Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), the leader in Indian automotive industry, is going to invest more than $1 billion in Bengaluru to begin manufacturing cars in a Toyota plant in Bidadi.

Interacting with DH, Consul-General of Japan in Bengaluru Takayuki Kitagawa said a collaboration agreement in this regard was announced in April this year at New Delhi.

"Toyota's Bidadi plant's capacity is three lakhs per year and the company is now availing only half of it. There is an ideal capacity of 1.5 lakh at the plant and Maruthi will make further investment to manufacture their cars at the facility," he said.

According to Jetro, Maruti and Toyota officials discussed the investment last week in Bengaluru and they visited the Bidadi plant and assessed its capability for further investment.

"Maruti already has three plants in India and the Bidadi will be fourth manufacturing facility and will enhance its consumer service to down south. The company plans to expand its production capacity by as many as 2.5 million by 2030 to maintain its dominance in India," said a Jetro official.

Kitagawa said Maruti will manufacture at Bidadi factory all vehicles by 2022 with an investment of $1 billion. "Toyota had invested $3 billion in Bengaluru 20 years ago. Here Maruti will have to make further investment to further refurbish the manufacturing facility for its requirement," he said.

The Consul-General also added that once Maruti comes to Bidadi their whole supplier ecosystem will come here in Bengaluru. "The company will bring its supplier ecosystem at the Japanese Industrial Township at Tumakuru. It will further fuel more investment and employment creation in the state," he said.

Kitagawa also cautioned that the State government should come up with policy framework to facilitate this investment.

Toyota’s Indian subsidiary Deputy Managing Director N Raja in April had said that teams from the two companies started working on various aspects related to the cross-badging deal, which will also see Maruti Suzuki get access to Toyota’s Corolla sedan for sale under its own branding.