JCB invests Rs 1,000 cr in Vadodara export facility for global operations

JCB, a UK-based construction equipment company, is spending Rs 1000 crore in Vadodara, Gujarat, to establish a specialised exports facility for crucial parts and components for its global operations.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in the presence of JCB Chairman Lord Bamford, inaugurated the sixth facility.

With the opening of the facility in Gujarat, JCB will be able to concentrate all of its exports under one roof and use the private port in Hazira, Surat to send welded component and fabrication parts worldwide to JCB's global supply chain.

The facility, which is spread out across 47 acres, will reach capacity in October 2022. The steel processing capacity of the factory will be 85,000 tonnes. The plant's expenditure has been increased to Rs 1,000 crore, which was originally expected to be put up at an investment of Rs 650 crore.

JCB has spent overall £1 billion in the nation and is currently the market leader in construction equipment, selling one out of every two units.

The construction equipment manufacturer, which produces around 40,000 to 50,000 machines, will generate 1,200 direct employment and hundreds of indirect ones in the ancillary sector.

Vadodara-made machinery would be sent to facilities in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and other areas of the world, and many women would make up half of the factory's workers.

It may drastically boost JCB's exports, which currently account for 15% of overall sales volumes, to about 20% to 25% in the medium future. From India, JCB presently exports to 110 nations.

Since 2007, India has been JCB's largest market, accounting for over a fifth of the company's global sales.

According to financials obtained from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the company earned Rs 11,751 crore in fiscal year (FY) 2021.

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