Yamaha inks MoU for new plant near Chennai

India Yamaha Motor Pvt Ltd, an arm of Japanese motorcycle major Yamaha Motor Corp, today said it would set up its third facility in India, with an investment of Rs1,500 crore over five years. Yamaha announced this after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu government for the construction and operation of the new plant.

Production of two-wheelers at the new plant is expected to start by 2014 with an initial annual capacity of 4 lakh units and with 1,800 employees. Output will be ramped up to 18 lakh units by 2018.

The facility will be located at the industrial park in Vallam Vadagal on outskirts of the Tamil Nadu capital of Chennai. Construction is scheduled to begin in September 2012, a company statement said added.

Tamil Nadu is fast emerging as India's latest automotive hub, perhaps ahead of rival Gujarat. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa today told the state assembly that apart from Yamaha, the government had also recently signed MoUs with Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, Ashok Leyland-Nissan Motor Co, and Eicher Motors.

Yamaha had earlier said it was scouting for land in South India with easy port access with a view to making the country an independent export unit for overseas markets, particularly Latin America and Africa.

Yamaha has two manufacturing units at Surajpur in Uttar Pradesh and Faridabad in Haryana. The Surajpur plant produces motorcycles for both the domestic and export markets, while the Faridabad unit makes components.