Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Ingis]

India’s Economic Growth Accelerates

- By Bloomberg

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- India’s economic growth accelerated for the first time since 2007, indicating the global recession’s impact on Asia’s third-largest economy is waning.

Gross domestic product expanded 6.1 percent last quarter from a year earlier after a 5.8 percent rise in the previous quarter, the Central Statistical Organisation said in New Delhi today. Economists forecast a 6.2 percent gain.

India joins China, Japan and Indonesia in rebounding as Asian economies benefits from more than $950 billion of stimulus spending and lower borrowing costs. India’s recovery may stall as drought threatens to reduce harvests and spur food inflation, making it harder for the central bank to judge when to raise interest rates.

“The weak monsoon has complicated the situation for the central bank,” said Saugata Bhattacharya, an economist at Axis Bank Ltd. in Mumbai. “Poor rains will hurt growth and stoke inflationary pressures as well.”

India’s benchmark Sensitive stock index maintained its declines today, dropping 1 percent to 15755.33 in Mumbai at 11:12 a.m. local time. The yield on the key 7-year government bond held at a nine-month high of 7.43 percent, while the rupee was little changed at 48.86 per dollar.

Before the rains turned scanty, the Reserve Bank of India on July 28 forecast the economy would grow 6 percent “with an upward bias” in the year to March 31, the weakest pace since 2003. It also raised its inflation forecast to 5 percent from 4 percent by the end of the financial year. The key wholesale price inflation index fell 0.95 percent in the week to Aug. 15.

‘Recovery Impulses’

The central bank’s Aug. 27 annual report said withdrawing the cheap money available in the economy would heighten the risk of weakening “recovery impulses,” while sustaining inexpensive credit for too long “can only increase inflation in the future.”

As the global recession hit India, the central bank injected about 5.6 trillion rupees ($115 billion) into the economy, which together with government fiscal stimulus amounts to more than 12 percent of GDP.

China’s economic growth accelerated to 7.9 percent last quarter from 6.1 percent in the previous three months, aided by a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package and lower borrowing costs. China and India are the world’s two fastest growing major economies.

Interest Rates

The Reserve Bank of India kept its benchmark reverse repurchase rate unchanged at 3.25 percent in its last monetary policy statement on July 28 and signaled an end to its deepest round of interest-rate cuts on concern that inflation will “creep up” from October. The next policy meeting is scheduled for Oct. 27.

Manufacturing in India rebounded to 3.4 percent growth in the quarter ended June 30 after shrinking 1.4 percent in the previous three months. Mining rose 7.9 percent compared with 1.6 percent while electricity growth almost doubled to 6.2 percent during the period, today’s statement said.

India’s move to a higher growth trajectory is on course, Ashok Chawla, the top bureaucrat in the finance ministry, told reporters in Mumbai.

Drought or drought-like conditions has been declared in 278 districts in India, or 44 percent of the nation’s total, as rainfall has been 25 percent below average so far in the four- month monsoon season that started June 1, the farm ministry said Aug. 27.

Harvests Hit

Morgan Stanley economist Chetan Ahya and Nomura Securities Co. economist Sonal Varma said the drought will trim farm production though its impact on industry and services will be limited. Services including banking and software make up 55 percent of India’s $1.2 trillion economy, while industry accounts for a quarter.

“The lagged impact of monetary and fiscal policy action, improved business confidence in view of increased political stability, and recovery in external demand should ensure that the growth acceleration is sustained,” Ahya said.

India’s industrial production in June gained 7.8 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace in 16 months, the government said Aug. 12.

Ahya expects the economy to grow between 5.2 percent and 5.8 percent in the year to March 31. That pace of expansion is attracting overseas companies including Harley-Davidson Inc., the biggest U.S. motorcycle maker. The U.S. economy shrank at a 1 percent annual rate last quarter.

New Factories

Harley-Davidson said last week it plans to start sales in India from next year.

Steel Authority of India Ltd., the nation’s second-largest steelmaker, said this month that demand for so-called flat products, mainly used to make automobiles, is rising and increased their prices by 900 rupees, or 3.4 percent, a ton.

Volkswagen AG, Toyota Motor Corp. and other car manufacturers have announced plans to spend more than $6 billion through 2012 to build factories in India to offset slumping demand in their home markets.

