Suzuki Motor Corp chairman Osamu Suzuki on Friday met Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to review the progress of the two projects in the state being set up by its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki India.
Suzuki was accompanied by Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) chairman R C Bhargava and company’s MD and CEO and Kenichi Ayukawa. After the meeting with the chief minister, Bhargava told reporters here that the projects are on track and are scheduled to start production from the first site by 2015-16.
MSI is planning to set up two new plants in Gujarat, off which one proposed near Mehsana with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore will have capacity to roll out 2.5 lakh cars annually by 2015-16, besides a skill development centre.
The delegation is scheduled to visit the site for the proposed second plant of MSI in Gujarat. “We shall be going tomorrow to the site for a visit to take a look how are the villages and what is the approach to them,” Bhargava said, in reply to media query on Saturday’s visit to plant site.
When asked about the acquisition of land parcel for MSI’s second proposed plant in Gujarat, Bhargava said: “for second plant, 500-600 acres of land was to be acquired….one portion has been acquired or not I am not sure.” He clarified that first unit at proposed first manufacturing facility of MSI near Mehsana will come up with an investment of between Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 2,200 crore.
Country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Friday reported its highest ever quarterly profit at Rs 1,147.5 crore for the period ended March 31, up 79.4 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
Commenting on the company’s result, Bhargava said they were above the market expectations. “Yen has depreciated…and we have been taking slew of cost cutting measures for the last two years and their impact is visible now,” Bhargava told reporters. The company’s first manufacturing facility is proposed to come up at Hansalpur near Mehsana, for which it has been allotted over 600 acres of land by the Gujarat government.
The second facility proposed in Gujarat is proposed to come up at Vithlapur around 40 kilometre away from the first plant. The company has projected to have total production capacity of 20 lakh units by 2015-16, including the proposed enhanced production (17.5 lakh units) by mid of 2013-14 at its Manesar plant in Gurgaon.
