MNC's too take the Sanand Business Route ~ Janshil Realty

The world is descending on Sanand. Over the last three years, Germany's Nivea, Switzerland's Nestle, Inbisco of Indonesia and Chipita from Greece among over two dozen multinationals - mostly auto ancillaries, engineering and FMCG — who have parked in the auto hub where Tata Motors and Ford India run huge car plants.

These foreign firms have or are in the process of investing Rs 5,000 crore in Sanand, about 25 km from Ahmedabad. Better infrastructure, road and port connectivity as well as easy availability of land prompted these multinational giants to prefer Sanand over other locations. Traditionally, Vadodara has been the hub of multinational investments in Gujarat.

"Companies get all the approvals under one roof when they decide to set up plant," added the officials.

These multinationals are from various geographies such as the US, Germany, France, Italy, Israel, Japan, Thailand, China and Indonesia. Recently, Greek snack manufacturer Chipita has bought land for its plant in Sanand Industrial Estate and is investing close to Rs 600 crore. Nivea India, an affiliate of the Beiersdorf AG, has started construction of its greenfield plant with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore. It is Nivea's first plant in India.

Bosch Rexroth (India) Ltd, subsidiary of German automation giant Bosch Group, Japan's Hitachi Hirel and Colgate-Palmolive (India) already have their plants commissioned.

Some other companies from Japan and Germany are looking at Sanand Industrial Estate, developed by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), which is spread across 2,000 hectares. In addition, Tata and Ford plants have 1,000 hectares, making Sanand industrial cluster one of the largest in Gujarat.

"The entire development of the estate was carried out as per international standards and requirements of multinationals," said government officials.