Tata Nano to roll out from Gujarat

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GANDHINAGAR: Tata Motors today shifted the Nano project to Sanand near Ahmedabad, announced plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore, and declared that efforts will be made to roll out the world's cheapest car from a make-shift plant to meet the deadline.

An agreement was signed by Ravi Kant, managing director, Tata Motors, and Gujarat Industry Secretary Gauri Kumar in the presence of Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Motors, said: "This is an extremely momentous day and a very happy day for us because we have been through a rather sad experience in West Bengal despite all the help from the state government. The Gujarat govt moved so quickly and with so much enthusiasm... We now have a new home."

"The Gujarat government is already in possession of the 1,100 acre site and will help Tata Motors establish a new dedicated mother plant with the shortest possible time lag and least possible increment project cost," he said.

Together with Tata Motors, about 60 vendors would also move to the new location.

Asked about the over-all deal offered by the Gujarat government, Tata said, "it is as good as or slightly better than the one we had previously (in West Bengal)." Gujarat was one of many states in the race for Nano car manufacturing facility.

To begin with, Tata Motors would produce 2.5-3 lakh cars annually and the capacity is expandable up to 5 lakh cars per annum, Tata said.

"The Nano project was conceived as something that would provide an affordable car to the vast number of Indian families. It had evoked great deal of ridicule initially, and the greatest vindication to the set of the new engineers is that many companies are now manufacturing small cars. India has become the hub of small cars. We are happy to inform that we are building in Gujarat in a conducive environment, and may change the way in which people travel not only in India but also across the world. I assure the CM that we will be good corporate citizens, and enhance the quality of life of the people of Gujarat. I would like to thank the CM and his colleagues for making this our home so fast and so quickly. Urgency was the need of the day... we will do the best with Gujarati labour and Gujarati skills, and do our best for the national cause."

Welcoming the Tatas, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said, "Tatas and Gujarat have started a new chapter of partnership which will give a new direction and dimension to the state. "After the Nano car project, Gujarat will carve an important place for itself in surface transport."

"While Ratan Tata is here, let me remind people that about a 100 years ago, the then British Governor had invited people to invest and Jamshed Tata had helped the state... Now Ratan Tata has come... I welcome him. I assure him that this project is about the national spirit. I have heard that various countries had offered Tata land for manufacturing it there, but I am happy that it has stayed in the country and is now in Gujarat."

Following is the press release issued by Tata Motors

TATA MOTORS’ NEW PLANT FOR NANO TO COME UP IN GUJARAT

Chosen site is at Sanand, near Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad/Mumbai, October 7, 2008: Tata Motors today announced that the mother plant for the Nano will be relocated to Sanand in Gujarat.

The company had received overwhelming support from several states for relocating the 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.

The integrated project, comprising the mother plant and the vendor park, will come up on an area of about 1100 acres. The plant, to begin with, will produce 250,000 cars per annum. The capacity is 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.

Speaking at the announcement, Mr. 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.”

While awaiting 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.

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri said the first Tata Nano  will roll out from the Dehradun plant.

He also informed that the state lost the project to Gujarat as they did not have additional land immediately available to meet the requirement of Tata Motors.

Updated at 1220 hrs: Within days of exiting from West Bengal, Tatas have decided to relocate the Rs 1 lakh Nano car project to Gujarat after scouting sites in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Tata Group chief Ratan Tata and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would jointly announce the project in the state later in the day, officials said.

Tatas have identified the site at Sanand, near Ahmedabad, where the state government will give 1,000 acre land from the Anand Agricultural University for the project.

The new project site was finalised last evening after yet another visit by the Tata Motors officials.

Ever since the Tatas faced political resistance in West Bengal for their project at Singur, various state governments, including Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, were in the race to woo Tatas to set up the manufacturing facility for the cheapest car in the world.