Decrying rumours that of shifting its manufacturing facilities outside Punjab, Hero Cycles limited on Sunday made it clear that Punjab was its ‘matribhoomi (motherland) as well as karmabhoomi’.
In fact, Hero Cycles announced that it was set to increase its production capacity in the State with the establishment of a new plant in ludhiana soon. The clarification assumes significance in the light of recent claims made by the State Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa that several companies including Hero Cycles and Khanna Paper Mills were in the process of shifting their manufacturing facilities outside Punjab.
Another company – Khanna Paper Mills at Amritsar, which Bajwa had claimed was shifting to Gujarat, has also derided his claim. Punjab Government claimed that the management, in a statement, has stated that the company was not shifting to Gujarat or any other part of the country and that in case it expanded its operations, Punjab would be its first choice for the same.
Meanwhile, in a communication to its customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders, a copy of which was forwarded toPunjab Government, Hero Cycles limited said that it was committed to Punjab and would shortly increase its production with a new plant dedicated to premium category bicycles near ludhiana.
The company said that it was also focusing on several initiatives in Punjab including establishment of a vocational training centre in Hero Cycles facility, investment in newer machines and infrastructure, investment in software and IT infrastructure and hiring plans to increase employee headcount to support its increased capacity. The company also stated it had no plans for any dilution in the shares of the company, or movement of manufacturing facilities outside of the state of Punjab.
“We have recently acquired land in the State of Bihar for capacity expansion, which is not the shifting of production rather addition of capacity for local market in Eastern India”, it said adding that a similar expansion was also underway in Europe. In a separate statement by Khanna Paper Mills, it had stated that the company had no plans to shut down its facility and move to another State as was being claimed by some persons.
“We are thriving in the state and see no reason to shift to any other State” a release issued by the company said. It went on to say that even if the company expanded its operations its first priority would be Punjab.