Voltbek Home, a joint venture between Voltas Ltd and Ardutch B V, a subsidiary of Turkish company Arcelik A S, today started construction of its first facility for home appliances in India at Sanand near here.
Production of home appliances from the unit is expected to commence within a year, he said.
"The JV company (Voltbek Home Appliances Pvt Ltd) under the brand name of Voltas and Beko will manufacture refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens and dishwashers, among other appliances.
"At this facilty, we will start initially with refrigerators and washing machines," said Bakshi, who was here for the ground-breaking ceremony of the facility.
"To begin with, we plan to invest Rs 240 crore. The civil work for the facility will start immediately, and within a year's time we will start commercial production," he said.
The facility will cater only to the domestic market.
"Our joint venture partner is brand leader in many markets in Europe. This is the strength we will be bringing in two-three years. The JV has been set up only for India operations, and not for export," he said.
"Over the next few years, we will employ a 1,000 people at this facility being constructed under the Centre's Make in India initiative," he said.
Gujarat was chosen for the project due to its good ranking in the ease of doing business, Bakshi said.
"The choice of Gujarat as the destination for the manufacturing unit was due to the state's ease of doing business and good governance," Bakshi said.
Voltas, a Tata Enterprise which is into air- conditioning and air cooler manufacturing, and Arcelik, a company with production facilities in seven countries, had announced the JV in May 2017.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)