TVS Motor Company will take a majority control in the joint venture that is proposed to be carved out of the two-wheeler business of Mahabharat Motors Manufacturing Company (MMMC), with whom TVS had signed a memorandum of understanding in 2008 to provide technical support for the manufacturing facility in West Bengal.
TVS is now poised to play a larger role with a stronger presence in the eastern region.
For TVS, this type of joint venture marks a new chapter, company executives told this correspondent.
A team from TVS led by Director H. Laxmanan, along with that of Mahabharat Motors, met West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee on Saturday to discuss the proposed investment.
MMMC is owned by Prasun Mukherjee of Universal Success Ltd.
TVS executives told this correspondent that the minister handed over to TVS and its partner Mahabharat Motors, the in-principle permission granted by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation for the demerger of the two-wheeler business of MMMC into a separate company through the requisite court process. “After the demerger, TVS will invest in this new venture, subject to necessary regulatory approvals,” TVS said.
TVS had helped MMMC set up a manufacturing facility on a 45-acre plot in Uluberia in Howrah district. This was to be developed as a contract manufacturing unit of TVS. However, it got caught in the 2008 global meltdown and was shelved. It is being revived now with TVS planning to make own investments in the new venture with a larger role in the demerged company.
