The Hindu Business Line : Motorola team visits Chennai; looking at investing up to $300 m

A TEAM from Motorola, the mobile handset and telecom equipment manufacturer, was in Chennai on Thursday as part of the company's efforts to identify a location to assemble mobile handsets.

The team, according to reliable sources, visited sites in Sriperumbudur and Oragadam, both on the outskirts of Chennai, and also held discussions with senior State Government officials.

According to the sources, the company is looking to invest up to $300 million (about Rs 1,350 crore) in the facility.

The team wanted to know from the Government the incentives that it will be eligible for and how soon the Government will be able to hand over the land, if the company chooses a location in the State.

Fiscal sops: The officials made a presentation on the incentives offered by the Government for large investments. The State's industrial policy allows for structured fiscal incentives, which include tax breaks.

If Motorola decides to set up base near Chennai, the State Government will recommend that its facility too be accorded product-specific special economic zone status, as was done in the case of Nokia and Flextronics, both of which have announced investments in Tamil Nadu.

The Motorola team that visited Chennai on Thursday included Mr Stuart C. Reed, Senior Vice President-Chief Supply Chain Officer; Mr Carl Thielk, Corporate Vice-President- Integrated Supply Chain; Mr Rich Valin, Corporate Vice-President-Finance; Mr Khoo Sui Leng, Senior Director, Integrated Supply Chain, Global Logistics and Fulfillment, Asia-Pacific Region; and Mr Henry Mohan, Director-Asia Supply Chain Operations, Networks.

The sources said there is a good chance that Motorola would decide on Chennai to set up its manufacturing plant, considering that Flextronics, which manufactures electronic equipment on contract basis for Motorola, has selected a site at Sriperumbudur, along the Chennai-Bangalore national highway.

VW team meets CM

It is learnt that a top-level team from Volkswagen, the German car manufacturer, met the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa, and officials on Wednesday.

The company is interested in setting up a plant in India, either to assemble or manufacture cars. A team from the company had visited Chennai more than a year ago and also other States, including AP. According to reliable sources, the TN Government is hoping that the German car manufacturer will see the inherent strengths in investing in the State and take a decision at the earliest.

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