Japanese car-maker Honda will set up its second car manufacturing plant in India at an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore.
The new plant at Alwar in Rajasthan is scheduled to be commissioned during October-December 2009 and would have an initial capacity of 60,000 units per annum.
"We plan to manufacture two models from the plant... one model will be a new small car and the second will be from our existing line-up," said Masahiro Takadegawa, President and CEO of Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI).
He, however, did not disclose the small car model the company plans to roll out from the plant.
HSCI, a joint venture between Honda Motor of Japan and Siddharth Shriram Group firm Siel Ltd, on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Rajasthan state government to set up its second car plant in India. The company has its existing car plant in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The company would invest an additional Rs 1,000 crore for ramping up the capacity to over two lakh units per annum after 2009.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
'India's middle class to reach 583 mn by 2025'
May 4, 2007, 8:24 am
India's middle class will reach 583 million from the current 50 million by 2025 if high economic growth holds and the government undertakes reforms, a report by management consultancy firm McKinsey said on Thursday.
It also said if India's high economic growth were sustained, incomes would triple over the next two decades and India would become the fifth-largest consumer market by 2025, from 12th place now, surpassing Germany.
"The emergence of a huge middle class is not a question of if but when for India," Adil Zainulbhai, country managing director of McKinsey and Company, was quoted as saying in a statement.
"Indian incomes will almost triple if the government forges ahead on a systematic reform programme, promotes competition, contains the fiscal deficit and inflation and invests in infrastructure, healthcare and education.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
It also said if India's high economic growth were sustained, incomes would triple over the next two decades and India would become the fifth-largest consumer market by 2025, from 12th place now, surpassing Germany.
"The emergence of a huge middle class is not a question of if but when for India," Adil Zainulbhai, country managing director of McKinsey and Company, was quoted as saying in a statement.
"Indian incomes will almost triple if the government forges ahead on a systematic reform programme, promotes competition, contains the fiscal deficit and inflation and invests in infrastructure, healthcare and education.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
AOL launches India portal, refreshes US site
May 4, 2007, 8:21 am
Time Warner Inc's AOL Internet unit will launch a version of its portal in India on Thursday, including sections devoted to Bollywood, cricket and international music.
As part of AOL's global expansion plans, the new site, AOL.in, will have tailored entertainment and news and feature much of the same features from its US site AOL.com, such as free access to E-mail, instant-messaging and mobile services.
"India is one of the world's fastest-growing online markets and our India portal will help us compete for users and advertisers in this important region," Ron Grant, President and Chief Operating Officer of AOL, said in a statement ahead of the official launch in Bangalore.
The launch comes after an overhaul of AOL's business model last summer, when it decided to give away most of its services for free to boost online advertising sales, which it expects to grow on par with the overall market this year.
Underscoring the importance of India to its global expansion, AOL named Maneesh Dhir in January to oversee its international operations.
Citing a report from Kaufman Brothers, AOL said the India market had about 45 million Internet users in a population of 1.1 billion at the end of 2006.
The report projected the region's Internet usage could double to 94 million by 2008 and triple to 147 million by 2010.
AOL also said it plans to test a new version of AOL.com with 5 per cent of users that will let them customize pages.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
As part of AOL's global expansion plans, the new site, AOL.in, will have tailored entertainment and news and feature much of the same features from its US site AOL.com, such as free access to E-mail, instant-messaging and mobile services.
"India is one of the world's fastest-growing online markets and our India portal will help us compete for users and advertisers in this important region," Ron Grant, President and Chief Operating Officer of AOL, said in a statement ahead of the official launch in Bangalore.
The launch comes after an overhaul of AOL's business model last summer, when it decided to give away most of its services for free to boost online advertising sales, which it expects to grow on par with the overall market this year.
Underscoring the importance of India to its global expansion, AOL named Maneesh Dhir in January to oversee its international operations.
Citing a report from Kaufman Brothers, AOL said the India market had about 45 million Internet users in a population of 1.1 billion at the end of 2006.
The report projected the region's Internet usage could double to 94 million by 2008 and triple to 147 million by 2010.
AOL also said it plans to test a new version of AOL.com with 5 per cent of users that will let them customize pages.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
