There is excited speculation doing the rounds that India as all set to become the small car-hub of the world. To see what idea a few crunched numbers would provide, let's consider the exports of the various small car companies.
Maruti Udyog exported 32,240 cars in 2002-03 but in nine months of 2003-04 touched 35,000. It looks well set to achieve an export target of 50,000 units in the fiscal year ending March 31.

Hyundai is targeting exports of some 70,000 cars this year, more than twice what it did in 2003, which stood in the region of 30,000. Tata Motors, meanwhile, is parceling about 100,000 of hatchback City Rover cars to Britain’s MG Rover over the next five years.

The National Council of Applied Economic Research, a New Delhi-based economic research group, predicted in September that car sales would rise to one million vehicles a year by 2012.

India, having produced 503,000 units in 2003, edged Italy out of its place as the second largest manufacturing base for small cars. In the lead, and somewhere on the horizon, is Japan with 1.82 million units in 2002-03. India exports to Europe, Africa and South America. The countries include the Netherlands, Britain, Nigeria and nations closer home like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka in the last over one year. Quite ironically, Italy is one of the importers of Indian small cars too.

Over 70 percent of Maruti's export is likely to be accounted by the Alto compact car, which is one of the top-selling models in its class in the Netherlands and also enjoys considerable market presence in Finland, Austria and Ireland. The City Rover, a modified version of the Indica car, is produced in both 1,400 cc petrol and diesel engine models.

Small cars account for nearly 60 percent of the domestic 600,000 cars a year market. In India, only six out of every 1,000 people currently own a car as compared to nearly 500 in developed economies.