Production has begun at Japanese manufacturer Kobelco’s new southern India plant.
The plant, located at Sri City Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Tamil-Nadu city of Tada, will be operated by Kobelco Construction Equipment India (KCEI) is a joint venture between Kobelco Construction Machinery and the ITOCHU Group.
According to Kobelco demand in India for excavators has grown from 7,650 units in 2009 to 10,742 units in 2010.
“The plant will have a capacity to produce 1,200 units of excavators including 20 tonne hydraulic excavators,” said Kobelco Construction Equipment India CEO Vikram Sharma.
According to Kobelco Construction Equipment India Plant operations-director Takeshi Akiyama the plant would initially produce 600 units which would be doubled by end of 2012. The capacity of the plant can also be increased to 2,400 units in 2014.
On exports, he said they would initially look for the domestic market. However, Akiyama confirmed that it will consider exporting to “neighbouring countries” in the future.
