The Hindu Business Line : Tatas, M&M investing Rs 7,500 cr in Maharashtra

Leading vehicle makers Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra separately pledged to invest a total of Rs 7,500 crore to ramp up capacities in their facilities in Maharashtra.

While Tata Motors will invest Rs 6,000 crore over the next four to five years in its existing plants in the State to increase capacity by 40 per cent, M&M pledged to invest an additional Rs 1,500 crore at its upcoming Chakan factory near Pune.

This comes barely a week after Fiat India Automobiles Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture between Fiat and Tata Motors, signed a pact with the State Government to double its Ranjangaon plant capacity to 2,00,000 units with an investment of Rs 4,020 crore.

Mr V.K. Jairath, Maharashtra’s Principal Secretary, and Mr Ravi Kant, Managing Director of Tata Motors, signed the Rs 6,000-crore MoU. The Tatas will also be setting up vehicle testing facilities in Pune district.

Mr Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons, said: “This MoU with the Government of Maharashtra is a step towards realising Tata Motors’ plans to augment capacity at Pune plants to meet the increasing demands both in India and abroad.”

— Vivek Bendre

Pact signed: The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, and Mr Ravi Kant, Managing Director, Tata Motors, at the signing of memorandum of understanding in Mumbai on Monday.

Talking to presspersons after signing of the MoU, Mr Ravi Kant said the fresh investments would be used to increase the capacity of its plant to six lakh units.

Asked how the economic slowdown and rising inflation were impacting the auto industry, Mr Ravi Kant admitted that “things are getting tougher (for the auto industry).” He said the only way to partially offset the impact was to bring out new products and “keep the market excited”.

“We have lined up quite a range of products in the coming fiscal. Therefore, we believe that things will be relatively better for us than the rest of the industry in the coming fiscal,” he said

M&M’s launching pad

Vivek Bendre

New agreement: Mr Keshub Mahindre (centre), Chairman, Mahindra group, looking on as the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, shakes hands with Dr. Pawan Goenka, President, Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, during the signing of MoU in Mumbai on Monday. —

On the occasion of signing the MoU, Dr Pawan Goenka, President of Mahindra’s Automotive Sector, said, “We had decided to make Maharashtra the launch pad for our commercial vehicles. The additional investment plan of Rs 1,500 crore will allow us to create a manufacturing facility for 3,00,000 vehicles.”

The facility is being built in a joint venture with the US-based Navistar International Corporation.