The Hindu Business Line : Keltron turnover up 15 pc at Rs 83 crore

THE public sector Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (Keltron) recorded a 15 per cent growth in turnover during the financial year-ended March 31, 2004.

The turnover for the year stood at Rs 83.33 crore as against Rs 72 crore in the previous year. Of this, sale of hardware products amounted to Rs 37.33 crore, while value-added products, services, software, training, trading and solutions made up the balance Rs 46 crore.

Apart from the holding company, the five fully-owned subsidiaries of Keltron at Kannur and Kuttipuram engaged in the manufacture of electronic components posted a combined turnover of Rs 39 crore, taking the total group turnover to more than Rs 122 crore for the year.

According to Mr V. Ramkumar, Managing Director, the company generated a surplus of Rs 8 crore without considering the cost of the old liabilities that are being settled under a one-time settlement scheme by the State Government.

Under the holding company, Keltron Equipment Complex accounted for Rs 21 crore of the turnover, while Communication Complex, Controls Complex and Identity Cards Division contributed Rs 8 crore, Rs 7 crore and Rs 5.5 crore respectively.

Mr Ramkumar said the information technology and IT-enabled services business brought Rs 38 crore to the company's turnover. As a total solutions provider in IT, the company had been able to bag major orders against stiff competition from other leading IT companies in the country.

The projects implemented during the year included computerisation of the Directorate of Agriculture and the "krishi bhavans" in the State, modernisation in government programme and the automation projects for the law department using artificial intelligence tools.

During the year, Keltron made forays into the free software area by providing web-based solutions to many government projects. During the current financial year, the company is poised to set up a Linux research, development and promotion centre at a cost of Rs 3 crore.

Some of the other projects on the anvil are development of Malayalam desktop and computing solutions, operating system for Sanskrit and Arabic, GIS-based applications and education packages for IT@School programme.

Mr Ramkumar said customers in power and defence sectors had retained Keltron as the preferred partner in implementing major projects and the orders from these sectors were worth Rs 40 crore in 2003-04.

Currently, the company has orders to the tune of Rs 26 crore from the Indian Navy for processor-based ground mines, electro-magnetic log, underwater telephone, retransmission unit and echo sounder.

Besides, Keltron has been entrusted with the issuance of identity cards in Goa and Medak. It has also taken up voter card projects in Bhopal and Guntur (Andhra Pradesh).

The company is now setting up an advanced tool room research and training centre at Aroor at a cost of Rs 15 crore with the support of the Union and State governments. The first batch of the four-year professional diploma course in tool and die making will commence at the centre in June this year.

Short-term training for employees and small-scale industrialists and research activities are also planned at the centre.

More Stories on : Performance | Consumer Electronics | PSU | Kerala

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page