Hero MotoCorp will
invest Rs 2,575 crore in setting up two manufacturing units and one R&D plant as the company eyes African and Central American markets.
The country's largest two-wheeler maker has also announced
that it would develop its first bike without using the technology of erstwhile partners Hero and launch it by 2014.
"We are working with different technology partners. Our first bike without Honda technology will be launched in 2014," Hero MotoCorp Managing Director and CEO Pawan Munjal said.
The bike could be developed in India or anywhere but it would be on a completely new platform, he added.
The company continues to use Honda technology for its products after the break-up of their joint venture, Hero Honda. It has a licence agreement with the Japanese firm till 2014.
The firm will set up two
greenfield manufacturing plants in Gujarat and Rajasthan each and an R&D centre in the desert state by 2014.
"We are very bullish about the two-wheeler industry. We will be investing Rs 2,575 crore to set up new facilities and expand our existing capacity," Munjal said.
"Going forward, we are looking at export markets in Africa and Central America. From next quarter, we are going to start exporting to these markets and seek a growth of 25 per cent in our exports from last year," he added.
Giving a break-up for the investment figure, Munjal said the company will set up a fourth plant at Neemrana, Rajasthan, with an investment of Rs 400 crore. The plant, with an installed capacity of 7.5 lakh units per annum, will be commissioned in the first quarter of FY14.
The company will set a fifth plant in Gujarat with an investment of Rs 1,100 crore. This plant will have a capacity of 1.2 million units.
"Once the fourth and fifth plants are commissioned, our total manufacturing capacity will be over nine million units a year from the current seven million units," Munjal said.
The R&D centre, which will require investment of Rs 400 crore, will be set up on 250 acre near Jaipur. The firm said "largest R&D centre" in the country will be operational by the second quarter of FY14.
Hero MotoCorp has also approved a proposal to merge the investment arm of its parent into the automaker 18 months after it announced its split from Honda.
Private-equity funds Bain Capital and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), which helped fund the company's buyout of its former partner Honda last year, will take direct stakes in the company after the merger.
With inputs from agencies 
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