BMW India issues a statement on Punjab factory claim

BMW India has issued a statement stating that 'BMW Group India has no plans for setting up additional manufacturing operations in Punjab’. This statement has been issued after Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann took to social media Twitter to tweet about BMW setting up manufacturing operations in Punjab.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann is on a tour of Germany to lure investors to invest in the state Punjab. He visited BMW headquarters in Germany on Tuesday and posted pictures on Twitter from his official account with BMW officials. His tweet (translated) said, “A meeting was held with their top officials at the head office of the world famous car company BMW… They agreed to set up a unit related to car parts in Punjab on a large scale.. Now there is only one plant in Chennai..”. There has been no mention of any signed agreement nor any document or MoU has been shared from either of the sides on this matter.

The news about BMW setting up operations in Punjab started to quickly make rounds in the news in India. Following which, BMW India issued a statement stating, “BMW Group is firmly committed to its Indian operations with its manufacturing plant in Chennai, a parts warehouse in Pune, a training centre in Gurgaon NCR and a well-developed dealer network across major metropolitans of the country”. The company has also stated that the company has no additional plans of setting up additional manufacturing operations in Punjab.

However, the Punjab CM is yet to give a response in this regard as to what transpired between him and BMW official in Germany and if any official agreement has taken place to set up future operations in the state of Punjab in India. The BMW Chennai plant has a production capacity of 14,000 units annually and the company raked up 8236 units in sales last year.