Hero Honda to set up facility in Himachal

SHIMLA - Two-wheeler major Hero Honda has approached the Himachal Pradesh government to provide land for setting up its fourth facility, a minister said here Thursday.

“Hero Honda has requested the government to provide 2,000 bighas (one bigha is 0.4 hectare) in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area,” Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor told IANS.

He said the company had expressed interest to establish the unit in Baddi, which is emerging as an important industrial area of the state.

Kapoor said Nestle India would also set up a food and beverage unit in the state with an outlay of Rs.400 crore.

“Nestle would established its food processing unit on 250 bighas in the Tahliwal industrial area (Una district). It has recently signed memorandum of understanding on land lease with the state,” he added.

This would be the first unit of both Nestle and Hero Honda in the state.

Hero Honda, a joint venture between the Hero Group of India and Honda of Japan, has two units in Gurgaon, Haryana, and another in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.

The BM Munjal-led Hero Group is reportedly looking to buy out Honda Motor’s 26 percent stake in the joint venture. Hero already owns 26 percent of the company.

The Group’s technology tie-up with Honda is expected to end by 2014.