Ceat Bangladesh, the biggest-ever Indian investment in the country, is finally going to start its commercial operations next year.
“We’ve completed acquisition of 28 acres of land in Bhalluka, Mymensingh and plant construction and resource mobilisation work have also been started,” said Managing Director of Ceat Bangladesh Rajiv Kumar Jain.
He was addressing a seminar styled “Foreign Investment in Bangladesh: Opportunities and Prospects” held in the city yesterday.
The funding tie-up completed for the entire project worth US$52m and most of the long lead-time machines have already been ordered, said Jain.
The company is planning to produce 65 tonnes of tyres for all types of vehicles to meet about 40% demand of tyres in Bangladesh.
“It will need around 500 employees when it goes into full production and at present it has 65 employees including 20 graduate engineers, said the managing director.
Establishing a joint venture with a ratio of 70:30 between Ceat Limited and AK Khan and Company Bangladesh, the company is also planning to export 20% of its production, he said.
“Most of the government agencies are very cooperative and business and economy are moving forward despite the socio-political turmoil in Bangladesh,” he added.
Ceat Limited is an Indian multinational with a history of 90 years and annual sales of over $1bn. It is the largest exporter of tyres from India with annual exports of $200m with three plants in India and two in Sri Lanka.
