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Maruti Suzuki to take shareholder vote on Gujarat plant after govt approvals

A worker is reflected on the body of a Maruti Suzuki car as he locks the door of another car at a Maruti Suzuki stockyard on the outskirts of Ahmedabad May 2, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki India Ltd , India's top-selling carmaker, will take shareholders' vote for a new manufacturing plant in Gujarat after receiving the pending government approvals, its chairman said on Friday. Maruti, controlled by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, needs to start operations at the plant in 2017 and it is on schedule to achieve that, R.C. Bhargava told an annual shareholders meeting. In 2014, Suzuki said it plans to build a wholly-owned car plant in Gujarat that will supply exclusively to Maruti, saving the company about 105 billion rupees ($1.58 billion). The plan met with resistance from some of Maruti's large Indian shareholders. The cash-rich company has delayed voting on minority shareholder approval for Suzuki to invest in the Gujarat plant pending approvals from government agencies. ($1 = 66.3750 rupee) (Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Anand Basu)