After reports of shifting plans, KIA announces Rs 410 crore additional investment in Andhra Pradesh

Auto major Kia has stated that it has further investment plans of $54 million in Andhra Pradesh.

Kookhyun Shim, Managing Director and CEO of Kia Motors India, has announced the company’s decision during an interactive session on industry and investments with Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy at Amaravati on Thursday.

"Despite the COVID-19 global pandemic, we are happy to inform our plans of making an additional investment of $54 million for an upcoming project. As we prosper, we would invest more, creating more business opportunities in AP," Shim said.

The Korean car maker is operating a $1.1 billion plant in the Anantapuram district, close to Bengaluru, which started rolling out cars from last year.

Kia was in news in February this year as some reports claimed that the company is intending to shift its plant to Tamil Nadu. The plant with 3,00,000 cars annual production capacity was made fully functional only in December.

The contentious reports baffled the AP industry and investment department officials, with the opposition TDP remarking the news as resultant of “the anti-industry approach of the Reddy government.” The state and Kia officials denied the reports later.

The $54 million announcement translating to about Rs 410 crore investment made in the wake of the “shifting” controversies and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic has come as a major booster for the state.

The Kia official thanked the Reddy government’s support. “I believe Kia is building a strong relationship with the AP government and we will do our best to be a model foreign investment in the state.”

"From a foreign investor's viewpoint, the state has strong advantages like availability of human resources and accountable government officials to evolve as an industrial hub," Shim said, mentioning the convenience of air and seaports as an added advantage.

Shim even appreciated the Reddy government’s measures in preventing the spread of COVID-19 virus and easing the pandemic's impact on the economy.

Kia’s Anantapuram plant which manufactures its Seltos, Carnival models has resumed its production earlier this month, after the COVID-19 lockdown rules were eased for industry