Maruti Suzuki's Rs. 40 billion (US$ 730 million) plant at Bechraji in Mehsana district of north Gujarat is likely to be commissioned by mid-2015, company's Chief Operating Officer S.Y. Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui was present for the FGI EXPO 2013 Agro & Auto Summit which began Vadodara on 3rd January.

He said, "the Bechraji unit will manufacture 250,000 cars per annum, while two other plants of the company located at Gurgaon and Manesar in Haryana have been manufacturing 1.75 million cars per annum. With Becharaji unit, total production of cars of the company will go up to 2.0 million per year."

The demand for diesel cars has gone up due to high cost of petrol and because of which there is waiting list for diesel cars, Siddiqui said and added that some kind of balance in prices of petrol and diesel is needed.

He admitted that there has been a fall in demand for cars this year compared to last year due to factors like high rate of interest and high cost of petrol.

He said the company will set up 4 to 5 ITIs in Gujarat for meeting the requirement of skilled manpower.

The company in partnership with Industrial Training Institute (ITI) here plans to set up about 50 ITIs, out of which 11 have already been set up, he said.