Bhopal firm keeps train speed in check

Daulat Ram supplies 90% of railways' brake resistors

Here's a teaser: what controls the speed of a train? The answer: dynamic brake resistors (DBRs).

If that was relatively easy to answer, try this one: which Indian company caters to 90 per cent of Indian Railways' requirement of DBRs? The answer: Daulat Ram Industries.

The company located in Govindpura, Bhopal, has a turnover of over Rs 25 crore today. Established by an electric engineer, Satish Sharma, in 1973 with just around Rs 1 lakh investment, the company is now on track to supply the resistors to global buyers and become a Rs 100 crore company in two years.

Indian Railways earlier used to import DBRs from the UK. Sharma saw a huge business opportunity when he realised that the imported DBRs were designed for trains with only a limited number of bogies.

"The device was a failure in Indian locomotives since our trains carry a huge number of bogies. Moreover, the cost of the imported DBRs came to a whopping Rs 28 lakh per unit," Sharma says.

Daulat Ram's research and development team came up with a design in 1984 that brought down the cost to Rs 7 lakh per unit. There was no looking back since then.

Sharma, who is the executive director of the company, says while the R&D cell has 15 engineers, the company employs 200 people at its manufacturing units in Govindpura, Mandideep and Bangalore.

The company also supplies its products to companies like GM (electric locomotive division). It also manufactures DC motors up to 50 KW for use as blower motors, aluminum die cast blowers for dynamic braking resistors, non-asbestos composite brake blocks and air-conditioning packages units for Railway coaches and wagons.

"We are the original equipment manufacturer of DBRs to Indian Railway for GM's locomotive which are mounted in the locomotives in long hood steel made frames. We also manufacture dynamic brake fan assembly, dynamic brake fan motors, DBRs for diesel locomotives of Indian Railways, roof mounted DBRs (naturally cooled) for high speed electric locomotives like Shatabdi and Rajdhani," says Sharma.

The company has also acquired land in Hardwar to set up another unit there for rail coach air-conditioner and plastic composite breaking system to replace existing cost-iron breaking systems used in rail coaches. The plant is likely to be functional by Diwali.

Daulat Ram is in the process of developing "Harmonic Filters" (that regulates AC traction motors) for ABB locomotives for India. Railways currently import the device from Sweden. The company has also developed main starting resistors (MSRs) for AC locomotives, resulting in foreign exchange savings for the railways.

"MSR is a costly device and it is being imported from Germany at the rate of Rs 42 lakh per unit, but we will be able to reduce the cost significantly," Sharma says.

The company has a very strong association with German major VDM Thyssen Krupp for its entire resistor raw materials. Sharma says the company is planning to enter China at the Guangzhou special economic zone where world industrial leaders have set up their plants.

The ISO 9001 certified company is also looking at opportunities in Ukraine and Egypt. It has also developed another AC Motors for diesel locomotives of GM's Electro Motive Division.

"Within 2-3 months this product will go on trial," he said. Besides, the company is planning to have an after sales service network in markets like US so that exports can start.