After a delay of more than six months, Tata Motors will finally launch the much-awaited Nano on March 23. The Rs 1-lakh car, pegged as the world's cheapest car, will be rolled out at an event to be held in Mumbai.
However, bookings for the 'people's car' will begin only in the second week of April, the company said in a statement today.
The car was earlier scheduled to be launched in the first week of October last year. But due to protests against land acquisition for the car's mother plant at Singur in West Bengal, the company was forced to abort the production plans from that site, which disrupted the original launch plan.
Although Tata Motors did not reveal the initial production numbers of the Nano, sources say that the company will launch the car with around 1,500 units, which have been manufactured at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand and Pune in Maharashtra.
Industry sources add that the company targets to produce 100,000 units in the next twelve months from - Pantnagar, Pune and Sanand (Gujarat). The Gujarat plant is expected to commence production by October-November this year, added sources. Consumers wanting to buy the Nano may have to cough up Rs 70,000 as booking amount, which is 55-60 per cent of the total on-road cost of the car, which is expected to be at Rs 1.3-1.4 lakh after addition of various levies and taxes.
But sources say that the company will have a pricing advantage on all Nano's built at its Pantnagar plant due to a tax holiday granted to automotive companies situated there, thus allowing the company to offer the car closer to the Rs 1 lakh price tag. The company is currently manufacturing around 25 to 30 cars every day for which, spare parts, gear boxes and transmission systems are being shipped from Pune.
"Some 900 cars are already ready at our Pantnagar plant. By the time of the launch, another 600 cars are expected to be ready," said a top executive of Tata Motors from the Pune plant. Even though the company pegged March 23 as the launch date, the car will be available in showrooms only by the first week of April, clarified the company.
"Tata Motors is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that prospective customers can conveniently avail of booking facilities at their locations, across the length and breadth of India", stated the company release. Currently, the component vendors supplying to the Nano project are asked to moderate their supplies currently, which will be gradually hiked in the following months when Tata Motors increases production level.
"Once the Gujarat plant kicks in around October-November we will have hiked our output to the optimum level to keep pace with the production", said a vendor associated with the project.
The Gujarat plant has a capacity to produce 250,000 Nano's yearly.
The Nano was unveiled by Tata Motors amid much fanfare at the Auto Expo held at New Delhi in January last year. Violent protest by farmers led by Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Banerjee forced Tata Motors to quit from the state and relocate the plant to Sanand in Gujarat.
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Friday, February 27, 2009
TCS mulls variable pay cut; staff to work more
In a clear admission that it is facing hard times, India’s largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said it plans to review the variable component of employees' salaries every quarter in an attempt to cut costs. Variable pay accounts for 20 to 35 per cent of TCS employees' gross salary, depending on their hierarchy.
The company had earlier cut employees' variable pay by around 1.5 per cent in February 2008.
“We are trying to reduce costs. Our largest expenditure -- around 55 per cent of our gross revenue -- is manpower cost and employee salaries. We are not contemplating a pay reduction, but we are reviewing the employee variable pay," CEO and MD S Ramadorai told reporters here today.
All employees, from trainee to the senior-most manager, get variable pay. The total variable component -- which is linked to both the performance of the company as well of the individual — accounts for around 8 per cent of the company's gross revenue.
"We are also increasing employee working hours from 40 hours a week to 45 hours a week, with effect from April 1,” he added.
The company may also defer absorbing nearly 24,500 campus recruits, scheduled to join in June. Their salaries may also be revised, said Ramadorai.
According to analysts, a 10 per cent increase in working hours could add half-a-million billable hours for TCS alone, given that over 55 per cent of the company's contracts were the Time & Material variety.
The Rs 35,000-crore TCS also expects flat or lower Q4 results because its US clients have started pressing the company for a reduction in price ranging from 4 to 15 per cent. "Q4 results will either be the same as the third quarter or may see a dip,” Ramadorai indicated.
The company also plans to delay infrastructure and new projects to save costs. "Capital expenditure of TCS in the next financial year will be less than the Rs 1,400 crore announced for 2008-09,” Ramadorai said.
The company has reportedly laid off over 100 employees in the UK. “A lot of our work is on contract. Also, we retain employees, especially the ones on probation, on performance, and if their performance is not up to the mark, we ask them to leave. Although I am not sure why the employees in the UK were asked to leave, two of the reasons could be that their contracts ended or bad performance. Going forward, a lot of emphasis this year will be on employee efficiency,” Ramadorai said.
“We are also focusing on more offshore projects right now to cope effectively with the recession, by moving more roles and delivery functions to offshore locations such as India,” Ramadorai added.
TCS serves customers such as British Airways, BT and United Utilities in the UK. The company has around 4,800 professionals working at almost 65 customer sites in the UK and Ireland.
“In the last nine months, TCS has hired 30,000 people. For now, we have frozen our lateral hiring and may look at laying off employees if the situation does not improve. Currently, we have around 1,30,000 employees on our pay roll,” Ramadorai added.
The company had earlier cut employees' variable pay by around 1.5 per cent in February 2008.
“We are trying to reduce costs. Our largest expenditure -- around 55 per cent of our gross revenue -- is manpower cost and employee salaries. We are not contemplating a pay reduction, but we are reviewing the employee variable pay," CEO and MD S Ramadorai told reporters here today.
All employees, from trainee to the senior-most manager, get variable pay. The total variable component -- which is linked to both the performance of the company as well of the individual — accounts for around 8 per cent of the company's gross revenue.
"We are also increasing employee working hours from 40 hours a week to 45 hours a week, with effect from April 1,” he added.
The company may also defer absorbing nearly 24,500 campus recruits, scheduled to join in June. Their salaries may also be revised, said Ramadorai.
According to analysts, a 10 per cent increase in working hours could add half-a-million billable hours for TCS alone, given that over 55 per cent of the company's contracts were the Time & Material variety.
The Rs 35,000-crore TCS also expects flat or lower Q4 results because its US clients have started pressing the company for a reduction in price ranging from 4 to 15 per cent. "Q4 results will either be the same as the third quarter or may see a dip,” Ramadorai indicated.
The company also plans to delay infrastructure and new projects to save costs. "Capital expenditure of TCS in the next financial year will be less than the Rs 1,400 crore announced for 2008-09,” Ramadorai said.
The company has reportedly laid off over 100 employees in the UK. “A lot of our work is on contract. Also, we retain employees, especially the ones on probation, on performance, and if their performance is not up to the mark, we ask them to leave. Although I am not sure why the employees in the UK were asked to leave, two of the reasons could be that their contracts ended or bad performance. Going forward, a lot of emphasis this year will be on employee efficiency,” Ramadorai said.
“We are also focusing on more offshore projects right now to cope effectively with the recession, by moving more roles and delivery functions to offshore locations such as India,” Ramadorai added.
TCS serves customers such as British Airways, BT and United Utilities in the UK. The company has around 4,800 professionals working at almost 65 customer sites in the UK and Ireland.
“In the last nine months, TCS has hired 30,000 people. For now, we have frozen our lateral hiring and may look at laying off employees if the situation does not improve. Currently, we have around 1,30,000 employees on our pay roll,” Ramadorai added.
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