AUTOMOTIVE

Fiat expands in India

Italy’s automotive leader Fiat is investing approximately $585m in India’s Maharashtra state under a joint venture with India’s Tata Motors to expand capacity at its plant in western India. The investment in Fiat India’s facility at Ranjangaon, near the western Indian city of Pune, will increase manufacturing capacity from 100,000 cars and 200,000 engines and transmission parts to 200,000 cars, 300,000 engines and 300,000 parts and accessories.

METALS

Vedanta smelter in Bengal

UK firm Vedanta is planning a 650,000 tonnes-per-year aluminum smelter and a 3000-megawatt power plant in West Bengal at a cost of $5bn. The entire project is expected to be completed in three years, with the power plant being built in two phases. The project will be built in the coal belt of Ranjigunj at Bidhan Bag on about 1000 acres. It will raise Vedanta’s aluminium capacity to nearly 1.5 million tonnes per year, making it the largest producer in India.

REAL ESTATE

$2bn Macquarie project

Australia’s Macquarie Global Property Advisors is to build a $2bn commercial complex on two development sites at Singapore’s Marina View. The Marina View development is expected to have a total floor area of more than 240,000 square metres across two 40-storey-plus towers with a 20-metre-high podium. More than 70% of the floor area of the first site will be developed as office space and the second site will be at least 60% office space.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Sun power in Singapore

Norwegian manufacturer of solar panel components NorSun is to start construction on a solar panel plant in Singapore this year. The company is planning a $300m factory, located in Jurong, less than 30 minutes from the city centre, with production capacity for enough solar panels in a year to produce 350 megawatts of power. Construction will start in the third quarter of 2008 and operations are expected to begin in the third quarter of 2009.

SOFTWARE AND IT

NTT base in China

Japanese software developer Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) DATA Corporation plans to build a software base in the city of Chongqing in Sichuan province, China. The base, located at the Chongqing Xiyong Microelectronics Park, will house an

R&D team of more than 1000 people. NTT DATA has two other software bases in the cities of Beijing and Shanghai.

_{This investment news and data has been generated by fDi Markets, a crossborder investment tracking service that is part of Financial Times Ltd's fDi Intelligence division www.fdiintelligence.com}

ASIA FDI, 2007 (NUMBER OF PROJECTS):

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