Business

Delphi Corp’s Chennai facility in three phases

CHENNAI: Delphi Corporation laid the foundation for the construction of a new electronics manufacturing facility at Oragadam near Chennai. This will be the fifth facility for Delphi in India.

Delphi will be investing close to Rs. 250 crore in the new facility, which is planned to be built in three phases and is expected to be operational towards the end of 2009, according to Ashok B. Ramaswamy, President and Managing Director, Delphi India.

The foundation was unveiled here on Monday by Jeffrey J. Owens, President, Delphi Electronics & Safety and President, Delphi Asia Pacific; Ashok B. Ramaswamy, President & Managing Director, Delphi India; M. F. Farooqui, Principal Secretary to the Industries Department in Tamil Nadu and M. Velmurgan Director, Guidance Bureau, Industries Department, Government of Tamil Nadu were present on the occasion.

Mr. Ramaswamy said the new facility would come up on 10 acres. In the first phase, it would manufacture immobiliser, body computer, instrument clusters and driver information systems. In the second phase, it would produce safety products and in the third phase audio products. With the setting up of the Chennai facility, Delphi’s entire range of products that were being manufactured outside India would now be produced in India itself. At present, it had four facilities located in and around Delhi and a technical centre in Bangalore.

Mr. Ramaswamy said Chennai was becoming the hub for the manufacturers of small and medium-sized cars. Electronic and automotive industry was also booming. These factors drew Delphi to set up shop here, he said.

Mr. Owens said at present the new facility would be assembling all the components. The local content of these components would be increased only with the demand, he added.

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