Automotive major Mahindra & Mahindra on Wednesday inaugurated a new expanded facility at its manufacturing unit at Zaheerabad in Telangana, taking total installed capacity of tractors, commercial vehicles and others to 2.5 lakh vehicles per annum.

The unit, located 110 km from Hyderabad, has seen an investment of ₹250 crore. It can manufacture 92,000 vehicles a year, taking overall capacity to 1,40,000 vehicles per annum. The company has a 1,00,000-units-a-year tractor manufacturing facility — one of the largest in the country — in the same premises.

The commissioning of the new expanded facility by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao coincided with the unveiling of a new small commercial vehicle from the M&M stable, code named P601. It is scheduled for commercial rollout in the first half of this financial year.

The company also received a shot in the arm with the Chief Minister agreeing to a request to slash VAT rates. He announcedinput VAT will be brought down from 14.5 per cent to 5 per cent and the necessary orders have been issued.

Automotive hub Rao wanted the company to further expand its facilities and attract other automotive companies and ancillary units to transform this complex into an automotive hub.

Describing the plant as eco-friendly, based on twin principles of water harvesting and tree planting, Pawan Goenka, Executive Director of M&M, said the company had so far invested about ₹1,100 crore since it took over the facility some 20 years ago from Allwyn-Nissan, and has managed to create direct employment to 3,500 people. Rao said Korean electronics major Samsung had come forward to set up a unit in Telangana with an investment of $100 million, and recently MRF also announced plans to invest ₹980 crore for its expansion project in the State.

The Chief Minister said the new industrial policy and the TS I Pass, an innovative online filing and processing system, will make it easy for companies to set up base in the State. Once the amendments are made, an online application made by an industrialist will be processed by a State official and a communication will be sent inviting them to set up their unit.

The Chief Minister’s Office will be backed by a ‘Chasing Cell’, which will facilitate clearances, he told industrialists.

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