Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, is no more. Admitted to the Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai, the 86-year-old Tata Group patriarch passed away in the late hours of 9 October 2024 due to age-related ailments.

Spearheading the entry of Tata Motors into passenger vehicle manufacture rather than be a commercial vehicles manufacturer only, Tata took over the mantle of Tata Sons as the umbrella organisation of Tata Group of companies in 1991 from JRD Tata.

Chairman emeritus of the USD 130-billion salt-to-software group, Tata was always passionate about automobiles and aeroplanes as much as he was caring about animals. A skilled aviator who would fly a plane himself, Tata was also a philanthropist. 

Highlighting an ability to risk by acquiring business such as Corus Steel of UK, Jaguar Land Rover of UK (from Ford Motor Company) and develop products such as the Nano for the common people, Tata messaged on ‘X’ that the recent rumours circulating regarding his health should not be considered as he was undergoing check-ups for age-related medical conditions and was in good spirits

He was admitted to the hospital on 7 October 2024 with age-related medical conditions. He has left behind him robust organisations in the form of Tata Motors and others, which have set an example of how success is achieved and how benchmarks are set. 

Tata Motors began its journey in the late 80s in the passenger vehicle space with the Tata Estate, Sierra and later the Indica against the competition  that was superior in their abilities to make cars.  Tata drove Tata Motors from what looked like a failure to the success that it today enjoys in the passenger vehicle domain by building capabilities starting with the passnger vehicle factory within the company's Pune premises. 

While projects like the Nano peoples’ car were very close to his heart and an outcome of the ambition to provide the ‘middle-class’ families a safe mode of personal transport, Tata was quite passionate about cars himself.

While he was often seen driving a Honda City in Mumbai near ‘Bombay House’ (the Tata Group headquarters) and the NCPA where he launched the Indigo Marina estate based on the Indica platform, Tata loved loved fast cars and flying his own plane.

Born on 28 December 1937 to Naval Tata and Soonoo Commisariat, Tata was raised by his grandmother Navajbai Tata along with his younger brother Jimmy. He completed his degree in architecture in 1962 from Cornell University, New York. He did an advanced management programme at the Harvard Business School in 1975.

On the advice of JRD Tata, Tata turned down a job offer from IBM to join the family business and began his stint as an apprentice on the shop floor of Tata Steel, shovelling limestone and handling the blast furnace.

Taking charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company (Nelco) in the late 70s along with the Mumbai-based Empress Mills, Tata was the fourth generation in the dynasty.

Successfully steering the Tata Group out of the rough winds that it got into when some of the business such as Tata Telecom went down, Tata stepped down on 28 December 2012 on turning 75. He passed the reigns over to Cyrus Mistry as his successor.

As relations between Mistry and Tata soured, Tata moved ahead to take over the leadership of the Tata Group on 24 October 2014. He put N Chandrasekaran, who was then heading TCS, in the commanding position as the Tata Group chairman in January 2017.

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German automation and technology company Durr has launched Qflex, a system designed to decouple automotive drying ovens from specific heat sources. This development allows manufacturers to change energy sources, such as natural gas, electricity, or hydrogen, without requiring structural modifications to oven systems.

Durr plans to equip its oven range with centralised heating technology, focusing on two systems: EcoInCure and EcoSmartCure. The variable heating circuit enables operators to switch energy sources based on availability or cost.

The system uses a heating module that supplies heat to zones through a circuit. Operators can modify the heating module to change energy sources or integrate high-temperature storage units.

Dr. Heiko Dieter, Product Manager at Durr, said, “It is impossible for anyone to predict today what source of energy will be available in plentiful supply and at a reasonable cost tomorrow. If, for example, the gas supply is interrupted at short notice, there is a risk of costs increasing and even production being interrupted. Energy-flexible ovens guarantee an alternative supply in this case. If a source of energy is no longer economical, operators can switch to another source with minimal effort – without having to interfere with the oven’s structural fabric. Choosing a hybrid system also makes it possible to automatically switch to the cheapest energy source depending on the time of day.”

The EcoInCure oven uses a transverse design. The EcoSmartCure uses a longitudinal mode of operation with a stop-and-go principle. This allows for temperature control by heating bodies in phases, which reduces thermal stress on parts. Both systems are single-level designs intended for integration into new builds or existing plants.

The EcoSmartCure is undergoing tests for industrial use.

