Commute in an Eco-friendly Way The commute to and from work can add up quickly in gas expenses. According to Project America, the average passenger car gets roughly 22.4 miles per gallon while the average SUV gets roughly 18 miles per gallon. Despite efforts to improve gas mileage in consumer vehicles with hybrid cars, the […]
Indian Tyre Industry Indian Tyre industry is worth around Rs 300 billion for FY11. The industry was mainly dominated by the 5 players namely: MRF Apollo Birla Ceat JK tyres The 5 account for over 85% of the market share. The 5 companies manufacture tyres for all segments expect for two wheelers. In two wheelers […]
Pakistan has a massive power problem with chronic electricity brownout thanks to its mismanaged and corrupt administration. The industries in the state are mostly idle as they don’t get power for more days on an end. Now a new problem is starting to creep in its transportation sector as well. Pakistan has more than 0% […]
However India’s biggest capital good equipment company BHEL owned by the government is plannning a $500 million investment to build a solar cell factory in at Sakoli which is part Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel’s constituency Bhandara.Talk about how dumb you can get. BHEL hardly has too much expertise in the solar panel industry and with solar cells in massive oversupply,it is almost sure to lose money. However that is how things work with Indian government companies where investment is made at the whims of ministers rather than rationality and business sense.BHEL is currently trading at one of the lowest valuations in its 10 year history and its not a big wonder why. The company has benefited in the past as did other machinery and engineering companies from an infrastructure invesment boom. However those glory days are over for the company as it faces competition from the Chinese companies and decreasing orders flow. Praful Patel the minister has already spent a few years in the airline ministry presiding over the conversion of the state owned carrier Air India ino a basket case. Now its the turn of BHEL to be turned into a basket case as well.
The Indian Solar Power has been one bright spot in the gloomy infrastructure and engineering sectors in 2011. With share prices crashing with growing corruption, land acquisition and financing problems, Solar Energy has surged in India thanks to government support and subsidies . While a number of Green Technology companies have started up to capitalize on the growing renewable energy trend, the established constuction companies in India have not been far behind . While utilities like Tata Power, Adani, Reliance Power, NTPC have already built or are setting up power plants based on solar panels , L&T has become a major solar EPC players . L&T is now raising debt with a $100 million issue to fund its solar expansion plans .
Auto Industry in India is facing the twin problems of Fuel Price Hikes and High Interest Rates which have sharply reduced the growth of the industry.The Indian car companies were riding high in 2010 as the economy grew and many people in India graduated to the middle class.Some companies were showing triple digit growth rate as India become the hottest market in the world.All global car companies were in a rush to expand their India sales and distribution network at any cost.However 2011 has brought them down to earth with almost 50% increase in petrol prices keeping buyers away.On top of that car financing companies have also increased their interest rates for auto loans by around 2-3% which makes the servicing of the EMIs of car loan very difficult.This has made most buyers sit tight and wait for a better environment.The car companies which hiked price to pass on the increasing costs of steel and other commodities are in a pickle.They are being forced to sit on high inventories and can’t afford to give big discounts as well.
The sautomobile industry in India happens to be the ninth largest in the world. It is the fourth largest exporter of automobiles following Japan, South Korea and Thailand. It is the world’s second largest manufacturer of motorcycles, with annual sales exceeding 8.5 million in 2009. Several Indian automobile manufacturers have spread their operations globally. India manufactures over 17.5 million vehicles (including 2 wheeler and 4 wheeler) and exports about 2.33 million every year. India’s passenger car and commercial vehicle manufacturing industry is the seventh largest in the world, with an annual production of more than 3.7 million units in 2010. In the commercial vehicle segment, Tata Motors is leader with a market share of about 64%, whereas Maruti Suzuki is leads the passenger vehicle segment with a market share of 46%. Hyundai Motor India and Mahindra and Mahindra are more interested in expanding their hold in the overseas market. (Source – Wikipedia).