“Economic growth in India is still very good,” said Jnaneswar Sen, vice president in the Indian unit of Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-largest carmaker. Honda plans to increase production in India by 50 percent from next month in response to rising demand.

 

[glomex]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/business/india-business/Indias-GDP-rises-61-in-first-quarter/articleshow/4956654.cms

NEW DELHI: The economic upturn appears to have truly begun. The latest government data on Monday showed the economy growing by 6.1% year-on-year during the first quarter (April-June) of the fiscal the fastest for any quarter since the global financial crisis began almost a year ago making officials expect 6.5% growth this year.

This growth rate means India remains the second-fastest growing major economy after China, which notched almost an 8% growth rate. More importantly, it's an improvement over the 5.8% notched up by India in the previous quarter and 5.3% recorded in the quarter before that.

If there's a shadow of cloud accompanying this brightening sky it's the uncertainty about whether the economy can maintain this momentum in the next quarter (and perhaps the one after that) when the agriculture sector got hit by a poor monsoon.

The growth figures are in line with projections. They tend to bear out that government stimulus measures for the economy have helped to create demand. The share of consumer spending in the economy shrunk to 55.6% in April-June from 58% a year ago, while the government's share rose to 9.9% from 9.6% on the back of stimulus spending.

The markets found nothing much to cheer in the latest data, with the BSE Sensex shedding 220 points at close (although after a sharp rise last week, which might indicate that there was profit-booking on Monday).

In contrast, top government officials were gung-ho. "I am glad that the worst may be over and we expect to see improved performance in subsequent quarters. It (the growth figure) is very good, it is consistent with what we were hoping for,'' Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters in Delhi.

In Mumbai, finance secretary Ashok Chawla said with encouraging first quarter growth, the government expects the economy to grow at 6.5% this fiscal. "We expect the growth rate to be 6.5% or above. Growth in the economy was very encouraging and it is expected to improve further going forward,'' he said.

Not everyone, however, was buying this argument. "We are expecting 5.8% for the entire fiscal, which means that growth in the second and third quarters should come down,'' agencies quoted HDFC Bank chief economist Abheek Barua as saying.

Electricity generation and mining output were the best performers as they grew 6.2% and 7.9%, respectively, in the first quarter of this fiscal against 2.7% and 4.6% a year ago. Financing, insurance, real estate and business services also expanded 8.1% against 6.9% from a year-ago period. Construction was slightly down at 7.1% from 8.4% and community services at 6.8% from 8.2%.

The services sector, which accounts for more than 57% of the economy's output, grew an annual 7.8% in the first quarter, against 10.2% in the year-ago period. Manufacturing output expanded 3.4% in the June quarter, while farm output was up 2.4%.

The worst-hit sectors were trade, hotels, transport & communication. Together, these sectors posted 8.1% growth in the first quarter this fiscal compared to 13% a year ago. Manufacturing was down to 3.4% against 5.5% and agriculture to 2.4% versus 3%.

 

[eastwatch]

India's exports continue to fall

Spice traders hope exports will pick up
India's exports fell in May for the eighth month in a row as overseas demand for goods continued to shrink in the global recession.

Exports in May were valued at 534.3bn rupees ($11bn; £6.7bn), down 29.2% from 655bn rupees a year earlier, government figures showed.

Exports are a significant driver behind the Indian economy, making up about 15% of gross domestic product.

Imports shrank 39.2% to 786.8bn rupees from 1.1 trillion rupees a year ago.

The falling price of oil was a significant factor behind the decline in imports. Oil currently stands at about $70 a barrel - less than half of what it was last summer.

Oil imports in May were down 60.6% on the year. India imports about 75% of its oil.

India's trade deficit - the difference between imports and exports - halved to 252.5bn rupees from 533.2bn rupees a year earlier.

 

[eastwatch]

Further decline in Indian exports

The Indian government is introducing measures to help lift exports
India's exports declined at an annual rate of 28% in July, the 10th month in a row of falls, after the weak global economy continued to hit demand.

The country exported $13.6bn (£8.2bn) of goods and services during the month, the official figures showed.

At the same time, India's imports were down 37% to $19.6bn in July.

