Giving EVs a boost: Tatas to take over Ford India’s Sanand facility
New Delhi: To give a boost to their electric vehicle market, Tata Motors’ subsidiary Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd (TPEML) on Monday signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ford India Pvt Ltd and the Gujarat Government for the takeover of Ford’s passenger vehicle manufacturing plant at Sanand in the western state.
Gujarat’s Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Rajiv Kumar Gupta, TPEML’s Managing Director Shailesh Chandra, and Ford India’s Transformation Officer and Country Head, Balasundaram Radhakrishnan, signed the MoU, official sources said on Monday.
With this MoU, Ford India’s Sanand plant will pave the way for the manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) by TPEML.
In Gandhinagar, official sources said the MoU also entailed the continuation of the state support agreement signed between the Gujarat government and Ford India in 2011, which now includes TPEML as well.
As part of the MoU, Tata Motors would take over land, plant building, machinery, and vehicle assembly from Ford India, along with the workers employed at the plant. At present, 3043 direct jobs and 20,000 indirect jobs exist at the Ford India plant in Sanand, according to reports.
Of the total 460 acres of land, Ford India’s vehicle assembly plant is spread across 350 acres while they built the engine manufacturing plant on 110 acres. Ford India will continue to manufacture engines at the Sanand plant under a lease from Tata Motors. The two occupants will jointly use water, electricity, and an effluent treatment plant, among other utilities.
They completed the whole takeover process within 90 days.
The MoU also addresses a major unemployment crisis that could have emerged at the Sanand plant. The closure of the plant would have led to unemployment for around 25,000 workers, directly or indirectly. Ancillary units providing spare parts to the plant would have also faced closure leading to unemployment among their workers, sources said.
(VP)
