The Hindu Business Line : Areva T&D to invest Rs 700 cr in 3 greenfield units

Hyderabad, May 21 Areva T&D, part of the global French energy major Areva, will operationalise three ‘greenfield’ manufacturing units in India, between December 5 and 7, and hire over 1,200 this year.

The India expansion, involves an investment of Rs 700 crore. The units are coming up in Vadodara in Gujarat, Hosur and Padappai in Tamil Nadu, according to Mr Karim Vissandjee, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Areva T&D Global.

Giving details of the expansion Mr Rathin Basu, Country President, Areva T&D India, said the Vadodara factory will make power transformers up to 765 kV and scale up to 1,200 kV in due course. It will also manufacture distribution transformers and medium voltage switchgear.

The Hosur plant will produce instrument transformers up to 765 kV and later for 1,200 kV. It would also be the R&D centre for instrument transformer product line to support the global needs, Mr Basu told Business Line here in an interview.

The third greenfield site at Padappai will manufacture circuit breakers for 765 kV and eventually for 1,200 kV. It would be an expanded capacity compared with the existing plant at Perungudi, he added.

Once, these projects start contributing, India’s share, which stands at around 7 per cent of the Areva Group’s total turnover, is expected to grow. “We target to reach about 15 per cent by 2012.

The major drivers coming from utilities and industry demands, including steel plants, infrastructure and GIS sub-stations,” Mr Basu said.

The company is betting big on GIS (Gas Insulated Switchgear). In fact, Mr Vissandjee said, “GIS is expected to be a blockbuster business winner globally in the coming years. The company is already a market leader in the segment since 2001”.

India will be a major contributor to Areva’s overall growth, hence, “we are recruiting more than one-tenth of the professionals (12,000 for 2008 targetted globally), including 200 in just two days”, he said.

Areva T&D India, a listed entity which clocked nearly Rs 2,000 crore for its fiscal ending December 31, 2007, has targetted to double its turnover by 2012. The company has eight manufacturing plants at present and employs 3,500 people in India.

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