PM meets Suzuki Motor Corp advisor, discusses EV investment opportunities

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Suzuki Motor Corporation Advisor Osamu Suzuki to discuss opportunities in investment, innovation, manufacturing of electric vehicles, and recycling centres in India.

"In a meeting with Advisor @suzukicojp Osamu Suzuki, PM @narendramodi appreciated Suzuki's transformational role in India's automotive industry," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

In the meeting, they "discussed opportunities for investment, innovation, manufacturing EVs, recycling centres in India", Bagchi said.

Prime Minister Modi is in Japan on a two-day visit to attend a summit of the Quad leaders at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida.

In March this year, Suzuki Motor Corporation announced that it would invest around 150 billion yen (about Rs 10,445 crore) by 2026, for local manufacturing of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and batteries in Gujarat.

The company's wholly-owned arm Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd (SMG) would invest Rs 7,300 crore for the construction of a plant for BEV batteries on land neighbouring SMG's existing plant by 2026. Also, SMG will invest another Rs 3,100 crore for increasing production capacity for BEV manufacturing by 2025.

Another group firm Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India Pvt Ltd (MSTI) will invest Rs 45 crore in the construction of a vehicle recycling plant by 2025.

Last year in November, MSTI -- the joint venture between the Maruti Suzuki and Toyota Tsusho Group -- commenced operations of the vehicle dismantling and recycling unit at Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

The facility, spread over 10,993 square metres, has a capacity to scrap and recycle over 24,000 ELVs (end of life vehicles) annually.

In November 2019, the two partners announced a joint venture for setting up the vehicle scrapping and recycling unit.