1 Jan 2009, Dehradun

People in the hilly town of Gopeshwar in Chamoli district were recently surprised to see the Nano, Tata Motors’ controversial Rs 1 lakh car, parked on a roadside.

The Nano had travelled all the way from Pantnagar, crossing the tough, serpentine roads of Uttarakhand, to reach picturesque Gopeshwar nestling in the Garhwal Himalayan region.

This was one of the Nano’s toughest tests, being conducted by engineers of Tata Motors in the rugged Himalayan region.

Significantly, the mileage of the small car is being projected at 17-20 km per litre in the hills.

“We have conducted the test drive of Nano in the hills of Uttarakhand and Pune. Initial reports are very encouraging,” an official of the Tata Motors plant at Pantnagar told Business Standard.

Now after a series of test drives, the car is set to be launched in the first quarter of the next financial year, the official said. The exact date of the launch of Nano would, however, be decided by Chairman Ratan Tata, the official added.

The company has already given a commitment to Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri that it would roll out the first Nano from the state.

For expansion, the company has been allotted 45 acres of extra land at Pantnagar by the state government. A decision in this regard was taken by a high-powered committee headed by Khanduri, which met here on December 22.

Tata Motors is currently manufacturing Ace trucks at the Pantnagar facility. The commercial launch of the car has already been postponed by at least two to three months, after it was forced to relocate from West Bengal following political protests there.

Although, the mother unit of the car will be set up in Gujarat, where the company has recently been allotted 1,100 acres, the firm is also planning to set up a permanent manufacturing facility for Nano at Pantnagar.

In addition to 45 acres, the chief minister has also assured company officials that their other demands would also be considered.

The state government has been trying to lure Tata Motors to set up a permanent plant for the Nano at Pantnagar, stating that the company must benefits from the incentives available in the state in the wake of the Special Industrial Package, 2003, which offers a range of tax incentives.

News Source: http://www.business-standard.com

1 Jan 2009, New Delhi

Many beneficiary companies in the SME sector are from NCR.

The State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd (SIDCUL) today said it has issued final allotment letters for new units and expansion programmes in the key industrial estates of the hill state. The major beneficiaries in the allotment of plots are companies from the National Capital Region (NCR), which includes Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida.

According to official sources, nearly 57 small companies from Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad have been allotted 1,000 sq metre plots each at Haridwar and Pantnagar industrial estates. The move follows the clearance of nearly 100 industrial plots by a high-powered committee in Uttarakhand on December 22, which include top companies like ITC, HUL and Sterlite.

The committee, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister BC Khanduri, cleared the proposals, which were invited by the SIDCUL in July this year.

All these companies were given land under the new allotment policy recently formulated by the government for Haridwar, Pantnagar, Kotdwar and Selaquie industrial areas, which are being developed by the SIDCUL. In the allotment process, the companies were kept in three broad categories.

In the first category, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were given preferences with 25 percent of land being reserved for them. The main rush for the proposals was for Haridwar integrated industrial estate. In view of the heavy rush, the committee tried its best to accommodate the maximum number of companies in the final allotment.

In the second category, nearly 6 industries were given approximately 2 acres of land at Haridwar. In the third category, the big companies like HUL were given preference as the investments were heavy.

Nearly, 18 investment proposals were also cleared for the Pantnagar industrial estate. Top companies like Delta are among the beneficiary at Pantnagar. Besides this, two companies each were given land at Kotdwar and Selaquie.

With the special industrial package coming to an end on March 31, 2010, the government seems to be in a hurry to generate more revenue and create maximum employment opportunities. These companies are also being given assurance that efforts would be mounted to get the package extended for three more years.

News Source: http://www.business-standard.com