Tara Tiny: Tata Nano Challenger

A new, small car, priced less than the 1 lakh Rs. Tata Nano, is expected to be the competitor to Tata Nano. So one can now look beyond Tata Nano. However, the price is just 1 Re. less than Tata Nano car, priced at 99,999 Rs. Moreover, it will be launched by June this year itself.

Tara Tiny will be a battery-powered vehicle, said a recent report in the Economic Times.
Kolkata-based Tara International has teamed up with China's Aucma, a leading player in the electrical vehicles and appliances segment, to manufacture this car.

The company plans to launch Tara Tiny by June this year.

Besides Tara Tiny, there are 3 other cars to be launched namely -- Tara Titu, Tara Micro and Tara Mini -- are also in the pipeline. The ex-showroom prices of these Tara cars will be between Rs 99,999 and Rs 500,000.

All these vehicles can be electrically charged and powered. The vehicles can be recharged daily at 220 volts through a 15 amp power. The electrical vehicles business is seen to generate a turnover of Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) in 2008-09 and about Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) in the second year.

Officials say that the Tara company also has plans to introduce buses and electrically power two- and three-wheelers. While the two-wheelers will be in the range of Rs 9,999 to Rs 30,000, the three-wheelers are likely to be priced between Rs 85,000 and Rs 180,000.

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Review: Tata Growing Economy Infrastructure Fund NFO

Tata has come out with its so called Tata Growing Economy Infrastructure Fund. The fund is in the NFO period and it closes on 18th March 2008.
The Tata Growing Economy Infrastructure Fund, is said to invest in the so called Growing economies or emerging markets, a concept that I could never understand. India has been growing since independence, so are Brazil, Russia, China, Thailand, South Africa, blah, blah, blah, blah.

They are expected to invest in these so called growing economies and the infrastructure companies of these growing economies. They have namely 2 plans and styles in which your money will be betted upon, details of these 2 plans, A & B are included below.

So if an investor believes that the Tata Fund Money managers will be able to pick out the best performing stocks of the future in the infrastructure sector that too at a world level, then go for this fund NFO.

However, with so many infrastructure funds in offering currently, and so many in the pipeline, I could not understand how can TATA fund management have a heavy entry load of 3% that too on a minimum investment amount of 10,000. The usual conventional NFO’s will have 2.25% as entry load and a minimum investment amount of 5,000 only. Probably, the Tata Fund management believes firmly about their stock picking skills and they are much more confident about the response by investors to their fund.

Here are the fund details:
Name of the FUND: Tata Growing Economies Infrastructure Fund: (open-ended equity scheme – meaning any no. of the units can be created and redeemed based upon the demand and supply).

Price Rs. 10/- per unit with applicable loads during the NFO New Fund Offer.

Minimum Investment Amount (Both Plan A and Plan B): Rs. 10,000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter.

Investment Variations:

  Plan A: Investment objective of the scheme is to generate capital appreciation / income by investing predominantly in equities of companies in infrastructure and other related sectors in the growing economies of the world and in India..

  Plan B: Investment objective of the scheme is to generate capital appreciation / income by investing predominantly in equities of companies in infrastructure and other related sectors in India and other growing economies of the world.

Prescribed Investment Style:
  Plan A: Equity and Equity related instruments of companies engaged in infrastructure and infrastructure related sectors (in growing economies other than India: 51% - 70%; in India: 30% -49%), Other domestic equities, Debt & Money Market Instruments: upto 19%.

  Plan B: Equity and Equity related instruments of companies engaged in infrastructure and infrastructure related sectors (in India: 65% - 85%; in other growing economies other than India: 15% - 35%), Other domestic equities, Debt & Money Market Instruments: upto 20%.

Two Options for Investment: Dividend Option and Growth Option.

Applicable Load Structure: Entry load is very very heavy: For each investment amount less than Rs. 2 crores: 3%, for each investment amount greater than or equal to Rs. 2 crores: NIL. Now 3% is not a small amount of money, if you have to invest a minimum of 10,000

Exit Load: For each investment amount less than Rs. 2 crores: 1%, if redeemed on or before expiry of 12 months from the date of allotment. NIL if redeemed after 12 months from the date of allotment.

For each investment amount greater than or equal to Rs. 2 crores: NIL. NAV Publication / Resale / Redemption: Investors may try their luck on infrastructure of emerging economies by investing in the Tata Growing Economy Infrastructure Fund

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