By Bhavya Dilipkumar and Nehal Chaliawala
MUMBAI: Italian motorcycle maker Benelli has scrapped its plans of setting up a manufacturing plant in India after the government mooted a plan to ban two-wheelers with combustion engines up to 150cc capacity by 2025.
The company was planning to set up a global manufacturing hub in India as its plant in China was operating at full capacity. “We were considering making mass-market bikes also from here to export to other markets,” Vikas Jhabakh, managing director of Benelli India told ET. These included motorcycles with engine capacities below 150cc, he added.
The proposed plant would have had a capacity of manufacturing at least 200,000 units annually to make a business case and would have employed about 400 people, the company had found in its initial studies.
However, following the clear indication from the government to move away from combustion engines, the company did not see viability in selling these products in India in the long run. “And keeping in mind the vision of the government, setting up manufacturing is not a viable option because these are projects that take a really long time to pay back,” the company’s MD said
Leave a Reply