Date:17/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/17/stories/2006081705591600.htm

Business

M&M to make `Ingenio' platform

Staff Correspondent

The auto major will make multi-purpose vehicles at the Nashik plant

MEGA PLAN: Vilasrao Deshmukh (right), Chief Minister of Maharashtra, with Keshub Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, at a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday. — Photo: Paul Noronha

MUMBAI: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has announced the setting up of a Rs. 550-crore new project, code-named `Ingenio,' at its Nashik manufacturing facility in Maharashtra. The plant will make new multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) platform — Ingenio. A memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed here on Wednesday between M&M and the Maharashtra Government.

Production is expected to commence by the year 2008 and with this additional investment, the production capacity at the existing Nashik plant will increase to 1.50 lakh units annually. The vehicles will be built on an all-new platform with the latest technology and the `Ingenio' will come with contemporary styling and spacious interiors.

It will generate employment for over 500 employees in the Nashik plant and will also generate additional employment of more than 2,500 in and around Nashik.

Advanced facilities

Keshub Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra group said, "our decision to launch our most prestigious project after the Scorpio and the Logan in Maharashtra is a tribute to a partnership that began with our inception. Our earliest plant was in Mazgaon in Maharashtra and now some of our most advanced facilities are in this State. In keeping with this tradition, I believe our latest plant will contribute to sustaining the economic and industrial momentum of the State.''

M&M's automotive division has five manufacturing plants with three plants located in Maharashtra and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Uttaranchal. In Maharashtra, its plant in Mumbai and Nashik make multi-utility vehicles, while engines are produced at the Igatpuri plant. Light commercial vehicles and three-wheelers are manufactured at the plant in Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh and Haridwar in Uttaranchal. Mahindra's to invest Rs 1,500 cr in Maharashtra, announce facility