Kobelco sets up mfg plant at Sri City

Company will invest Rs 100 crore over the next three-four years

Kobelco Construction Machinery Company Limited, a group company of Japan’s Kobe Steel Limited, today inaugurated its first manufacturing plant in India in Andhra Pradesh.

Built on an area of 68,000 sqm, the plant is located at Sri City, a private industrial park featuring a multi-product special economic zone and a free trade and warehousing zone, about 55 km north of Chennai.

The facility will have assembly, painting and shipping lines to produce hydraulic excavators. It will initially produce machines of 20-tonne class with an initial capacity of 1,200 units per year.

 

“Kobelco expects to grow rapidly with initiation of local manufacturing. The total investment will be about Rs 100 crore over a period of about 3-4 years,” Vikram Sharma, managing director & CEO of the Indian operations said.

The plant will be a part of the existing Kobelco Construction Equipment India Private Limited (KCEI), a joint venture between Kobelco and the Itochu Group with the former holding 95 per cent equity. KCEI currently markets and services Kobelco brand excavators from its headquarters in Noida, according to a press release.

Inaugurating the plant, Shigeto Kotani, president, Kobelco Construction Machinery, Japan, said, “ Kobelco realised that increasing its presence in the steadily growing Asian region is vital for its growth. This led to the decision to build a plant in the Indian market. The construction machinery market is a global business and the Indian market has a huge potential after China in the growing Asian region.”

State industries department principal secretary Sam Bob invited Japanese investors to the state to set up their manufacturing operations.

Kobelco, a member of the $2.8-billion Kobe Steel Group, has plants at six locations in Japan, China, Thailand, US, Italy and the newly-set up one here.