Its not only passenger car majors who have major plans for India; the country is expected to see considerable investments in the commercial vehicle front as well. One of the foreign players who  is looking towards garnering a larger share of this pie is Germany's MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, Europe's third-largest truck maker, who has major plans for the country.

The company, through its existing 30 per cent joint venture MAN Force Trucks, is looking to increase its current sales of 800 vehicles in the last 18 months by a factor of at least eight this year, aiming  for a total sales volume of 6,800 vehicles. It hopes to reach its rated production capacity of 24,000 units per annum in three-four years, with half the production earmarked for exports.

India's medium and heavy vehicle market, the sector where the company operates, stands at about 271,000 vehicles currently on an annual basis. Including light commercial vehicles, this figure increases to 486,000. MAN Force Trucks makes 40-tonne and 49-tonne haulage trucks and 25-tonne tippers at a plant in Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh.

Now MAN wants to expand its product range in India beyond the vehicles manufactured by the joint venture. It has announced a fully-owned subsidiary in India, MAN Truck and Bus India Pvt. Ltd,based out of Mumbai, which will import completely built speciality trucks such as fire tenders, military vehicles and heavy-haulage lorries.

''These are trucks that are not in the portfolio of the joint venture,'' said Abhay Firodia, chairman and managing director of Force Motors.

The market size for such trucks is about 60,000 to70,000 vehicles a year, according to Franz-Xaver Polster, managing director of MAN Truck and Bus. While the company did not specify the price, these trucks are sold at about €100,000 (Rs64 lakh) in Germany. In India, the trucks would attract combined duties of 35 per cent, Polster said.

The international group may include India as part of its global plan for a closer co-operation with Volkswagen, its single largest shareholder. Currently, MAN plans to work closely with Volkswagen at South America to supply key truck components.

MAN is also set to get into a new Indo-German joint venture for railway components with a total expected investment of $400 million. MAN already has a presence in trucks, turbine, marine engine businesses in India and now wants to scale up its presence in the railways sector.

''In this joint venture we are more of a facilitator. We will develop it, take a small participation and expect that we will build all the facilities. We will bring the European and Indian investors together. This will be quite a mega investment. We expect that in June or July this can be announced if everything goes on track. The JV will be to produce railway equipment for the Indian market and also for the export market,'' said Kiaus Lesker, Board Member, MAN Ferrostaal.

MAN AG is a German engineering company based in Munich. It is one of Europe's leading manufacturers of engineering equipment and commercial vehicles. MAN supplies trucks, buses, diesel engines, turbomachinery, as well as industrial services and holds leading market positions in all its business areas.

MAN AG is one of the top 30 companies listed on the German stock exchange (DAX). It also is the eldest company within the DAX. The company celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2008. In 2007, its 55,000 employees generated annual sales of around €15.5 billion in 120 different countries. The company has joint ventures and other cooperations with local companies in India, Poland, Turkey, and the US.