Honda opens plant in Kolar for 2-wheelers

Auto And Ancillary Facility To Employ 8,500 People 

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI),a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Company,Japan,has opened its third manufacturing facility in the country at Narsapura Industrial Area in the Kolar district of Karnataka,at an investment of Rs 1,350 crore.

This is the companys first manufacturing facility in the south,and for Bangalore this is the second Japanese auto manufacturer to open shop,the first being Toyota in the late 1990s.

Seventeen vendor partners of HMSI have invested an additional Rs 1,700 crore in the Narsapura Industrial Area.The total job creation between the vendors and the manufacturing facility is expected to be 8,500.HMSIs facility has the capacity to produce 12 lakh units per annum,which the company will ramp up to 18 lakh units by the end of this calendar year.Initially,the facility will manufacture two of the companys popular brands -- Dream Yuga and Activa.Production of the Dream Yuga will commence in June followed by the Activa.

Through this third facility HMSI increases its annual production capacity in India by 64% to 46 lakh units per annum.The companys two other manufacturing units -- at Manesar in Haryana and Tapukara in Rajasthan -- have a combined production capacity of 28 lakh units.

In the fiscal year ended March,the company sold 27.55 lakh units,a 31% growth over the previous year.The overall industry reported growth of just 2.4%.Keita Muramatsu,president & CEO of HMSI,said that with the third facility,the company would touch a sales figure of 39.3 lakh units at the end of the ongoing fiscal,a 41% growth.

The expanded production capacity will be supported by aggressive growth in the sales network to 2,500 outlets and rapid new product introductions as we aim for market leadership, added Muramatsu.Earlier this year HMSI overtook Bajaj Auto to become the second largest two-wheeler manufacturer by volume in India.Hero MotoCorp is the largest

.

In the current fiscal year,Hondas global two-wheeler sales growth is expected to increase more than the previous years and is headed to new heights because of its operations in India, said Yoshiyuki Matsumoto,managing officer,Honda Motor Co.He added that India was one of the most important markets for Hondas overall business.

Matsumoto said that out of the total 4,500 jobs at the new facility,nearly 90% were being offered to local youth.

RIDING IN 

Mass production of Dream Yuga,in the 100-110 cc motorcycle segment,will commence in June at the Kolar facility This will be followed by production of Activa Bangalore has the highest market demand for two-wheelers among all cities in India,says Honda Government spending Rs 190 crore in getting 60 million litres of water to the three industrial clusters of Narsapura,Malur,and Vemgal in Kolar district by June next year.

Blackstone scans realty market for investment

Private equity giant Blackstone, which manages assets worth $210 billion globally, is upping the ante in the Indian property mart. The firm, which has invested $1 billion in the country's commercial and residential assets in just two years, is again on the prowl for investment targets. 

On the table are two properties - the Express Towers in Mumbai and the Mantri Mall in Bangalore - both of which are valued at under Rs 1,000 crore each, said multiple sources aware of Blackstone's real estate play. While Blackstone has its India head office located on the fifth floor of Express Towers and has a bird's eye view of what's on offer, a detailed due diligence was carried out on Mantri Mall a couple of months back. 

Sources cited earlier told TOI that Blackstone has put the Mantri deal on simmer as it is working on a possible structured debt transaction through its NBFC arm to invest in the 1.7 million sq ft mall, which has been in operation for three years. If the Mantri deal does go through, it would be Blackstone's maiden retail real estate play in India. 

Sources told TOI that while senior executives of Blackstone have been presented with a brochure on Express Towers, toplevel executives from Embassy Office Parks are planning to go to Mumbai to get a walk-through of the 25-storey building, which has a built up area of approximately 4 lakh sq ft. 

ICICI Ventures and Viveck Goenka, CMD of the Indian Express Group, jointly own the four-decade-old Express Towers along with a clutch of smaller investors . The property, which has a commanding view of the Arabian Sea, has a reserve price of Rs 850 crore, said one of the sources mentioned earlier. 

Blackstone and Mantri Developers declined to comment, when contacted, while ICICI Ventures MD and CEO Vishakha Mulye couldn't be reached for a comment on the Express Towers deal. Real estate consultant Jones Lang Lasalle India , who was mandated by ICICI Ventures to seek out buyers, also declined to comment.