Tata Motors, the country's biggest vehicle manufacturer, has signed an agreement with Pune-based Bharat Forge and General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) of the US, for the ministry of defence's (MoD’s) Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) programme.

Tata Motors will lead the consortium, with Bharat Forge as a partner. GDLS will bring its expertise in combat vehicle platforms. FICV is billed to be one of the army's biggest projects, worth $11 billion (Rs 78,000 crore).

Tata Motors is hopeful of closing this financial year with a 25% growth in commercial vehicle (CV) sales and continuing the run next year as well on replacement demand to meet new emission norms and a pick-up in the economy.

The company expects to close the hybrid bus order from BMC "any day now", having already signed an agreement with the authorities.

The Gujarat government today prohibited the strike at the Tata Motors plant in Sanand and ordered workers, protesting the suspension of 28 colleagues, to resume work immediately. Yesterday, senior company officials offered roses to the workers, urging them not to continue with the strike.

K O Shah, additional labour commissioner of Gandhinagar, said: "We have prohibited the strike under section 10(3) of the Industrial Disputes Act, and have referred the matter to the industrial tribunal in Ahmedabad."

Tata Motors, which lost its pole position in the light commercial vehicle segment to Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) in the first eight months of the fiscal year, has reclaimed its place over the past two months. The company sold more LCVs than its nearest competitor in December 2015 and January 2016.

On a cumulative basis, however, M&M remains the segment leader for the April-January period of the ongoing financial year, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) shows.

Tata Motors' Differential Voting Rights (DVR) has surged 7% to Rs 260 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade after the stock along with three other companies would be added in the benchmark Nifty50 index with effect from April 1.

Aurobindo Pharma (up 3% at Rs 673), Bharti Infratel (3% at Rs 386) and Eicher Motors (1.5% at Rs 19,195) were gained more than 1% each in intra-day trade.

Tata Marcopolo, the joint venture company of Tata Motors and Marcopolo, on Wednesday said that the firm would commence production of buses and trucks once it found a solution to the labour crisis at its Dharwad unit. The company has declared a lockout on February 6 at the unit that makes Marcopolo range of buses after an external union created trouble, which led to dismissal of a few workers.

Karnataka's assistant labour commissioner had called for conciliatory talks on Tuesday where Tata Motors insisted that it would not take back dismissed workers affiliated to “Krantikari Kamgar Union,” an external union.

Tata Motors, Bharat Forge and General Dynamics have forged an alliance to bid for the $11 billion (Rs 78,000 crore) project of making combat infantry vehicles for the Indian Army under the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) Programme. Responding to a query, Tata Motors said: We confirm partnering with Bharat Forge for local manufacturing of guns, ammunition and such other elements of fire power that form part of the FICV Programme.

With two of the front runners, Tata Motors and Bharat Forge, joining hands, the number of total bidders has come down to nine from 10. The alliance now stands higher chances of making it to the final three prototype manufacturers, bids for which were given on Monday, according to a senior Bharat Forge executive.

Tata Motors, the country’s biggest vehicle maker, is said to be working on reducing the engine size for its diesel vehicles, in the wake of sales restrictions in this regard imposed for the Delhi-National Capital Region.

The company is looking to downsize engines to below 2,000cc (two litres) for its models from its sports and utility vehicle portfolio, to be able to resume sales in these areas. The Supreme Court had in December banned all sale of diesel vehicles of an engine size above 2,000cc in Delhi-NCR till end-March, as an anti-pollution measure.

NEW DELHI: The fast-growing ecommerce sector is rubbing off on the commercial vehicle segment, helping boost sales when bulk purchases have yet to come from traditional customers in the infrastructure industry.

Senior executives at leading commercial vehicle manufacturers acknowledge the contribution of ecommerce-related logistics in the industry's recent strong performance, and they expect it to increase.

The better than expected numbers of Tata Motors in the December quarter might allay some of the investor concerns.

Consolidated revenue rose 3.7 per cent over a year, to Rs 72,256 crore. Net profit for the quarter declined two per cent over a year to Rs 3,508 crore, better than analysts had estimated.

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