Sonipat, Manesar among options for new Maruti plant

Gurgaon: The Haryana government has offered three land parcels to Maruti , the country’s largest car manufacturer , as an alternative to its Gurgaon plant , from where the firm has decided to shift out.

The land parcels are in Manesar , where Maruti has its main factory, Sohna and Kharkhoda in Sonipat. With Maruti looking for alternatives, there has been talk about the company exploring sites in other states.

But Maruti Suzuki India Ltd chairman RC Bhargava set speculation to rest. He told TOI on Wednesday the new plant would be in Haryana. “We are looking at options, but we will be moving somewhere within Haryana itself,” he said.

The 39-year-old plant in Gurgaon, on Old Delhi-Gurgaon Road , was the company’s first manufacturing facility and has a capacity to make around 7 lakh cars annually. However, as the city turned into a bustling megapolis over the years, the automobile giant started finding it increasingly difficult to function within the 300-acre compound. According to the firm’s union members, the plant provides employment to about 15,000 people directly and to many more indirectly.

Maruti has been in talks with the state government for over a year about the expansion of its plant. The carmaker is said to be seeking a new site in the 700-1,000 acres range. Talking to TOI, deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, who also holds the industry portfolio, said the three land options had been offered to the company. “They are currently evaluating the options,” he said, adding, “We are ready to support them in every possible way.”

Bhargava said the move to shift the plant out of Gurgaon was inevitable. “The plant is getting too crowded with too many residential buildings around. Hence, we are looking to shift the facility to a bigger place,” he said. Congestion due to the movement of heavy vehicles around the plant has also been a concern for the Gurgaon administration.

Of three land parcels, the Sohna option is unlikely to work out. The state government had offered 1,300 acres to Maruti in IMT Sohna , around 40km from Gurgaon, in 2018. However, a soil test had revealed high water levels at the site, which is not suitable for such a facility.

While Kharkhoda has enough land available, Manesar is one of the country’s largest automobile hubs and has the entire ecosystem of ancillaries, besides Maruti’s own plant, which it opened in 2007. The Manesar, at 600 acres, is double the size of the Gurgaon plant.

With the state’s coffers battered by the pandemic , a large land deal will also bring some financial respite. At the time the IMT Sohna land was pitched to Maruti in 2018, the company was ready to shell out up to Rs 2.65 crore per acre. At 1,300 acres, the land deal would have fetched the state government Rs 3,445 crore at that valuation.