Kia India to invest $2 billion in new Andhra Pradesh plant, lifting capacity to 6.3 lakh cars a year
Kia India's managing director announced the investment at the CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, saying it would create about 12,000 jobs. No timeline has been given.
Kia India will invest $2 billion in a new manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh, the carmaker's Managing Director and Chief Executive Gwanggu Lee said on Thursday, a move that would make the state an even bigger base for the South Korean company.
Lee announced the plan at the CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, saying he was "delighted" to expand Kia's presence in the state. The project is expected to generate about 12,000 jobs, according to reports by IANS and the Free Press Journal.
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Capacity and timeline
The new facility is expected to take Kia India's total annual production capacity to about 6.3 lakh vehicles. Its existing plant at Anantapur, set up in 2017 and producing cars since 2019, can make 4.3 lakh units a year, so the expansion would add roughly two lakh units of capacity.
Lee did not say when the money would be spent or when the new capacity would come on stream, and the exact location of the facility was not disclosed. In 2025-26, Kia India produced about 3.17 lakh vehicles, sold about 2.89 lakh in the domestic market and exported 27,953 units, according to the reports.
Supplier base grows
The announcement follows commitments made earlier this month by three South Korean auto component makers that supply Hyundai and Kia. Hwashin, Seoyon and Iwamet have agreed to set up plants in Anantapur district with a combined investment of Rs 1,614 crore, split as Rs 850 crore, Rs 514 crore and Rs 250 crore, and are expected to create around 1,400 jobs. Those deals followed a visit to South Korea in July by Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh, who met companies in the Hyundai-Kia supply chain.
The two-day CII Partnership Summit, which began in Visakhapatnam on 12 November, is the state government's main event to court domestic and foreign investors.
Why it matters
A second large Kia facility would deepen the auto manufacturing cluster that has grown around Kia's Anantapur plant and strengthen India's position as a production and export base for global carmakers. How quickly the plan turns into construction will depend on the timeline and site the company has yet to announce.
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