Makers of Italian superbike Benelli on Monday announced a partnership with Hyderabad’s Mahavir Group arm to set up an assembly plant here and plans to explore prospects for a full-fledged manufacturing facility in the State.
Under the agreement with Adishwar Auto Ride India (AARI), a subsidiary of Mahavir Group, signed in the presence of Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao, the assembly plant on three acres in Kompally is expected to become operational by October.
It will have a capacity to assemble 10,000 bikes and begin with around 100 employees, Mahavir Group chairman Yashwant Jhabakh said.
The partnership entitles AARI to assemble, manufacture bikes and import exclusive range of Benelli bikes from Italy and South East Asia regions, a release said. As part of the second phase plans, the Chinese owner of Benelli — in 2005 Benelli became part of Qjian Jiang (QJ) group — will explore the prospects of a manufacturing facility, on 20 acres. Towards this, it signed an MoU with the State government on Monday.
A task force is to be formed by Benelli to explore possibility of localisation of components. Indigenous production could cut down production cost by up to 30%, something bound to reflect on the customer price, he said.
Director of Benelli George Wang said with India being a fast growing market for motorcycles, a decision on the manufacturing facility was likely by 2019. Top executives of both Mahavir and QJ, however, were tight-lipped on the investments on the assembling unit as well on the proposed manufacturing facility.
Industries Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said the task force, comprising Mahavir and Benelli representatives, would submit a report on possible manufacturing location and on component vendors. A decision on the greenfield facility is likely to be taken in three months, he added.
‘Make in Telangana’
Mr. Rama Rao said during discussions with the Benelli makers, the automobile policy of Telangana was highlighted. Before proceeding, “they want to test and see how the market will lap up their motorcycle. Next logical thing will to be make in India, make in Telangana,” he said.