Vijayawada, March 21 – A casual breakfast meeting has paved the way for the revival of a long-delayed bus manufacturing plant by the Hinduja Group near Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The facility, originally announced in 2018 by Ashok Leyland, the world's fifth-largest bus manufacturer, had remained dormant following a change in state government.
The plant, with an annual production capacity of 4,800 buses, had its foundation stone laid in March 2018. However, construction came to a halt when the new administration led by YSR Congress Party came to power in 2019, replacing the government of then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
As per agency report, the project found fresh momentum last year when the political landscape shifted once again. Nara Lokesh, who now chairs the Cabinet Committee on Employment Generation, took notice of the stalled factory. In an effort to restart the initiative, he invited the Hinduja family for a breakfast meeting in Hyderabad on December 22, 2024.
Sources familiar with the development said the meeting was attended by Ashok Hinduja, Chairman of Hinduja Group of Companies (India), and Dheeraj Hinduja, Chairman of Ashok Leyland. The discussion led to a renewed commitment from the Hinduja Group to resume work on the facility.
The project was officially revived and the plant was inaugurated on March 19, 2025. Delays had earlier stemmed from administrative and local challenges under the previous government, but the new discussions removed these roadblocks.
The revival of the plant marks a significant boost for industrial activity and employment generation in the region, aligning with the state government’s focus on attracting investment and accelerating job creation.
