Gandhinagar: The Managing Director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Kenichi Ayukawa and its Chairman R C Bhargava today met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani here and apprised him about the company’s upcoming plant at Hanslapur in Gujarat.

The two top officials of the company during the ‘courtesy’ visit to the new chief minister who took charge on August 7 after change of guard, also expressed there gratitude for the positive co-operation for the ambitious project.

They apprised the chief minister about the progress of the vehicle assembly plant and related activities.

Mr Rupani on the occasion suggested the duo to provide more and more employment to the locals in the plant and also organize skill development programmes for them.

Notably India’s largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s third manufacturing site at Hansalpur near Mehsana, around 100 km from Ahmedabad and 60 km from the auto hub of Sanand is likely to start production by next year. The plant spread over six hundred acres will house three plants, with a total estimated capacity of 750,000 units a year. The estimated investment for it is around Rs 8,500 crore. The company is also likely to export its cars manufactured in this plant.

At an estimated investment of Rs 3,000 crore, the first of the three plants at Hansalpur has a planned capacity of 2,50,000 units per annum and is scheduled to go onstream in next year (Mid 2017). The initial capacity of the first assembly line of the plant would be 1,50,000 units that would be eventually scaled up to 2,50,000 units yearly.

The then Chief Minister Mrs Anandiben Patel had laid its foundation in January last year.

DeshGujarat