Hope for young entrepreneurs

NEW DELHI: For aspiring engineers and entrepreneurs, it will be more than a means of cheap transport. In fact, if Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata has his way, it could even earn them their livelihood.

In the coming years, Tata has a plan to invite entrepreneurs to assemble the small car across the country, just like his vehicles are assembled overseas. For a small investment to set up these plants, these entrepreneurs will be supplied the vital components like engine, power train and chassis. The assembly plants would just put the car together at their works.

Similarly, Tata also plans to recruit local service engineers who will be provided with basic amenities like a cellphone, tools and training. They will then be given a few customers in their vicinity, so that these customers can directly contact this person to look after the car.

Says Tata: "I believe this is a way of distributing our wealth to the larger society."

Though the plans are still at a nascent stage, the design of the car has already incorporated elements that would make assembly and easy servicing possible. For example, Tata Motors and Bosch have dumbed down the electronics for fuel injection inside the engine quite a bit to make it easily serviceable. The car has fewer welded parts, again to ensure that entrepreneurs will not need to invest in expensive high tech machinery to put the parts together.

Industry expert are divided if such a scheme is simple to work out. Car assembly needs high degree of expertise and quality control. And going by the few available examples, it could also be a capital intensive process as the entrepreneur would have to buy car kits before he assembles them.

Tata Motors officials were not willing to talk about the plans for the project yet. Says an executive: "It will be a while before the idea is implemented but after we saw the expertise of our vendors in designing components for the car, we are confident that there will be others who will capable of putting the car together."

There is a buzz that there are a few international companies who have approached the Tata group to assemble their cars in India. Austria-based Magna Steyr known for its expertise in contract manufacturing is said to be talking to Tatas for this project.