No-frills Indian tractors click with US farmers
New York: Cheap tractors for emerging markets devised by Indian engineers at a research facility at Pune have found favour with recreational farmers in the US.
As a result, almost half of the no-frills tractors manufactured in India by US-based Deere & Co. now find their way overseas, the Fortune magazine reports.
Though known for making heavy-duty farm equipment, Deere, of Illinois, opened the Pune research centre in 2001 as a way to enter the Indian market. Its engineers developed four basic models - no GPS or air conditioning - but sturdy enough to handle the rigours of commercial farming.
Taking a cue from Indian auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra, Deere transplanted a slightly modified version at $14,400 of its Indian line to the US in 2002. Success came from selling to hobbyist farmers and bargain hunters, who looked for the same qualities as Indian farmers: affordability and manoeuvrability.
"These tractors are like Swiss Army knives. They get used for almost anything: mowing, transporting palates of hay, pushing dirt and moving manure," Mike Alvin, a product manager at Deere, told Fortune.
A typical buyer of the Indian-made Deere tractor is Jim Henderson, who works as a county executive in Franklin, Kentucky, and gets rid of stress by tending his 57-acre hay farm on weekends.
Brad Wolfe, a corn farmer in Scottsville, Kentucky, overcame scepticism at buying an Indian made tractor but now values his Deere tractor, Fortune reported.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Industrial growth down at 7% </b>
PNS / PTI | New Delhi
Fiscal 2008-09 began on somber note with industrial growth in April dropping to 7 per cent compared to 11.3 per cent in the same month a year ago owing to high interest rates and input costs.
Nonetheless, the silver is that the performance in April, is much better than the 3.9 per cent growth rate witnessed during March, the last month of the previous fiscal, according the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released on Thursday
....
While the growth in manufacturing and electricity sectors dipped in the month, mining posted a robust growth. The growth in manufacturing declined sharply to 7.5 per cent from 12.4 per cent in the corresponding period last year.
The electricity generation also saw a steep fall to 1.4 per cent against 8.7 per cent during the same month last year. The mining sector, however, posted an impressive show of 8.6 per cent growth, up from 2.6 per cent <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>India ranks 41 in industrial competitiveness</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Singapore tops the UNIDO list and is followed by Ireland, Switzerland, Japan, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Korea, Taiwan Province of China, France, the US, Hong Kong, Austria, Slovenia in the top 15.
However, India fared better than its neighbours with Pakistan ranking at 55, Bangladesh at 67 and Sri Lanka occupying the 75th position. Others in the ranking are UK (16), the Netherlands (17), Malaysia (18), Canada (22), Malta (23), China (26), Mexico (30), Brazil (39) and Russia (66).
"The scoreboard is based on two sets of components, namely industrial development indicators and competitive industrial performance index, the latter benchmarking competitive industrial activity of countries against the backdrop of liberalisation and globalisation," UNIDO said.
The index measures the competitive performance of countries in terms of their ability to produce goods competitively, keeping abreast with changing technologies as well as the intensity of industrialisation, which is the share of manufacturing value added in GDP.
It also takes into account export quality, reflecting the role of manufacturing in a country's export activity as well as the ability to make more advanced products, thereby moving into more dynamic areas of export growth, UNIDO said.
<!--emo&:clapping--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /><!--endemo--> Ahmedabad-based Sintex Industries has collaborated with UKbased toiletries major Poly John International to manufacture and supply nearly 3,000 portable toilets to the Beijing Olympic Games. The toilets, which is designed by Poly John, are manufactured at Kalol, near Ahmedabad, under the brand name Pace.
âWe have signed a contract for manufacturing with Poly John to supply these globally-accepted toilets for the convenience of athletes,â says Sintex Industries marketing director Sanjib Roy.
Sintex will use special plastics and some metal parts as fixtures for the toilets that weigh 85 kg each and can be fixed and unfixed in an hour to other events easily. Each toilet will be manufactured in three conditional processes, roto-moulding, extrusion and thermoforming, and will cost nearly Rs 20,000. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Small_...how/3242881.cms
<b>India Posts 1st Back-to-Back Output Fall in 16 Years </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->March 12 (Bloomberg) -- India posted its first back-to-back decline in industrial production in 16 years, suggesting tax cuts and lower interest rates are yet to resuscitate demand in an economy faced with the worst slowdown since 2003.
Output at factories, utilities and mines fell 0.5 percent in January from a year earlier after a revised 0.6 percent drop in December, the Central Statistical Organization said in New Delhi today. Economists expected a 0.9 percent contraction.
