MYSURU: The Kalyani Group and Meritor announced that they will open a new, state of the art Research and Development (R&D) center at the Automotive Axles Limited (AAL) manufacturing facility in the city. Speaking to the reporters here on Wednesday, Jay Craig , CEO and President for Meritor informed that this unit expected to start operations by mid-2018. Automotive Axles Limited (AAL) is a joint venture between the Kalyani Group and Meritor."The center is among a proposed Rs 250-300 crore rupees in investments the company plans to make in India over the next several years to support the growing needs of customers in the region," explained Jay Craig."Currently, the team in India depends on other Meritor locations for critical product validation. The growing demand for AAL products in the Indian commercial vehicle market, combined with OEM's need for reduced product development cycle times, makes the timing right for a facility like this in Mysuru," he explained.Jay Craig stated that new state of the art R&D facility in Mysuru will help the company for better support for the growing technological demands of both Indian and Asia Pacific region customers."The new R&D center which is coming up in the Mysuru facility will expand the joint venture's testing and validation capabilities," he added.Jay Craig stated that company is already producing 99% of its products in the country and electrical solutions for electric vehicles are also under the focus of the company nowadays with India pushing for clean fuel vehicles "Company is developing several products for Indian market which include lighter, efficient and more durable products to help OEMs to meet the BS6 emission standards by 2020," he said.N P Thimmaiah, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Meritor India informed that there is no shortage of skilled manpower for the new R & D center coming up in Mysuru. "We have got enough skilled manpower for this center," he said.He also informed that recently introduced Goods and Services Tax GST ) didn't pose any challenges for the company as it simplified the transaction. "It is looking better as it simplified the process," he said.Vinod Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland laid cornerstone for the new building of the R&D Center on Wednesday.

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