The Hindu Business Line : Exports cramp Indica domestic supplies

TATA Motors has been unable to supply Indica petrol passenger cars to buyers over the last two months, dealers said. Since most of the petrol vehicles manufactured at the company's Pune plant was being shipped to MG Rover, UK, there are hardly enough vehicles to service the domestic markets, dealers added.

"Yes, we have a supply crunch of Indica petrol vehicles... its national... we are looking into ways to tide over this," Mr V. Krishnan, Vice-President, Corporate Communications, said. The company is also planning to expand its capacity to serve the growing demand, he added.

The waiting period for Tata Motor's sedan Indigo has also widened in the current year and "this is for both petrol and diesel versions", Mr Krishnan said. The company is "looking into its vendor network" to ensure a smooth supply of auto-parts in a beefed up production environment. According to market sources, Tata Motors has increased its production capacity to 700 cars from 400 cars per day since December.

"The problem lies with the companies failing to anticipate the excise duty cut," an auto-analyst with a top domestic brokerage said. Several automakers such as Hyundai, Daimler Chrysler and Honda-Siel are facing similar supply constraints, the analyst added.

According to dealers, several customers who had booked Indica petrol versions as early as January first week are yet to get delivery of the `New Indica', though large number of diesel versions of this vehicle have been dispatched across the country early this month.

"I might not have bought an Indica if I had known delivery would be stretched for so long... I've paid two EMIs, but am yet to receive my vehicle," Ms Kalyani Menon, a software professional from Bangalore who bought an Indica petrol car, said.

The company started shipping passenger cars to MG Rover in the third quarter of the current fiscal and exported over 4,000 cars. In its third quarter earnings presentations, Tata Motors said that passenger vehicles volumes were up 38 per cent year-on-year. Growth in that segment was 37 per cent on the back of surging Indigo sales. Indigo achieved a market share of 25 per cent in the entry-level C segment. Due to the product mix changes, higher exports and efforts undertaken to ramp up production at the car plant in December quarter, Indica volume growth was marginal during the quarter, the company said.

It can be recalled that Tata Motors manufactures and supply MG Rover of UK Indica and has a pact with Rover owner Phoenix Venture Holdings wherein the latter distributes Safari off-roader and Loadbeta pick-up trucks in the UK and Irish markets. Indica which is exported to Rover is sold in the UK and continental Europe under Rover brand through its own dealer network.

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