Tata Motors has received a favorable arbitration ruling, with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation ordered to pay the automaker INR 766 crore in compensation related to losses incurred during the relocation of its Nano car manufacturing plant from Singur, West Bengal, to Sanand, Gujarat, in 2008.
The Land Dispute
The dispute arose when Tata Motors had to shift its Nano car manufacturing plant from Singur to Sanand in 2008 due to a land dispute. By that time, the company had already invested over INR 1,000 crore in the Singur facility.
Arbitration Tribunal’s Decision
According to Tata Motors, a three-member Arbitral Tribunal has ruled in favor of the company, stating that the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (WBIDC) is liable to pay Tata Motors a sum of INR 765.78 crore, along with an annual interest rate of 11%, starting from September 1, 2016, until the actual payment.
The compensation covers various aspects of Tata Motors’ claim, including the loss of capital investments related to the automobile manufacturing facility in Singur.
Tata Motors has also been granted the right to recover INR 1 crore as the cost of the arbitration proceedings.
With this final arbitration award, Tata Motors’ long-standing dispute related to the Singur land row comes to a close. The company had inaugurated a new manufacturing plant in Sanand in June 2010, where it initially produced the Nano, a model that has since been discontinued. This event marked the end of a nearly two-year-long dispute and the successful relocation of the manufacturing facility to Gujarat.