One question that goes beyond Nano is of profitability: will Nano drive Tata Motors’ profits higher or has the company, in a bid to keep the Rs 1 lakh price tag intact, taken a beating on margins? Tata refused to comment or be drawn into any discussion regarding profits — or anything other than Nano, for that matter. But the answer came from another market that reads signals and reacts in nano-seconds: the stock market. On the National Stock Exchange, the Tata Motors share price fell by 2.7 per cent to close at under Rs 750 — 23 per cent below its 12-month high. Whether it’s Nano to blame or a variety of other factors remains to be seen.

In the coming weeks and months, much will be written on Nano, for it affects not only the fortunes of a company worth Rs 30,000 crore, but the industry itself. Will Maruti lose some of its customers and the resultant marketshare to Nano? Will Honda’s buyers trade two wheels for four? Will it be Nano or a host of other inexpensive cars that consumers will buy? Will the 250,000 Nanos that roll out of Singur (the Rs 1 lakh price tag is ex-Singur) by the second half of the next financial year have any political dents on it?

On the last question, Tata did have an out-of-the-way comment. According to him, investing in West Bengal was a “leap of faith” since several other states wanted him to invest there. He also said the state government has been “supportive in difficult times”. Whether that was the beginning of an emerging diplomat or the truth, only time will tell. But the fact that Nano also had to carry the burden of India’s fragmented political economy is something that corporate India will have to increasingly learn to live with.

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