Ahmedabad: India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, is set to invest Rs 4,960 crore in Gujarat for a major capacity expansion. The company’s board on Monday approved the acquisition of land at Khoraj Industrial Estate from the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) to set up its second passenger vehicle manufacturing plant there. The new plant is slated to add another 1 million units (10 lakh) of PV capacity in Gujarat.Maruti Suzuki India Limited already operates a major manufacturing plant at Hansalpur in Gujarat, which currently has a production capacity of 7.5 lakh units. At the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, Maruti Suzuki also announced the establishment of a fourth production line, in view of increasing production of electric vehicles in the future. The fourth line is expected to start operations from FY2026–27. With the completion of the fourth line, annual production capacity of SMG will increase from the current 750,000 units to 1 million units.Maruti Suzuki currently operates manufacturing facilities at Gurugram, Manesar, Kharkhoda and Hansalpur, with a total installed capacity of around 24 lakh vehicles per annum, and a peak capability of 26 lakh units. The company said this capacity is now fully utilised, necessitating fresh investments in new production lines.While the exact timeline for commissioning the additional capacity and the total project cost will be finalised in phases, the board already approved an outlay of Rs 4,960 crore towards land acquisition, development and preparatory activities for the new facility at Khoraj.“The investment will be funded through a combination of internal accruals and external borrowings,” the company said in its regulatory filing.The Gujarat expansion reiterates Maruti Suzuki’s long-term strategy of using the state as a key manufacturing and export hub. Its Hansalpur facility, which earlier operated as Suzuki Motor Gujarat before being merged with Maruti Suzuki, already plays a critical role in supplying vehicles to overseas markets.
