Fiat wants to source components from India
Bangalore: Fiat of Italy wants to source auto components from India for most of its global models.

Company officials said with the factory in Ranjangaon nearing completion, the company could see the company increase efficiency by 10 per cent as the cost of labour as well octroi from its Mumbai plant was eating into income. The company expects better efficiencies from its new plant as well savings on operational costs.

Fiat exports about 3 million euros worth of components for its Palio model currently. Now the Italian car maker wants to source more parts from Indian auto component manufacturers for most of its models and even those which it will not manufacture in India. Initially, it will source components for the Grande Punto as well as Linea.

As per the phased expansion of the factory at Ranjangaon, about Rs4,000 crore will be invested over the next five years.

The current capacity of the plant is 1 lakh passenger cars and 2 lakh units of engine and gearbox. The current capacity is expected to be fully utilised by 2010.

As per the joint venture agreement between Fiat and the Tatas, a Tata car will also be produced from the same factory and is expected to roll out by 2008. While the Linea as well as Punto will also be launched by 2008, Fiat is considering other models as well and none of them will be below 1.4 lts.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Steel revives titanium dioxide plant in TN
Chennai: Tata Steel has signed an MoU with the Government of Tamil Nadu for the revival of the titanium dioxide project.

The Tata group has committed to an investment of Rs2,500 crore on the project while the Government has committed to make available the 10,000-12,000 acres of land needed for the project.

The project is for mining ilmenite, an ore of Titanium from the sands of the southern districts of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin and extracting Titanium from it. This will be used to produce Titanium dioxide, a white pigment used in paints. With no domestic manufacturer, India imports annually about 60,000-70,000 tonnes of Titanium dioxide, a chemical that is said to be the largest use of Titanium.
Back to News Review index page  

Sagar Cements plans expansion: seeks IFC funding
Hyderabad: Sagar Cements plans to take funding of $19 million from IFC, the World Bank arm, to part finance its Rs300 crore expansion project in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh.

The company has planned Rs100 crore equity and Rs200 crore debt for the project.

The company plans to raise the equity part from internal accruals. For the debt portion, it has obtained loans of Rs100 crore from IDBI and Rs45 crore from SBI.

Company officials said the IFC has shown interest in funding the expansion project, which involves the addition of an extra kiln at the cement factory in Nalgonda, which is a prominent cement producing centre in Andhra Pradesh.

The profit after tax for 2006-07 increased to Rs30.02 crore on a consolidated basis (Rs4.05 crore). Sagar Cements is expanding capacity from 0.65 million tonnes (mt) to 2.5 mt. The financial closure for the expansion project has been completed and it is expected to become operational by June 2008.
Back to News Review index page  

Nagarjuna Construction bags Rs333-cr project
Hyderabad: Nagarjuna Construction Company has been awarded the project relating to construction of Rajeev Gandhi University of Health Sciences Administrative Block, Medical College Block, 500 Bedded Hospital, 250 Bedded Super Speciality Hospital & Allied Colleges, Hostels, Quarters, Buildings and so on, in Ramanagara, Bangalore Rural District by the Public Works Department, Government of Karnataka.
Back to News Review index page