CRI Group forays into specialised wires and cables market

Invests around Rs 125 crore in 1st phase

Coimbatore-based pump manufacturer CRI Group has announced foray into high end specialised wires and cables with an investment of around Rs 125 crore, in order to achieve a target of Rs 5,000 crore turnover in 2021.

In the first phase, the company has earmarked an investment of Rs 125 crore for the project and has set up a manufacturing plant with integrated cable compound manufacturing facility with production capacity to process over 10,000 tonne of copper. The facility has a capacity to manufacture products worth over Rs 500 crore per annum, said G Soundararajan, vice-chairman, CRI Group.

"In the second phase, the company has planned to invest further to double the capacity in about 2-3 years time," he said. The company currently manufactures various types of pumps, valves, pipes and castings.

It will leverage its longstanding relationship with reputed EPC contractors, retailers, consultants and contractors of CRI for the wires and cables division. The company has a distribution network in 120 countries, seven foreign subsidiaries and 32 branches in India. In addition to sales through the existing channels, CRI is in the process of establishing a new distribution network for some of its wire and cable products, he said.

The company has developed a winding wire with higher dielectric strength and DC solar cables for fast growing solar industry. It has specialised wires and cables range includes lead free insulated cables for hygiene applications, EPDM cables for low ambient applications, special oil resistant and chemical resistant cables for waste water, communication cables, halogen free flame retardant wires, fire retardant wires and fire retardant low smoke wires, termite resistant wires, flexible power cables for industrial applications, submersible cables and winding wires.

It has conducted test marketing of some of the products in specific markets.

The Indian wires and cables market is estimated at Rs 40,000 crore, out of which, the company is targeting in segments which together has a market potential of about Rs 14,000 crore. This is expected to reach Rs 25,000 crore in 2021 with a CAGR of 15%. The company is confident to capture at least 4-5% market share in the targeted wires and cables segment which would fetch a revenue of Rs 1,100 crore by the year 2021.

 

Soundararajan added that over the last 25 years, the wires and cables industry has moved from being a small industry to a large one though about 35% of the market is still catered by unorganised players in the industry.