LUDHIANA (PUNJAB) :
Punjab Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora on Tuesday inaugurated new plant of Hero Motors Company (HMC) at Hi-Tech Cycle Valley in village Dhanansu near here.
Earlier, the cabinet minister also inaugurated the 8.5 km and 100 feet wide approach road connecting Chandigarh Road to cycle valley that has been constructed at a cost of ₹66 crore.
He was also accompanied by HMC chairman and managing Director Pankaj Munjal, PSIEC chairman Gurpreet Singh Bassi, PMIDB chairman Amarjit Singh Tikka, Punjab Youth Development Board chairman Sukhwinder Singh Bindra, Senior Congress leader Satwinder Kaur Bitti and SDM Dr Baljinder Singh Dhillon besides several others.
Spread across 100 acres, the valley is expected to employ over 9,000 people when fully operational. The Park is establishing a complete ecosystem for international component suppliers to localise production and help India eliminate its dependence on premium component imports.
Munjal said the Cycle Valley is a critical element in establishing HMC’s global engineering and manufacturing chain with R&D facilities centred in Europe and manufacturing in India.
He said Hero E Cycles factory is a major component of HMC’s ambition to make India a global manufacturing hub of premium bicycles and e-cycles.
The factory will help HMC augment its production capacity to 10 million units annually with a production of 4 million premium bicycles and e-cycles, majorly for global consumption.
Along with the new plant, Hero E Cycle Valley will also house a series of international component suppliers to achieve complete localisation of manufacturing in India.
Munjal said over ₹1,000 crore is being undertaken over two years in total outlay to operationalise the E Cycle Valley and grow Hero International in EU and UK.
While HMC is spending ₹350 crore in operationalising the E Cycle Valley, the vendors are bringing in an estimated ₹400 crore. Additionally, HMC plans to further invest ₹300 crore over the next couple of years to fortify its brands, R&D and distribution across EU and UK, which becomes a pivot for its global ambitions.
