The Hindu : Business : Buddhadeb flags off state's first two-wheeler unit

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Friday, Feb 16, 2007
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Business

Business

Buddhadeb flags off state's first two-wheeler unit

Indrani Dutta

Will employ 1,000 people directly and 5,000 indirectly

— PHOTO: ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

RIDING HIGH: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (centre), along with the Chairman of Xenitis Group, Santanu Ghose (left), and others visiting the assembly line of Global Automobiles, the first two-wheeler plant in the State, near Chinsurah, Hooghly district, on Thursday.

CHINSURAH: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday inaugurated the state's first two-wheeler unit that targets the rural and semi-urban market. The project is part-financed by a consortium of banks from outside the State.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said that at full capacity the plant, owned by `Amar PC' brand computer manufacturer Xenitis, would roll out 3.6 lakh motorbikes in three variants in technical tie-up with a Chinese state-owned company, Guangzhou Motors. The company Managing Director was present.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said the bike facility, located about 60 km from Kolkata in Hooghly district, would employ 1,000 people directly and 5,000 indirectly.

He said that with a developed agrarian society, now rural Bengal had substantial purchasing power and Global Automobiles Ltd (a Xenitis group company) would have little difficulty in marketing its automobiles.

Emphasising the need to develop both agriculture and industry, Mr. Bhattacharjee said: "it is not a question of one versus the other.'' Both were necessary but the time had come to set up industries, having consolidated the gains on the farm front. "A farmer's child does not want to remain a farmer, he seeks employment in industry or dreams of setting up a business himself,'' he said.

As for Tata Motors, it was a case of opposition for the sake of opposition, he reiterated, saying that if the State retraced its steps from Singur, it would never be able to hold its head high again. "Singur unit has to happen,'' the Chief Minister said.

West Bengal Industry Minister Nirupam Sen said the Tata Motors unit, the Global Auto motorcycle unit, and the computer hardware unit by the same group in this place, were but important steps in setting up a base for manufacturing industries.

Another two-wheeler unit was slated to come up in Howrah shortly. "We are targeting small and medium units for industrializing West Bengal,'' he said. Andhra Bank Executive Director K. Mukherjee said the Rs. 300-crore project was being part-financed by a consortium of banks, none of whom was West Bengal based. "It showed their interest in the State.''

Xenitis Group Chairman Santanu Ghosh said the factory was ready for production and the bikes would hit the market by March.

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