Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover to invest £1.5 bn in new technology, create 1,700 jobs

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced a major investment boost of £1.5 billion to introduce a technologically advanced aluminium vehicle architecture in a new range of models.
The company will create as many as 1,700 new jobs at its advanced manufacturing facility in Solihull in the West Midlands region of England to meet the requirements of the enhanced product portfolio.
The latest additions will bring the total number of UK manufacturing jobs announced by Jaguar Land Rover over the last three years to almost 11,000.
Jaguar Land Rover global sales up 28 pct in August
"Jaguar Land Rover is a business driven by design, technology and innovation and this investment and level of job creation is yet further evidence of our commitment to advancing the capability of the UK automotive sector and its supply chain," Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer Ralf Speth said at the Frankfurt Motor Show on Monday.
As part of a series of announcements at the automotive show in Germany, Speth revealed that the first new model to utilise the innovative new architecture will be a mid-sized sports sedan from Jaguar.
The new model, to be launched in 2015, is being billed as one of the most efficient, advanced and refined premium sports sedans in the segment.
It will also feature the first engine to be built at the iconic luxury car brands' new £500-million engine manufacturing centre near Wolverhampton.
Jaguar also revealed its first-ever sports crossover concept vehicle - the C-X17 - which was created as a design study to introduce the aluminium monocoque architecture.
According to Jaguar Land Rover, the inherent flexibility of the latest technology will enable the Jaguar Land Rover business to not only enter but aggressively compete in exciting new segments and form the basis on which an exciting range of future Jaguars will be built.
"Jaguar Land Rover has been experiencing great success over the last couple of years but this ground-breaking project takes Jaguar onto the next level.
This all aluminium architecture project typifies the type of innovative and high value R&D that the UK excels in, and the government is supporting

Car sales in India snap 9-month losing streak, rise 15%, motorcycles 4% in August, Maruti Suzuki leads

Snapping a nine-month streak of decline, domestic passenger car sales grew by 15.37 per cent to 1,33,486 units in August this year, compared to 1,15,705 units in the same month last year.
Industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), however, played down the feat saying the growth was mainly due to low base effect as a result of the month-long lockout last year at the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Manesar plant.
"This (growth) is not a reflection of the market conditions. This is mainly due to Maruti Suzuki's numbers compared to last year. The tough market conditions still remain. Interest rates are high, fuel prices continue to be high while sentiments are extremely low," SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen told reporters here.
He said the positive growth seen in August is unlikely to be sustained in September and a recovery in the market is likely to happen only in the next couple of quarters.
Maruti Suzuki WagonR 'Stingray': A perfect '10'
"For this fiscal, we are staring down at a negative growth of car sales. If we have to match last year's 2.7 million units, we need to be selling over two lakh units each month but in the last three months, we have sold less than that," Sen added.
In August, market leader Maruti Suzuki India doubled its domestic car sales at 63,499 units as against 31,653 in the same month last year. The company had declared a month-long lockout at its Manesar plant in August 2012 following a violent labour unrest in which a senior executive was killed.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd registered a marginal increase during the month at 28,281 units as against 28,192 units last year. Tata Motors saw its sales plunge by 50.57 per cent to 8,761 units as against 17,727 units in August last year.
Another homegrown major, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, which mostly sells utility and sports utility vehicles, saw its domestic passenger vehicles sales decline by 25.45 per cent to 18,137 units during the month.
According to the latest SIAM

Indian rupee up 140 paise at 63.84 vs US dollar as Syria strike fears fade

The Indian rupee on Tuesday closed above the 64 mark at 63.84 against the dollar, up 140 paise -- the biggest in two weeks -- as fears of a US military strike on Syria eased amid lower global oil prices.
Banks and exporters preferred to reduce their dollar positions on expectations of additional foreign fund flows into the equity market.
The rupee resumed higher at 64.40 a dollar from Friday's close of 65.24 and touched a low of 64.54 at the interbank foreign exchange market. It later bounced back to breach the 64 mark and touch a high of 63.78 before settling at 63.84, a rise of 140 paise or 2.15 per cent.

Today's rise was the biggest since it added
 225 paise on August 29. In four straight sessions,
the local currency has flared up by 379 paise
 or 5.6 per cent



US jobs data on Friday fell short of expectations, leading to speculation that the tapering of the US Federal Reserve's bond-buying programme would be delayed.
India's exports rose for the second straight month in August, while the trade deficit narrowed as gold imports fell, the Commerce Ministry said today.
"The downbeat jobs data from the US led to losses in the US dollar index, thereby helping the rupee and other Asian currencies to post gains," said Abhishek Goenka, CEO of India Forex Advisors. "Also, today's trade deficit data...was seen supporting the rupee as it showed the trade gap reduced to USD 10.9 billion in August from USD 12.27 billion in July."
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex surged 727 points today, the biggest gain in absolute terms in more than four years.
Foreign institutional investors bought a net Rs 2,563.60 crore of shares today and Rs 800.71 crore of shares on Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Brent (oil) crude futures fell below USD 113 a barrel as supply fears eased on Syria developments.
"The trading range for the spot USD-INR pair is expected to be within 63 to 65," said Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO of Alpari Financial Services (India). "The government is also set

