General Motors Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra
visited India along with the company’s non-executive chairman of the GM Board
of Directors Tim Solso. The two high ranking officials met Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in his office in New Delhi on September 11, 2014.
In
a separate meeting, Chairman of Honda Motor Company Japan Fumihiko Ike also called on
Prime Minister Modi at his office.
This
was the first visit of Mary Barra to India as chief executive officer of
General Motors Co. The GM officials were in India from September 9 to 11.
Incidentally, Mary Bara was slated to be one of the key speakers at the annual
convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) to be held
on September 12, 2014 in New Delhi’s Taj Palace. However, on September 12, GM
Executive Vice President and President, GM International, Stefan Jacoby will
address the SIAM annual convention. He will discuss the positive economic
impact of the automotive industry and its importance for markets such as India.
Fumihiko Ike will also be one of the key speakers at the SIAM convention.
According
to a press release, during stops in Mumbai and Pune, Barra met with political
leadership, spoke with business leaders, held discussions with the company’s
leading suppliers and spoke with employees at GM India’s largest manufacturing
facility.
She
was joined by Tim Solso, GM Executive Vice President and President, GM
International, Stefan Jacoby and GM India President and Managing Director
Arvind Saxena.
In
a press statement, she said “India represents a great opportunity for General
Motors. With a relatively small vehicle population and rapidly growing middle
class, India is expected to become one of the world’s three largest markets by
2020. GM cannot remain a global leader without making a serious commitment to
expanding our presence in India and other key emerging markets.”
GM
has invested about $1 billion in India to date. It’s Talegaon and Halol
production facilities have a combined manufacturing capacity of over 280,000
vehicles per year. The GM Technical Centre-India is carrying out engineering
projects for GM on a local and global basis.
On
September 10, Barra visited GM India’s Talegaon manufacturing facility in Pune.
She congratulated employees on their recent achievements. In addition, she
participated in the celebration of the production of the first Chevrolet
vehicle for export at the plant. Vehicles will initially be exported to Chile
starting later this year.
Barra
also had the opportunity to sit down with several of the company’s top
suppliers on the same day in Pune. Barra encouraged them to remain focused on
driving excellence across their operations. She said that GM will continue to
leverage its domestic suppliers as it increases the localisation of its
products manufactured in India.
On
the final day of her visit, September 11, Barra met with Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Finance, Commerce
& Industry. She congratulated Modi on his recent election victory and
thanked him for his support of the growth of GM India’s Halol plant when he was
chief minister of Gujarat, the release added.
She
reiterated GM’s commitment to work with the Indian government to contribute to
the development of an automotive industry that is globally competitive.
Picture of Mary Barra and Tim Solso with
Prime Minister Naraendra Modi. Picture courtesy PIB