Last week, the Indian government announced a series of measures to help exporters, including tax breaks and better access to finance.

'Pause for breath'

The latest export figures come a day after the Central Statistical Organisation said the country's economy expanded at an annual rate of 6.1% between April and June, up from 5.8% from January to March, lifted by government stimulus spending.


We remain hopeful that exports, particularly to the rest of Asia, will recover shortly

Robert Prior-Wandesforde, HSBC
A separate study on Tuesday showed that Indian manufacturing activity expanded at its slowest rate in five months in August.

The purchasing managers' index from banking group HSBC totalled 53.2 points in August, down from 55.4 in July. Any figure above 50 indicates growth.

HSBC senior Asian economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde said the weak manufacturing data was "more likely to represent a pause for breath than a peaking out of the industrial cycle".

"After all, there is still plenty more in the way of fiscal and monetary stimulus effects to come through to the economy, while we remain hopeful that exports, particularly to the rest of Asia, will recover shortly," he said.

 

[eastwatch]

India 'terminates' Moon mission

All contact with Chandrayaan-1 was lost early on Saturday
India's space agency has abandoned its inaugural Moon mission a day after scientists lost communication with the orbiting Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

"We don't have contact... and we had to terminate...," said the head of Isro - the Indian Space Research Organisation.

The unmanned craft was launched last October in what was billed as a two-year mission of exploration.

The launch was seen as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring Asian nations.

Despite the termination of the mission, Isro chief G Madhavan Nair told reporters that the project was a great success and 95% of its objectives had been completed.

"We could collect a large volume of data, including 70,000 images of the Moon," he added.

Isro scientists said the agency was in talks with the US and Russia to track the spacecraft, which was orbiting 200km from the surface of the Moon.

Following its launch from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh last October, it was hoped the robotic probe would orbit the Moon, compile a three-dimensional atlas of the lunar surface and map the distribution of elements and minerals.

Useful mission?

Last month the satellite experienced a technical problem when a sensor malfunctioned.

An Isro spokesman said at the time that useful information had already been gathered from pictures beamed to Earth from the probe, although the picture quality had been affected by the malfunction.

Powered by a single solar panel generating about 700 watts, the Isro probe carries five Indian-built instruments and six constructed in other countries, including the US, Britain and Germany.

The mission was expected to cost 3.8bn rupees (£45m; $78m), considerably less than Japanese and Chinese probes sent to the Moon last year.

But the Indian government's space efforts have not been welcomed by all.

Some critics regard the space programme as a waste of resources in a country where millions still lack basic services.

 

[glomex]

India's Moon Mission Fails One Primary Objective, But Still a Big Success

Nation of India is not alone in experiencing difficulties in Lunar exploration

India successfully completed the first step of an ambitious space program that intends to one day place astronauts on the Moon – a hard landing on the Moon – last November. The hard landing literally involves a crash course with the Moon to collect information on lunar descent and test spacecraft flight to the moon. Both the former Soviet Union and the United States tested hard landings before launching more ambitious unmanned missions, and in the case of the U.S., manned missions. Space agencies for Japan, Europe, and China have more recently succeeded in hard landings as a stepping stone in their own programs.
The nation of India was hoping for a bit more than just that success, though. The probe launched for impact was only one part of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft -- the other integral piece was an orbiter, designed to take high definition images of the Moon and carry out chemical analysis as it orbited the Moon.

Hopes were high for the orbiter. It carried high-resolution 3D imaging software that would analyze the Moon's polar regions in hopes of gaining more insight on the shadowed-covered regions of the Earth's satellite. Packages onboard from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria also looked to scan these regions for traces of Lunar ice and try to determine the chemical composition of the rocks.

In the end the mission was equal parts success and failure. The orbiter successfully completed 3,400 orbits around the moon in 312 days, overcoming overheating issues. However, those issues, or possibly other failures, crept up on the probe, causing the Indian Space Research Organization to lose contact with it Sunday.

The ISRO had hoped to maintain contact with the probe for two years. However, they now fear that contact may be permanently lost, leaving the probe dead in orbit before crashing into the moon in approximately 1,000 days. States S. Satish, a spokesman for the agency, "We are exploring the possibility of making a request to the United States and Russia to help locate it since they have powerful radars. [The two year mission objective] probably was a mistake because such craft do not have this much life."

