Benelli to assemble bikes in Hyderabad

​Hyderabad: Italian motorcycle brand Benelli on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Telangana government to set up a manufacturing plant near Hyderabad. The super bike brand owned by China-based QianJiang Group, also entered into a strategic partnership with Adishwar Auto Ride India-Mahavir Group to market its product in India.

K T Rama Rao, Minister for IT E&C, Govt of Telangana, said: “We look forward to the complete manufacturing of the Benelli bike in our state. We assure complete support to the company in setting up the plant, which can also be used as an export hub.”

Under the MoU, the government will support the Italian brand and extend incentives under TS-iPASS. The assembly line will be set up in phase 1 at Kompally in Medchal. The first phase spread over three acres, will be executed through Adishwar Auto Ride India-Mahavir Group and will be operational by October 2018. With 10,000 assembling capacity, the group plans to sell 3,000 bikes in the first twelve months, through a network of 20 dealers, for which nearly 120 employees will be employed.

Yashwant Jhabakh, Chairman, Mahavir Group, said: “A task force will be formed involving experts from the China company and Mahavir Group which will explore the possibility of localisation of bikes. Within three months, a decision will be formed to manufacture the super bike in TS. And, post local manufacturing, the cost of the bike would reduce by 30 %.”