Ceat Tyres today announced its plans to invest Rs 400 crore in a state-of-the-art tyre plant in Butibori, Nagpur. In an event organised to commemorate the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new plant, the chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis laid the cornerstone for the plant that will be set up in three phases. In the first phase (2014- 2016), Rs 400 crore will be invested.

The completion of the phase one of the plant and the first tyre rollout from the plant is slated for April 2016. This state-of-the-art tyre plant will be spread across 60 acres of land and is expected to manufacture 1.2 million tyres.

Commenting on the occasion, Anant Goenka, managing director, Ceat Ltd, said, “With this plant we are looking to double our capacities within two years. This will give us the added impetus to increase our market share.  We are thankful to the Maharashtra government for the support given to Ceat. Butibori gives us great advantage of reduced logistics cost and a plant in a central location. In addition to that MIDC will support us by providing a great ecosystem and infrastructure for the manufacturing facility.”

Ceat says the new plant will have the best in its class technology and will manufacture two- and three-wheeler tyres. The production process will have the certification of ISO 14001 for environment management system and OHSAS 18001 for safety, health and environment. The new plant will have highly automated manufacturing machinery and expects to bank on growing two-wheeler sales which are expected to double in the next two years.