Ex-Hyundai chief plans auto city

BVR Subbu in talks with spares firms and overseas VCs for project in Andhra Pradesh.

Hyundai Motor India's former president B V R Subbu is proposing to develop an 'Automobile City', a one-stop shop for automobile industry, with a multi-thousand crore rupee investment in Andhra Pradesh.

He is apparently in talks with several players from automobile industry, including auto component manufacturers and overseas venture capitalists, to join the project.

While discussions with regard to promoting the project have been going on for the past couple of months, Subbu, in a first concrete step in this direction, met chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy here on Monday and briefed him about his plans through a presentation.

Prior to this meeting, the former Hyundai official, along with Laxmi Parthasarathy, principal secretary, industries, government of Andhra Pradesh, visited Tada in Nellore district, where he proposes to locate the project.

State government officials said Subbu's proposal was at a preliminary stage and was being examined by the government. With Tamil Nadu already emerging as a major automobile hub and Chennai having a well-developed international air and port connectivity, the promoter of 'Automobile City' has chosen Tada, bordering Tamil Nadu, as a strategic location to establish automobile manufacturing operations.

Though full details are not yet available, Subbu proposes the project as an end-to-end solution for automobile makers with manufacturing of various auto components and other facilities proposed to be readily available under one roof to set up their shops.

According to sources, Subbu has sought about 6,000 acre land among other governmental support for the proposed project.

Andhra Pradesh, despite several efforts, has not been able to make any inroads into the automobile manufacturing sector so far. One of the reasons attributed to this is the lack of a well-developed auto ancillary base in the state.