Dehradun, 23 Jan 2008

The Uttarakhand government today announced its new industrial and power policy with a focus to attract investments in the hilly region of the state.

Following a cabinet meeting, Chief Minister B C Khanduri told reporters that a special package has been prepared for the hilly region under which special tax incentives would be given to industries, setting up their units in the hills for a period of 10 years.

The special package would remain in force for a period of ten years beginning from April 1, 2008, he said.

Under the new industrial policy, the government has made special provision for creating private industrial estates at an area comprising only 2 acres of land. Earlier, such facility was extended to 30 acre-long industrial estates under the industrial policy announced in 2003.

All those industries which are having an investment of Rs 5 crore has been given the status of big industries, a status which was earlier given to all industries with investment of Rs 50 crore in the state.

Special incentives including rebate in power tariffs would be given to all those industries which set up their units in the hills, Khanduri said.

The government also announced its new power policy in the cabinet meeting. Under the new power policy, the government would give special focus on small hydro projects and involve village panchayats in building hydel projects up to 5 MW.

News Source: http://www.outlookindia.com

16 Jan 2008

After the Nano, it’s time for more innovative engineering at Tata Motors. The country’s largest vehicle maker, which stirred the auto world last week with its cheapest car ever, is now planning to reorganise its manufacturing operation through different hubs, a clear departure from the established manufacturing model at the 75-year-old company.

The Mumbai-based truck and car maker plans to come out with independent production hubs that will focus on making different vehicles at different locations, instead of the earlier integrated facility where it had the commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle production lines in the same unit.

It is in line with the philosophy that Tata Motors plans to shift its Ace unit from Pune to Rudrapur in Uttarakhand while new generational vehicles, including SUVs (sports utility vehicles), would be made in Pune. The shifting will free up over 5 acres in Pune that will be used to ramp up production of Sumo, Safari and Indica, sources said.

However, a Tata Motors spokesperson, when contacted, said the company adopts a flexible approach at all its units while concentrating on certain product categories in specific plants. The Dharwad unit in Karnataka makes buses while the Lucknow facility is used for trucks and buses.

The company’s oldest unit at Jamshedpur is for heavy trucks while the new location of Rudrapur makes Ace and Magic, the sub-tonne light commercial vehicles. The Pune unit makes cars and passenger vehicles. Although Tata Motors had initially planned to roll out the Nano from Singur, this plan is reportedly being reworked to Pantnagar in Uttarakhand. Tata Motors has planned a capacity of 2.25 lakh units for Ace, the sub-one-tonne truck, while the existing capacity in Pune is just around 60,000 units a year.

News Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com