West Bengal's loss is Gujarat's gain. Tata Group has decided to set up the plant for world's cheapest car Nano in the West Indian state. Last week, Ratan Tata had pulled the Nano plant out of Singur in Bengal following a prolonged political battle over the land.
Tata Motors, on Tuesday, announced that the mother plant for the Nano will be relocated to Sanand in Gujarat.
After the company pulled out of Bengal, several states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh had promised land and support to the car plant. After examining various sites in these states and carefully evaluating offers from the respective governments, the company has concluded that the site at Sanand and the offer from the Gujarat Government is in the best interest of the project, says a news report, quoting company officials.
The integrated project, comprising the mother plant and the vendor park, will come up on an area of about 1,100 acres, says an Economic Times report. The plant will initially produce 250,000 cars per annum, and expandable up to 500,000 cars per annum. The project, including Tata Motors’ plant, vendor facilities and service providers, will together generate over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Motors, said, "The site in Gujarat, already under the possession of the state government, will help Tata Motors establish a new dedicated mother plant with the shortest possible time lag and least possible incremental project cost. This is Tata Motors’ maiden venture in Gujarat, and will broad-base the company’s manufacturing footprint. We are happy to contribute to Gujarat’s strong industrial progress by creating an auto cluster, which will have a cascading impact on the state’s economy.”
As they await the Sanand plant’s completion, Tata Motors will explore the possibility of manufacturing the Nano at its existing facilities at Pune and Pantnagar, and launch the car in the last quarter of this financial year, the report added.