BackNissan to outsource sales network in India
Nissan to outsource sales network in India
Premium
Tokyo: Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. said on Friday it had appointed Hover Automotive India Pvt. Ltd to develop its sales network in India, with the aim of establishing 55 dealers by 2012 to sell more than 100,000 vehicles that year.
Japan’s third biggest auto maker, held 44% by Renault SA, currently has just five sales outlets in India, where it sells X-Trail sport utility vehicles and Teana sedans imported from Japan. It sold a total 533 vehicles in India last year.
Nissan has said it would launch eight additional models by 2012, including the Murano crossover vehicle. Four of the new models will be locally produced.
Earlier this year, Nissan and Renault announced a $1 billion (Rs4,140 crore) car plant in southern India to start production in early 2010.
Nissan also has an agreement to procure vehicles from Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, and is studying a possible venture to develop and build $3,000 cars.
REUTERS
Congress party snubs Arjun Singh again
New Delhi: In yet another snub to senior leader Arjun Singh, the Congress party outright rejected his contention that the decision-making in the party has “fallen into a bit of disarray".
“We do not agree with it. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has always been fair and transparent in holding consultations," party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said on Friday.
Singh had in an interview to journalist Kanhaiyalal Nandan in a book edited by him titled ‘Mohin Kahan Vishram’ said:
“Earlier there were many opportunities to contribute to the decision and even major decisions of the Congress were taken after going through the process of consultations and people used to accept it.
“But now this process has fallen into a bit of disarray and when people do not have feeling that they have contributed to the decision making process, then they have no hassles in defying it," Singh was quoted as saying.
PTI
Essar Power gets nod for Rs8,000 cr FDI
New Delhi: The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) on Friday approved a proposal by Essar Power Ltd to put in up to Rs8,000 crore as foreign equity in the company. The foreign direct investment, or FDI, in the company will thus rise to 100% with equity from Essar Power Holdings Ltd, a foreign entity that is part of the Essar Group.
Finance minister P. Chidambaram said permission has also been given to Rakindo Developers Pvt. Ltd for setting up a wholly-owned holding company with a foreign equity of up to 100% amounting to $250 million (Rs1,035 crore).
STAFF WRITER
Refiners’ losses may double as crude rises
Mumbai: The nation’s biggest refiner, Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), and its state-run counterparts may double their losses this year as crude oil prices extend gains and a weaker rupee make imports costlier. State-run refiners’ losses from selling fuels below cost may widen to Rs1.8 trillion in the year to 31 March, Serangulam V. Narasimhan, IOC’s finance director, said on Friday.
The companies lost Rs77,000 crore in the previous year.
BLOOMBERG
No takers to build new Afghan parliament
New Delhi: Security fears have stopped even a single company from bidding to build a new parliament for Afghanistan after the Indian government floated tenders, an official said on Friday.
“The agencies (companies) have not responded so far. But the tender process is still on and we have extended the deadline till June," an official involved in the project said on condition of anonymity.
AFP
Forex reserves decline $371million: RBI
Mumbai: India’s foreign exchange reserves declined $371 million (Rs1,536 crore) to $312.5 billion in the week ended 2 May, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. Foreign currency assets rose $248 million to $302.6 billion, RBI said in an emailed statement.
Gold reserves fell by $612 million to $9.4 billion.
BLOOMBERG
India may ease rice export ban
Kochi: India, the world’s second biggest rice producer after China, may partly ease its ban on rice exports as the country is set to harvest a bumper crop.
“We have some rice surplus this year and I’m not ruling out limited exports," commerce secretary G.K. Pillai said on Friday.
Rice production in the year ending June may reach a record 95.68 million tonnes (mt), the agriculture ministry had said on 22 April. That compares with 93.35mt produced a year earlier.
The government had last month banned exports to safeguard supplies and cool food prices before the general elections scheduled to be held by May 2009. Rice had climbed to a record this year as the biggest producers curbed overseas sales, straining global supplies.
BLOOMBERG
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
