TVS to invest $80m in RI motorbike plant

TVS to invest $80m in RI motorbike plant

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Bangalore, India

India's leading motorcycle manufacturer, TVS Motor Company Ltd.,
reiterated its plan on Tuesday to invest around US$80 million in
Indonesia to build a motorcycle manufacturing and assembly plant.

After a breakfast meeting on Tuesday between visiting
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and several Indian
businessmen, chairman of the Indonesian Business Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Mohamad S. Hidayat said TVS was in
the process of realizing its plan.

"The company's plan is serious and they have conveyed it to
President Susilo during the breakfast meeting. Their investment
will be around $80 million," said Hidayat, adding that Kadin
would assist the company.

The plan was conveyed directly to Susilo by TVS chairman Venu
Srinivasan. The plant would supply motorcycles to local and
overseas markets.

Hidayat said the company was in the process of acquiring 40
hectares of land at the Cikarang industrial complex in West Java.

TVS earlier announced the plan during the Indian engineering
expo Indiatech 2005 in Jakarta in March. Once the plant was
operational, the company would produce some 120,000 units of
motorcycles and employ 5,000 people -- about the same numbers as
its factory in India.

TVS, the flagship company of the TVS Group, is the third
largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India and among the top 10 in
the world, with an annual turnover of more than $650 million.

In 1980, the Indian motorcycle industry rolled out the TVS
50, India's first two-seater moped that ushered in an era of
affordable personal transportation in the country.

TVS aims to be one among the top two motorcycle companies in
India and in the top five in Asia.

Hidayat said during the meeting Indian executives asked
President Susilo about the advantages of investing in Indonesia
compared to other countries in Asia.