Chief Minister, Gujarat, Narendra Modi will be embarking on a five day trip to Japan, which includes visit to the headquarters of Suzuki Motor Corporation on July 25, 2012. Through his visit, Modi will try to convince the officials of Japanese auto maker to shift the entire production base of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) from Haryana to Gujarat. The strategy is identical to the one that Modi adopted to lure Tata Motors four years back. According to the sources, the CM's plan revolves around the recent outbreak happened in MSIL's Manesar plant, which shall spin the circumstances in favour of Sanand.
Back in October 2008, Modi managed to persuade the head honcho of Tata Groups, Ratan Tata to transfer the production of its smallest and cheapest car Nano to Sanand. The attempt by the CM was made after the company faced a debacle at its production plant in West Bengal over land that belonged to the local farmers.
Modi will be the member of an extensive meeting with the top level management of both the companies Maruti and Suzuki on July 25, 2012 to discuss the idea in detail. This shows the determination of Gujarat’s CM to route the operations of the leading car maker in his respective state. According to a senior government official, who will also embark on the trip to Japan with Modi, the CM will meet Osamu Suzuki, Chairman of Suzuki Motor and Head of Suzuki Motor India, Shinzo Nakanishi in Hamamatsu. This five-day trip starting from July 22, 2012 will be his last trip to abroad before the elections that are due in December 2012.
Considering Maruti Suzuki's troubled history with workforce at the Manesar plant, Modi just need to convince the car maker a little. Apart from this, because of the labour strikes last year, the largest car maker of the country lost a significant market share in the Indian industry and ended up with major losses. In the latest violent conflict, the plant may get locked-out for a month, following the death of a General Manager belonging to HR department.
In June 2012, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki, R.C. Bhargava stated that the car maker is planning to shut-down the production at its Gurgaon factory to turn it into a powertrain manufacturing plant. According to him, MSIL is all set to shift its production potential to their in-construction plant at Mehsana, Gujarat.
There are no second thoughts about Modi's desire to turn his state into an international automotive hub. Before the commencement of his tenure as CM, the only reputed car maker present in the state was US-based General Motors. The American car maker forayed into the state back in 1990's to set up a plant at Halol in Vadodara district. Since then, after Modi came into effect, big players of auto industry like Ford India, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Bombardier and Asia Motor Works, a heavy Commercial Vehicle (CV) manufacturer, has entered Gujarat to set up their facilities in Sanand.
With country's leading two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp, too scouting for land in the region, it seems Modi is not so far from turning his dream into reality.
