If Messrs Khattar, Kim, Tata, Toyoshima, Birla, Vij, Friedman, and Montanari are happy, there's reason for it. Actually, as any of the gentlemen named in the sentence will tell you, there are around 50,000 reasons, each riding around on four wheels. That's the extra number of cars India's passenger car makers sold in the first four months of 2003, as compared to the first four months of 2002. With the met department predicting a good monsoon-don't you know; the fate of just about every market in India is linked to the rains-2003 may be all that the Indian car industry prayed for in its two years in the wilderness, and then some.

Carmakers can take some of the credit for that. This year has already seen one new brand and six new models, and there's promise of more to come. Better still, none of the launches have been the bored let's-do-something-too kind.

Chevrolet Forrester, for instance, priced at around Rs 15.5 lakh has redefined the premium UTE market, hitherto represented by the Pajero (Rs 30 lakh-plus if imported; Rs 20 lakh-plus if assembled locally) and pretender Safari. Forrester was followed by Maruti's Grand Vitara and Honda's CRV, both in a similar price band. And if Hyundai launches its Terracan, UTE-shoppers can choose from a profusion of riches.

The companies had help from an unexpected quarter, India's Finance Minister Jaswant Singh. Even the most inveterate optimist expected the excise duty on cars to come down by 4 per cent in the budget; it came down by 8 per cent. Not surprisingly, March 2003 was the best month in the history of several models, Maruti 800 and Toyota Qualis included. The sales-heavy harvest, marriage, and festival seasons lie ahead and some car makers are predicting a market in the region of 600,000-plus cars this year.

General Motors India, stodgy thus far in India, has been a whirlwind of launch activity in the first four months of 2003. It has launched Opel Vectra, Chevorlet Forrester, and two variants of Corsa Sail. The Sail twins, priced at around Rs 4.5 lakh mark the company's entry into the volumes segment of the market. "We took a conscious call last year that we have to look at volumes, enter mainstream markets, and price our products attractively," says Vinai Dixit, Vice President, Marketing, GMI. And if the buzz in the market is to believed, GMI may relaunch Daewoo's Matiz. That should make its objective of doubling unit sales to 17,000 this year a breeze.

Other companies haven't been idle. Toyota launched the Corolla, sales of which have climbed rapidly to about 800 per month, and has been toying with the idea of bringing in a SUV, perhaps Landcruiser. Maruti, its Vitara launch behind it, is considering offering some big saloons and talking about a new car that will replace the 800. Ford could launch its UTE, Everest. And Hyundai has completed a market-study for its small car, Getz, although its president B.V.R. Subbu would like to "wait to see how business confidence shapes up post August, once the monsoon is through". Still, we've got a feeling 2003 could be it-remember that oft-quoted saw, It never rains, but it pours.

-Suveen K. Sinha

Vroommmmmmmm!
The upwardly mobile young Indian pro has a new passion-Formula 1.

Formula One: The new new thing

It's a man thing. Every time there is a Formula 1 event on the tube, some 600,000 passionate viewers (all men) switch on their sets. Around 25,000 readers buy Indian racing magazine F1 Passion, which comes out with 16 issues a year (one for each of the 16 F1 races). And tour operator SOTC sent 400 Indians to Kuala Lampur for the Malaysian Grad Prix earlier this year. Move over English Premier League, the smart set has a new niche obsession, Formula 1. "F1 involves a thorough understanding of the mechanics and the technology involved," says Sudhir Chandran, Editor, F1 Passion. "It creates a set of loyal viewers who identify with the global audience of the game."

Some of the recent upsurge in interest can be attributed to the first live telecast of the season, that of the the Fosters' Australian Grand Prix (March 9) on Star Sports. Viewership touched 0.83 per cent in Delhi and 0.68 in Mumbai, not bad for a niche programme. The channel, says Manu Sawhney, its MD, "is also increasing the scale of on-ground activities." That includes an arrangement with 27 watering holes across eight cities to air the live telecasts. And Doordarshan and Ten Sports have jumped on to the bandwagon, making India one of the few countries in the world where more than one broadcaster carries a live telecast of the races. Companies have hopped on for the ride too: apart from international F1 sponsor Foster's, Indian brands such as BPCL's Speed and Hero Honda, even the local arms of it companies h-p and Computer Associates organise events, roadshows, and offer F1 promotional merchandise.

