Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - After failing to get regulatory permits, China's Great Wall Motor abandoned plans to invest $1 bill...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - After failing to get regulatory permits, China's Great Wall Motor abandoned plans to invest $1 billion in India and fired every employee at its facilities there, according to three persons with firsthand knowledge of the situation on Friday.
Since 2020, the Chinese automaker has been considering entering the Indian market, but it is now one of the greatest losers as a result of New Delhi's intensified scrutiny of Beijing-related projects.
Without specifically addressing the departure, Great Wall stated in a statement that it "would like to thank all the members of the Indian team for their efforts" and promised to keep watching the Indian market and looking for opportunities.
During the nation's biannual auto exhibition in January 2020, Great Wall made a big deal out of their entry plan for India. The Indian market was crucial to the Chinese SUV manufacturer's global expansion aspirations, and it had planned to build the largest production outside of China there.
To prevent opportunistic takeovers during the COVID-19 pandemic, New Delhi increased surveillance of investments from nations with which it shares a land border months after Great Motor started hiring personnel there.
Later that year, a border dispute between China and India exacerbated the crackdown, which has since prevented billions of dollars' worth of investments from entering several industries, including the technology and auto sectors.
The individuals, who declined to be named, claimed that Great Wall fired about a dozen workers at its Indian operation on Friday after informing them that it had been unable to secure government approval for foreign direct investment in order to purchase a former General Motors (GM) plant in the nation.
Great Wall and GM cancelled the factory agreement earlier on Friday, putting an end to a two-year project.
Outside of regular business hours, a spokeswoman for the Indian government could not be immediately reached for comment.
According to two of the individuals, the fired workers were employed by the corporation in departments such as finance, strategy, and marketing, and they will receive three months' worth of severance pay.
Since last year, Great Wall had less patience. It transferred part of its workers in August and allocated to Brazil a chunk of its intended $1 billion India investment.
The company told Reuters early on Friday that business is as usual at its research and development facility in Bengaluru, a city in southern India.
