The Hindu Business Line : Water, oil to drive Krohne Marshall growth

Water and oil are two sectors from which the flow-meter manufacturer, Krohne Marshall, expects to see most growth, according to Krohne Marshall's Chairman, Mr Farhad Forbes.

Public sector water utilities are increasingly keen on water savings and monitoring to keep expenditure down. More of them are opting for metering as a first step to keep track of water. Oil and gas is another sector that would yield a growing market for the flow-meter manufacturer. Recently, the company bagged a Rs 50-crore order from ONGC to supply meters to measure crude oil flow to refineries, he said.

Krohne Marshall, which is part of the Forbes Marshall group, is well set to exploit the growing markets as its calibration unit formally launched two weeks ago at its manufacturing facility in Pune gives it a significant cost advantage.

A 2,000 mm flow-meter could weigh several tonnes and could be calibrated only in Europe or China but now this could be done locally.

Giving rough estimates, he said a calibrated meter that would cost about Rs 50 lakh to import would now be available locally at half that price.

Mr Forbes, who is also Director, Forbes Marshall group, said public utilities in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi had shown keen interest in large-sized flow meters. The reduction in costs has contributed to the growth in the market. A city like Mumbai that handles about 3,000 million litres a day could lose about Rs 7 crore a year even if just 1 per cent of the water is unaccounted.

Often public utilities lose about 30 per cent of the water due to leakage or theft, he said.

To Krohne Marshall, which expects to grow by about 25-30 per cent on its present business volume of Rs 40 crore, a large part of the growth is going to come from water, he said.

Krohne Marshall, which makes flow meters ranging from 10 mm in diameter to 2,000 mm, is a joint venture between Forbes Marshall and Krohne Messtechnik, Germany. Forbes Marshall also has interests in steam generation and instrumentation manufacturing and the group's turnover is about Rs 300 crore.