Areva plans 3 mfg units , R&D centre

New Delhi: Areva T&D India, the Indian subsidiary of Areva France and a major player in the power transmission and distribution sector in the country, is all set to invest Rs 700 crore for three manufacturing facilities and a research and development centre till December 2008.

The company aims to double its turnover to about Rs 4,000 crore in three to four years.

'We've finalised plans to set up three manufacturing units with an investment of Rs 700 crore by December,' said Rathin Basu, president and managing director, Areva India.

The company is setting up three equipment manufacturing plants in Baroda, Padappai (near Chennai) and Hosur (near Bangalore). The Baroda facility will manufacture 765 kv equipment, including distribution transformers and medium voltage switches.

This capacity will be enhanced to produce to 1,200 kv equipment by 2010.

'The site for the Baroda plant was finalised in January and the factory will be ready by December this year for an investment of about Rs 500 crore,' Basu said.

The Hosur facility, which require about Rs 100 crore as investment, will be an 'expanded factory' of 1200 kv capacity circuit breakers and instrument transformers. A research and development centre for electrical equipment is also coming up at the site.

The Chennai facility will manufacture high voltage switchgears.

The company runs eight electrical equipment manufacturing units at present and manages around 70 per cent of the country's transmission and distribution load.

Its order book is currently stands more than Rs 3,000 crore in deal value.

The company has, however, decided to stay out of rural electrification projects, which require relatively lower technology and involve dealing with local contractors.

It, instead, plans to remain focused on products that operate on higher technology such as the GIS (gas insulated substation) and high voltage switches.

It had earlier supplied 765 kv AIS (air insulated substation) for NTPC's Sipat project in 2007.

The company recently announced its results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, posting a 42 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 54 crore as compared with Rs 38 crore in the corresponding period last year.