The Bengal government today signed seven land lease agreements for 546 acres with industries involving an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore. The big names today included Matix Fertiliser, which is building a urea plant at Panagarh and TVS, which along with Mahabharat Motors, is building a two-wheeler manufacturing hub at Uluberia.

The meeting of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation today was the second round in the ongoing process of the 99 lease agreements that the Mamata Banerjee government is looking to sign with the industry.

However, volatile fuel prices & interest rates could play spoilsport: SIAM
Car sales are expected to accelerate to double-digit growth this fiscal year after increasing just 2.19% in 2011-12, the slowest in three years. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers expects car sales to grow 10%-12% in 2012-13, buoyed by record sales in the past three months, better macro-economic prospects, launch of some 30 models during the year and expectations of lower interest rates.

China’s painstaking development of a low-cost, efficient energy solution for its commuters holds a lesson for India.

MUMBAI: Europe's largest two-wheeler maker Piaggio, which will relaunch its iconic Vespa scooter in March, may drive in other brands such as Piaggio scooters and Moto Guzzi motorcycles to India in the long run. "We are doing a comprehensive and exhaustive research in India as to what could be the product line for the next few years," Piaggio Vehicles India MD Ravi Chopra told ET. "We will be clear about what should be the road map for Piaggio in India in the next few months," he said. The findings of the study are likely to be completed by March.

The country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp today unveiled India’s first concept hybrid scooter, which is being developed in association with a foreign consultant, at the 11th Auto Expo.

“This is a first-ever series hybrid scooter from India. We are showing the rest of the world that we have arrived,” Hero MotoCorp Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Pawan Munjal, told reporters.

The concept hybrid scooter — LEAP — is being indigenously developed with the help of an international consultant, he added.

Japanese giant to challenge market leader with China-made machines
A year after they parted ways, the world’s largest two-wheeler maker, Honda, has thrown down the gauntlet at its former partner of 27 years, the Hero Group, with a plan to launch motorcycles at game-changing prices.

New Delhi: It’s just less than a year since the split of Hero Honda, but the Munjals are moving firmly to develop a technology expertise to make up for the vacuum created after the exit of the Japanese partner. Hero Motocorp, the Munjals-controlled entity formed after Honda moved out, is set to unveil India's first hybrid two-wheeler, a scooter, at the Delhi Auto Expo, giving a clear signal to stakeholders that the Honda void will gradually be filled.

LUCKNOW: How does an idea of a compressed air-powered motorcycle engine sound? Incredible! But B R Singh, an engineer who was awarded a PhD degree at the GBTU convocation, has made it true. Singh has come out with an air engine that can run a motorcycle. Singh's work has been acclaimed and published in the `Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy'.

In a conversation with journalists at the convocation venue, Singh claimed that the air engine can use compressed air to generate power sufficient enough to run a motorcycle for at least 40 minutes.