The Mahindra group's decision to start this huge plant here has proved that Maharashtra remains the most favourite industrial destination", the chief minister said.
Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan today inaugurated a Rs5000 crore auto manufacturing plant of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd at Chakan, about 40 km from here.
Launching the facility spread across 700 acres which will have an installed capacity of 3 lakh vehicles per year, Chavan described the group's investment in the plant as " the single largest" in the state's industrial sector.
Chavan who congratulated the Mahindra group vice chairman and MD Anand Mahindra for setting up the plant at Chakan, generating significant employment opportunities, said it also emphasised that Maharashtra was still the most favoured industrial destination in the country.
"People have been talking about industry going out of the state. The Mahindra group's decision to start this huge plant here has proved that Maharashtra remains the most favourite industrial destination", he added.
The chief minister said creation of adequate industrial infrastructure was the state's high priority and a big chunk of the state's budget as well as public-private partnerships were being utilised to further strengthen it to meet the industry's needs.
He also assured the captains of industry that the entire state would have better air and rail connectivity in the next five years.
Chavan appealed to industrialists to start agro-based units in rural areas of Maharashtra and correct regional imbalance in the industrial development of the state by opting out of the Mumbai-Pune belt.
Chavan, responding to the pleas made by local MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil and MLA Vilas Lande, asked the Mahindras to offer employment opportunities to the locals whose land has been acquired for the sprawling plant.
The plant called " Mahindra Chakan", will manufacture Mahindra's range of products from the o.75 tonne Maxximo to the 49 tonne Mahindra Navistar truck. The company's new Special Utility Vehicle (SUV) AND Pik-Up range and product line for the US market will also be manufactured at the facility.
Talking to media persons after the plant inauguration, Anand Mahindra, MD, said it was a "proud moment" for the group which had set up the world's most "eco-friendly plant" from where an exciting range of vehicles would roll out.
Pawan Goenka, president of the group's Automotive sector said the plant was expected to achieve its full capacity production in the next four years.
He said a significant portion of SUV,and other products including medium to heavy trucks would be exported in due course.
About 60% of the supplies in respect of truck parts would be procured from Chakan and Pune region, Goenka added.
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