The probe was India's first lunar probe. It should be noted that the U.S. lost 15 probes before finally succeeding in a hard landing in 1964. Despite the failure of the ISRO's probe to achieve all its mission goals, the ISRO achieved a relative degree of success on its very first Lunar mission. The data gleaned from the probe's life may yield interesting results when fully analyzed and scrutinized.

The partial success places India in tight contention with China in the race to become the first country to place a man on the moon since the Apollo missions. The U.S. has all but abandoned its hopes of beating China and India to the Moon, due to lack of funding.

DailyTech - India's Moon Mission Fails One Primary Objective, But Still a Big Success

 

[glomex]

India 'terminates' Moon mission

All contact with Chandrayaan-1 was lost early on Saturday
India's space agency has abandoned its inaugural Moon mission a day after scientists lost communication with the orbiting Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft..................................................................

You sure do selective reading:

Let me help you here.....

India Moon mission is 'mixed success'


So was India's inaugural Chandrayaan-1 Moon mission a success or a failure?
Neither. By all accounts, it has been a mixed performance. Also, a definitive answer is not easy to give - it is possibly as grey as the surface of the Moon.
This was an expensive scientific experiment with many objectives and conducted in full public glare.
Most engineering goals have been fulfilled, but pious promises to deliver "good science" from the mission are still to be met.

Big achievement

India launched its $100m unmanned spacecraft on 22 October 2008 from Sriharikota on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
First, the spacecraft designed and built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) survived huge odds and successfully reached the Moon's orbit.
This in itself was a big achievement since neither Russia nor America succeeded in their maiden attempts; and there were several failures even before they got anywhere near the Moon.

So did India ride on the shoulders of earlier successes?
Certainly not, since the know-how and technologies to go to the Moon are just not available for the asking. Each nation has to learn on its own. India experimented and did that with complete success.
The only other country to have managed a similar maiden feat was China - its mission Chang'e-1 in 2007 lasted 16 months in space, according to the Chinese National Space Administration.
The Indian mission survived for about 10 months in space; most other missions to the Moon have been much more short-lived.
So did the Indian space agency, in its naivety, over-stretch and over-estimate the craft's life when it planned for a 24-month mission?
Possibly. The answer may emerge in the findings of the "failure analysis committee" that Isro has put in place after this debacle.
Despite being dubbed by Isro as an "engineering success", the mission had a rough ride around the Moon.
A fuel leak from the rocket almost aborted its lift-off. Within days of reaching the Moon, a power system failed, and a back-up system had to be activated.
Soon, the spacecraft started overheating due to the intense heat on the Moon. Isro scientists say it was deft mission management that saved it from a total burnout.
A few months into the mission the spacecraft lost its fine guidance system when the onboard "star sensor" packed up in the intense radiation around the Moon.
But, every time an instrument on this 1,380kg robot gave way, mission controllers at Isro found an innovative solution to keep the mission alive.
Finally on 29 August 2009, the space agency lost all contact with Chandrayaan after a catastrophic failure - possibly in its power supply system. A day later, the mission was "terminated", although Isro chief G Madhavan Nair declared it had been a "complete success".

