Johnson Plc of the UK is setting up an auto catalyst manufacturing facility in the country in association with the British firms long-standing Indian joint venture partner Arora Matthey.
The venture is claimed to be the first auto catalyst manufacturing operation to be taken up in India. It will come up at Okhla near Delhi where the work has already begun. The facility envisages an annual capacity for .5 million car catalysts and 1.5 million motor cycle catalysts, the British governments official magazine British Commercial News said in its latest issue.
The new venture targets Maruti Udyog whose majority of catalyst requirements is expected to be met by the new operation. It will also cater to the needs of other car companies. The facility is expected to become operational by the end of 1998.
The venture is meant to fully tap the Indian auto market as regards the requirement for catalytic fitments.
The demand in respect of cars as well as two-wheelers is bound to rise significantly because of the vehicular population boom in major cities vis-a-vis the governments increasing restrictive measures to control vehicular emissions.
A recent government notification has made emission control catalysts compulsory for all new petrol-driven four-wheelers in all major cities and the union territories besides about 20 other towns from June 1. Further, the government also plans to make emission control catalysts statutory requirement in the due course for the two-stroke petrol driven motor-cycles.
Another British firm Inalsa Flexonics has also announced plans to set up a new manufacturing facility for motor vehicle exhaust decouplers at Gurgaon in Delhi. The facility will become operational in the third quarter of this year and is expected to be fully operational in the fourth quarter. A significant proportion of the production aims at export, specially to the Asian countries.
Inalsa Flexonics is a joint venture of its flexitubes division and the flexonics division of Senior Engineering Group Plc.
