ECFL eyes joint venture for new plant at Bawal

Eastman Cast and Forge Ltd (ECFL), a group company of the Eastman group, will set up a plant for manufacturing powertools in Bawal (Gurgaon) in two years.

According to company Director Reema Jain, the plant will come up at around Rs 50 crore and will be a joint venture (JV), but the partner is yet to be finalised.

The plant will help the company to increase the production of machines used for construction and manufacturing units and also in meeting the increased demand for machinery.

She said ECFL would set up a plant in Baddi with an investment of around Rs 30 crore. The new plant will make powertools and be operational in a year.

ECFL is also modernising its existing handtools plant in Ludhiana. It involves an investment of Rs 10 crore and is likely to be completed by the end of June. The modernisation will not only help the company in becoming fully automatic but also increase the production of handtools.

Already ECFL has a manufacturing facility for powertools in Ludhiana, which produces 300,000 machines a year.

The turnover of ECFL in 2007-08 was Rs 75 crore, with a group turnover of Rs 250 crore. This year the company is eyeing Rs 500 crore.

Jain launched the firm's fifth exclusive powertool showroom in Chandigarh yesterday. The showroom will have a complete range of tools and accessories for construction and industrial use.

She said the company planned to open around 15 exclusive showrooms for powertools this year.

Jain said products of ECFL were available to the customers through a chain of 400 dealers in the country and now the company was planning to open around 100 exclusive outlets in five years.

ECFL, which started its operations 17 years ago, has a presence in around 21 countries and also supplies its tool kits to leading automotive firms such as Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero Honda Motors and Ashok Leyland.