PTI reported that Maruti Suzuki India gained as much as 2.2% intraday on December 28th 2012 Friday after agencies reported the company is considering setting up its first overseas assembly plant in Africa as it seeks to revive exports.
Mr RC Bhargava chairman of Maruti Suzuki India said that the company is scouting for new export markets and Africa is more or less untouched.
The report said that "Countries that are on the cusp of motorization may be key to Maruti's plan of doubling exports in the next four years as Europe struggles to recover from a slowdown, according to head of sales Mayank Pareek."
Among other developments, recently the company has 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. The company 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.
Mr Shinzo Nakanishi MD and CEO of MSI said that MSI is finding it tough due to the decline in European market. Last year we had a total export of 1.27 lakh units. This year we may be a little less than that because of the slowdown in Europe, which used to be our biggest overseas market.
Mr Nakanishi said that MSI has been exploring new markets to keep its overseas sales momentum.
