Foton picks up speed on India project, four years after agreement.

Nearly four years after signing an agreement with the Maharashtra government for setting up its manufacturing plant at Chakan, Foton’s India project, which has been languishing for two years, seems set to gather some speed.

However, there has been very little progress on the Chinese industrial park the company plans on developing in the State.

The Chinese auto maker, which is already conducting trial runs for a few of its products, has received the necessary clearances for the project. Since the company took possession of 250 acres of land around two years ago, the project will have to be up and running by 2017 as per the provisions of the present day government policy for mega projects.

In 2011, Beiqi Foton, China's largest CV-maker, had signed the MoU for investment of around Rs. 1,700 crore to set-up a plant with an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles. The facility, its first full fledged manufacturing plant overseas, was expected to go on stream and begin production of commercial vehicles by 2013. The subsequent slowdown in the Indian CV market, however, has proved to be a major momentum breaker.

Last December, Beiqi Foton Motors Co. Ltd. signed an MoU with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to also set up a Chinese industrial park in the State.

Speaking to BusinessLine on the progress of the project, Bhushan Gagrani, CEO, MIDC, said: 'The land is yet to be identified. We have shown them two sites - one at Shendra and the other near Nashik -where we have land in our possession. Around Chakan, where the Foton project is located, we have around 500-600 hectares of notified land.'

The Chinese team has said it will conduct feasibility studies and revert, he added.


HBL