Bookings for Tata Nano to open by month-end

fter an inordinate delay, bookings for the world’s cheapest car – Tata Nano – are expected to open by the end of the month. Tata Motors has tied up with PSU lender State Bank of India as a booking agent, which would also act as the sole financer for the car.

The booking amount for the car would be Rs 70,000 while the Nano would be launched next month from the company’s Pantnagar facility in Uttaranchal. The plant has a capacity to produce only 3,000 cars per month.

The Nano was slated to be launched by October 2008, but the project ran into problems after a local political party forced the company to shut down its complex at Singur in West Bengal. The Tatas then moved the project to Sanand in Gujarat.

The Sanand plant will have a production capacity of 2.5 lakh Nanos per annum, but commercial production will begin only next year.