After Nano Tatas to build world's cheapest home for Rs 32000

After driving in the world's cheapest car -- Nano, sporting a price tag of $2500, and the cheapest water filter at $21 with Swach, the Tata group has now set its sights on building the world's cheapest house by the end of the year priced at just Rs 32000 (Euro 500)!


What's more, nicknamed the `Euro 500 home', a 20 square metre house works out to less than Rs 32,000 and can be built from scratch in just a week flat.


All one needs is a small piece of land and a kit of parts like doors, windows, roofs made out of different materials.


Currently being pilot-tested in West Bengal, the world's cheapest home is the brainchild of a team of nearly 15 innovators from Tata Steel's Indian and European operations and will be cheaper than the Tata group's own `Nano homes' project promising homes for $7,800 to urban poor that was rolled out a couple of years ago.


"These houses are typically targeted at beneficiaries of the Indira Awaas Yojana, that has an outlay of around Rs 40,000 per house. The challenge is to make it cheaper and more acceptable to rural users because many pre-fab manufacturers have built demo homes across the country but have failed to gain popularity," said Sumitesh Das, who heads Tata Steel's global research programme, on Friday.


"We have already prepared 2-3 different designs based on discussions with users and are gathering more feedback. Hopefully, in the next 6-8 months we should be able to roll it out in the market nationally," explained Das, who was in town to participate in a conference on intellectual property organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.


Apart from the basic version, the company is also working on higher end versions like a 30 square metre home for Euro 700 or higher for homes boasting of facilities like a solar panel on the roof or a veranda.

Relief for Tata as SC orders Mamata not to return land

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal not to return Singur land to 'unwilling' farmers, in what can be seen as some relief for Tata Motors which had leased the land from the previous Marxist government for its doomed Nano factory.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who made Singur her main poll plank, had recently facilitated the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 by which the government can take possession of the land and give it back to the original owners.

The last government had acquired 1,000 acres for the Nano project. A large chunk of farmers -- those who own around 400 acres -- held that the Left government forcibly took their land to give it to the Tatas. “As an interim order, we direct the state government not to hand over or return land to farmers concerned until further order passed by the Calcutta High Court,” a vacation Bench comprising justices P Sathasivam an A K Patnaik said. The Bench said it was making it clear that this was an “interim arrangement” and it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case.

The judges said they were passing a limited interim order and asking the High Court to proceed with the main matter in which the Tatas have challenged the new law enacted by the Mamata Banerjee government for taking possession of land and distributing it to farmers who were the original owners. However, the Bench said since the main issues were pending before the High Court, it was not inclined to go into them.

“We are not inclined to interfere at this stage on the main issues pending before the high court,” it said. The Bench observed it was granting interim protection as senior counsel P P Rao, appearing for the state government, said the possession of land will remain in the hands of state government till the High Court decides the issues. During the proceedings, the Bench observed it is not a question of political issues but a question of rights. Terming the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 as a “colourable exercise of legislation”, the Tatas had moved the Supreme Court Tuesday, seeking an interim stay on the distribution of land to so-called “unwilling farmers” in Singur. Tatas filed the appeals against the orders of the High Court which rejected its plea to restrain the state government from taking back possession and distribution of land to farmers.

Tata Motors had filed separate petitions challenging two Calcutta High Court orders dated June 23 and June 27. On June 23, the High Court had refused to entertain the company's plea seeking directions to restrain the state government from taking possession of the 1,000 acres. The company also filed another plea in the High Court on June 27, unsuccessfully challenging the Act. In its appeal, the Tatas said the law had been enacted in haste, and was in “complete violation of basic principles in our Constitution”.

A vacation Bench of Justices P Sathasivam and A K Patnaik agreed to take up the matter for a detailed hearing on Wednesday. Under the new law, the Mamata Banerjee government has taken back 400 acres of land with Tata Motors in Singur, and intends to return it to their original owners. The Tatas pleaded that the repossession of the land, carried out using police force, is “illegal”, and there has been “vandalism” and “looting” at the erstwhile Nano factory site. Counsel for Tatas submitted that the company was seeking a direction to restrain the state government from creating any third-party interest on the disputed land.

On a day the Tata Motors approached the Supreme Court seeking an interim stay on the return of land to farmers in Singur, the district administration of Hooghly was completing the formalities for giving possession of land to the first batch of “unwilling farmers” in Singur on Wednesday.

The land documents of at least 12 farmers were scrutinised and found to be authentic and they were to be handed over their land by the administration on Wednesday. The land for these 12 farmers has already been identified by government surveyors. Meanwhile, replying to the Tata Motors petition challenging the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, the state government on Tuesday told the Calcutta High Court said it had not done any wrong by introducing the new Act. The government said it was not against the Tatas but in favour of farmers.

Tata Motors counsel Samaraditya Pal had raised the point that there was a conflict between the new Act and the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. Countering the argument, government counsel Ashoke Banerjee said the TMC had declared in its election manifesto that land would be returned to unwilling farmers and after coming to power, the party is acting on its promise.

Infosys, Tata beat Google, Facebook, Nokia to emerge as top brands in India

IT giant Infosys and salt-to-software conglomerate Tata have emerged as the top 2 brands in India, beating global majors like Google, Nokia and Facebook, in a new index.

