Staffordshire digger giant opens two Indian sites as UK jobs go
A Staffordshire digger manufacturer has opened two new factories in India – less than a month after announcing it was axing up to 150 jobs in the UK.
The openings in Jaipur also marked 35 years of manufacturing in India and have involved an investment of £62 million by JCB.
The Indian market for its machines has declined by 20 per cent this year, but the firm has invested heavily in the new facilities in readiness for a return to growth which it anticipates being driven by an increase in spending on infrastructure projects.
CB chairman Lord Bamford was joined by Vasundhara Raje, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, at the official opening of the two new plants on a 115-acre site, which will provide a million square feet of new manufacturing space.
JCB now has five factories in India in addition to 12 in the UK, including its cab factory at Rugeley, and others in Brazil, China and the United States.
It was Lord Bamford's vision which led to JCB starting manufacturing in India under a joint venture agreement in 1979 at a site in Ballabgarh, near Delhi, which is now JCB India's headquarters.
India overtook the UK as JCB's biggest single market in 2007 – a position it has maintained ever since. Since it was founded in 1945, JCB has manufactured more than a million machines and 200,000 of those have been made in India.
Lord Bamford said: "I could never have imagined when we first started out in business in India 35 years ago that we would have become as successful as we have. One of the keys to that success is to continually invest for growth and that is exactly what we have done with these two new factories in Jaipur. When the market returns to growth we will be very well placed to meet the increased demand.
"The growth of JCB India has been phenomenal and India has been our biggest market now for seven years now. With the support of the Rajasthan Government we can expand further in this wonderful country with the two new plants here in Jaipur."
JCB blamed the downturn in the global construction equipment market for the Uk job losses with the majority of positions at risk at the company's Rugeley and main Rocester site.
It has previously revealed proposals to close the Rugeley site as part of £150 million expansion plans which will see a new 350,000 sq ft factory built in Beamhurst, near Uttoxeter.
A 45-day consultation with staff was launched at the beginning of this month with the jobs set to go by the middle of December.
