Sagas Autotech to expand LPG autokit production

Mysore: Taking off as an LPG gas-filling unit for domestic purposes under Sree LPG in 1996 and foraying into the manufacture of three-wheeler LPG gas-conversion kits two years later, the Mysore-headquartered Sagas Autotech Pvt Ltd plans to expand its kit manufacturing capacity at its Himachal Pradesh unit with an investment of Rs 6 crore.

While the Mysore unit is manufacturing 5,000 units out of its 10,000 capacity, the unit in HP is manufacturing another 5,000 kits presently. For expansion, Sagas has bought land in HP and the plant will be ready in about three months.

In the long range, the company proposes to take the investment to Rs 20 crore with a total production capacity of 30,000 kits and build up an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore, five times the present turnover.

When gas distribution was deregulated, Sree LPG took up gas filling and distribution on its own in 1993 and set up its LPG bottling unit at Tandya, about 7 km from Mysore, off the Nanjangud Road. By providing a set of gas cylinder and stove, it built up a market in the rural areas around its operation. From domestic supply, it rode into commercial requirements also.

Presently, the plant fills 1,200 cylinders of various capacities for domestic and commercial purposes. It has a capacity to fill 2,000 cylinders a day. About 90 per cent of the 11,000 autorickshaws and 2,000 commercial 3-wheelers use Sree LPG in Mysore today.

Seeing the huge potential in the automobile area, particularly in the three-wheeler sector, it designed for the first time an inhouse conversion kit suitable to the Indian conditions and launched it in 1998.

Sagas has a patent for its product and set up an inhouse R&D where the product is modified regularly to suit other vehicles and alternative fuels. The Department of Scientific Research has recognised the research and development unit.

“We have an on-hand target of 14 new products and releasing three products every year to suit the three-wheeler market. Continuous performance improvement has resulted in our market-spread across India, covering metros like Bangalore, Kolkota, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Surat. Today, we have emerged as a major player in the Indian market,” says Sagas Finance Director S P Sumanth.

“It is a virgin market where only about 0.8 per cent of the vehicles run on LPG and CNG. Apart from LPG and CNG, we are exploring the use of alternative fuels. For example, biogas and hydrogen could have potential in the long-run,” he told Business Standard.

Sagas is also targeting the export market and has supplied its kits to some South-East Asian countries where three-wheelers are popular as a mode of transport.

“We have begun in a small way and hope to build on this market, as the users have found our kits more suitable to their conditions and eco-friendly,” Sumanth said.