JCB today (Friday, November 14th) celebrated 35 years of manufacturing in India with the opening of two brand new factories in Jaipur – an investment of £62 million. While the Indian market has this year declined by 20%, JCB has invested heavily in the new facilities in readiness for a return to growth which will be driven by an increase in spending on infrastructure projects.
Today JCB Chairman Lord Bamford was joined by Vasundhara Raje, The Chief Minister of Rajasthan, at the official opening of the two new plants on a 115 acre site, which will provide one million square feet of new manufacturing space. It was Lord Bamford’s vision which led to 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 is as well known in India as it is in the UK.
India overtook the UK as JCB’s biggest single market in 2007 – a position it has maintained ever since. Since it was founded in 1945, JCB has manufactured more than one million machines and 200,000 of those have been made in India.
Today 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.
“The growth of JCB India has been phenomenal and India has been our biggest market now for seven years now. With the support of the Rajasthan Government we can expand further in this wonderful country with the two new plants here in Jaipur.”
JCB now has five factories in India in addition to 12 in the UK and others in Brazil, China and the USA. JCB India is a leading manufacturer of construction equipment and its factory near Delhi produces backhoe loaders and engines.
Component manufacturing is already underway at one of the Jaipur plants and next year production will begin of telescopic handlers and skid steer loaders for the Indian market. The facility will also provide additional backhoe loader capacity from 2015.
Located 35 kilometres from Jaipur city, the new plants have been launched within record time and represent the JCB Group’s largest single construction project in its 69-year history. When fully operational they will employ more than 1,000 people.
JCB India also has two factories in Pune, where the company manufactures excavators, wheeled loaders and compaction equipment. The company has the strongest and the largest distribution network in India with 60 dealers and 600 outlets.