MUMBAI (Reuters) - India’s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd said on Tuesday it would defer investment in a planned manufacturing venture with Renault and Nissan Motor even as the two foreign firms step up the pace in India.

Mahindra said Renault and Nissan will go ahead with their plans for the venture which envisages an investment of nearly $1 billion in a greenfield facility at Oragadam, near southern Chennai city to make 400,000 vehicles within seven years.

“M&M has since reviewed its plans, while Renault and Nissan continue to be fully committed to their industrial development plans,” the Indian company said in a statement, without elaborating.

“There was probably not much clarity about the venture, and given Renault and Nissan’s other commitments in India, and Mahindra’s own alliances and plans, they probably decided it was too much,” said Ramnath S., an analyst at SSKI Securities.