8MAY 2024ASHOK LEYLAND TO LAUNCH NEW VEHICLES TO BOOST THEIR MARKET SHARERUSSIAN CRUDE MOUNTS TO 40 PERCENT OF INDIA'S OIL IMPORTSAshok Leyland, the main company under the Hin-duja Group, plans to introduce six new light com-mercial vehicles (LCVs) weighing between 2 to 3.5 tonnes over the next year. This initiative aims to boost their LCV market share from the current 20 percent to 25 percent, according to a senior official.Amandeep Singh, president of LCV, international op-erations, defense, and power solutions at Ashok Leyland, revealed, "We have six versions of the Dost lined up for this year. We'll be unveiling one model every other month, starting at the end of this month. These models will offer different payload capacities, incorporate various technol-ogies, and cater to diverse volume needs."Singh emphasized the company's goal of achieving a 25 percent market share in the short term, aiming for the next two years. He noted the market trend shifting towards vehicles in the 2-3.5 tonne range, which benefits Ashok Leyland. LCVs represent the largest sub-category within the light truck segment in India.In India's light truck market, Mahindra & Mahindra holds a dominant position, especially in small commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of less than two tonnes, as well as those ranging from 2 to 3.5 tonnes. While Tata Motors remains the second-largest player in the overall LCV segment by volume, it has faced challeng-es from Ashok Leyland, particularly with the Dost and Bada Dost branded light trucks in the 2-3.5 tonne catego-ry. It's worth noting that Ashok Leyland doesn't currently compete in the sub-2 tonne segment, where Tata Motors sells the Ace branded small and light trucks. In April, Russia's share in Indian crude oil imports surged to nearly 40 percent, up from 30 percent in March, nearing its previous peak of 42 percent in July. This increase was driven by higher global oil pric-es, prompting Indian refiners to boost their intake of discounted Russian barrels to mitigate their average crude purchase costs.According to energy cargo tracker Vortexa, Indian refiners imported 1.78 million barrels per day (mb/d) of crude oil from Russia in April, marking a 19 percent increase from March. This volume surpassed both Chi-na's imports of 1.27 mb/d and Europe's 396,000 barrels per day (bp/d) of seaborne Russian crude for the same month.In April, Russia outpaced India's next three top suppliers - Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE - combined in terms of crude oil imports. However, India's overall crude imports experienced an 8 percent decline month-on-month to 4.5 mb/d in April. Imports from Iraq, the second-largest supplier, plummeted by 31 percent to 776,000 barrels per day (bp/d), while those from Saudi Arabia dipped by 6 percent to 681,000 bp/d. Addition-ally, imports from the UAE dropped by 40 percent, and those from the US decreased by 15 percent.Iraq's share in Indian imports fell to 17 percent in April from 23 percent in March, while the UAE's de-clined to six percent from nine percent. Notably, Rus-sia's share in April exceeded its average share of 35 per-cent throughout 2023-24. TOPSTORIES
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