“The strong customer interest and two projects already underway confirm to us that we have hit the mark with this new development. Energy flexibility is no longer a distant vision. The Qflex technology in our ovens now offers a solution for responding flexibly to volatile energy markets and changing conditions in automotive production,” concluded Dr. Dieter.

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Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, has commenced production at its second manufacturing plant at Kharkhoda.

With this, the company has expanded its production capacity to 2.65 million units per annum across Gurugram, Manesar and Kharkhoda in Haryana and Hansalpur in Gujarat.

The new facility can manufacture 250,000 units, which takes the total production at Kharkhoda to 500,000 units per annum combined. It will produce the company’s popular Brezza and Victoris SUVs.

The expansion is part of Maruti Suzuki India’s expansion strategy to meet customer needs, and once fully operational the Kharkhoda facility will produce a million units per annum, making it the biggest four-wheeler manufacturing location for Suzuki globally.

For FY2027, Maruti Suzuki India aims to add 500,000 units capacity.

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Tier 1 automotive supplier Uno Minda has announced that its Board of Directors has approved the establishment of a greenfield manufacturing facility in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra.

The facility, managed through its subsidiary Uno Minda Auto Innovations (UMAIPL), will focus on high-voltage electric powertrain products for four-wheeler passenger vehicles.

The plant will manufacture and assemble Electric Drive Units (EDU) and Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT) systems. The expansion is supported by orders for these systems from an anchor customer. The project involves an estimated investment of INR 5.5 billion, funded through a combination of debt and equity. Capital expenditure will be phased over the next two years, with commissioning expected by Q2 FY2028.

This represents the second electric vehicle (EV) powertrain facility announced by UMAIPL, following the ongoing construction of its plant in Khed City, Pune, which is scheduled to start operations in H2 FY2027.

The expansion comes as the automotive market increases the adoption of advanced powertrains, including battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and range-extended electric vehicles.

Ravi Mehra, Managing Director, Uno Minda, said, "The Indian automotive landscape is undergoing a structural shift toward sustainable mobility, and Uno Minda is at the forefront of this transition. By establishing our second dedicated EV powertrain plant in Maharashtra, we are not only expanding our capacity but also advancing our product offerings with Electric Drive Unit and DHT. Our commitment remains firm: to lead the localization of high-voltage powertrain technologies in India, ensuring that our partners have access to global-standard innovation right at their doorstep."

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Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group company, hosted ‘Zinnovation 2026’ in partnership with V-Spark DeepTech Ventures. The company aims to achieve INR 20 billion in value delivery through AI-driven industrial transformation. The initiative focuses on accelerating the deployment of technology across mining, smelting and manufacturing operations.

The projected value is expected to be derived from several operational areas, including productivity improvement, cost optimisation, asset reliability and energy efficiency. The transformation also targets enhanced safety, improved mineral recoveries and accelerated decision-making across the company's mines and smelters.

V-Spark intends to extend these AI use cases to the broader manufacturing sector, which currently contributes 17 percent to India’s GDP but maintains lower levels of digital integration compared to other sectors.

During the event, Hindustan Zinc and V-Spark signed several agreements to move technologies from proof-of-concept to industrial scale –

• Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed with XCMG, Sandvik, STL Digital and AVEVA.
• V-Spark entered agreements with emerging firms, including Beta Tanks Robotics, Symboticware AI, Kernely, Uncharted Technologies, Infinite Uptime, Intellisense.io and Flutura.
• Hindustan Zinc is currently working with over 50 deep-tech startups on more than 100 projects through the V-Spark platform.

Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Chairperson, Hindustan Zinc, said, “The future of manufacturing will be defined by our ability to scale with intelligence. At Hindustan Zinc, we are embedding technology directly into the core of our operations to prove that an industry traditionally defined by grit can be led by data”.

Akarsh Hebbar, Chairman, V-Spark DeepTech Ventures, added, “Zinnovation reflects our commitment to moving innovation from pilots to performance, proving that a 3x to 4x return is a highly achievable reality for deep tech AI enterprises. This is how we create globally benchmarked, future-ready operations across industries.”

The forum highlighted specific industrial applications of AI, such as predictive maintenance, digital twins, autonomous systems and computer vision. Hindustan Zinc also demonstrated its existing digital capabilities, including tele-remote operations and a winder simulator for mining. The venture-client approach utilised by the company is designed to rapidly validate and scale technologies with measurable business impact.

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