Lixil, a Tokyo-based world leader in manufacturing building materials and housing equipment, had its first sanitary ware unit in India inaugurated here by Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinarajappa in the presence of a host of dignitaries, including Japanese Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu and Industries Minister N. Amaranatha Reddy, on Wednesday. Addressing the gathering, Mr. Chinarajappa said it was a major milestone in the State’s journey towards becoming an industrial hub, and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu would not spare any effort in reaching that goal.
Industrial growth
He asserted that the Lixil’s manufacturing unit would give a big boost to the industrial growth of West Godavari, which was predominantly an agrarian economy.
Mr. Hiramatsu said Lixil’s foray into Andhra Pradesh was another significant step in the India-Japan bilateral trade, and stated that the Government of Japan was fully supportive of the Swachh Bharat programme.
Lixil Group President and CEO Kinya Seto said the new facility was set up with an investment of ₹400 crore (₹130 crore in the initial phase), and it had a production capacity of one million units per annum, which was scalable to two million units.
It would manufacture a select range of products for Lixil’s leading brands in India such as Grohe and American Standard. Eighty percent of its production would cater to the Indian market, and the remaining would be exported to the overseas customers. Mr. Amaranatha Reddy said Andhra Pradesh’s No. 1 position in Ease Of Doing Business rankings enabled it to attract reputed companies such as Lixil, and affirmed that greater emphasis was laid on the development of clusters in the Visakhapatnam-Chennai and Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridors in view of their importance for the economic growth of the Sunrise State.
Government whip Chintamaneni Prabhakar; MLA Ganni Veeranjaneyulu; district Collector K. Bhaskar; Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Executive Director (Southwest Asia) Yasujiro Miyake; Ryoji Furui, Counsellor of the Embassy of Japan; and Lixil CEO (Asia-Pacific) Bijoy Mohan were among those present.
