Shakti Pumps inks pact with Andhra

Company to supply energy-efficient pumps to the state from January.

The panchayat raj engineering and rural water supply department of the Andhra Pradesh government has entered into an agreement with Madhya Pradesh-based irrigation pump maker, Shakti Pumps India Limited, to purchase energy-efficient pumps from the latter.

"We have signed a single-tender contract with the Andhra Pradesh government. The government has agreed to our rates and we expect to start supplying energy-efficient pumps to it from January 2008," Dinesh Patidar, managing director of Shakti Pumps, told Business Standard, while declining to comment on the size of the contract, both in value and volume terms.

This is the first-ever contract received by Shakti Pumps from any state government.

The company has also approached 10 other state governments and given proof-of-concept to them for similar agreements, he added.

The move was keeping in view the threat of global warming and the necessity to save nature by reducing Co2 gases from the earth.

The Andhra Pradesh government has considered that energy efficient pumps can play an important role, and in continuation of this process, has executed an agreement with Shakti Pumps, according to a press release on Monday.

Andhra Pradesh intends to replace the existing conventional pumps with Shakti Pump's energy efficient pumps, which is expected to result in power saving of up to 40 per cent for the government, it added.

Shakti Pumps achieved a turnover of Rs 63 crore, including exports of Rs 35 crore last year. It expects to garner Rs 90 crore from exports and Rs 60 crore from domestic sales this financial year.