JCB invests £65m in new machinery plant in India

India is the company's biggest single market since 2007
India is the company's biggest single market since 2007

British machinery giant JCB is to invest £65 million in a new plant in India as the company prepares to meet 'increased demand' for its products.

The new factory will be located in Vadodara near the port city of Surat in the State of Gujarat on the West Coast of India.

It will fabricate parts for global production lines as the company prepares to meet increased demand, JCB said.

India is the company's biggest single market since 2007 and the new plant to be opened will be the country's sixth.

JCB has factories in Delhi, Pune and Jaipur. Production at the new facility on a 44 acre site will begin next year.

The announcement follows the start of work on a new £50 million factory to build cabs for JCB machines in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire which will be completed later this year.

Chairman of JCB, Lord Bamford said: “With major investment in manufacturing capacity in the UK and India, we are very well placed to grow our business in the future.

“This year we celebrate 40 years of JCB India and our success over those four decades is down to our continual investment. It’s fitting that we mark the 40th anniversary with an investment in a factory which will give us enormous manufacturing capacity.”

Lord Bamford is a staunch Brexiteer. Before the EU referendum, he wrote to his company's 6,500 UK employees to explain why he favours a Brexit scenario.

In the letter he said he was 'very confident that we can stand on our own two feet'.

He also said that more than 53% of all UK exports go to non-EU nations, warning that the EU has a shrinking share of world trade.