According to TLG's index of emerging market 'Thought Leaders', seven out of the top ten brands in India were indigenous firms.

TLG, in partnership with international research consultancy firm GlobeScan, launched the index wherein government ministers, directors of blue chip companies and newspaper editors were asked to identify corporate brands with the power to change the attitudes and behaviour of consumers, employees or politicians -- defined as " Thought Leaders".

The list of top 20 firms was peppered with Indian brands including Larsen & Toubro (5th), State Bank of India (7th), Life Insurance Corporation of India (12th), Bharti Airtel (13th), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (14th), Aditya Birla Group (15th), The Oberoi Group (16th), HDFC Bank (17th), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (18th) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (19th).

"... Absence of many 'western' major brands from the top 20 may concern CEOs who are trying to crack the BRICs. They need to refocus their energies on telling their leadership story," TLG founder Malcolm Gooderham said.

The top 10 features two joint ventures between local and overseas companies. The JVs are Maruti-Suzuki (4th) and Hindustan Unilever (9th).

Commenting on the findings, GlobeScan Research director Oliver Martin said, "As the public's faith in corporate leadership is declining in India, companies must excel in business innovation and progressive CSR to retain a Thought Leadership position."

The top-ranked foreign firm is Google, which enters the index at number three, followed by Nokia at sixth rank and Facebook at eighth position.

"Western firms that succeed (Google, Nokia and Facebook) are those that adapt their models to local conditions, or ones that form JVs with locals in the driving seat ( Suzuki, Unilever)," the report said.

Google, through its YouTube platform, streams live Indian Premier League cricket matches, while Facebook offers mobile access for a special rate of 1 rupee a day.

Interestingly, Apple, which leads the pack in Britain and America, failed to corner a place for itself in the top 20 list in India. Apple's failure to adapt its business model to local tastes and budgets was vastly responsible for its inability to crack India.

"Indian consumers can buy a new Tata Nano car for the same price as three Apple iPhones," the report said.

Tatas overtake both Ambani groups together on market wealth

Tatas may not be known for being on the stock-based rich lists, but changing market dynamics have led to the salt-to-software conglomerate overtaking the combined market wealth of the two Ambani groups put together.

The share prices have been tumbling in recent past for both the Reliance groups, led by the billionaire brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani, and the analysts put the blame on a string of controversies surrounding them for many months now.

On the other hand, a host of Tata group firms have grown stronger, in terms of stock market valuation, while shrugging off an overall bearish sentiments in the broader market and even some controversies related to them.

In the process, the stock market wealth of the entire Tata group has grown to close to Rs 4,40,000 crore -- highest for any corporate house and bigger than the combined figure of the two Ambani groups together at about Rs 3,67,000 crore.

This marks a sharp reversal of the things seen about an year ago, when Tatas were smaller than the Mukesh Ambani group alone. Tatas have about 30 listed companies, while the Mukesh Ambani group has only two.

As per the latest market value of individual groups, Tatas rank on the top, followed by Mukesh-led Reliance group at second position with about Rs 2,85,000 crore.

The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), which ranked third after the Mukesh-led RIL group and Tatas a year ago, does not figure even among the top 10 groups now.

In the past one year, R-ADAG's market wealth has plunged by over Rs 60,000 crore to close to Rs 82,000 crore now.

The Mukesh-led group's valuation has also fallen by about Rs 73,000 crore, but that of Tatas has grown by more than Rs 1,00,000 crore in the same period.

The Tata companies that have added significant market wealth in the past one year include TCS , Tata Motors , Tata Steel , Titan, Tata Coffee , Tata Chemicals and Rallis.

On the other hand, all the companies of the two Ambani groups, barring the smallest of them Reliance Broadcast Network , have lost market value since July last year.

In the MDA group, Reliance Industries has lost about Rs 72,000 crore, while the only other listed firm Reliance Industrial Infra Ltd has also lost about Rs 650 crore.

Among ADAG firms, the losses are about Rs 21,000 crore for RCOM, about Rs 20,000 crore for R-Power, Rs 14,000 crore for R-Infra and over Rs 5,000 crore for Reliance Capital .

While the Reliance companies have been traditionally known as very aggressive when it comes to the stock market, Tatas have been mostly known as conservatives on this front.

Investors have historically preferred Reliance stocks for wealth creation, but situation is changing drastically as both Ambani groups are giving below-market returns.

Amid the dwindling investor interest in Reliance stocks, Tatas have not been the only beneficiaries but a whole lot of groups known to be professionally-run have also gained.

These include the likes of the Birla, Mahindra, HDFC, Adani, Bharti, L&T, Jindal and Bajaj groups, experts said.
"Reliance stocks are more controversial at the moment, whereas others like HDFC or Mahindra groups are not," Religare Securities Executive VP (Retail Research) Rajesh Jain said.

"Moreover, a weak stock is more prone to get affected by any negative news. That implies to RIL and ADAG stocks. RIL has underperformed the market in the past one year," he added.

Way2Wealth's Chief Operating Officer Ambareesh Baliga also said that it was negative set of news playing spoilsport for the ADAG stocks.

"For RIL, it was the lower gas production at the KG-D6 basin which has discouraged the investors," Baliga said.