Rarely is F1 seen alone at home; it is invariably watched at the most happening dive in the city. Today, from Sidewok in Mumbai to Urban Edge in Bangalore to Pebble Street in Delhi to Trackside at Salem, a clutch of outlets is leveraging the F1 craze to its advantage. Check out your city's place-to-watch-F1-in; who knows, you could meet one of the Pit Babes, courtesy the sponsors. Sexist? You bet. F1 is a man thing.

-Dipayan Baishya

CAMWORK
Spy, Lies And Videotape

Hutch's Asim Ghosh: On tape

You do not need spy cameras to prove that the WLL-mobile service of Reliance and Tata Tele-services spills over into towns in adjacent states, but given the blind eye of the regulator, Hutch has taken the trouble to film the provision of this illegal service by the two companies in Gurgaon, Noida, and Ghaziabad and submitted the tapes to the regulator. Hutch need not have bothered to trudge all the way to the suburbs. As any Delhi dealer of these companies will proudly proclaim, the service is available in satellite towns. Now we await TRAI's reaction to Hutch's candid camera work.

-Vandana Gombar

DASH BOARD

A++
This column has never awarded a grade to an inanimate object. Still, The Matrix Reloaded, which set a new box office record on its opening day is anything but inanimate. Better still, its spin doctors ensured the release was covered in a clutch of publications from Time to Maxim to Wired. Go on, take the red pill.

A
Just three years after its entry into the Indian market, Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) became the country's largest seller of scooters in April: it sold 19,506 units as compared to Bajaj Auto's 14,827. This could be the beginning of a new trend or it could be a blip (although 5000 units is a tad high for that). Still, it is enough to earn Haruo Takiguchi an A.

EXECUTIVE TRACKING
Ramesh Ramanathan's On A Roll

Ramesh Ramanathan: Mr Phoenix

He's had more (professional) lives than the proverbial feline. Ramanathan has moved seamlessly from the paints industry to sanitaryware, from time-share holidays to internet access, and from tyres to retail.

Along the way he has worked with some of India's biggest names: Shalimar Paints, Sterling Resorts, Club Mahindra, and Sify. In March 2002, the RPG Group hired the 47-year-old Ramanathan as the managing director of its two tyre plants in Sri Lanka.

He turned them around and as a reward of sorts was recalled to the mainland as President of the group's supermarket chain FoodWorld. "Retail gives you a wide canvas," says the Carnatic-music aficionado. As to what gives him so many lives, we wish we knew.

Saumya Sen: Seeking fulfillment

Saumya Sen Quits

Claiming "advertising is not fulfilling after a point", the 36-year-old Creative Director of O&M (Delhi) is leaving the agency at the end of June. "Agencies are limited by the very definition of (their) framework," says Sen who plans to launch Leapfrog, which will "work with NGOs and the government and voice social concerns through a platform that networks with various modes of communication".

Sen's partner in this venture is his actress wife Nandita Das and the name is a play on his fascination with the amphibian: he collects cloth, ceramic, stone, anything frogs. Das, a known social crusader may have stirred the activist in Sen (they were married in 2002), but the latter pins his reason for dumping 13 years of advertising-experience on the lack of integrity in the trade. That's some admission.

Arvind Pande: Life after SAIL

Arvind Pande's Next Step

The man of steel struck back last fortnight after hanging up his boots as the chairman of sail. Now 60, Pande has signed on as the non-executive Chairman of the Rs 450-crore IVRCL, a Hyderabad based engineering construction firm, a move prompted by the desire of the hitherto family-managed company (it is part of the Sudhir Reddy group) to go the professional way. "IVRCL is a company with potential," says Pande. "It built the Hyderabad and Bangalore airports". No arguments.

-Moinak Mitra