New Delhi, Sept. 4: Ratan Tata today said it was up to “others” to decide if the Nano would roll out of the Singur plant.
The Tata Group chairman was addressing reporters at a conference of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Asked if customers would be able to buy the world’s cheapest car from the Singur plant, he said: “The question needs to be asked not to me but to others.”
Tata did not specify who the “others” were.
“This is something between two political opponents, and we’re caught in the middle,” The New York Times quoted him as saying over the phone.
Tata, however, seemed to leave open the possibility of resuming construction, if tensions cooled. “We’ve made a huge investment,” he said. “We’d like to stay.”
Several state governments have invited Tata Motors to set up the Nano plant in their territory.
Tata also told The New York Times that he thought farmers genuinely wanted a different way of life, using new skills in new jobs.
“As each generation develops, the children of the rural economy must decide whether they want to continue to work on the farms,” he said.
At the daylong auto-makers’ conference, Tata said the Rs 1-lakh car would try and meet the October deadline.
“We obviously want to launch as we had planned. And we’ll do everything possible to come as close to the planned launch as we possibly can,” he said.
The Tata chairman later led a six-member delegation of carmakers to meet Prime Minster Manmohan Singh to discuss ways to revive the country’s automobile market, which has been hit by declining sales.
Officials put paid to speculation that the Singur agitation was discussed at the meeting. They said individual issues had not been touched upon.
Tata refused to speak after coming out of the Prime Minister’s residence.
He told reporters at the auto-makers’ convention that his company faced “pressure” from rising prices of raw materials, including steel.
“I would not like to comment on the price but we are certainly under pressure from increased material costs that are faced by the industry,” he said.
However, Tata was confident that the Nano would dominate the Indian market.
“I feel reinforced that there will be a growing requirement for low-cost small cars. The need and demand for low- cost cars in India is growing and such a car would be more dominant because it reaches out to the people who are looking out for their first car,” he said.
He added that the demand for the small car would go up globally because of rising fuel costs. “The small car is here to stay.”
Through the day, Tata evaded questions on Mamata Banerjee’s siege in Singur. His aides said he did not want to comment before tomorrow’s meeting convened by governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi between the state government and Trinamul Congress representatives.
Bajaj Industries chairman Rahul Bajaj, who plans to roll out a likely competition for the Nano in 2011, said “archaic land acquisition rules” should be changed to deal with contentious issues like Singur.
“The land acquisition rules in India are based on old British-era laws and this has led to many controversies during land acquisition for industrialisation, whether at Singur or in Orissa. So, the government should take initiatives to make land acquisition rules more contemporary,” he said on the sidelines of the conference.(END) Source : The Telegraph
The Tata Group chairman was addressing reporters at a conference of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Asked if customers would be able to buy the world’s cheapest car from the Singur plant, he said: “The question needs to be asked not to me but to others.”
Tata did not specify who the “others” were.
“This is something between two political opponents, and we’re caught in the middle,” The New York Times quoted him as saying over the phone.
Tata, however, seemed to leave open the possibility of resuming construction, if tensions cooled. “We’ve made a huge investment,” he said. “We’d like to stay.”
Several state governments have invited Tata Motors to set up the Nano plant in their territory.
Tata also told The New York Times that he thought farmers genuinely wanted a different way of life, using new skills in new jobs.
“As each generation develops, the children of the rural economy must decide whether they want to continue to work on the farms,” he said.
At the daylong auto-makers’ conference, Tata said the Rs 1-lakh car would try and meet the October deadline.
“We obviously want to launch as we had planned. And we’ll do everything possible to come as close to the planned launch as we possibly can,” he said.
The Tata chairman later led a six-member delegation of carmakers to meet Prime Minster Manmohan Singh to discuss ways to revive the country’s automobile market, which has been hit by declining sales.
Officials put paid to speculation that the Singur agitation was discussed at the meeting. They said individual issues had not been touched upon.
Tata refused to speak after coming out of the Prime Minister’s residence.
He told reporters at the auto-makers’ convention that his company faced “pressure” from rising prices of raw materials, including steel.
“I would not like to comment on the price but we are certainly under pressure from increased material costs that are faced by the industry,” he said.
However, Tata was confident that the Nano would dominate the Indian market.
“I feel reinforced that there will be a growing requirement for low-cost small cars. The need and demand for low- cost cars in India is growing and such a car would be more dominant because it reaches out to the people who are looking out for their first car,” he said.
He added that the demand for the small car would go up globally because of rising fuel costs. “The small car is here to stay.”
Through the day, Tata evaded questions on Mamata Banerjee’s siege in Singur. His aides said he did not want to comment before tomorrow’s meeting convened by governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi between the state government and Trinamul Congress representatives.
Bajaj Industries chairman Rahul Bajaj, who plans to roll out a likely competition for the Nano in 2011, said “archaic land acquisition rules” should be changed to deal with contentious issues like Singur.
“The land acquisition rules in India are based on old British-era laws and this has led to many controversies during land acquisition for industrialisation, whether at Singur or in Orissa. So, the government should take initiatives to make land acquisition rules more contemporary,” he said on the sidelines of the conference.(END) Source : The Telegraph
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