Ambattur auto cos plans $70-mn capex

Chennai: Slowdown notwithstanding, as many as 30 companies in the Ambattur industrial estate in Chennai have submitted project proposals involving a capital expenditure of $70 million (Rs 350 crore), according to Dr James Daniel Paul, Senior Expert of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

UNIDO would help them by linking them up with companies in Italy and France for finance, technology or buying.

UNIDO has profiled over 600 auto component companies in India, a third of them from the south.

Dr Paul said this at an interactive session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and UNIDO, where about 40 auto components manufacturers here met with a delegation of 12 automotive companies from the Lyon Auto Cluster of France.

The visiting French companies include AMG, Antherm, EAS International, Lyon Urban Trucks & Bus and Coteba. Indian companies include Caparo, India Pistons, Rane Engine Valves and Ucal.

Mr Christophe Collette, Coordinator, Lyon Auto Cluster, said the core competence of the cluster, which has over 900 member-companies, is in power train, body parts, electronics and acoustics. The member-companies are looking for Indian partners for collaborative research. According to him, the cost of research, if carried out in India, would be one third of the cost in Europe. While the core research will be confined to Europe, the application engineering related research will be taken up in India.

As part of the programme the French delegation will visit Pune and Delhi. France currently makes 3.5 million vehicles accounting for 17 per cent of European production, which opens vistas for auto component industry from India.