Bookings for the Rs 1 lakh Nano will begin by February end. The booking amount for the world’s cheapest car will be around Rs 70,000. But, even after paying 70% of the car’s total cost, the wait could be quite long. Sources said that all dealers of Tata Motors and branches of State Bank of India (SBI) will accept bookings simultaneously across the country in the next three weeks. SBI will initially engaged 100 branches and take the number eventually to 1,000. Tata Motors and SBI have entered into an exclusive arrangement for the Nano car. SBI will not only act as sole lender to buyers but also offer its branches for bookings. The bank has said it will not pay any interest on the booking amount if a customer doesn’t get the allotment for the vehicle. As Tata Motors is eyeing initial bookings of over one lakh cars, the company hopes to collect around Rs 700 crore in just a few weeks. Allotment will be made through a draw and, going by projections even during this slowdown, those at the top of the draw would have the choice of becoming proud owners of the first Nanos, or getting a premium in the black market. Nano would be launched in March 2009 with cars rolling out from the Pantnagar plant in Uttaranchal. This plant can produce only 3,000 cars per month - just a fraction of the demand. Things will ease only after the cars roll out of Sanand plant near Ahmedabad which will have an initial capacity of producing 2,50,000 cars per annum. But the Gujarat plant will take at least one year to start production. Nano’s launch had been scheduled for 2008 but plans got derailed when Tatas were forced out of Singur in West Bengal.