The Hindu Business Line : Malaysian co to set up bus body building base in India

Mumbai, Nov. 7 Malaysia-based Scomi Group is exploring opportunities to set up coach building (bus body) facilities in India. It is in talks with domestic majors who make bus chassis.

“India builds close to 80,000 buses annually and we would be more than content with a small share of that,” said Mr Kanesan Veluppillai, President, Scomi International. The company, he added, plans to invest about Rs 200 crore initially to set up manufacturing facilities here in the near term.

In the long run, though, Scomi is keen on scaling up its operations to the level of a regional base that can tap the domestic market as well as service neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even Hong Kong. Some Scomi products such as the monorail systems can be made here, he said.

Early this year, an L&T – Scomi consortium bagged the Rs 2,450-crore Mumbai monorail project.

Last week, Scomi tied up with Geodesic Techniques of Bangalore and submitted a Rs 11,300 crore proposal for the first phase of a 59-km stretch monorail system for the Garden City, which the Karnataka Government had drawn up.

On coach building, Mr Veluppillai said the company’s design and manufacturing facilities in Malaysia served the local market, West Asia, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

On the progress of talks with bus makers, he said things were moving but no deal had been sealed as yet.

According to him, rail wagon refurbishment was big business in African countries given the shortage of wagons worldwide.

Moreover, it could be done in six months at 20 per cent of the wagon cost. In Malaysia, the company had restored 1,500 wagons over the last five years.

Scomi is looking to rope in an Indian partner for this venture and is in talks with some leading players.

The hydrocarbon sector is another area, Scomi is focussing on, since it provides fluids for drilling operations. The market is around $250 million and the company is targeting a $30 million share, with the spur in hydrocarbon activity in the subcontinent.

Mr Veluppillai said waste disposal regulations relating the drilling operations in India were not too stringent and Scomi was hoping of benefiting in this space once the tightening happened.

On prioritising India as a base, he said that apart from the potential the domestic market offered, a large skilled workforce was also readily available.