Pantnagar gears up to gain from Singur's loss

Amidst deepening suspense over the future of the Nano car project at Singur, speculation is rife in this industrial town of Uttarakhand that Tata Motors will add a four-wheeler plant to its existing Ace truck factory in Pantnagar.

Tata Motors owns 1,000 acres in this rapidly industrialising town in the prosperous terai region of the state. About 30 per cent of it is learnt to be vacant.

State government officials, who are keenly following the developments at Singur where the world's cheapest car project has hit a rough patch, said there is a strong possibility that Tata Motors may come up with a new four-wheeler manufacturing plan at the existing facility.

"We think they may come out with some new four-wheeler venture at Pantnagar," a State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand official told Business Standard in Pantnagar after talking to company officials, adding there was nothing specific at the moment.

On their part, Tata Motors officials at the plant refused to comment on any new development as far as Pantnagar was concerned. "Please excuse us," said a Tata Motors official in Pantnagar adding, they are not authorised to talk to reporters.

Ever since the problems at Singur erupted and Tata Motors said it could shift the plant out of West Bengal, there has been widespread speculation that the company may move the project to Pantnagar.

Large tax concessions are available to industry in Uttarakhand and the other northern hill states of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. A number of automobile companies including Tata Motors, TVS Motor, Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto have set up production facilities in these states, especially to combat the rising cost of key inputs like steel.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Uttarakhand government has assured that it would provide another 200 to 300 acres of notified land to Tata Motors in case it shifts its Nano project to the state.

The nearby vendors of Tata Motors are also not sure about any new plan of the auto giant. Enquiries at various ancillaries here revealed that top Tata Motors officials are not sharing any information with them. "We don't know what is happening at the high level. But nothing is happening at the Ace motor facility also," said an official of Delphi TVS, a vendor of Tata Motors.

But the vendors are also keen to see if the company brings them some good news at Pantnagar. At present, nearly 64 ancillaries of Tata Motors have set up shop near the Ace mother plant. Most of the vendors said they can supply equipment and components meant for Nano or any other four-wheeler.

Pantnagar, which was till recently only known for its agricultural university, is the latest industrial boom town of the country. Dozens of companies, including Tata Motors, Nestle, HCL and Dabur, have made sizeable investments here.