Hotline plans to invest Rs 200 cr in MP

The Hotline group, which has a hi-tech plant in the Ghirongi Industrial area of Bhind of Madhya Pradesh (MP), has plans to invest in the state under its capacity expansion plan.

Speaking to Business Standard, D C Mathur, joint managing director of Hotline, said the company had "plans to invest".

Though the exact size of the investment is yet to be confirmed by the company, sources in the department of industries and Madhya Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (MPSIDC) officials say it is Rs 300 crore.

"The investment will be for the production of glass for computer monitor tubes, electron guns for colour picture tubes, and colour display tubes. This would bring cost benefits to the company. The company will have a technical collaboration with Hitachi of Japan," said a department of industry source, adding, "the investment size will be around Rs 250"�300 crore."

The company, according to Madhya Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation sources, has a 50 per cent market share in India.

Speaking to Business Standard, Managing Director Raghav Chandra said there were plans for a bhoomi pujan in Malanpur on September 12, in the presence of Uma Bharti.

The company manufactures black-and-white picture tubes, colour picture tubes, picture flat tunes, monitor tubes, electron guns, and glass shells.

"The company set up the Ghirongi plant in just 11 months," a source said.

"Hotline exports goods worth Rs 250 crore to Bangladesh, Egypt, Russia, China, and Belarus, among other countries," an MPSIDC source said.

Hotline Glass Ltd was set up in 1993 in technical collaboration with Picvue of Taiwan with the capacity of maufacturing equipment for 5.5 million black-and-white TV sets per annum.