Bridgestone to invest Rs. 2,600 crore

Signs MoU with Maharashtra Govt to set up a plant in Chakan

CREATING JOBS: Ashok Chavan (left), Maharashtra Chief Minister, with Takashi Urano, Vice-President & Senior Officer, International Tire Business Operations, Bidestone Corporation, at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. PHOTO: PAUL NORONHA

Bridgestone India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Maharashtra Government to facilitate the creation of a production facility to make passenger car radial tyres (PCR) and truck and bus radial tyres (TBR) at Chakan near Pune, Maharashtra.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Vice-President and Senior Officer, International Tyre Business Operations, Bridgestone Corporation, Takashi Urano.

The facility in Chakan will entail an investment of around Rs. 2,600 crore (50 billion Japanese yen) which will be made in a phased manner. At full capacity, the plant will employ around 1,800 people and has a capacity to make 10,000 units of PCR and 3,000 units of TBR a day by 2020. The company is likely to start production of passenger car radial tyres by January 2013 and TBR by August 2013.

Bridgestone India is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, Japan. It already has a plant at Pithampur near Indore, Madhya Pradesh, set up in March 1998, which produces PSR tyres and at present has about 1,280 employees. It produces around 13,500 tyres a day and plans to start production of TBR tyres there in 2011. Bridgestone is already among the leading companies in the Indian market of tyres for new vehicles and for replacements.

“We welcome this initiative by Bridgestone and are confident of the impact that will have on our economy. Apart from significantly contributing towards large-scale job creation, Bridgestone's new manufacturing plant will emphasise Maharashtra's position as a leading global business hub and the most attractive investment destination in the country,” Mr. Chavan said.

Mr. Takashi Urano said, “Bridgestone is a strong believer in the India success story and we are confident that the country is well on its way to becoming one of the most influential and powerful economies in Asia. Apart from the near 10 per cent predicted sustained growth, we view India as a highly robust economy with extremely sound fundamentals, and a highly evolved regulatory environment. “The opportunities that India offers within infrastructure and its allied sectors are tremendous.”