'Two-in-one mission'
The Indian mission was in certain respects much more challenging than the Chinese maiden lunar mission which was a simple national orbiter.
Chandrayaan-1 was literally a two-in-one mission, since the main satellite was to orbit at 100km above the Moon and then a tiny gadget the size of a computer monitor was to attempt a "landing" on the Moon's surface.
The mission did this on 14 November 2008. No nation to date had succeeded in both a lunar orbiter and an impactor at the first attempt.
This was more than an experiment. It was also a brave global geo-political statement since the probe that crash-landed on the Moon also permanently placed India's flag on the lunar surface.
India became the fourth space bloc to have done this after Russia, America and the European Space Agency.
This is hugely significant because, if ever the Moon's resources are to be divided, India's rightful share can be claimed having achieved what others have not been able to do.
There are many other firsts to this mission.
In a highly un-Indian trait, the Indian space agency delivered the Moon mission with no cost or time overrun at $100m and within eight years of it first being suggested.
The spacecraft carried 11 different sophisticated instruments, one of the largest suites of experiments ever carried to the Moon.
The objective was to remotely map the resources of the Moon, prepare a three-dimensional atlas of it and look for water.
All instruments worked for about 10 months in the hostile lunar environment. Dr Nair calls it a "more than 100% success of Indian technology".
India also created a new model of international partnership.
On its own initiative, India announced that it would be happy to piggyback instruments from global partners.
After a huge competition, six instruments sourced from the European Space Agency (Esa), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and Bulgaria were chosen.
Bernard Foing, the chief scientist for Space Sciences at Esa, calls the Indian mission "the first multi-continent, multi-country lunar mission ever to be undertaken".
A little known fact is that India did not charge any money to fly these instruments 400,000km away: all got a free ride to the Moon, merely in exchange for sharing the scientific data.
Search for water
Chandrayaan-1 was also the first and the most detailed search for water on the Moon using radars - to date, water has never been found.
A miniature American radar onboard the Chandrayaan peered into the Moon's deepest craters searching for "water ice".
The Moon's surface is so parched that scientists feel the only location where water could exist would be in the permanently shadowed craters on the lunar poles.
But these are so deep and dark that sunlight never reaches them - hence the only way to peep inside is to send a radar signal down into them.
The global collaborative team of the mission is very excited about the findings.
"Never seen before images of the permanently shadowed craters of the Moon have been captured," says Paul D Spudis, of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, US, and principal investigator of the payload sent to search for water.
"The new radar images are not only visually arresting, but they will be extremely useful in unravelling the complex geological history of the Moon as a whole," he says.
Other scientific reports on findings are in the offing. But unless the results are published, questions will continue to be asked about whether the mission fulfilled its exalted scientific objectives.
The termination of the Moon mission will, however, not affect India's plans in space.
The country is already planning a second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, with Russian collaboration in 2011-12; a mission to an asteroid; an unmanned mission to Mars in 2013 and a human spaceflight in 2015.
Upbeat Isro scientists are saying "Chandrayaan-1 is dead, long live Chandrayaan". The jury will be out - until the scientific papers come in.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India Moon mission is 'mixed success'

 

[eastwatch]

India 'terminates' Moon mission

Some critics regard the space programme as a waste of resources in a country where millions still lack basic services.

Technical advancement is praiseworthy, but when millions starve or live without minimum sanitation, it is not that worth to take on a mission that takes people to moon, but deprives millions on the earth.

Surely, a mission like this enhances the prestige of India, but it also induce people from developed countries to scrutinize and ridicule India's poverty. India should make better use of its wealth created by the working mass. A reduced poverty will surely enhance its prestige more than a moon mission can achieve.

 

[Gabbar]

World's biggest solar farm in India?​

 

[bones20]

Technical advancement is praiseworthy, but when millions starve or live without minimum sanitation, it is not that worth to take on a mission that takes people to moon, but deprives millions on the earth.

Surely, a mission like this enhances the prestige of India, but it also induce people from developed countries to scrutinize and ridicule India's poverty. India should make better use of its wealth created by the working mass. A reduced poverty will surely enhance its prestige more than a moon mission can achieve.

We dont care what outsiders have to say. We are not harming/begging from any country. We are doing it on our own in both technology and finance. If you read the article above, we infact helped a few on our way.

Thanks for your inputs though. Am I arrogant? No. Just shrugging off an unsolicited and irrelevant suggestion.

 

[glomex]

India's 10 most affluent cities

India's 10 most affluent cities - Pictures - News in Pictures | Economic Times

 

[duhastmish]

Russian-Indian trade to hit $10 billion in 2010

14:0003/09/2009

MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - Bilateral trade between Russia and India will hit $10 billion in 2010, Indian President Pratibha Patil said on Thursday.

Russia and India are setting the goal of reaching bilateral trade worth $10 billion in 2010 and we will achieve this goal despite the global financial crisis, Patil said during talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin.

The Indian president said, however, that both countries should not be content with this figure.

The Russian economy is rich in mineral, energy and labor resources while India has a potential of over 1 billion consumers, Patil said.

