The country’s two-wheeler major Hero Motors Ltd held parleys with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the company’s proposed Greenfield plant in South India and a decision on finalising the location of the new plant is likely to be taken shortly.

The proposed plant entails an investment outlay of about Rs 3,000 crore. The company has been evaluating several locations in South India, including Karnataka, the newly carved out State of Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh.

Pawan Mujnal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Hero Motors, held a detailed discussion with the AP Chief Minister during the latter’s visit to New Delhi on Saturday.

According to Government sources, the discussion centred around the State Government’s support and the likely incentives the State may be able to extend to the company once it is granted a special status. When new States are carved out, the Centre extends certain special incentives to encourage new industries. This makes for an attractive proposition for the Hero.

The State on its part suggested Chittoor district close to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The support extended would be discussed and a decision is likely soon, sources said.

Hero Motors has two manufacturing units in Haryana and one in Uttarakhand. It is set to commission its fourth unit in Rajasthan and is building a fifth one in Gujarat. The proposed plant in South will be sixth and aimed at addressing the southern market.

The company delegations have held parleys with both the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governments in the past and they were shown couple of options for locating their plant, including one site close to Hyderabad.

Senior TDP leaders spoke about the meeting late last night and indicated that the company management is likely to revert soon.

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