Expect accelerated growth post investment by JSW Group: MG Motor India CEO Emeritus Rajeev Chaba

MG Motor India expects an accelerated growth path with more aggressive expansion plans after getting the JSW Group as an investor, according to company CEO Emeritus Rajeev Chaba.

With the company already establishing a well laid foundation based on technology, customer experience, gender diversity and community service in the first phase of its journey in the country, he said MG Motor India is now looking ahead to the next phase of growth.

"Now with the investor coming in, definitely I would expect an accelerated growth path, and more aggressive expansion plans.That's what we look forward to and take advantage of the solid foundation," Chaba told PTI.

He was responding to a query on how MG Motor India was looking ahead with the new investor coming in but declined to share details on the future roadmap citing an impending announcement by the joint venture between China's SAIC Motor and JSW Group next week.

Last year in November, China's largest automaker SAIC Motor had inked a joint venture agreement with the JSW Group in order to accelerate the transformation and growth of MG Motor in India. MG Motor is a British brand that is owned by Shanghai-headquartered SAIC Motor.

JSW Group will hold 35 per cent in the Indian JV operations. SAIC will continue supporting the joint venture with advanced technology and products to deliver mobility solutions with a focus on the Indian consumer, as per the agreement.

In 2022, MG Motor India had announced plans to invest around Rs 4,000 crore on a second manufacturing unit, for which it was in talks with several state governments, including Gujarat where its first facility is located.

The company, which was looking to expand its annual production capacity of its plant at Halol in Gujarat to 1.25 lakh units, was looking to add another 1.75 lakh units capacity from the second plant and take its overall capacity to 3 lakh units a year in two years. However, its expansion plans got delayed due to the funding crunch. Since its inception in 2019, MG Motor India has invested Rs 7,000 crore and sold close to 2,00,000 vehicles in the country.

"We are quite established in terms of our image and technology, new innovation and gender diversity, with 37 per cent women right now across blue collar and white collar jobs, and what we do in community service. So the foundation is laid," Chaba said.

He further said,"Now we want more money injection for growth. Our volumes, we have grown every year. Since inception, we have grown much more than the industry growth but still we could have done better if we had more expansion capacity, new products and things like that. Still, until last year we launched one product every year. So despite the capital shortages, we have launched one new car every year till last year." In 2023, the company had sold around 60,000 units as compared to about 48,000 units in 2022.

When asked about growth prospects for 2024, Chaba said,"Last year in 2023, our growth was over 20 per cent against industry growth of 10 per cent. This year also the industry is expecting the growth to be in single digit, 5-6 per cent. We definitely want to do much more than that. We are expecting 25-30 per cent growth this year in 2024."

The company has already announced that it would launch two new products this year, he said adding MG Motor India would continue to participate both in conventional engines and electric vehicles segment going forward.