Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Jul 01, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Jul 01, 2002 |
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Corporate
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New Projects Buoyed by Tata Steel order... — BOC India to set up plant at Jamshedpur Our Bureau
KOLKATA, June 30 ARMED with a long-term oxygen supply contract from Tata Steel, BOC India Ltd has decided to set up a new plant at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, entailing an investment of about Rs 30 crore. The plant, which is expected to be commissioned by July 2003, will have the capacity to supply at least 225 tonnes of oxygen per day to Tata Steel. BOC is making a major investment after a gap of five years. Announcing the company's investment plan here, Mr Sanjiv Lamba, Managing Director of BOC India Ltd, told newspersons that a supply contract for a period of 15 years between the two companies had been signed. As an interim measure, till the commissioning of the plant, BOC would provide liquid oxygen to Tata Steel over and above the current supply in Jamshedpur. Mr Lamba said that BOC had been able to clinch the supply contract against stiff competition. By doing so, BOC had underlined the strength of its relationship with Tata Steel and its commitment to support Tata Steel's expansion plans. He said that the company had plans to develop value-added product portfolio of medical gases, shielding gases and new applications. In addition to this, the focus would be on building up an effective sales and marketing organisation, investing in new technologies to satisfy customer service expectations and the launch of a 24-hour delivery system for emergency medical supplies in all major metros. Mr Lamba said that National Aeronautic Laboratories, Bangalore, had awarded a turnkey contract to the BOC project engineering division for setting up a compressed air supply system for its wind tunnel project. Indian Oil Corporation had awarded a contract for a nitrogen generator at its Gujarat refinery to BOC. The company had received bulk orders for BOC oxygen concentrate from the Army, while market development for home oxygen therapy was under way. In reply to a question, Mr Lamba said the company had plans to mop up resources of about Rs 35 crore by selling its non-performing assets (NPAs) scattered all over the country. The NPAs would be disposed of within the current fiscal. He said that the company had recently sold land in Delhi for Rs 15.5 crore, and proceeds received from the sale would be utilised to pre-pay high-cost debt and to fund new projects. Mr Lamba said the company was actively considering diversifying its product portfolio as per customer requirements. The company was in a financially comfortable position, and was likely to face no problems in making fresh investments of about Rs 10 crore every year out if its internal generation, he said.
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