France-based automobile manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen (PSA) is finalising plans to set up its first car manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.
With this facility, PSA Peugeot Citroen joins the list of automobile manufacturers like BMW, Hyundai, Ford and Renault-Nissan that have already set up a plant near Chennai.
According to an official release, PSA has identified land at Sriperumbudur to set up a plant with an initial capacity of three lakh cars per year, catering to the domestic and overseas market.
"PSA has proposed to establish this Indian project as a 100% subsidiary of the parent company. After evaluating sites in various states, PSA has selected a site near Sriperumbudur, in Tamil Nadu," it said.
The company would provide direct and indirect employment to 20,000 people at the facility, besides also attracting a large number of auto-component manufacturers from France, it said.
A high level delegation from PSA, including PSA Peugeot Citroen CEO China (Asian Operations) Gregoire Olivier and Peugeot Citroen India managing director Frederic Fabre, senior managing director Jitesh Gadhia and Tamil Nadu Industries Minister SP Velumani called on Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at the Secretariat.
During the interaction, the Chief Minister thanked the PSA executives for selecting Tamil Nadu for the project and assured them of the government's support for the project, it said.
Headquartered in Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker in Europe and is ranked as the sixth largest automobile manufacturer globally. In 2010, PSA had reported a sales turnover of $67.30 billion (Rs 3.09 lakh crore), it said.