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• Indian Carmakers go ahead for Hybrid and Environment Friendly Cars
• India to get over 700 crores from Volkswagen
• Government sets up 10 new colleges for skill development

Indian Carmakers go ahead for Hybrid and Environment Friendly Cars Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:50 AM PDT Days after the government announced a Rs.23,000 crore plan for promotion of electric and hybrid vehicles automobile majors Thursday unveiled their plans in the segment. Two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp said that it will go ahead and develop its hybrid 100 cc scooter, Leap, that it showcased during the Delhi Auto Expo held earlier this year. “We are very much going to go for the full development of that product (Leap). It is on our drawing board. We will take technical assistance from our technology partner EBR (Erik Buell Racing),” Pawan Munjal, managing director, Hero MotoCorp told reporters here on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Hybrid vehicles can run on either conventional or non-conventional energy sources. Automobile major Mahindra and Mahindra said that it is also developing electric vehicle products that will soon be launched in India including the Mahindra Reva NXR. Apart from the Reva brand the company is also looking at powering its own range with electric technology, including products from South Korean firm Ssanyong’s stable. The government had, on Aug 29, approved a project for the promotion of environmentally-friendly electric and hybrid vehicles, at a total cost of Rs.23,000 crore ($4 billion) to be invested over a period of eight years. The National Council for Electric Mobility (NCEM) adopted the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP 2020), which is a vision document that envisages promotion of electric and hybrid vehicles. The plan calls for state help that includes provisions for setting up of manufacturing units, acquisition of technologies, setting up of infrastructure and demand creation. The document envisages penetration of 60-70 lakh electric and hybrid vehicles, including passenger cars, two-wheelers, trucks and three-wheelers by 2020. Currently electric and hybrid vehicles form less than one percent of the overall 17 million units per annum automobile market in the country.

India to get over 700 crores from Volkswagen Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:20 AM PDT German Volkswagen Group Thursday said it will invest €100 million euro (over Rs.700 crore) in its three Indian subsidiaries, including Volkswagen India, Skoda and Audi India, in the next two years. “We will invest 100 million euro in the entire group in the next two years,” John Chacko, Volkswagen Group’s chief representative for India told reporters here on the sidelines of the annual summit of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The investments will go into improving production facility in Chakan and Aurangabad near Pune and for making minor changes to the export variant of the company’s sedans. “The investments will be made in improving our (production) facilities and for minor changes for our export models,” Chacko said. However, Chacko said that the group has put its investments plans in Maharashtra on hold due to the confusion surrounding various policies of the state government. “We had planned to invest Rs.2,000 crore that is on hold since lots of policy decisions are confusing. We are still putting pressure on Maharashtra government on various policy issues,” he said. The company expects sales to rise 10-12 percent in 2012 from the 1.11 lakh units that were sold last year. Production is also expected to rise 10-15 percent due to various production efficiency measures that were taken. Chacko said he expects the group’s exports from India will grow. Currently, the group exports sedan Vento to Middle East, southeast Asia and Africa.

Government sets up 10 new colleges for skill development Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:02 AM PDT The government will set up 10 community colleges in collaboration with Canadian educational institutes to educate illiterate adults and provide skill-based training for employment, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said Thursday. “Under the adult literacy programme of the HRD ministry, as many as 70 million people need to be literate and their capacity enhanced to enable them to acquire the skills required to perform jobs,” the minister said at the fifth Global Skills Summit organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Of the illiterate 70 million, 60 million are women who need education and skill training close to where they live. And for this, the government would launch 100 community colleges this year. “We are going to set up a working group and have a roadmap in the next three months with Canadian collaboration,” he added. Referring to India’s rich demographic dividend, the minister said there are 400 million people in the age group of 0-40 which is three-fourth of Europe and much larger than the numbers in the US and Canada put together. “I shudder to think of the challenges of educating and imparting training in skills to contribute to the growth process. If we don’t get it right, the recipe would be between disaster and great success.” He called for a roadmap for focused international collaboration on developing skill-sets that would be needed to service the world community. “If we can collaborate and set up community colleges or skill development centres in the context of National Skill Development Corporation and the Sector Skill Council then what we will be able to do is develop skills and human resources which then can be absorbed in other parts of the world for their economic development and at the same time have enough skills to be absorbed in our economy which is a win-win for both.” The minister underlined the need for vocational education programmes in schools.

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