Masakazu Yoshimura of Toyota during the Toyota Camry launch in India in 2019. Pic: Kamal Narang
| Photo Credit: KAMAL NARANG
To mark 25 years of its operations in India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Ltd. (TKM) has announced fresh investment of ₹3,300 crore to set up a new plant (Plant 3) towards its next round of growth in one of the fastest-growing automobile markets in the world.
The company on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka Government to set up this plant with a capacity of 1 lakh units a year at its existing location of Bidadi near Bengaluru by 2026.
In 25 years, TKM group companies have cumulatively invested over ₹16,000 crore in India.
Initially the plant, to be funded entirely from international accruals, will operate in two shifts and would provide employment to 2,000 employees.
The company currently operates two plants with a total manufacturing capacity of 3,42,000 units per annum and has an employee base of 11,500.
“The Indian market has always been of great importance to us,” Masahiko Maeda, CEO, Asia Region said in a statement. “We are confident that with this new investment in India, we will further elevate TKM’s role in our global vision for a more promising future by creating sustainable mobility solutions that enrich people’s lives worldwide,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion Masakazu Yoshimura, MD & CEO, TKM said, ”As a future-ready mobility company, we are certain that the new plant will positively contribute through consequent employment generation and expand adoption of advanced clean technologies.”
The company said that this investment is a part of its continued long-term commitment for building upon the 25 years of its history by contributing toward the next 25 years of manufacturing in India.
TKM, which has been skilling students from economically challenged backgrounds, has now committed to train and employ more women in the shop floor towards bringing in diversity.
In all these years the company has sold over 2.3 million vehicles in India and the future focus remains to introduce clean and greener technologies for India.
“Looking ahead, Toyota will continue to focus on building ever better and greener cars thus delivering ‘Mass Happiness to All’ for meeting evolving customer needs by adopting multiple pathways to enable energy shift away from fossil fuel and aiming for CO2 mitigation in the fastest possible manner,” the company said.
(The writer was in Bengaluru at the invitation of the company)