Rupya.com: Introducing India’s popular finance blog

500 points up, 200 points up, one bad day 20 points down … Just like Australian cricket team, Indian stock market is peforming exceptionally well and this trend is expected to continue in 2008 also. But honestly… Stocks, Share, IPO, mutual funds … like jargons are always bizaare to me but at the same time i always have the desire to invest some percentage of my earnings effectively. One of my friends blog, Rupya.com, helps me a lot in making decisions as well as getting updated about the Indian financial market and i’m very much happy to introduce his blog to the readers of Vicky.in.

rupya.jpgRupya.com is the first dedicated blog in India for financial market. This regularly updated blog is a one stop portal for all the information related with Indian Stock market. Every bit of information about Indian stock market right from the fundamentals of stock tips, daily stock news, new IPO issues, Mutual fund advices are available here. To be precise, . In addition to the blog, you can also subscribe to most active rupyaforum, official google group of rupya blog.

Maruti Suzuki’s dezire to replace esteem

Dezire to replace esteem:

Maruti Suzuki India has drawn curtains to one of its most successful models on Indian roads – Maruti Esteem. Maruti which started a scheduled plant shutdown for maintenance and will resume production on January 2. But no esteem will be produced in the new year. Esteem will pave for the Maruti Suzuki’s new dezire or swift sedan. Media reports indicate “The company has taken a decision to stop the production of mid-size sedan Esteem. The car would be replaced by a sedan variant of Maruti’s popular hatchback Swift (called dezire),”. Maruti Suzuki is likely to roll out the new dezire or Swift sedan on Indian roads by March 2008.Maruti Suzuki would initially launch a petrol variant of Swift sedan or dezire sporting a 1.3 lt engine and is likely to introduce a diesel powered version later in the year.Maruti is already facing capacity constraint for the swift diesel hence launching a diesel Swift sedan or dezire would not make sense at this time. Maruti Suzuki has a manufacturing capacity of one lakh engines per annum at its Manesar plant which is being increased to three lakh engines.

About Esteem:

Maruti Suzuki’s Esteem has been on Indian roads since 1994 and in 2006 it won the JD Power best entry-sedan award.. Maruti Suzuki’s first-ever sedan on Indian roads was the Maruti 1000 which was given a higher engine and rechristened as Maruti Esteem in 1994. Maruti Suzuki was in the process of gradually cutting down Esteem production from the beginning of this fiscal but has built up an inventory to meet the demand for the model going forward. Esteem production was cut from an estimated 1,533 units in April, to just 497 units in November. The production for the model was, however, increased to 1,903 units in August to build up an inventory.The company is offering a discount of up to Rs 57,500 on Esteem.

Update: Kinetic’s electric scooter

Kinetic plans to roll out three new electric scooter segment in this year. Kinetic has developed e-scooter models in the and the products will hit market in February. “It complements with our current range of scooters. With the induction of these models we will have the widest range of scooters from petrol to electric,” the Kinetic Motors Managing Director, Ms Sulajja Motwani. “The final testing is going on and the product will be out in two months,” she said. The production volume in the initial phase will be low and the company is planning a regional launch for the e-scooters targeting primarily the western India. The price range will be between Rs 25,000 and Rs 35,000. “There are people who want low-speed two wheelers. The low running cost and zero emission of e-scooters have attracted a lot of customers. Our targeted customers include school kids as one does not need a licence to operate electric two-wheelers,” said Ms Sulajja.

Hyundai to launch Santro,Getz and Accent LPG

Hyundai will launch the LPG variants of santro,getz and accent by March 2008.  “We will be showcasing the LPG variant of Santro, Getz and Accent during the Auto Expo, with their commercial launch expected by March,” Hyundai said. Currently, Hyundai is offering the CNG variant of Santro which sells on an average 400-500 units a month. But this is little compared to the sales of Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR duo (LPG and Petrol). LPG scores better than because of its availablity. CNG is only available in select cities such as Hyderabad, Agartala, Vadodara, Kanpur, Lucknow, Delhi and Mumbai as against LPG dispensing stations that are estimated to be 385 in 148 cities across the country. Recently indica is now available with LPG and recently LPG powered Ambassador was launched. Soon Toyota will launch CNG & LPG variant of corolla and Innova.

