The Hindu Business Line : Caparo group expanding in India

Pune, Oct 8 The NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul-led Caparo Group is set to expand its operations in the country by setting up new facilities, besides expanding the existing ones.

The group has in its pipeline 22 projects, which are expected to go on stream by March 2008, Mr Angad Paul, Chief Executive Officer, Caparo Group, told presspersons at the group’s Pune plant.

Mr Paul noted that some of the plants that would be set up would be in the areas of stampings, aluminium castings, tubular parts and advanced composites.

He said it will setting up facilities in Jamshedpur, Singur, and also in Uttaranchal and Madurai. Mr Paul said there were plans for setting up an iron foundry, braking systems in Pune . He said it would begin with replicating sheet metal and then progress on to castings and other processes.

Mr Paul said the group was looking at replicating the Chennai model and was in the process of setting up automotive hubs and would be going in with sheet metal for the local market. “We will be replicating sheet metal in every hub. The idea is to have the hub ready when any important customer walks in so that we can immediately allocate a portion of the hub for the customer, instead of waiting and then beginning the process. In Sriperumbur, we have already allocated a portion, while in Oragadam, we are still undecided as to what to do. We might switch one process with Pune if it makes more sense for Pune to begin first.”

Asked about the power train and transmission, Mr Paul said it was not considering it now. It would be looking first at developing the technology and ensuring that it has the capability to supply components to these sectors.

Paring questions about the Group entering the small car segment, Mr Paul categorically stated, “We are not in the business of making a car but in the business of innovation. We have the ability now to design a new class of vehicle… It does not mean we are building a car.”

Mr Paul said though the group was setting up many facilities for stampings, it was only a minor part. The company has two stamping facilities in Pune, one in Sanaswadi and the other in Markel.

The Markel plant manufactures body panels, stampings and welded assemblies and sub-assemblies for the automotive market and the ground breaking was in June 2006. The press line trials started in July 2007 and noted that one section of the plant would be “robotically handled”. The net sales projected for 2007 from this plant is Rs 10.38 crore. The second stage of development of this plant is expected to be completed by mid-2009 or early 2010.

The second plant in Sanaswadi was an acquisition from International Auto Ltd in January 2007 and is a sheet metal automotive component plant. The billing from this plant had begun in March 2007 and the sales projection for 2007 is around Rs 51.60 crore.

Both the facilities currently cater to Tata Motors new Indica and its various current models.

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