JOIN USIndia's largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp on Friday commenced the construction of its new manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh, which would see an investment of Rs 1,600 crore, and be operational by December 2019.
Expected to be the eighth manufacturing facility of the auto major, which already has five plants in India, and one each in Colombia and Bangladesh, the new plant is spread over 600 acres in Chittoor district.
"The facility will have an annual installed capacity of 1.8 million units, which will be achieved in three phases. The company will invest Rs 1,600 crore in setting up the manufacturing facility. The plant is expected to be operational before December 2019," Hero said in a statement.
Hero MotoCorp Chairman, Managing Director and CEO Pawan Munjal, along with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone of the new facility at Sri City.
"The new facility will generate over 12,000 new jobs," Munjal said.
The new facility will generate 2,000 jobs at the plant, and is expected to generate an indirect employment of 10,000 jobs. Given the strategic location of the plant, this can also act as a key hub for the company to export its range of products from this facility to some of its key overseas markets.
The combined installed production capacity of the company is currently 9.2 million units per annum. With the additional capacity of this plant, Hero's combined annual production capacity will reach 11 million units.
The existing manufacturing facilities of the company in India are at Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Gurgaon and Dharuhera in Haryana, Neemrana in Rajasthan and Vadodara in Gujarat. The Company also has two manufacturing facilities overseas - Villa Rica in Colombia and Jessore in Bangladesh - to cater to the growing demand for its products in international markets.