Come to Haryana, Hooda tells Tata

Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda says that his government would welcome the Tatas if they expressed interest in setting up their factory for the Nano car project in the state, reports Sanjeev K Ahuja.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said his government would welcome the Tatas if they expressed interest in setting up their factory for the Nano car project in the state.

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As a number of states line up to woo Ratan Tata to shift his project from Singur in West Bengal, IT and automobile hub Haryana has also put up a strong claim to attract the project.

Hooda cited the presence of auto giants like Maruti Suzuki, Honda, Hero-Honda, Yamaha, etc., in the state.

While terming the state as a Mecca of automobile industry, Hooda said his government has mega infrastructure building plans to turn the state into a corporate hub of the country.

Hooda told Hindustan Times: “Haryana is the ideal destination for automobile companies. Haryana is manufacturing more than 50 per cent passenger cars, 35 per cent tractors and 50 per cent of the motorcycles being produced in India. We also manufacture more than 25 per cent bicycles of the country. We already have India’s biggest car producer Maruti Udyog Limited in collaboration with Suzuki, the manufacturers of two wheeler Honda Motorcycles, Hero-Honda, Yamaha and Escorts tractors in Haryana.”

When asked about the probable location where the state would offer land to the Tatas, the Chief Minister said, “Haryana has a number of options which we will show them only after they express their desire for the same.”

When asked whether he had had formal or informal discussion with the Tatas on the issue, Hooda said he had not had a formal talk.

The housing division of Tata Group recently launched its first housing project, Raisina Residency, in collaboration with Raheja Group at Golf Course Road in Gurgaon.

The Chief Minister said industrial units in Gurgaon had exported goods worth Rs 20,000 crore during the year 2006-07. Out of this, exports worth Rs 14,000 crore was in IT sector, Rs 2,500 crore in automobile sector, Rs 2,000 crore in the sector of readymade garments and of Rs 1,500 crore in other sectors.

The main items being exported from Gurgaon included cars, motorcycles, software, readymade garments, sports goods and rice to UK, Algeria, Hungary, Denmark, Netherlands, Columbia, Sri Lanka, Japan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Australia, Korea, South Africa, USA, Europe, Austria and Mexico.