Tube Investments, a Murugappa group company, has acquired a six acre plot in Singur in West Bengal for making door frames for the Tata small car as an original equipment manufacturer.

Stating this, M. M. Murugappan, a director of the group, said an investment of about Rs. 25 crore would be made on this facility and work would begin by mid-December. Mr. Murugappan, who is also the Chairman of Tube Investments India, was here to participate in an NDTV Profit panel discussion on Making of the Indian Century.

He said the land had been taken on lease at Singur from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation. The contract for door frames was won against international bidding and the products were likely to be ready within nine months.

Mr. Murugappan said the eastern region was one of the focus areas for the group. Coromandel Fertilisers, a group company, was exploring the market for introducing its new product, special soil nutrients. Parry Agro had a tea plantation in Assam, he said, adding that the group’s investments in this region was a stable one.

He said Tube Investments, which makes door frames for General Motors at its Halol plant, proposes to invest Rs. 150 crore for the automobile component sector. It was also modernising its Chennai plant.

The company produces components for Tata Indica, Maruti and GM. It is also setting up a new plant at Uttaranchal for transmission chains.

On the new thrust areas for the group, Mr. Murugappan said there would be 150 retail stores in three years (against 40 now) selling an entire range of TI bicycles.

-- The Hindu