Production of the aspirational Tata Nano at its Sanand plant in Gujarat dipped to a low in 2019 and to nil in 2020 due to its non-conversion to the latest BS-VI standards and other factors, the state Assembly was told on Tuesday.
Replying to a series of questions by Congress members Niranjan Patel, Chandrikaben Bariya and Rajesh Kumar Gohil, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that the low production was due to the failure of Nano car’s conversion to BS-VI standards and as other essential provisions were not fulfilled for industrial production, there was no production of the car at the Sanand plant.
The then Gujarat Chief Minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered land for Tata Motors Ltd’s Nano plant after the company had to exit West Bengal. The state government had offered a host of special offers and privileges to TML in 2008 when the plant was shifted from Bengal’s Singur to Sanand near Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat government had carried out an agreement on October 7, 2008 with the TML under the State Support Agreement, under which production of Nano was provided an incentive in the form of a loan on January 1, 2009. A loan agreement was signed between the two on March 30, 2013 for an amount equal to the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Central Service Tax (CST) paid by the company, at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent simple interest for a period of 20 years.
According to the information tabled in the ongoing budget session, the government had provided a loan of Rs 587.08 crore to the Tata Motors Ltd against the taxes the company has paid to the government till July 2017.
The state government had also set up a high-level committee to speed up the process of various permissions required for the project’s speedy monitoring and implementation.
The aspirational car had built high hopes among growing Indian buyers, but despite all the support, incentives and privileges, could not deliver on its promise.
It did not receive a good response in the market and according to the government, the TML plant at Sanand could produce only 301 cars in 2019 and none at all during 2020.
