Voltas enters water treatment business

Voltas has entered the water treatment business and undertaken a project at Salt Lake City in Kolkata.

"It is a pilot project and depending on its success, we will talk to other municipal corporations to roll out the business in a bigger way," said a Voltas company official.

The project in Kolkata is a private-public partnership between the special purpose vehicle formed by Voltas and Jisco, a Tata Steel subsidiary, and Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority.

The Rs 10-crore project will provide treated water to the industrial township in sector V of Salt Lake, which houses offices of TCS and Cognizant. The area did not have a water treatment facility before this project was undertaken, said Nabadiganta Chairman S A Ahmed.

Voltas had earlier undertaken a Rs 300 crore sewage treatment project in Singapore. According to the Voltas official, the SPV with Jisco has been formed on the understanding that Jisco, which has experience in water treatment, will handle public affairs, while Voltas will look after the engineering aspects.

The company is also looking at the plumbing business in large projects such as the Hyderabad International Airport being developed by GMR.

This is a part of the company's mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) business which, in turn, has been a gradual extension of the company's industrial airconditioning business in India.

This is a part of the electro-mechanical segment of Voltas' business, which contributes 55 to 60 per cent of the company's turnover of Rs 2,450.78 crore.