Videocon to invest $1.5 b in China

NEW DELHI: Ten Indian companies, including consumer durable major Videocon would invest $5 billion in setting up manufacturing units in China. Videocon alone would invest $1.5 billion in a liquid crystal display (LCD) product manufacturing unit in Shenzhen.

The other Indian companies to have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with their Chinese counterparts include ZTE Telecom India, Spice Communications, International Certification, AKS Associates, Cosmos Industries, Maharasthra Industrial Development Corporation, Rajasthan Industries Development Corporation and Unity Power.

These MoUs were signed on Tuesday in Beijing. Videocon MD Rajkumar Dhoot on Tuesday signed an MoU with the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) chairman Wan Jifei for the proposed plant in China. Industry body Assocham has sent a 35-member business delegation to Beijing to discuss business possibilities with CCPIT.

Videocon’s proposed LCD manufacturing unit, which would cater equally to both China’s domestic market and the exports market, would be ready in a year, Mr Dhoot said. “The technology for manufacturing LCD products would be transferred to the China unit from the company’s research and development centre in Japan to produce products at competitive cost,” he added. After signing the MoU, Mr Jifei said, “Fino Steel, China’s leading steel manufacturer, would set up two steel plants in Orissa and Karnataka in the next 4-5 years.”