Scania opens Indian bus plant

Swedish heavy vehicle manufacturer Scania is ramping up its operations in India, with the company recently inaugurating its new bus plant in Narasapura, just east of the southern inland city of Bangalore.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by 1500 guests spanning employees, customers, ministers and Scania executives.

Scania says its initial investment of Euro 40 million ($A56.7 million) has given the plant an annual capacity of 1000 buses and 3000 trucks. Truck production began at the site in October 2013; since then the factory's workforce has grown from 30 to 650 employees.

The President and CEO of Scania, Martin Lundstedt (pictured, in front of bus, shaking hands with India's Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari) said Scania had come a long way since turning the site's first sod in 2010.

"Less than five years ago I came here with a team from Scania and we bought this piece of land that we are standing on today," he said.

"At that time we had an idea and a vision of what we wanted to build here. So I hope you can appreciate that it is exciting for us to see it being realised.

"We have entered the Indian market at a pace never seen before in the history of Scania. Our ambition is to sell 2500 trucks and 1000 buses per year in the Indian market within the coming years and employ 1200 people at this facility."

The event was themed with the term 'Make in India', reflecting a current Indian government initiative to promote the nation to major companies as an attractive option for manufacturing.

Scania says the site will produce a range of commercial vehicles for the massive Indian market, and will eventually look to export Indian-made products to other markets.

Scania now falls under the umbrella of the Volkswagen Group, after the automotive giant – which also owns MAN – assumed full control of the Swedish brand in May 2014.

For a snapshot of Scania's Indian operation, take a look at the clip below, where Anders Grundstromer (also pictured at lectern), CEO of Scania India, provides an overview of the facility's capabilities and objectives.