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.