With Tata Motors threatening to move out of Singur, the Uttarakhand government today said it was ready to provide all facilities, if the company shifts the Nano project to the Pantnagar industrial estate in the state, where it already has a truck-manufacturing facility.
Chief Secretary Indu Kant Pande said he had held talks with Tata Motors officials to shift the Nano project to the hill state. "We will negotiate with them (Tata Motors) further," said Pande.
Similar comments also came from the ministry of industries. "We will certainly welcome the Nano project, which will be highly beneficial to our state," said Uttarakhand Industry Secretary P C Sharma.
The company has already been allotted 1,000 acres at Pantnagar and it is demanding 300 acres more.
At present, the Tata plant produces 225,000 Ace trucks per annum at the Rs 1,000-crore unit at Pantnagar. Nearly 75 ancillary units of Tata Motors have also set shops in the industrial estate with an investment of Rs 800 crore.
Tata Motors had come to Pantnagar keeping in mind the excise and other tax incentives under the central industrial package (CIP). Officials here said that Tata Motors could still avail of the CIP benefits as the package would expire only by March 31, 2010.
Tata Motors officials had earlier indicated that they could produce the Nano from all its manufacturing facilities including Pantnagar.
Besides Tata Motors, other top companies such as Bajaj Auto, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra and Mahindra and Hero Honda have also set up their units in Uttarakhand.