Chennai Says, ‘Hello, Moto’

Teacher Manmohan Singh’s most trusted (?) and brightest student Dayanidhi Maran gets another A+ as Motorola unveils its plans to start a manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur near Chennai. Motorola has committed an initial investment of US$ 30 Million and this could potentially go upto US$ 100 Million. This is smaller when compared to the US$ 150 Million investment made by Nokia in its handset plant near Chennai.

More than 40 percent of the software that goes into Motorola Inc.'s (MOT.N) iconic and ultra-thin RAZR handset is developed in its Indian R&D facility.

Nokia (NOK1V.HE) controls nearly half the $2.5 billion Indian handset market and its suppliers are investing about $150 million in its Chennai unit, which makes a few million handsets a month.

Following Nokia’s footsteps, its vendors also set up shop near the Nokia plant. One can expect a similar move from Motorola’s vendors as well.

This is probably the first major investment that has been announced after the DMK government took charge in the state. It is still not clear whether the state government has given some special concessions like subsidized land / tax subsidies to attract Motorola to TN.

Bachchan Jr. strikes a chord with TN based firms

Abhishek Bachchan seems to be preferred choice for brand ambassador for some of the companies having big operations in TN. He already appears in Ford campaigns and Motorola also signed him as the brand ambassador recently. The other major company is TVS, but they have already roped in Surya.