HM takes a hit and more

By Sumantra Barooah

Hindustan Motors, India’s oldest carmaker at 68 years, has informed the BIFR (Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction), as is mandatory if a company’s net worth gets eroded by over 50 percent of its peak net worth of the last four years. HM’s losses mounted to Rs 42.85 crore in FY 10 as against Rs 37.78 crore in the previous fiscal.

But HM insists that its financial performance will not impact the Ambassador’s production. It expects sales of the vehicle to be around 12,000 units this year. With additional sales and by taking measures to monetise non-core businesses/assets, HM hopes to turn profitable by end of this fiscal. HM is also in talks with foreign powertrain companies to replace the Ambassador’s 1.5-litre diesel engine. The company also has a new managing director. Manoj Jha takes over on May 19 replacing Ravi Santhanam who has resigned.