Gujarat plant to be ready by 2017: Suzuki chairman

Suzuki Motor Corp's new car manufacturing unit in Gujarat, being set up at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion), will be ready by 2017, its Chairman Osamu Suzuki said on Sunday.

"Currently we are constructing a new plant in Gujarat... we will complete it by 2017 with the support Chief Minister of Gujarat," he said at the Vibrant Gujarat, which is also being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said Gujarat is "definitely superior" in terms of infrastructure development and ease of doing business and hence the company "opted Gujarat as the next location for our plant".

SMC's plant is coming up at Hansalpur village of Ahmedabad district at an estimated investment of Rs 4,000 crore.

The plant is being planned with an initial capacity of 1,00,000 units a year, all of which will be supplied to Maruti.

The plant was originally proposed to be set up by Suzuki's Indian arm Maruti Suzuki India (MSI).

It was meant be MSI' first plant outside Haryana and third in the country after Gurgaon and Manesar.

Now, it is is being proposed to be set up another wholly owned company of SMC -- Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd. The transfer of the plant had run into a controversy last year after institutional inventors in MSI opposed the move saying it would hurt shareholders' interest.

This forced the company to tweak the agreement and seek shareholders approval for the same.

The meeting of shareholders is yet to be called. In June 2012, Gujarat government had allocated 700 acres of land to MSI near Hansalpur to set up a plant. At that time, it was announced that MSI will invest Rs 4,000 crore.