Gujarat’s auto sector began in 2009 when Tata Motors set up a nano manufacturing plant in Sanand, about 50 km from Ahmedabad, and since then the state has attracted significant investment from domestic and international companies.
Now, with the global trend towards electric mobility, the Gujarat government is looking to position itself as a leading hub for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing.
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To this effect, the company signed a memorandum of understanding worth Rs 13,000 crore with Tata Group in June this year.
The 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit will be held from January 10 to 12, 2024 in Gandhinagar.
The biennial summit serves as a platform for businesses and governments to explore investment opportunities and establish partnerships.
Experts believe that future-proof infrastructure such as the Dholera Special Investment Zone and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is bound to change the country’s prospects in the auto sector.
Ratan Tata, former chairman of the Tata Group, recalled how the company decided to move from West Bengal to Gujarat in 2011.
“We relocated our nano factory from West Bengal and unfortunately felt the need to leave. We looked for a location that would give us the security and stability we wanted. “Tata said.
Since 2009, the sector has developed in parallel with the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS), which was launched by the then Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2003, and the event is a platform to attract investments in the sector. It becomes.
In 2011, Ford Motor invested Rs 5 billion in the Sanand plant. In 2014, Suzuki Motors invested 14,784 million rupees and created 9,100 jobs.
In 2022, Tata Motors acquired the Ford plant in Sanand.
In 2017, MG Motors acquired GM India’s Halol plant with an initial investment of Rs 2 billion and an annual production capacity of 80,000 units. This is his MG’s only manufacturing facility in India.
The success of Gujarat’s automobile sector is due to the fact that 13 percent of the state’s total foreign direct investment goes into this sector, while nationally the automobile sector attracts 5 percent of the country’s total FDI. is reflected in.
The state’s automotive sector is currently worth $3 billion, with over 800,000 vehicles exported in 2020-21, making it a significant exporter of vehicles and auto parts.
Recalling Suzuki Motors’ initial investment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “13 years ago, when Suzuki came to Gujarat for its manufacturing unit, I thought that if our friends at Maruti could drink Gujarati water, it would be a perfect model.” I said, ‘I’ll have a good idea where it is,”’ he said. It’s about development. ”
Over the years, Suzuki Group has invested over Rs 28,000 crore in Gujarat.
Rahul Bharti, Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki, said the vibrant Gujarat Global Summit led to increased investment in the sector.
“Maruti Suzuki decided to invest in the state in 2012 and signed the agreement when Mr. Modi was the Prime Minister. Since then, we have been participating in every vibrant Gujarat summit. “It is impressive to see the size of this forum growing exponentially over the years,” the scale and amount of investment announced,” Bharti told PTI.
The Mandal Becharaj Special Investment Region (MBSIR) has an investment of USD 3 billion and hosts major companies such as Maruti Suzuki and Honda, with a total annual production capacity of over 1 million vehicles.
It is a center for both the automotive and auto parts manufacturing industries.
The government has also set up the International Automotive Center of Excellence (iACE) as a joint venture between the Gujarat government and Maruti Suzuki India Limited to focus on research, development and innovation in the automotive sector.