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Indiaâs benchmark stock market index has declined 14 percent this year, extending 2008âs 52 percent drop, on concern the slowdown in demand will crimp profits of local companies. Shares pared gains after todayâs report, with the benchmark index closing 2.3 percent higher at 8,343.75.
...
Manufacturing, which accounts for about 80 percent of Indiaâs total output, fell 0.8 percent in January, compared with a 1 percent drop in December, todayâs report showed. Mining dropped 0.4 percent, compared with a 1.8 percent gain in the previous month, while electricity production rose 1.8 percent from a 1.6 percent gain. Basic-goods production fell 1 percent. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Industrial growth in negative zone in Feb</b>
New Delhi: Industrial production contracted by 1.2 per cent in February, compared to 9.5 per cent growth a year ago, despite stimulus packages announced by the Government. It had contracted for the first time in 15 years in October, and then again in December. Meanwhile, inflation slipped to its lowest in three decades to 0.26 per cent.
Quote:India's factory output logs fastest growth in decade, up 16.8 percent
pioneer.com
IANS | New Delhi
India's industrial production registered a better-than-expected growth of 16.8 percent in December to log the fastest expansion in a decade, helped by a strong showing by the manufacturing sector that saw its output surge 18.5 percent.
The high growth comes against the backdrop of a 0.2-percent decline registered in the index of industrial production (IIP) in December 2008, as per latest data released by the Central Statistical Organisation
"India's high industrial output figures show robust economic growth and the economy is likely to do well in the quarter through December," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, reacting to the latest numbers.
"We had thought industrial growth may be 13 percent. But it is now just under 17 percent. So the performance is very much in the direction that we expected of a good revival," added Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
"But I don't expect 17 percent growth to continue month after month -- that's for sure."
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had already revised its forecast for industrial output growth for the current fiscal to 8.4 percent, against 6.3 percent estimated just three months ago because of the impressive recovery staged by the manufacturing sector.
Significantly, as many as 14 out of the 17 industry groups in the index showed positive growth during December, compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, with transport equipment and parts logging the highest growth of 82.2 percent.
Among the broader indices, mining output expanded by 9.5 percent, while electricity generation was up by 5.4 percent, the data showed, bringing cheer to Indian industry after the gloom since the middle of the previous fiscal.
"The 18.5 percent growth of our manufacturing sector in December 2009 is reflective of the acceleration in industrial recovery since August 2009," said Amit Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
I dont feel happy with the MS sector output given the % rise is based on the same period previous year.and the last year itself sucks due to down turn and the sector even went to -Ve.
May be we should look at the nominal rise considering the inflation and last years deflation.
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ââ¬ÅBut, at an emotional level as an Indian, when you think with your heart as I do, I had this huge feeling of redemption, this indescribable feeling of owning a company that once owned us.ââ¬Â
The formal start of the East India Company is usually dated back to 1600 when Britainââ¬â¢s Queen Elizabeth I granted a group of merchants a charter under the name ââ¬ËThe Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies.ââ¬â¢
Quote:Drastic fall in industrial growth: Down at 2.7%
January 13, 2011 5:02:29 AM
Timsy Jaipuria | New Delhi
Is it indirect impact of inflation?
Even as the Government is struggling to control rising inflation, the drastic plunge in November industrial growth, which fell to 18-month low of 2.7 per cent on account of sharp fall in manufacturing, came as a big blow. The industrial growth was 11.3 per cent in October 2010 and 11.3 per cent in November 2009. Economists say the industrial growth in December may remain in the ââ¬Ëlow single digit.ââ¬â¢
While analysts suggest that a rise in inflation and a decline in industrial growth could have an adverse impact on the economy, the Government too realises this twin danger.
ââ¬ÅIf IIP goes down and inflation goes up, it will have an adverse impact, but I am not coming to any premature conclusion,ââ¬Â said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Quote:Industry output falls to 1.6%, a 20-month low
India's industrial production growth fell to 1.6% in December, the slowest in 20 months from 3.6 % in the previous month adding another set of worries to government's macro economic managers who are grappling for options to sustain growth and keep prices under check. HT Correspondent reports.
The manufacturing sectors deal in textiles, chemicals, drugs, machines, electrical products, printing and packaging, automotive components and several others. The manufacturing sector of India has been continuously showing a growth pattern and has extensively contributed in the GDP of India.
' /> Itââ¬â¢s a task that Mehta has not taken lightly, he told IANS in an interview. ââ¬ÅPut yourself in my shoes for a moment: On a rational plane, when I bought the company I saw gold at the end of the rainbow.