India and Russia enjoy close bilateral ties, particularly in the areas of defense, nuclear energy and space industry. The two countries have completed the design of an unmanned lunar orbiter due to be sent to the Moon in 2011-2012.

According to Russian data, since 2005 the volume of trade between the two countries has grown by 30% annually. In 2008, the $7 billion mark was reached. Despite the economic crisis, in the first six months of 2009 trade increased by almost 18% against the same period last year. Machine building accounts for 49% of Russian exports to India.

Russia is also due to build an additional four reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in India under a deal signed in 2008.

At the recent MAKS-2009 air show in Moscow, Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) signed a contract for 26 RD-33 series 3 engines.

In August, India's defense industry handed over to the country's armed forces the first ten T-90 Bhishma main battle tanks assembled in India under a Russian license.

Russian-Indian trade to hit $10 billion in 2010 | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

 

[Ruag]

Ford Set to Start Production of Small Car in India

Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it's on track to start selling its first small car in India from early 2010 as part of its strategy to make the country a global production hub.

The car will be built at a factory near the southern city of Chennai where production is being doubled to 200,000 cars a year. Ford is also building a new plant at the same facility that will have an annual capacity to make 250,000 diesel engines when it goes onstream next year.

"Ford is already conducting preproduction test building of its new car in the facility and will be gearing up in the fourth quarter of 2009 toward the start of volume production in the new year," the U.S. automaker said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125197825802282897.html

 

[Ruag]

Fiat Purchasing to source $1 bln parts from India

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Fiat Group Purchasing, a part of Fiat (FIA.MI), plans to source $1 billion of parts from India in 2010, a senior executive said on Thursday.

"Our target is to source $1 billion in 2010," Franco Cavallotti, vice-president, International of Fiat Group Purchasing, told reporters at an industry conference. That would be about 5 percent of its global sourcing.

Of the $1 billion, about $700 million would be for Fiat India Automobiles, its joint venture with Tata Motors (TAMO.BO), and the remainder for exports, he said.

It planned to source $400 to $500 million of components from India in 2009, he said.

Fiat Group Purchasing is the company that manages purchasing for the entire Fiat group. (Reporting by C.J. Kuncheria; Editing by John Mair)

Fiat Purchasing to source $1 bln parts from India | Industries | Consumer Goods & Retail | Reuters

 

[Ruag]

Audi to Build Q5 in India

NEW DELHI -- Audi AG said Thursday it will start assembling the Q5 luxury sport-utility vehicle in India from March to save on steep import taxes and compete with BMW AG, Daimler AG and Porsche AG in the world's second-fastest growing major economy.

"India is the second country after Germany where the Q5 will be assembled," Benoit Tiers, Audi India's managing director, told reporters while announcing the introduction of the new version of the Q7 SUV.

Mr. Tiers also said Audi will introduce its financial services and insurance business in India by December. The company currently offers insurance for its vehicles via Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd.

Fully built cars and SUVs in India attract an import tax of 116%, Mr. Tiers said, adding that the tax drops to 60% if the vehicle is assembled from completely knocked down parts.

Audi, the premium brand of Germany's Volkswagen AG, assembles the A4 and A6 luxury sedans at the factory of Skoda Auto AS at Aurangabad in the western state of Maharashtra.

Czech carmaker Skoda, another unit of Volkswagen, makes cars such as the Laura and Superb at the same factory, which can produce up to 3,000 vehicles per year.

Tiers said Audi India has already spent two-thirds of a €30 million investment planned until 2015.

Audi India sells the Q5 with 2.0-liter gasoline and a 3.0-liter diesel engine options. Thursday, the company began selling the new Q7 SUV with 3.0-liter diesel, a 3.6-liter gasoline and a 4.2-liter gasoline engine options.

Audi also imports and markets the A8 luxury sedan, as well as the TT coupe and the R8 sports car in India.

It sold 1,128 vehicles in India during January-August 2009, a 62% rise from the year earlier. Tiers said the company aims to sell more than 1,500 cars in 2009, compared with 1,050 cars last year.

The automaker currently has dealers in 12 cities, which it aims to expand to 18 by 2011, he said.

Mr. Tiers also said Volkswagen is considering plans to source auto parts from India for the group's global operations, but a final decision is yet to be taken.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125197617889282885.html