Honda Motorcycle lays foundation stone for Tapukara Plant in Rajasthan

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) laid the foundation stone of its second two-wheeler production plant at Tapukara Industrial Area (near Bhiwadi, Rajasthan). HMSI will invest about Rs. 500 crore in the new plant that will be ready by second-half of 2011 and will have annual capacity of 6-lakh units. The plant is expected to employ nearly 3,000 people. The new plant will take the company's total production capacity to 2.2 million units annually. "We have reached our peak capacity at Manesar plant, so we are starting our second plant at Tapukara," said HMSI President and CEO Shinji Aoyama. HMSI had increased capacity at its Manesar plant, which is mainly used for scooters, to 1.55 million units (as of the end of March 2010). This will be further expanded to 1.6 million units by next year.

The Manesar plant, which employs around 6,500 people, currently manufactures Activa, Dio and Aviator scooters and CB Unicorn, CB Unicorn Dazzler, CB Shine, CBF Stunner and CB Twister motorcycles. The output at the upcoming 2.4 lakh sq metre facility can be expanded later up to 12 lakh units annually and the investment can go up to Rs 1,100 crore. Shinji Aoyama, President and CEO, HMSI said that the new plant would help the company meet it's growth targets. HMSI sold 1.27 million units in 2009-10 and this year, aims to sell 1.55 million units. The company aims to export 1.15 lakh during this fiscal compared to 80,000 units in 2009-10. HMSI is expecting sales to grow by over 20% this fiscal.