LG to invest Rs 900 cr

NEW DELHI: LG Electronics India plans to invest Rs 900 crore by 2010 in its Pune facility, which would give the company an edge over other players in terms of production and market share in the country.

The company, which today announced the commencement of operations at its greenfield facility for Optical Disk Drive products at Ranjangaon in Pune, would be investing Rs 300 crore for manufacutring DVD writers alone.

With this plant LG India, the local arm of South Korean electronics giant, has become the first company to manufacture DVD writers in India, an LGEIL release said.

"The encouraging optimism that the Indian consumer durables market has to offer to LG has driven us to invest Rs 900 crore for the manufacturing facilities at the Pune plant, out of which Rs 300 crore would be invested in DVD writers," LGEIL Factory Head Pune, Sachin Saxena said.

The Pune facility would give the company an edge over other players in terms of production and market share, Saxena said, adding the Rs 900 crores would also include the company's partner investments as well.

The Pune plant is the second largest DVD manufacturing plant in Asia with a production capacity of six lakh units per month. The facility would also manufacture GSM mobile phones, which the company started producing last year.

The plant targets to ramp up its manpower base to 1,500 and aims to touch an export turnover of 450 million dollars by 2008, the company said.

"The facility manufactures premium end models of the product, which are primarily for exports. The plant will cater mainly to the European markets," LGEIL South Asia Managing Director K R Kim said.