Swedish transport solutions provider Scania AB has started making luxury buses and coaches here for inter-city and intra-city services across the country, a company official said on Monday.
"We are making world class luxury buses and coaches in India for safe and comfortable drives in cities and states across the country at affordable price," Scania commercial vehicles chief executive Martin Lundstedt told reporters at the new plant at Narasapura in Kolar district.
Set up at a combined cost of Rs.300 crore on a 40-acre area in the backward district, about 40km from here, the plant has a capacity to roll out 1,000 buses and coaches a year, with chassis from its adjacent truck production facility set in 2013.
"The modular plant will serve as a hub for Indian and export markets in Asia, West Asia and Africa to meet the growing industry and transport needs in developing countries and emerging economies," said Lundstedt.
The $10.7-billion global automotive major had set up the truck facility to roll out 2,500 units per annum for mining, roads, infrastructure sectors besides logistics.
"We will double the production capacity to 2,500 buses and 5,000 trucks over the next five years and ramp up our headcount to 800 from 300 presently," said Scania India's MD Anders Grundstromer.
With a view to increasing localisation, the company has tied up with a number of tier-1, tier-two and tier-three vendors and suppliers for sourcing components, accessories and spare parts.
"Our goal is to draw on local talent and competence and combine it with global experience. The gameplan is to make our Indian facilities part of our global network and create value across our global value chain," Lundstedt said.
The firm has secured orders from state-run transport corporations in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
"We have orders to supply 35 luxury buses from Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), 30 units from Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) and 150 coaches from private operators such as SRS Travels in Bengaluru and Golden Travels in Mumbai," Grundstromer said.
Though Scania is entering India a decade after another Swedish transport major Volvo came and consolidated its presence in trucks and bus segments, Grundstromer said he was upbeat on the Indian market, which is set to grow on economic revival and huge investment plans in building road network across the country.
