January 14, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 13, 1426

NEW DELHI, Jan 13: Japanese auto giant Honda Motor announced plans on Friday to invest 3.2 billion rupees ($75m) to boost production in India, a report said.

Pawan Munjal, managing director of Hero Honda, a joint venture which is 26 per cent owned by the Japanese parent, said the company planned to open a new plant worth 2.5bn rupees ($58m) to boost annual production capacity by 450,000 motorcycles, the Press Trust of India reported.

“After the expansion, which is likely to be completed by August, total production between our existing plants will be 3.6 million units,” the news agency quoted Munjal as saying.

The report did not say where the new plant would be located.

Munjal said Honda also hoped to sell 120,000 of its recently introduced scooters in the next 12 months.

“In fact, we have plans to ramp up scooter capacity further,” Munjal said on the sidelines of an ongoing automobile exhibition in the Indian capital.

The company will also invest 750 million rupees (17m) to ramp up capacity at its factory, he said.—AFP