Areva T&D India, the transmission and distribution division of French major Areva, today commenced its manufacturing unit at Paddapai, near Chennai, which will host three factories. The company had invested around Rs 250 crore in the new facility. The company is also going to inaugurate one more unit at Hosur in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
The company has infused around Rs 950 crore for its green field manufacturing facilities in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu to double its sales from the current Rs 4,000 crore by 2012, said Philippe Guillemot, chairman and chief executive of Areva T&D. He added, the company is planning to increase the exports which is around 14 per cent currently to 25 per cent by 2012.
Rathin Basu, managing director, AREVA T&D India added, of the Rs 950 crore, 40 per cent will be invested in the two plants at Paddapai and Hosur in Tamil Nadu.
The Paddapai plant will host three new factories including Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) production facility, a circuit breaker factory and disconnector factory (both upto 1200 KV). The GIS facility's total capacity will be 500 Bays and Circuit Breaker unit's capacity would be around 10,000 a year. This facility is expected to employee around 500 people.
Basu said the current market size for GIS in India is around Rs 960 crore, Areva India's market is share around 40 per cent. The company is hoping to increase it after this facility commence its production.
The Hosur site will manufacture Condenser Bushings and Instrument Transformers (up to 1200 KV). It will also house an Instrument Transformer competency center, providing high-level global research and development expertise. The faciility will be inaugurated on Wednesday.
It may be recalled the company has inaugurated four new units of the company in Vadora on Monday include factories for manufacturing power transformers, distribution transformers, primary distribution equipments and secondary equipment. The company is planning to create 1500 direct jobs and 3000 indirect jobs when all the eight manufacturing units commence its operation.