Toyota's plan for 2nd plant at Bangalore on track
The plans of Toyota Motor to build its second car plant in Bangalore is picking up momentum with a top ranking official of the automobile giant reportedly meeting Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumarswamy here on Wednesday.
According to sources, the Toyota Motors team was led by its executive vice president Kinoshita met the chief minister, ostensibly, the talks centred around on its proposed small car plant.
However, the company refused to divulge its small car plans in India, though sources said the plant is likely to come up in Bangalore and will be set up with an investment of Rs. 2, 000 crore.
"We see that the Indian compact car market has a huge potential. But we are still studying it and have not made any decisions," said M Minoshita
Toyota has around 5% market share in the Indian automobile market currently and is targeting 15% by 2015.
Earlier in the day, Toyota inaugurated its Technical Training centre at its plant in Banalore. With an investment of around Rs. 22 crore, Toyota Technical Training Institute (TTTI) in Bidadi will be catering to students who have successfully completed their standard X examinations with minimum 50%. The residential programme has started with a batch of 64 students.
This is the company's first training institute outside Japan in any other country and is offers this training free-of-cost to the student. Students are also offered stipends in the Rs. 1,800 - 2,400 range. Students are also offered fellowships of about Rs. 7,000-8,000 on good performance.
Speaking on the occasion, Yasukuni Enoki, Japan's ambassador to India said, "India is emerging as a manufacturing superpower. No country can become a global economic superpower without a strong manufacturing base. Competency in IT services is important but not enough. Japan will walk with India on developing it as a manufacturing base."
Apart from initiatives in manufacturing, the Japanese ambassador also spoke of Japan's commitment to education in India. "Both governments will collaborate on development of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIT). Also the vice-chancellors of IIT, IIMs and IISc will meet Japan's leading universities and work on technical collaborations soon," Mr. Enoki said.
Source: Economic Times
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