JCB open two new factories in Jaipur
Company marks 35 years of Indian success with double factory opening in Rajasthan
JCB have marked 35 years of manufacturing in India with the opening of two brand new factories in Jaipur, representing an investment of £62 million.
Although the Indian market has declined by 20% in 2014, JCB say they have invested in the new facilities in readiness for a return to growth which will be driven by an increase in spending on infrastructure projects.
On 14 November, JCB chairman Lord Bamford was joined by Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister of Rajasthan, at the official opening of the two new plants on a 115-acre site which will provide 1 million square feet of new manufacturing space.
It was Lord Bamford’s vision which led JCB to begin manufacturing in India under a joint-venture agreement in 1979 at a site in Ballabgarh, near Delhi, which is now JCB India’s headquarters. Today JCB are as well known in India as they are in the UK.
India overtook the UK as JCB’s biggest single market in 2007 – a position it has maintained ever since. Since they were founded in 1945, JCB have manufactured more than one million machines, 200,000 of which have been made in India.
Lord Bamford said: ‘I could never have imagined when we first started out in business in India 35 years ago that we would have become as successful as we have. One of the keys to that success is to continually invest for growth and that is exactly what we have done with these two new factories in Jaipur. When the market returns to growth we will be very well placed to meet the increased demand.’
JCB now have five factories in India in addition to 12 in the UK and others in Brazil, China and the US. JCB India’s factory near Delhi produces backhoe loaders and engines.
Component manufacturing is already under way at one of the Jaipur plants and next year will see the start of production of telehandlers and skid-steer loaders for the Indian market. The facility will also provide additional backhoe loader capacity from 2015, while their two factories in Pune manufacture excavators, wheel loaders and compaction equipment.
Located 35km from Jaipur city, the new plants represent JCB Group’s largest single construction project in the company’s 69-year history. When fully operational they will employ more than 1,000 people.
