India's Maruti Suzuki to invest $4 billion in second Gujarat car plant

By Aditi Shah and Dhwani Pandya

GANDHINAGAR, India (Reuters) -India's top carmaker Maruti Suzuki will invest 350 billion rupees ($4.2 billion) to build a second car plant in Gujarat state and will add a new production line at an existing plant, the president of its parent company said.

The investments will see the company's annual production capacity in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state jump to 2 million vehicles from 750,000 currently.

The additional production line is expected to start operating in the 2027 financial year and the new plant about two years later.

The maker of the popular Swift hatchback has said it wants to double its annual production capacity to 4 million units by the 2031 financial year.

The plans were announced during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, where thousands of chief executives, investors and diplomats have gathered for the three-day biennial event.

Toshihiro Suzuki, president of Japan's Suzuki Motor, also said the group's first battery electric vehicle will be rolled out from Maruti's existing plant in Gujarat by the end of the year.

In addition to being sold in India and Europe, the car will be exported to Japan - marking the first time for Maruti to export to its parent company's home country.

Maruti, which commands more than 40% market share in the world's third-largest auto market, plans to have six EV models by 2030.

Suzuki said Maruti - which is mainly based in India's Haryana state - had come a long way.

"It is noteworthy that as compared to 10 years ago, we expect 1.7 times in vehicle production and 2.6 times in export sales in the current fiscal year," he said.

The investment summit is part of Prime Minister Modi's final push to attract more investment in the country before a national election in which he will fight for a third term and is widely expected to win.

($1 = 83.1675 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aditi Shah and Dhwani Pandya; Writing by Shivam Patel and Varun Vyas; Editing by Kim Coghill and Edwina Gibbs)