ByeBye2007: Year in review – Part 3

As a year end routine, we are here highlighting our best posts that were appreciated by our readers. In continuation to the first part (January to March), second part (April to August), this third part will cover the well received posts from September 2007 to December 2007

ByeBye2007: Year in review – Part -2

As a year end routine, we are here highlighting our best posts that were appreciated by our readers. In continuation to the first part which covered the posts from January to March, this second part will covers the posts from April to July.

Harley Davidson set for indian drive

American cult bike brand Harley Davidson may finally hit the Indian roads.  Harley Davidson had expressed its intention to enter the Indian market in 2005. However, due to the differences it had with the Government on import duty of its bikes, it had put its plans on hold. In 2007, under a new quid pro quo between US and indian Government, India relaxed the import policy to facilitate import of super bikes of capcity over 800cc (Harley Davidson’s range starts from 883cc Roadster), while US allowed the entry of Indian mangoes. After that Yamaha Motor India has launched its two super bikes — 1,000 cc YZF R1 and 1,680 cc MT01 — in India. However, unlike the Yamaha, Harley Davidson faced a new hurdle with homolgation, under the existing norms the superbike have to be tested and approved (read homologated) by agency in the ‘country of origin’ of the product. But Harley used to source the bikes from US irrespective of the country it enters. But America has no certifying agency. This has hampered Harley Davidson indian entry a lot along with high import duties and stringent emission norms. Today, the government has relaxed their testing norms. The director general of foreign trade (DGFT) has now allowed import of all such bikes which have been tested and approved (read homologated) by any certified agency from the European Union.  This means Harley’s US-made bikes can tag an EU homologation certificate to be sold in India. Government of India’s will also encourage other two-wheeler majors such as Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki to introduce their full range of high-powered products in India.  However, for other super bike makers such as Suzuki Motorcycle India (SMIL), which plans to launch its legendary 1300 cc Hayabusa and the 1600 cc B King sometime next year, the new policy will now expedite the launch. Suzuki Motorcyles India vice-president (sales & marketing) Atul Gupta said, “It will help us immensely to introduce our bikes faster in India. As our current homologation certificates from Netherlands will be allowed here, we will get a big boost in this niche market.” If Harley again find the conditions are not conducive, will the government of India  compromise in emission norms?

Tata to retire after Rs 1 lakh car launch

Ratan Tata would like to retire from active business life after his dream project — the Rs one-lakh car — is launched successfully. “In an ideal world, after the small car has been launched and is successful, that would be a nice time for me to exit,” Tata told the ‘Financial Times’ newspaper. Tata Motors, the automotive arm of the over Rs three- trillion market value group, is scheduled to unveil the vehicle, touted as the world’s cheapest mass-produced car, on January 10 at an auto expo in New Delhi. Rival car manufacturers and enviromental activist have already raised apprehension about the safety and emission standards of the car, coming as it is at that price level. However, Mr Tata stresses the benefits of safer transport for tens of thousands of families that currently move around on single motorbikes. Osamu Suzuki, chairman of Suzuki Motors India’s largest passenger carmaker, recently said that anyone selling a car that cheaply would have to scrimp on safety and emission standards, compromising their responsibilities as a manufacturer. Mr Tata disagrees. “We’re producing a car that will be no more polluting than a motorcycle,” he says. “As we’re not going to produce millions and millions of them, inundating the country, we will not be adding to the carbon footprint on a per-passenger basis.” Between the cost of the average two-wheeler and entry-level cars such as the Maruti 800, which retails for about $5,000, there is still a big gap and Mr Tata plans to fill it. New roads will follow, the company argues, and so too, in time, might a more environmentally friendly small car, although not for the bottom of the pyramid. “The only reason we didn’t make the one-lakh car a hybrid, for example, is that it could not have been priced at one lakh,” Mr Tata says.

excerpts from Financial Times

Chevrolet to launch new spark and U-VA

Suddenly, safety is making news in Indian automotive Industry. Tata Motors recently launched indica V2 turbo DLX with dual airbags and ABS. Now, its General Motors turn soon it will come up with a new variant of spark and aveo U-VA. Spark which is currently available in five variants will get a new SE variant soon. A new top-of-the-line variant called spark SE will be introduced. The saprk SE will be safer with features such as ABS,airbags and secure with a special anti-theft device (similar to Maruti Suzuki’s ICATS)

Similar to the spark, Aveo U-VA will get safety equipements like airbags, ABS and an anti-theft device. Aveo U-VA is currently available in three variants. This new spark SE and the new aveo U-VA will be priced at a premium over the existing one.