Mumbai, July 17 - A gleaming lunar silver-coloured Nano was handed over to a proud owner here Friday to mark the commercial rollout of the jellybean-shaped small car, which has been drawing global attention since the prototype was unveiled last year.

Ratan Naval Tata, the chairman of the $62.5-billion Tata group who had promised to deliver what he has been calling the 'people's car' at just Rs.100,000 ($2,500) at factory gates, himself handed over the car keys to Ashok Vichare.

He also gave away the keys of the second, sunshine yellow, Nano to Ashish Balakrishnan, while the third went to kores India.

'There are three things in life which one cherishes - to own a house, buy a car and start a family. For me, the second dream is coming through,' Balakrishnan said. 'I now hope I can now settle down with a family soon.'

Vichare chose to drive the car straight to the Siddhi Vinayak Mandir, a temple dedicated to the elephant god, which is popular among celebrities and the average residents alike.