He declined to comment on any specific projections for the index, other than saying that only the Budget would decide the medium-term trend for the market.

Toyota operating loss may hit $5 bn in 2009/10: Report

12 Apr 2009,

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp's operating loss could balloon to over 500 billion yen ($5 billion) in the year to March 2010, as the global economic crisis hits car sales, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday without citing sources.

Sales of automobiles could tumble to about 6.5 million units during the current year, falling 7 million units for the first time in six years, Nikkei said. A survey of 19 brokerages by has operating loss at the world's biggest automaker expanding to a median 550 billion yen in the current year, from an estimated 450 billion yen in the year ended last month.

Analysts say the outcome will depend on the exchange rate, the global vehicle demand and how much Toyota will be able to reduce its costs.

It would be the second straight operating loss, as the company has already warned that it expects an operating loss of 450 billion yen, its first ever, for the fiscal year to March 31.

Revenue for the current year is expected to fall to around 20 trillion yen, down from an estimated 21 trillion yen for the year before, the Nikkei said.

Toyota group auto sales are now estimated at 6.5 million vehicles for the fiscal year just started -- which, if confirmed, would be the first time they have fallen below seven million units, it said.

That forecast is mainly due to a delay in recovery of the US auto industry, with the Japanese and European auto markets also expected to remain stagnant, and the impact of a strong yen against the dollar and the euro.

A strong yen lowers the competitiveness of Japanese products overseas.

Toyota overtook General Motors last year to become the world's top-selling automaker, but only because the US giant's sales fell faster than its own.

The Japanese company has moved to lower production, cut jobs and appoint a new president from its founding family in response to the crisis, its biggest ever.

Tata voted most powerful CEO

MANY Indian CEOs have been making news in recent months because of their falling wealth.

Amid the financial ruin, one man stood tall. He was busy shaping a revolution on India's roads.

Top 10
1. Ratan Tata
2. Mukesh Ambani
3. Narayana Murthy
4. K.V. Kamath
5. Anil Ambani
6. Vijay Mallya
7. Deepak S. Parekh
8. Nandan Nilekani
9. Azim Premji
10. Sunil Mittal
So it did not come as a surprise that Mr Ratan Tata emerged at the top when the Economic Times asked 500 management professionals to rate India's Most Powerful CEO.

The Western media is singing praises of Mr Tata and his Nano. Many doubted whether he would be able to keep to his promise of producing the budget car within the promised Rs1 lakh price tag, but Mr Tata did not disappoint.

He has in fact surprised his detractors by showing off several models in addition to the basic Nano.

In a recent interview with ZigWheels.com, he even said that his company is looking at the electric car market. An electric version of the Indica will be ready for sale in Europe next year.

'We are also looking at whether it will make sense to get into battery manufacture, say lithium ion batteries. In the course of time we'll take a business decision on that,' he said.

Announcing the results of the survey, the Economic Times said: 'All through 2008-09, the dramatic story of the Nano captured the public imagination and Ratan Tata, the driving force behind the little car, demonstrated tremendous fortitude through all the trials and travails he faced.'

The biggest falls at the top of the rankings this year has been Zee Television's Subhash Chandra, who has dropped 20 places, moving from No. 20 to No. 40.

Now in its fifth year, the India Inc's Most Powerful CEOs survey is conducted by IMRB International for the Economic Times.

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.

Tata Nano test drive

Tana Nano test drive