Panasonic Life to invest Rs 600 crore for electrical equipment near Chennai

Panasonic Life Solutions will invest Rs 600 crore in India, initially spending Rs 294.7 crore to set up an electrical equipment and wiring manufacturing plant in SriCity near Chennai.

The plant will start work by October 2021, becoming Panasonic’s eighth electrical equipment production base in India after facilities in north and west India

Vivek Sharma, managing director of Panasonic Life Solutions India, and Ravisanna Reddy, managing director of Sri City, on Saturday exchanged an agreement to acquire land for the 133,546-sq mt plant.

“India is growing exponentially in terms of housing development and the number of houses constructed each year is massive in comparison to Japan. We foresee our electrical construction material business outside of Japan as a growth driver along with wiring device business in India which is steadily marking double-digit growth,” said Masaharu Michiura, CEO of Life Solutions Company, Panasonic Corporation.

Panasonic Life Solutions is a subsidiary of Panasonic Life Solutions Company.

Panasonic to invest Rs 295 cr in new electrical equipment unit at Sri City

Panasonic to invest Rs 295 cr in new electrical equipment unit at Sri CityPanasonic Corporation announced a plan today to expand its manufacturing footprint in India, with a new factory at Sri City Industrial Park in Andhra Pradesh. The new unit, which will be set up at an investment of Rs 294.6 crore by Panasonic Life Solutions India Pvt Ltd, the sales arm of Panasonic Life Solutions Company, will manufacture wiring devices, electrical wire and switchgear.

The unit will be Panasonic's fourth for manufacturing electrical equipment material in the country. It is slated to start production in 2021.

Stating that the Indian economy has been expanding rapidly in recent years, the company said that with GDP estimated to grow at six per cent a year through 2030, not only big cities but even middle-sized ones are expected to grow in the coming years.

The demand for electrical equipment such as switches, sockets and switchgears is increasing in sync with the surge in construction of office buildings, condominiums and residences. Panasonic said its decision to set up the new factory was driven largely by the need to respond to the brisk demand, which its existing capacity would not be able to meet.

In India, Panasonic has production bases in Haridwar in the north, and in Daman and Kutch in the west, but no none in the south, which has strong purchasing power and great growth potential.

The new factory at Sri City, which the company hopes will give it greater access to the southern market, is scheduled to start production of wiring devices in 2021. The unit will add fans, switchgear and electrical wire sequentially. Panasonic plans to expand sales by broadening the product line-up targeted at the middle class, which is expected to grow exponentially in the future.

The new factory will provide jobs to 600 people and will produce 8.6 milliom units a month.