Gujarat, in the past few years has emerged as home to some of the biggest auto makers in the country. The Indian car makers prefer Gujarat as the destination to set up factories owing to a large number of reasons, which include better labour-industry relations, good road transportation facility, plenty of water and electricity supply and its geographical location in the country. Gujarat even has ports, which facilitates in exports of vehicles to western countries. Apart from this, around 38 per cent of the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor highway will pass through Gujarat alone, making it a suitable destination to set up factories so that the vehicles manufactured can be transported easily to two metropolitan cities in the country.
Some of the auto makers, which have set up its plant in Gujarat include General Motors, Tata Motors, Ford, Peugeot, Atul Auto, OREVA and Asia Motor Works. Apart from this, many auto makers plan to set up its manufacturing plant in the state in the next few years. Ceat tyres and Apollo tyres are also present at Halol in Gujarat.
General Motors India, which has its one of the car manufacturing units in Vadodara, was the first major auto maker to set up its plant in Gujarat, way back in 1990s. When Tata Motors decided to shift its Nano plant from Singur, West Bengal in 2008 to Gujarat, the company, within three days received 1,100 acres of land at Sanand paving way for the auto maker to easily set up plant there. This was a leap in the history of the state towards becoming the Automobile hub in the country.
American auto giant Ford and the French auto maker Peugeot also plans to start manufacturing at Sanand by 2014. On the other hand, Indian auto giant, Maruti is also looking for land at Sanand to set up manufacturing plant there. Two wheeler makers Bajaj and Hero are also among those who plan to set up manufacturing plant at Sanand.
The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi had earlier this year said, "The journey started with Tata Nano, Ford, Peugeot, and now Maruti has entered in Gujarat which will strengthen the 'brand Gujarat' as a globally preferred business location." Modi also pointed out, "Manufacturing and engineering sector in Gujarat contributes over 27 per cent to state GSDP and overall 9 per cent to the national engineering output."
The Chief Minister further added, "There are more than 30 engineering clusters and more clusters are emerging like Sanand- Viramgam, Mandal-Becharaji, Halol-Savli, Anjar, Santhalpur. This will make Gujarat a global hub in the engineering sector as a whole."
The Gujarat State Government, in order to attract investors, provide tax benefits to companies having a minimum investment of Rs. 1,000 crore, given that they adhere to the timeline and start production within a specified period. Gujarat, for all these reasons have emerged as one of the largest automobile hub in the country and it is certain that more number of companies would move to Gujarat in the next few years.
