GM India to hire 1,000 people, expand output by 80%

General Motors India today said it will hire about 1,000 people by 2012, in line with its plans to expand the current production capacity by over 80% to 4.1 lakh units per annum at its two facilities.

The car maker, which has two production plants at Halol in Gujarat and Talegaon in Maharashtra, is investing $500 million (over Rs 2,200 crore) by the end of next year to increase its capacity and consolidating R&D activities.

"We are investing $500 million to expand our output at both Halol and Talegoan. To meet the requirement, we will probably be hiring 1,000 people by the end of next year," General Motors India President and MD Karl Slym said.

The additional headcount will include new recruitments in its R&D division at Bangalore, he said, adding: "majority of the new people will be inducted at the two plants".

GM India currently employs around 4,000 people and half of them are engaged in R&D activities at Bangalore.

The company is expanding production capacity at Halol to 1.1 lakh units annually from 85,000 units currently, while that of Talegoan to up to 3 lakh units from 1.4 lakh units by the end of this year.

"Construction activities are going on at the two plants for expanding the capacities. Both the plants will see about $250 million investment each by next year," Slym said.

The company is also expanding the capacity in order to roll out its Chinese partner SAIC's commercial vehicles (CVs) in India by the end of this year.

Slym said the CVs from the partner's portfolio will be rolled out from Halol, where about 70,000 units capacity will be made available for SAIC's vehicles.

"We have two production lines at Halol, one each for commercial vehicles and cars. The CV line will produce Tavera from GM's portfolio and other SAIC's vehicles," he added.

The company is also setting up a new press shop at Halol that will be operational by the end of next year.

Besides, GM India will expand the output of its engine manufacturing unit at Talegaon in next year.

"We don't require so much engine volume at present. We will increase the capacity of the unit next year to 3 lakh units from 1.6 lakh units at present," Slym said.

Talking about sales, Slym said the company is aiming to sell 1.5 lakh units in this year as against 1.1 lakh units in last year.

"So far the market is looking good and the growth will be there. We have set a target to achieve a total sales of about 3 lakh units in 2013, for which we are aiming to cross 2 lakh units sales in 2012," he added.