July 17, 2012: British manufacturer Triumph Motorcycles and the Karnataka government have signed an MoU under which the company is to set up its plant at Narsapura, 50km east of Bangalore and on the Bangalore-Chennai highway. The state government has sanctioned around 30-40 acres to Triumph to build its facility. According to reliable sources, Triumph has committed an investment of Rs 400 crore to the project and the state government is currently formulating the tax-related and other benefits for Triumph for the near future.
Triumph was among the key exhibitors at the 2012 Auto Expo held in New Delhi in January. It had showcased an impressive fleet of seven motorcycles. They included the retro, 865cc, parallel-twin Bonneville, 675cc Street Triple, the supersports Daytona 675, 1050cc Speed Triple, adventure bike Tiger 800XC, the twin-cylinder 1699cc Storm cruiser and the massive, three-cylinder 2294cc, 146bhp engine-powered Rocket III Roadster -- the world’s largest capacity production bike.
The manufacturer had revealed plans to begin selling its bikes in India via the CKD route but had to put that on the backburner when its India managing director Ashish Joshi put in his papers a few months ago.
With this, Narsapura will be home to a second two-wheeler plant. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India’s third plant (after its Manesar and Tapukara units) is to go on stream in the first half of 2013 with a capacity of 1.2 million units. The Karnataka government has given a go-ahead for a fourth plant, at the same site, to hike HMSI’s overall capacity to six million units. What’s more, the state has extended the deferred VAT payment (to the tune of 40 percent for a period of 10 years and the company will pay the arrears from the 11th year) and exemption from registration fee, among others, to the project.
Clearly, Triumph Motorcycles will be pitching for the same benefits. It will also benefit from the growing component supplier base in the region.
AMIT PANDAY