Michelin announces Rs 4,000 crore investment in India
French tyre manufacturer Michelin will set up a new manufacturing facility at Gummidipoondi (about 40km from Chennai), for which it will invest Rs 4,000 crore over a period of seven years. Michelin intends to produce truck and bus radial tyres at this plant, which is expected to be operational by 2012. These tyres will initially be meant only for the Indian market, though Michelin may also cater to some overseas markets at a later stage.
Michelin's tyre manufacturing facility will be situated on a 290 acre chunk of land situated in the SIPCOT industrial estate at Gummidipoondi. Michelin, which already supplies tyres to companies like Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo in India, currently imports most of its tyres from its plant in Thailand.
This isn't Michelin's first foray into the Indian tyre market. The company first came to India with MRF in the early-1990s (the partnership was dissolved in the mid-1990s) and then set up a joint venture (for truck and bus radial tyres) with Apollo Tyres in 2003, which also ended in 2005.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Honda Scooters India sales up by 13.82%
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has announced a 13.82% increase in total sales during August this year, at 96,149 units, as compared with 84,476 units in August 2008. Motorcycle sales in this period went up from 30,454 units to 37,108 units, while scooter sales went up from 54,022 units to 59,041 units.
HMSI is looking at increasing production capacity at its plant in Manesar from the current 1.07 million units per annum to 1.5 million units per annum, by mid-2010. The company will also be investing about Rs 200 crore towards R&D activity in India and towards upgrading its two-wheelers to make sure they comply with BS-III norms.
SKF to Invest in India
The Indian subsidiary of Swedish auto component maker SKF is planning to invest Rs. 150 crores in India. SKF is a leading technology and solutions provider of bearings, seals and related products. It will set up a new manufacturing plant in Haridwar in Uttrakhand. SKF is the largest auto component manufacturing firm in India for bearings and seals for aerospace.
The new production unit will increase the manufacturing capacity of ball bearings by at least 30 percent. It shall be company's fifth manufacturing unit in India. SKF already has nearly 120 manufacturing units across the globe. The company has taken the decision looking at the increase in demand for auto parts. It had earlier put this investment on hold for past two years due to slowing demand.
"Auto sales have revived in the January-March quarter and we expect demand to grow in the future. As the economy is expected to improve in the next few months, we will be ready with the plant early next year," said SKF India MD Rakesh Makhija.
"Hero Honda is doubling production to one million motorcycles in Haridwar so a strategic decision be close to the client. We have a five-year lock in supply agreement with Hero Honda but shall develop the 10-acre facility to supply to other auto makers," he added.
[Via: caretradeindia]
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