Tata Nano is perfect for Bangladesh, says Nitol Niloy's chairman
Tata Nano might have fizzled out in India but it's growing strong in Bangladesh. Back when it was first launched in 2008, Abdul Matlub Ahmad, the chairman of the Nitol Niloy Group, Tata Motors Ltd's manufacturing partner in Bangladesh, had ordered four of them from the first series. Now, he's back with a business proposal, which might revive Nano's future prospects. Here's more.
According to Ahmad, Tata Nano has "tremendous potential" in Bangladesh due to the inadequate road space and "terrible" congestion witnessed in the country. Nitol Niloy Group believes that Bangladesh is a "perfect market" for Nano and wants to manufacture the little wonder over there. It already assembles commercial vehicles under a JV with Tata Motors, now it wants to include passenger cars as well.
According to Ahmad, almost 90% of the cars in Bangladesh are imported. The government levies huge import duty on them, even if they are reconditioned, used cars. Nano, if imported as CBU (completely built unit) would attract 175% import duty on its price, but if Ahmad's firm manages to import it as CKD (completely knocked down), they'd have to pay only 55% import duty.
Tata Motors has been given two months to make up their mind about supplying components, for assembling Nano and other passenger vehicles, to Bangladesh. If they don't show interest, Ahmad said that he will start looking for another partner. However, if Tata Motors does agree, he is confident that one out of every two cars sold in Bangladesh will have the Tata name.
