Maruti Suzuki India Recently Started Spadework to Set up Its Second Facility in Gujarat

PTI reported that Maruti Suzuki India recently started spadework to set up its second facility in Gujarat with acquisition of another 600 acres, in addition to its existing plan to invest INR 4,000 crore for setting up a plant in the state.

Maruti Suzuki said that it expects about 6% to 7% sales growth in 2013-14 after closing the current fiscal with about 6% rise in vehicle sales.

The country’s largest car maker said that it will not enter the premium segment of passenger cars in India and will protect its image of a small car manufacturer.

Mr RC Bhargava chairman of Maruti Suzuki India said that “We have land at two locations in Gujarat. The first one is offered by the government and the second one is a private land that is directly acquired by us with some negotiations by the government.”

Mr Bhargava said that the company has acquired about 600 acres, located about 40 kilometer from the first site near Mehsana.

He said that “The second location is for our future expansion. Once we exhaust the capacity at the first site, we will move to the second one.”

When asked if MSI is shifting its focus from Haryana, where it has recently witnessed severe labor unrest, he said that “We are not moving away from Haryana. We have two plants in the state and going to Gujarat after utilizing the capacity completely at Gurgaon and Manesar. We will do the same once we exhaust the capacity in Gujarat also.”

He added that the company will do the ground breaking ceremony for the Gujarat facility early next year.

He further added that “We are going to end this year with a growth of about 6% over last year. Overall, there is a sign of softening in India’s car market due to various factors. We hope to grow 6% to 7% growth at best in next fiscal, which is going to be the election year and so we don’t expect anything drastic happening.”