Business deals cross $150M at 8th auto expo
By agencies   |   Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Behind the glamour of the aspirational cars and bikes on display, big business was conducted at the ‘Eight Auto Expo,’ which came to a close on Tuesday. According to an estimate, business deals crossed $150 million at the expo, clocking more than three times the amount compared to the last expo. Most of the deals inked were in the auto components domain with several foreign component makers taking part in the expo to find potential Indian partners. It also saw auto majors announce investments of over a billion dollars. In this, major investment plan was announced by the Car maker Maruti Udyog of $617.72 million for new model launches, research and development and upgradation, while German component major Bosch said it would be investing more than $227.27 million in its India operations. Apart from this, other investment announcements were Yamaha’s $68.18 million, Ashok Leyland’s $125 million, TVS-Delphi’s $113.63 million and Bharat Forge’s $90.90 million. Commenting on the success story of Eight Auto Expo, Gurpal Singh of CII said, “It had many firsts to its credit. It was one of the biggest auto expos held in India with occupied space in excess of 70,000 sq meters and over 1,000 participants, including 300 from 22 countries.” The new car launched at the expo included `Rhino', a multi-utility vehicle from homegrown Sonalika group, the Honda Civic and the Audi A4.

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