Areva T&D to invest Rs 400 cr in 3 years

Areva T&D, a French power transmission and distribution company, will invest around Rs 400 crore in India over the next three years.

The investment will mainly be made in setting up new plants, refurbishment of existing plants, among others.

The company had recently acquired land on the outskirts of Vadodara in Gujarat where it would be setting up its second high-voltage transformer manufacturing unit, at an investment of 35 million Euros (around Rs 200 crore).

Areva, through its Indian arm Areva T&D India, currently has eight units across the country that manufacture and supply a range of power generation equipment, systems and services for all stages in the transfer of electricity.

Its product base range include generator circuit breakers, high-voltage substations and high voltage transformers.

The new unit at Vadodara will be the ninth unit of Areva T&D India, and its second to manufacture transformers, with the first being at Naini near Allahabad. The existing eight units, put together, garner revenues of Rs 1,500 crore a year.

Laying the foundation stone for the unit at Vadodara, chief minister Narendra Modi raised the question of lack of grid infrastructure in the country.

"The central government needs to stabilise and develop its grid infrastructure if it wants to talk about more power generation. This is where Gujarat has taken a big step by allowing companies like Areva to set up transformer manufacturing units here. This unit will revolutionise the power sector in the coming years," he said.

Areva T&D aims to manufacture at least 50 large transformers a year once the first delivery is done by the end of 2008.

"The transformer plant will be of strategic importance to Gujarat since it brings an investment of Rs 200 crore and provide direct and indirect employment to over 2,500 people. In the next three years, we are looking at investing Rs 400 crore in all to build new plants and to refurbish the existing ones," Philippe Guillemot, chairman and chief executive of Areva T&D, said.

Guillemot stated that the company aims to further increase its current market share of 13 per cent.

He also mentioned that Areva T&D India, which contributes around nine per cent to the overall order intake of Areva T&D, will look to increase its contribution to 14 per cent by 2010. Currently, Areva T&D India claims an order book of Rs 2,300 crore.