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There is no denying to the fact tat since the day the Indian subsidiary of the American auto major, Ford Motor Company has launched Figo in the Indian market, it has been able to gain a large chunk of the small car market.

In fact, with the start of the second shift at its manufacturing facility in Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai, the company now expects top clear the backlog of the 4,000 units at its Figos in a month’s time.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made it known today that the immediate task before the government at present is to focus on the growth of the economy and how to bring it back to the 9 per cent growth trajectory. The growth was at 7.4 per cent during the last financial year which the Finance Minister plans to bring up to a double digit figure as soon as possible.

Due to the recent recession, India has had to encounter a lot of financial improprieties in the last 12-18 months, including crisis in the price of commodities and energy.

Indian indices traded in a small range, oscillated above and below the dotted line, finally closed almost flat. SENSEX closed at 17909, down 29 points and Nifty at 5378, down 7 points from the previous close. CNX MIDCAP index was up 0.03% and BSE SMALLCAP index was up 0.12%. The market breadth was negative with advances at 566 against declines of 714 on the NSE. Top gainers are listed as  AXISBANK, RELCAPITAL, HUL, TATAMOTORS, TCS, TATASTEEL, TATAPOWER, SAIL and KOTAKBANK whereas top losers are listed as ONGC, RCOM, HDFCBANK, SBIN, UNITECH, GAIL and BPCL.

While the company may have faced some labour unrest in the recent past but its plans for the future remains intact.

In fact, to meet the growing demand for batteries from the car and motorcycle sectors, Exide industries has recently announced that the company will be spending money matching the scale of Rs 400 crore this fiscal (2010-11) to increase capacity in its various plants.

The French auto major Renault has decided that it will not like to be considered as an underdog in the Indian market and has firmed up bullish plans for the future in the domestic circuit.

A top company official recently said that the company will be launching its much-popular, Influence in the Indian market by 2011.

Renault India Country General Manager and Managing Director Marc Nassif recently confirmed the development by saying that the company will introduce the first sedan Influence by 2011 and a SUV Koleos by 2012-13 in the Indian market.

The Japanese auto major, Nissan has recently announced the launch of its much-awaited hatchback Micra in the Indian market. Priced between Rs 3.98 lakh and Rs 5.29 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), the product has so far got over 2,000 bookings in the Indian market.

As the bookings had been opened on 25 May and the response was pretty encouraging, the company believes that the product will be able to bring high volumes on its door from the domestic circuit.