The government of India will set up a state-of-the-art automotive testing facility in Chennai.
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The National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) will cost about INR17.0 billion and will provide automotive testing and homologation in addition to R&D facilities.
This centre gives Chennai, a city in southern India, another boost towards becoming a major hub for the automotive industry. BMW last week announced plans to build a manufacturing facility there to assemble the 3 and 5 series.
Other automotive majors like Ford and Hyundai are already present in Chennai – the well-managed port, where traffic has grown significantly in recent times because of Hyundai India exports, is a strong reason why the region is popular with the automotive industry.
The new facility will close a long-existing gap in the country’s testing infrastructure. The facility in Chennai will make it easier for manufacturers based in the south to get cars homologated.
Until now the only vehicle testing facility in India has been the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) in Ahmednagar. The government has already sanctioned another ARAI facility in Manesar, near Delhi.
Deepesh Rathore
