NEW DELHI, India – GKN Driveline, a global supplier of automotive driveline components and systems, says that its business in India continues to grow at a rapid pace.
 
In the past 12 months, GKN Driveline has broken ground on a new facility in Pune and opened a precision forge at Oragadam near Chennai. The company says this continued expansion enables GKN Driveline to remain close and accessible to its customers in India. With the completion of these new facilities, GKN Driveline employment in India will total 1,200, an increase of 20 percent.
 
Currently, GKN Driveline employs 1,000 people at three CVJ Systems factories in India: Faridabad and Dharuhera, near Delhi in the north, and Oragadam, near Chennai in the south.
 
The new 26,000-square-foot facility at Pune will manufacture products from GKN Driveline's CVJ Systems and Trans Axles Solutions product portfolio. The $2.44 million (18 m pounds Sterling) factory will employ more than 200 people and is strategically located within 20 miles of a number of major GKN Driveline customers, including Fiat, Volkswagen, General Motors, TATA and Renault.  
 
When fully operational in September 2012, the plant will have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million CVJ Systems. The new plant is also planned to manufacture differentials from GKN Driveline's Trans Axle Solutions product range.
 
In November 2011, GKN Driveline opened a new $1 million (6.6m pounds) precision forge at Oragadam near Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The 16,000-square-foot facility supplies precision forgings to GKN Driveline's Oragadam CVJ Systems manufacturing plant, which annually produces 1.2 million CVJ Systems for automotive manufacturers in South India. The new forging facility currently employs 60 people.
 
"GKN Driveline has posted an annual growth rate of more than 15 percent over the past five years in India," said Ravindra Ojha, managing director of GKN Driveline in India. "India clearly is a critically important market for the company. We expect India to remain a high-growth automotive market for many years to come and will continue to invest here to meet our customers need for CVJ Systems, Trans Axle Solutions and All-Wheel-Drive Systems, as well as products for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles."