Vijay Tanks to bank on exports

Vadodara-based Vijay Tanks and Vessels Limited (VTVL), a closely held company with a turnover of about Rs 125 crore last fiscal, expects to double this figure by the end of next financial year following the uptrend in the oil and power sector.

The company is eyeing upcoming turnkey projects in Gulf, Europe and a number of African countries.

"At present a number of oil companies are commissioning their new facilities in developing companies that will prove beneficial for our growth. At the same time we are eyeing interesting projects in European countries where old refineries are being revamped in view of developing automation technologies. In the last couple of years we have gone through pre-qualification stages and commissioned new facility at Kandla Special Economic Zone (KASEZ) to cater to our international clientele," said V Sunderrajan, director of the company, on Monday.

VTVL earns about 30 per cent of its revenue from overseas markets that it projects at 70 per cent to reach.

VTVL was established in 1956 to manufacture underground petroleum storage tanks. Later, the company entered into the storage and process tanks for refineries and gas-based power projects.

In the 1990s VTVL faced a set back following the Gulf war. VTVL had major business interests in the Gulf countries.

"We had missed the bus in 1990s due to the unfavourable global business environment in the petroleum sector. Our thrust area will be exports with sustaining our strong presence in domestic market. If things go well, this time we are expecting to double our turnover by the end of financial year 2005-06. We are bidding aggressively for upcoming projects overseas. During the current year we have projections to cross Rs 160 crore in sales," said Sunderrajan.

VTVL has undertaken a number of large projects so far including commissioning of offshore platform for port craft jetty at Petronet LNG at Dahej and making the crude oil storage tank at Reliance's Jamnagar refinery.

VTVL has four production facilities at Sankard near Vadodara, Jamnagar, Haldia and at Kandla.