New Delhi, The diplomats in the External Affairs Ministry in India and the abroad are troubled with the claims made by the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann about setting up of a new BMW manufacturing plant in Punjab which was later refuted by the leading auto giant BMW.
According to a source with the Ministry, the diplomats see it as a question of credibility and said that such tall claims should be avoided as it hurts the credibility of the country and the government too. The source said that it has left the diplomats embarrassed.
During Mann’s visit to Germany, the Indian diplomats had arranged a meeting. However, after that he announced that BMW had decided to set up a new manufacturing plant in his state.
“The efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to rope in major investments from Germany bore fruit on Tuesday as leading auto giant BMW agreed to set up its auto part manufacturing unit in the state,” said a press statement from government.
However, releasing an official statement, the BMW Group denied such plan on Wednesday.
“The BMW Group is firmly committed to its Indian operations with its manufacturing plant in Chennai, a parts warehouse in Pune, a training centre in Gurgaon-NCR and a well-developed dealer network across major metropolitans of the country. BMW Group India has no plans for setting up additional manufacturing operations in Punjab,” said the press statement.
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A decision to this effect was taken during the visit of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann at BMW headquarters in Germany on Tuesday, it said.
The German carmaker has already placed multibillion-euro orders with CATL and EVE to produce battery cells at four factories in China and Europe, it said on Friday, adding it was seeking partners able to build two more factories in the United States and Mexico.