Tamil Nadu yet to allocate land to us, says M&M

Company was asking state govt to allocate 200 acres of land for testing & automotive facility

The Tamil Nadu government was yet to allocate land for Mahindra & Mahindra’s automotive plant and testing facility in the state, said Executive Director Pawan Goenka on Wednesday.  This has led to uncertainty in the fate of the plant, which was initiated in 2011. The project was supposed to attract up to Rs 2,000-crore investment.

However, Goenka refused to comment more on this.

The state government officials were not available for comments.

The delay has already cost Rs 300 crore to the company. The group, which was planning to produce tractors here, set up a facility in Telangana in 2013 to manufacture 50,000 tractors a year. Mahindra is looking for 400 acres at Cheyyar, in southern Tamil Nadu.  The automobile major plans to set up a testing ground spread over 200 acres in phase I. In phase II, when the company looks to take up an expansion across India, it will set up an automotive plant for four-wheelers.

Mahindra had earlier said Tamil Nadu was important for the company and since its R&D was here, wanted a plant along with a testing facility. The company said one of the major challenge was it did not have testing facility in India and needs to go to UK, Australia or Korea to get it done.

The automotive plant will cater to both domestic and export markets. The company has already invested around Rs 650 crore in the Mahindra Research Valley on the outskirts of Chennai with about 2,500 people.