Havells to invest Rs 500 cr in 3 years

PTI Updated - June 17, 2012 at 02:29 PM.

Electrical goods maker Havells India will invest up to Rs 500 crore over the next three years on various activities as it looks to achieve over 50 per cent growth in overall turnover to touch Rs 10,000 crore.

The company is also planning to hire 1,500 people in the next two years in its domestic as well as overseas operations.

“Our capex investment will be between Rs 300 crore and Rs 500 crore for the next three years. This investment will go into various segments such as expansions of plants, R&D works and launching new products,” Havells India Joint Managing Director Mr Anil Gupta told PTI.

Out of these, Rs 100 crore will in be invested in 2012-13, he added.

“In the last three years, we had invested about Rs 700 crore to build infrastructure at various locations. Now we will be getting cash inflows from these investments,” Mr Gupta said, adding the company has recently set up a production facility at Neemrana at Rajasthan.

Talking about the source of funding, he said it will be done through internal accruals only.

When asked about its revenue, Mr Gupta said: “As a group, we are targeting to touch Rs 10,000 crore sales in the next three years. This will include our overseas businesses also.”

He said Havells is seeing growth in Latin America and although Europe is challenging, it is profitable.

In 2011-12, Havells posted a total turnover of Rs 6,500 crore. Out of this, its overseas operations contributed Rs 3,000 crore.

Talking about Havells’ manpower, Mr Gupta said: “We plan to have a total of 8,000 people on board in the next two years.”

Currently Havells has a total workforce of about 6,500 people, including 2,500 in the overseas locations, he added.

The company has 10 manufacturing facilities in India in various states, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Havells India also has seven overseas manufacturing plants in Europe, Middle East and Latin American regions.

Last week, the company had said it is mulling over acquisitions in China and Africa that may entail an investment of up to $200 million (about Rs 1,100 crore) to strengthen its overseas operations.

Last year, Havells India had formed a 50:50 joint venture with Shanghai Yaming Lighting Co to set up a manufacturing facility at Jiangsu province in China. The JV, Jiangsu Havells Sylvania Lighting Co Ltd, would invest up to $100 million (nearly Rs 530 crore) in the next three years.

So far, the company’s biggest acquisition has been that of Sylvania in Europe for 230 million euro (over Rs 1,500 crore) in 2007.

Published on June 17, 2012 08:59