MUL, Suzuki meet this week on investments

Maruti Udyog and Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) brass will meet in Japan this week to finalise the action plan for the mega investments announced by SMC recently.

A MUL team led by its managing director Jagdish Khattar is currently in Hamamatsu, Japan, where the global headquarters SMC is based. MUL had announced recently that together with SMC, it will invest Rs 6,000 crore in India over the next five years.

This includes setting up a new car plant by MUL and investment by SMC in a diesel engine manufacturing plant.

The new car plant, the first major investment under the UPA government, is estimated to generate 1.3 million jobs and contribute over Rs 20,000 crore to the GDP while leading to an investment of Rs 7,500 crore in the auto component industry.

Besides reviewing the trends in the Indian car market, the discussions are likely to focus on MUL's R&D plans including the future launch of premium hatchback, Swift, which MUL engineers have designed in collaboration with SMC engineers in Japan.

SMC has indicated a capacity of 300,000 units per annum for its proposed diesel engine plant in India. The MUL team is likely to provide inputs on the emerging scenario of diesel cars in the Indian market.

Hamamatsu is also said to be keen to know more about MUL success in J D Power Customer Satisfaction and Sales Satisfaction surveys. There will be a presentation on this so that SMC can share the best practices with its subsidiaries worldwide.

MUL had a total income of Rs 9,751 crore (Net of Excise) in 2003-04, a growth of 31 per cent over the previous year.

Net profit stood at Rs Rs 542.18 crore, up 270 per cent over fiscal 2002-03. In the first half of this fiscal, MUL has achieved a growth of 21 per cent in unit sales.