Kia Motors, South Korea’s second-largest auto manufacturer, is waiting to seal an agreement with the Indian government to build its fifth overseas factory there, the automaker said Tuesday.

“For the most part, reports (of the fifth factory) released so far are true. We will soon sign an investment agreement with the Indian government,” said a Hyundai Motor Group spokesperson.

Earlier in the day, India-based news outlet Economic Times reported that the new plant will be located in India’s southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Kia Motors will first invest 60 billion rupees ($929.8 million) in the plant that will produce 300,000 vehicles annually from 2019.

Depending on the market conditions, the automaker will later decide whether to invest an additional 40 billion rupees to expand the facility to produce a total of 600,000 units, the India-based news outlet reported.

There have been reports of the automaker seeking to secure a factory in India since 2014.

“We are in the process of selecting a site and we can begin construction anytime,” Kia Motors CEO Park Han-woo said in February.

Kia Motors has recently been hit by a series of unfortunate events, such as tensions over the deployment of a US anti-missile system in Korea, which slashed the firm’s March sales in China by 68 percent on-year, alongside recalls ordered at home and in North America due to defective engine parts. 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)