Car prices set to go down

If you had put off buying a car waiting for the Budget, it’s time to go to the dealer now. Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has made it p...

If you had put off buying a car waiting for the Budget, it’s time to go to the dealer now. Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has made it possible for car companies to slash rates — starting with Hyundai which today lost no time in announcing a rate cut, ranging between Rs 16,000 and Rs 65,000, on its various models, within hours of the Budget announcements.

Telco, with its popular models Indica and Indigo, has promised rate cuts while Maruti has promised cuts upwards of 5.5 per cent. Both companies are still calculating the exact impact of the excise duty cuts on cars, tyres and components.

	Hyundai reduces prices
• Hyundai to reduce price of Santro, Accent and Sonata • Prices to come down by 5.8 per cent • Santro to be cheaper by average Rs 16,000 on ex-showroom price • Accent to cost Rs 30,000 less on ex-showroom price • Sonata to sell for Rs 65,000 lower on ex-showroom price Story continues below this ad

Accepting a long-standing demand, the Budget has brought ample cheer to the domestic auto industry. The industry feels that this will stimulate demand and enable the Indian auto industry to avail the economies of scale advantage.

Reacting immediately after the announcement, carmakers like Maruti Udyog, Hyundai, Tata Engineering, Mahindra and Mahindra, General Motors, Hindustan Motors, Fiat and a few tyremakers indicated they would pass on the benefit of the excise duty cut to customers.

Hindustan Motors President (automobile division) B K Chaturvedi said the company may reduce the price of Ambassador by Rs 18,000-20,000. The excise duty cut would push up sales growth next fiscal and spur customer-driven growth in the all segments, General Motors India’s Managing Director Aditya Vij said. Commercial Director of Fiat India A M Gupta said ‘‘the automobile industry and car aspirants will benefit from the proposed reduction in the excise duty.’’

CID to probe Zubeen Garg’s death after complaint names his manager, festival organiser

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As Assam awaits the return of its superstar icon Zubeen Garg’s body after he died in Singapore, where he was for the North East India Festival, on Friday, the state government has decided to transfer the investigation to the CID following complaints against festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and his manager Siddharth Sharma.

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