BMW beams in on Hyderabad

German luxury car manufacturer BMW seems to have homed in on Hyderabad as the destination to set up its Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) automobile assembly plant in India.

A five-member senior BMW team, which came to Hyderabad on a two-day visit, to seek fresh assurances on the commitments on facilities and incentives offered by the previous government, has given concrete indications to the state industry department officials that were are no longer interested in setting up operations in Chennai.

The high-level BMW is understood to have dropped its plans to visit Chennai after listening to the assurances given by the political leadership in the state.

According to government officials, BMW is planning to set up the plant with an initial investment of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) and later upgrade the facility with another investment of another Rs 500 crore. The entire project is expected to take off in the next 24 months.

Besides giving fresh commitment

on the facilities offered to the plant by the previous TDP regime under Chandrababu Naidu, the state officials led by the Industries minister Botsa Satyanarayana have welcomed new suggestions from the BMW representatives. The BMW team had first visited the state last year when Chandrababu Naidu was the chief minister.

State government sources told Business Standard that the state government had assured the BMW team that it would help the company representatives get all the necessary clearances pertaining to FDI and other formalities at the centre in the earliest possible time frame.

The fact that the Congress is in power at both the Centre and in the state seem to have swung the BMW deal in favour of Andhra Pradesh. The car manufacturer had earlier seriously thought of setting up operations in Chennai, according to sources. Beside other facilities, the German luxury car manufacturer has requested the state government allot land for setting up the assembling plant.