M&M to invest Rs 4,000 cr in Tamil Nadu

The company has acquired 450 acres land at Cheyyar to set up a new automotive plant

Mahindra & Mahindra has acquired 450 acres land at Cheyyar in Thiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu to set up a greenfield automobile plant. The company would invest about Rs 4,000 crore in this plant in two phases, a top Tamil Nadu government official said.

"We have allotted land to the company and they will be investing Rs 2,000 crore in the first phase. The company will be setting up a test track in the Phase-I, followed an automotive plant," C V Sankar, additional chief secretary to government, industries department, government of Tamil Nadu told Business Standard.

He said M&M will invest another Rs 2,000 crore in the second phase of their investment. The government will be signing a memorandum of understanding with the company during the forthcoming Global Investors' Meet scheduled on May 23 and 24.

The company will immediately start the work the test track. Later, it will work on automotive plant as part of phase-II expansion, that would be taken up after company completes investment in Chakan plant, Maharashtra. However, it is not known what products the company would manufacture at their new plant in Tamil Nadu.

Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director, Mahindra & Mahindra, had met then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in June 2012 to explore opportunities for setting up a manufacturing plant in the state. But the land was not allocated to the company immediately for various reasons.

When Mahindra Ford was planning to set up a greenfield facility, the Tamil Nadu government pitched in with a super mega project policy, which resulted in Ford setting up their facility at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai. Similarly, when Mahindra and Renault wanted to set up a facility in 2006 again, the Tamil Nadu government managed to grab the investment, after it brought out the ultra-mega project scheme.

Mahindra & Mahindra invested around Rs 5,000 crore in Tamil Nadu and about 36,000 jobs were created, including setting up a Mahindra World City, an integrated business city, which houses industrial units like BMW, Sundaram Fasteners, Brakes India and others. The City also houses Mahindra Research Valley (MRV), the research arm of Mahindra & Mahindra.

The government of Tamil Nadu, which is organising its first ever Global Investors' Meet next month, is targeting an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore. Already, several industries have shown interest in investing in Tamil Nadu and the government would be signing MoUs later. The focus areas are Aerospace, Textiles, Automobiles and auto components, IT and ITeS, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and infrastructure among others.

"The government is also promoting aerospace sector in the state through the new aerospace park set up at Sriperumbudur near Chennai. Already 11 companies have taken land and there would be 30 companies by end of the year with at least Rs 1,000 crore investment," Sankar added.

As part of the event, the government is holding a SME Convention, B2B and B2G meetings. Around 6,000 delegates from India and 14 countries including US, UK, China, Taiwan, Germany, France, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan are expected to attend the investors' meet.