TELCO planning global tie-ups

German auto major Mercedes Benz, with which it has already formed a joint venture (Mercedes Benz India Ltd), presently holds a 10 per cent stake in Telco and has one nominee on the company’s board.

Tata said it could be possible for TELCO to retain its competitiveness in the lower end of the passenger car market because its engineering and product development capabilities gave it a cost advantage. "It might be difficult for it (the company) to match new model introductions or an expansion of its product range inline with international manufacturers," he said.

"It may, therefore, conceivably be worthwhile at some stage to establish alliances with international component manufacturers and even car manufacturers to adopt specific new technologies in its products," he said.

Tata also said the company would need to re-focus itself on the design and assembly of vehicles and buy in from various vendors the main sub-assemblies which it presently manufactures in-house.

He said TELCO has world scale in the commercial vehicle segment and should be able to hold its own against several global commercial vehicle manufacturers but would need to accelerate its product development and improvement programmes to meet global requirements.

The group has already set up Tata Autocomp (Taco), a holding company for the group’s foray into auto components, and tied up with several international players. Telco, on the other hand, has decided against making any fresh investments in Mercedes Benz India and over the last three years hasreduced its stake to around 14 per cent.

Meanwhile, Telco has increased prices for only three models of commercial vehicles ranging from Rs 4,000-7,000 effective from July 1. The company has, however, kept the prices of multi-utility vehicles, the Safari and the newly-launched Indica unchanged. It is the second time that the company has raised prices since in April this fiscal, when prices were raised by Rs 4,000-6,000 following the hike in excise duties.

Plea against Tata Finance dismissed

NEW DELHI: The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has dismissed a complaint against Tata Finance Ltd alleging unfair and restrictive trade practices due to lack of evidence regarding misrepresentation of its hire purchase scheme.

MRTPC said full facts were available to the complainant before he entered into an agreement with Tata Finance and there was no prima facie evidence of manipulation of the conditions of delivery by the company in order to impose unjustified costs.

"Thereis no indication that Tata Finance made any representation regarding any interest charges. Since the agreement did not relate to a scheme whereby the complainant had taken loan for the purchase of the vehicle and the monthly payment was by way of return of loan, the question of interest in the context of the complaint does not arise," MRTPC said dismissing their complaint.