CHENNAI:
Automobile
giant
Tata Motors
plans to build a vehicle
plant
in Tamil Nadu with a Rs 9,000 crore
investment
, expanding its play in the world’s third largest automobile market.
While the company didn’t specify whether the facility will manufacture commercial or passenger vehicles, analysts expect it to roll out passenger vehicles after a potential deal to acquire Ford Motors’ Tamil Nadu car plant collapsed. Tata Motors subsequently acquired the American company’s Gujarat car facility for over Rs 726 crore.
The flagship of the Tata Group, which is the second largest automobile player in terms of market value after Maruti Suzuki, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday in the state capital Chennai.
The plant, expected to come up in Ranipet district, near Vellore, will be Tata Motors’ second plant in south India after Dharwad in Karnataka. The Ranipet facility is expected to generate 5,000 jobs. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has set a goal of building a $1 trillion economy in the state by 2030. Tata Motors’ sister company Tata Electronics, which is aiming to become India’s first homegrown, full-service supplier to Apple, has invested Rs 7,650 crore to build a facility in Hosur in Tamil Nadu. Currently, the facility makes enclosures for iPhones.
Tata Motors’ deal is the second auto investment that Tamil Nadu has attracted in recent months after Vietnam-based VinFast announced a Rs 16,000 crore investment to build an electric vehicle plant in Thoothukudi. “Investors are preferring Tamil Nadu thanks to the existing infrastructure, ease of doing business and availability of talent and this is just a beginning as several manufacturers are going to enter Tamil Nadu,” said state industries minister TRB Rajaa.