Rs 5000-crore automobile plant with Kirloskar at Bidadi, Karnataka
The board of directors of Toyota Corporation is expected to give its approval for the Rs 5,000-crore automobile manufacturing plant in India on August 4.
The plant, to be located in Bidadi at Karnataka will be set up along with their joint venture partner the Rs 2,600-crore Kirloskar group.
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By the second week of August, the Karnataka government is likely to sign an MoU to this effect with the $ 133-billion US Toyota Corporation.
Touted to be the single largest foreign direct investment in India, the Toyota-Kirloskar combine will invest Rs 1,300 crore in the initial phase. The plant will manufacture the Kijang 10-seater vehicle, akin to the Tata Sumo. The plant is expected to be completed by 1998 end.
The state government which had appointed the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) as the nodal agency has provided many concessions for the project like a five-year tax holiday. The KIADB has already started acquiring 525 acres of land for the project at Bidadi. As a special concession, the project will be provided with a daily supply of 1 million gallons of water and 20 mw power.
Ironically, this automobile project will come up in the area where a multi-crore Japanese industrial township was planned. Last week, a high level panel consisting of officials from the Toyota Corporation, the Kirloskar group head, Vikram Kirloskar, the industries and commerce secretary N N Vishwanathan and KIADB officials met the Karnataka chief minister to discuss on the concessions to be given by the state.
Its interesting to note that, in neighbouring Pakistan, the Toyota corporations single unit manufactures the middle-level reasonably priced Corolla vehicle. The Toyota corporation, headed by Dr Soichiro Toyoda, has recently been moving away from the saturated western markets into new, emerging potential markets such as India. Nearly, 140 employees from the corporation including Toyoda himself, have visited India in the last one year since negotiations for this passenger car project began with the Kirloskar group.
The project happens to be the second venture for the Toyota group in India, after their attempt to invest in a DCM Daewoo venture for manufacturing light commercial vehicles in Delhi was abandoned.