Prabha Engineers targets Rs 100 cr

Chennai-based Prabha Engineers, a small and medium enterprise (SME) auto component manufacturer, expects to achieve a turnover of over Rs 100 crore, recording a growth of about 100 per cent over the previous year, by the end of the current fiscal on the back of buoyancy in the commercial vehicle market.

The company ended the last fiscal with a turnover of Rs 54 crore, which was a 90 per cent growth over the previous year. It manufactures FES (front end structures), cabin and body-building for tipper applications and fuel tanks for commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland.

C Sivakumar, promoter and chief executive officer, Prabha Engineers, said, "Our sales plan for the fiscal year 2007 is to achieve a growth rate of over 100 per cent, and going by the sales of the first three quarters, this is achievable."

The domestic market for commercial vehicles is on a high growth path and Prabha Engineers sees a huge opportunity as an SME in the auto sector. The signals are positive with higher investments being contemplated by the Centre.

This, combined with the anticipated double-digit GDP growth, will result in a larger volume of goods to be transported, which in turn, will improve commercial vehicle sales, he added.

Sivakumar said the performance of the company over the last three years had been good with about 100 per cent year-on-year sales growth.

He attributed the growth to the investments made in setting up additional manufacturing units and unique training methodology, coupled with TQM (total quality management ) initiatives resulting in greater TEI (total employee involvement).

The company has made an investment of Rs 8.5 crore in new manufacturing units over the last three years.

"We expect significant growth from the new units in Hosur and Alwar. Additional investments in the coming years will depend on the performance of these units," Sivakumar added.

The company's future growth will depend on increasing its market share in the present range of products and manufacturing newer components in the sheet metal category.

Prabha Engineers has not focused on the global outsourcing market over the past three years due to sufficient domestic demand.

However, it expects to embark on an aggressive export strategy from fiscal 2008, Sivakumar said.