Gujarat, once the home to the cheapest car on Earth, the Tata Nano, is now going to the other extreme producing the most expensive car from India. You can witness the grandiosity at the Vibrant Gujarat Investor Summit in January where a car plated with gold and silver with diamonds embedded into the precious metals would dazzle. The car will be on auction in the summit and the money from the auction will find its way into the chief minister's relief fund.

Mumbai-based sculptor, Rajesh Bajaj bears the onus of designing the car while a Rajkot company will take care of the plating. "The car is being studded with one lakh Swarovski crystals, 2 kg gold and 25 kg silver," Bajaj told a popular news daily.

However, the base price was not set. An estimate cost of the precious metals and crystals that are a huge amount in itself. The plating on the car would come to a cost of Rs 75 Lakh and the crystals, on the cheapest side would cost around 20 crore and if the most expensive ones are used, the cost could be as high as 80 Crore.

Bajaj is already in the Limca Book of records for the world's largest safa (a bridegroom's turban), shervani and a diamond-studded conch shell.

He adds, "The car is in the final stages of designing as more than a dozen artisans are working round-the-clock under tight security”. The Gujarat Heera Bourse (GHB) and a Mumbai-based firm would be financing this project.

(AW- Anil)