Tata Motors eyes Uttaranchal

Auto giant Tata Motors is holding talks with the Uttaranchal government to set up a facility in the state, with a top team of the company touring the Udham Singh Nagar area, according to official sources here today.

The team members of the company, headed by Managing Director Ravi Kant, visited the upcoming industrial estates in Udham Singh Nagar and held talks with top state government officials and Chief Minister N D Tiwari.

A special dinner meeting was hosted by Governor Sudershan Agarwal for the officials of Tata Motors at Raj Bhavan here last night. "Basically, the governor is playing a role of facilitator to attract investments in the state," a Raj Bhavan official said.

Speculation was also rife the Tata Motors would also like to set up a facility in Uttaranchal to produce the dream Rs one lakh car. But officials remained tightlipped in this regard.

Recently, group chairman Ratan Tata targeted annual sales of 1 million units, nearly equivalent to India's current size of the passenger vehicle market, for the new vehicle due for launch in 2008.

The company has planned a multi-location assembly of the car to cater for these volumes. Tata Motors has also decided to power this car with a Euro IV compliant 700cc petrol engine, rather than a diesel engine. Ratan Tata has said it will be a rear-wheel powered car, which means that the engine will be at the back of the car.

Top officials of the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (SIDCUL) confirmed talks were on with Tata Motors for the car-manufacturing facility in the state but refused to give more details in this regard.

Significantly, the talks came close on the heels of Tata Motors' move to place some critical parts order from a Canadian firm for its Rs 1 lakh car. The officials said Tata Motors would finalise its proposal in a month or two.

Significantly, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) last month also evinced interest in setting up a manufacturing facility in Uttaranchal, in addition to its Hardwar unit.