ZF Steering Gear to invest Rs 150 crores for new plant in Pithampur

ZF Steering Gear India Ltd, the provider of steering gear systems to automotive industry, is planning an investment of Rs 150 crore to set up a greenfield project at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh. The company has already secured a plot on lease for the project, which is expected to start production by 2018. 

“With a view to expand the installed capacity and to have geographical advantage, the company has decided to set-up a new manufacturing unit at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh. The company has already taken possession of the leased plot and is working on its factory building and ordering of the machinery. The plant is expected to commence production in about 18 months from now,” said Dinesh Munot, chairman and managing director, ZF Steering Gear India Ltd, while delivering a speech at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on September 28, 2016.

With the sales of automotive showing study growth, the company expects the demand for auto components to pick up. “The Indian Government is formulating the ‘scrapping policy’ to mandatorily phase out all trucks and buses over 15-years old, in order to address the issue of air-pollution and safety. The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) is developing standards on how ‘end of life’ vehicles need to be scrapped. All these initiatives augur well for the economy, and in particular for commercial vehicle industry. Some slowdown seen in the demand for commercial vehicles over the past couple of months appears to be temporary phenomena and we expect the medium & heavy commercial vehicle market, this year, to grow by at least 10 per cent,” Munot added.

In order to cater to rising demand for its products, the company has been expanding its production capacity. Recently, ZF Steering raised the manufacturing capacity of hydraulic power steering gears at Shirur (Pune, Maharashtra) plant by 75,000 units to take it to 3.75 lakh units per annum.