BSE Sensex soars 727 pts, logs biggest single-day jump since 2009, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel shares shine

  Ahost of positive factors such as sustained gains in the rupee and easing tensions over Syria kept the stock markets upbeat for the fourth session today with the benchmark BSE Sensex zooming 727 points, the most in more than four years.
All sectoral indices gained, led by auto, capital goods and FMCG stocks. The top Sensex winners were Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp and Larsen & Toubro.
Apart from the rupee's gains, investors were buoyed by trade data that showed exports on the uptick for the second straight month in August, a revival in car sales last month and a cut in the floor price for auctioning telecom spectrum.

The 30-share Sensex resumed on a strong note as Asian stocks rose, triggered by a rally on Wall Street yesterday. The index breached the 20,000 mark for the first time since July 25, before settling at 19,997.10, higher by 727.04 points or 3.77 per cent.
It was the biggest gain in absolute terms since the Sensex surged 2,110.79 points, or 17.34 per cent, on May 18, 2009, when the UPA government came to power.
The NSE Nifty index jumped 216.35 points, or 3.81 per cent, to 5,896.75, after touching 5,904.85. MCX-SX's SX40 index ended at 11,849.66, up 458.1 points or 4.02 per cent.
The rupee continued its upward journey for the fourth consecutive day and traded at a two-week high of 64.25 against the dollar in afternoon deals, up 99 paise.
The threat of immediate US-led military action against Syria appeared uncertain, with Washington saying it will consider Russia's call for Syria to turn over its chemical weapons to international control.
"Markets up-move continued today due to favourable trade data," said Rakesh Tarway, AVP of research at Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd. "Moreover, indications of reduced tension in Syria also helped the markets today."
FII buying was also driven after the RBI allowed non-residents to buy shares of Indian entities listed on stock exchanges under the FDI

Sensex dips 157 points on profit-taking; Infosys, RIL, ICICI Bank fall

The BSE benchmark index Sensex today fell nearly 157 points in early trade on profit-booking by funds and retail investors after recent gains amid a mixed trend in the Asian region.
The 30-share index fell by 156.98 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 19,840.11 in early trade with shares of Infosys, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank leading the fall. Sensex had rallied over 1,757 points in the previous four sessions.
Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 42.85 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 5,853.90.
Brokers said emergence of profit-booking by funds as well as retail investors at prevailing higher levels amid a mixed trend in Asian region mainly attributed fall in stock prices.
In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell by 0.38 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei Index was up by 0.62 per cent in early trade.

Flop show, fourth time: NSEL pays just Rs 7.8 cr

The National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) on Tuesday defaulted on its planned payout, coughing up just R7.77 crore against the promised R174.72 crore. In the first three rounds, NSEL had paid R92.13 crore, R12.05 crore and R15.32 crore, respectively. Tuesday’s payments were partly funded from the receipts of stocks liquidated in an auction. “So far, R7.77 crore has been realised and the payout is being made out of these proceeds. Auction of other stocks is in process,” an NSEL press release said.
NSEL also acknowledged that the audit by Swiss certifying agency SGS has revealed significant stock shortages at nine warehouses relating to seven defaulters. It added that SGS was not allowed to enter 29 warehouses managed by 11 defaulters, and that it was yet to submit the verification report for two more warehouses.
Meanwhile, citing a verification report by Sharp & Tannan Associates, NSEL claimed that the liability of the 24 borrowers has been confirmed by the audit firm. The exchange thus refuted claims made by entities like Lotus Refineries, which said NSEL owed it money.
NSEL reiterated that it was actively pursuing recovery of outstanding dues from members with pay-in obligations. “This includes initiation of civil and criminal proceedings against defaulting members, besides action under the rules and byelaws of the exchange,” the release said.
So far, 19 members have been declared defaulters and legal proceedings initiated. “While 13 out of the 19 defaulters have met the exchange officials during the last two weeks, six are yet to meet the officials,” the release added.

Indian rupee gains against dollar as Syrian tensions ease

The rupee today extended gains for the fifth session in a row by appreciating 16 paise to 63.68 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market amid weakening US currency overseas.
The rupee had settled at 63.84 against the dollar yesterday and was up 140 paise over the previous day's close as fears of US military strike on Syria eased, leading to lower global oil prices.
Traders said besides decline in India's trade deficit, dollar selling by exporters and its weakening against other currencies overseas helped the rupee to maintain its rising streak.
Related: Rupee's ranking slips 5 ranks to 20th in foreign exchange market turnover
India's exports rose to a two-year high of 13 per cent in August on account of improved global situation, enabling trade deficit to fall to a four-month low of USD 11 billion, aided by subdued gold imports.
Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark index Sensex fell by 156.98 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 19,840.11 in early trade.