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No dual pricing for diesel, no tax hikes either

Pranab Mukherjee, finance minister, spoke to a gathering of industrialists on Saturday at the National Conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry, assuring them that the government had no intention of adopting regressive policy measures. He said that dual pricing for diesel is not on the cards and neither is the government planning any fresh tax hikes.

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M&M gets one step closer to Ssangyong, signs MoU

Mahindra & Mahindra announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Ssangyong Motor Company, to acquire a majority stake in the aot-maker. Earlier, it had announced its selection as a preferred bidder for the loss-making company which sells sports utility vehicles under brands such as Rexton, New Kyron and Actyon.
 

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Maruti Suzuki’s domestic sales up 21% in January 2010

  • Maruti Suzuki’s car sales are settling down into more normal growth rates. During the October-December period, sales growth was quite high because of a low base effect, due to a decline in sales in both domestic and export markets.
  • In January 2010, the car major’s sales rose by 33.3% to 95,649 vehicles. In December, its sales had risen by 50.6%. On a sequential basis, sales are up by a strong 13%.
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Maruti Suzuki hikes prices to offset costs

Spiralling prices of key input costs like steel, aluminium and tyres have forced Maruti Suzuki India to hike prices on some of its key models. But Maruti has kept the price hikes quite low, at about 1-2% per car, to ensure that there is no impact on demand. But car companies often give discounts, including finance and exchange discounts. So, Maruti has the option of trimming discounts too, to offset cost hikes.

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Maruti Suzuki’s December sales growth slower

Automobile market leader Maruti Suzuki India reported its December 2009 sales today. This month’s sales need to be viewed in the context of the slowdown that gripped the car market in the Oct-Dec quarter in 2008-09. As the global financial crisis affected India too, local banks faced a liquidity crisis and bank finance for cars dried up which affected offtake and the economic slowdown also hurt real demand.
 

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Tax on luxury cars will help no one, not even inflation

Last week, inflation touched 8.75% confirming that inflation has perhaps crossed 9% and if you factor in the June 4 petroleum product price hikes, it will cross 10%. Everyone seems to be predicting that by November’08, the base effect will kick in and reported inflation will come down. Still, if the direction in which prices are moving does not change, it does not bode well.
 

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