NEW DELHI: After Reliance Industries sold a large amount of subsidized fuel, the company reopened its 1400 about one-fifth of its petrol pumps leading to the closure of about one-fifth of its petrol pumps due to easing of diesel prices. RIL and Essarr Oil LTD, India’s only private refiner, together received about 17% of the fuel oil. In 2006, diesel accounted for 10% of the domestic retail market and gasoline for 10%. However, private sector fuel sales have been hit hard by heavily subsidized sales by state-owned enterprises. “Already 230 dealers (petrol stations) are planning to commission the entire network within a year.” RIL said in an investor presentation announcing its third quarter results. After suffering huge losses, Reliance Industries closed down one petrol station in 2008 year 3 All 1, 432 months or so. It sought to match public sector companies that sell fuel at a lower cost and receive government subsidies. In June 2010, the government deregulated gasol...

NEW DELHI: Apollo Tyres plans to set up a subsidiary in Malaysia in the next two years, aiming to expand its global presence to capture around 15 percent of its total export revenues. The Gurgaon-based company is also set to invest Rs 150 crore this year to expand the production capacity of its Truck Bus Radial (TBR) plant in Chennai from 60,000 to 10,000 vehicles per day to 90,000,000 vehicles per day. The president of Apollo Tyres (Asia Pacific) said, “We have been working in Thailand for two years and we believe that Malaysia could be a similar market for us. We are looking at the market potential there and hope to establish an entity in the next two years,” he said. “You can do it,” he said. (Middle East and Africa) Satish Sharma told PTI. He added that Malaysia is expected to have tax-related changes, which could help some markets perform like Thailand. Commenting on the Malaysian market, he said that the country has huge potential for all types of...

NEW DELHI: So far, oil consumers have benefited only a fraction from the plunge in oil prices. Brent crude has fallen by about 40 percent since June, but prices of petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and commercial LPG have fallen by only 8-17 percent. Commercial cooking gas prices are down 17%, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices are down 14%, gasoline prices are down 11% and diesel prices are down 8%. NNPC executives said international crude and global petroleum products tend to be different. International crude oil prices are falling faster than international petroleum products, whose prices are the standard for domestic retail prices of gasoline, diesel, ATF, cooking gas, etc. The state-run oil marketing companies have reduced the prices of unsubsidized cooking gas. Starting Monday, ATF price is Rs 113 per cylinder and Rs 2,594.93 per thousand liters. On Sunday, the companies cut petrol prices by 91 liters paisa, the seventh consecutive fall in four months. Diesel prices fell by 84 paisa,...

MUMBAI: Swedish luxury carmaker Volvo Cars India, located on the outskirts of the Indian market, is looking to challenge Germany’s big three luxury carmakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW-which will be launching a slew of hybrid and electric cars in the coming years. And Audi. 2020 Volvo plans to double its market share to 10 percent annually by 2020 and is considering introducing electric and hybrid options to its portfolio of entry-level to top-of-the-line cars over the next three years, which could eventually lead to increased sales. It can be assembled in China. The Volvo India automaker launched the car space a month ago. Eventually, the company could be 10 years old This year have 4 to 5 hybrid and electric cars in the country. Launching the new Volvo SSS 90′ last week Tom Von Bonsdorff, managing director of Volvo Cars India, told the Economic Times that the company sees its hybrid portfolio as a key differentiator. “We really want hybrid to be known as our product. We...