Telcon to invest Rs 180 crore in Dharwad

Telcon to invest Rs 180 crore in Dharwad
Business Standard

Mahesh Kulkarni / Bangalore November 17, 2007

Telco Construction Equipment Company (Telcon), the Rs 1,800 crore joint venture between Tata Group and Hitachi of Japan, is on an expansion spree.

The equipment maker is in the process of enlarging its manufacturing capacities at two of its existing facilities at Jamshedpur and Dharwad in Karnataka.

Telcon is investing Rs 180 crore to increase production capacities at Dharwad and also set up a design-cum-training centre. The company owns 120 acres in Dharwad, which makes some of its equipment.

Telcon aims to add one more assembly line and a paint shop at the facility, Rana Sinha, managing director, Telcon said. “We are also seeking some additional sops from the state government,” Sinha added.

“The move to expand our capacities at these two plants in addition to a new facility is to cash in on the boom in the infrastructure sector. We are already the biggest manufacturer of earthmoving and construction equipment in the country and see a huge opportunity opening up in the sector. We wish to consolidate our presence by bringing in new products,” he said.

According to Sinha, the company had seen this boom a couple of years back and decided to expand capacities by setting up a greenfield facility at Kharagpur, West Bengal over 350 acres at an investment of Rs 600 crore.

The plant is scheduled to commission the Kharagpur plant by 2011 in three phases

Telcon is also looking at inorganic growth opportunities to expand its business in India and abroad.

“We have shortlisted a few firms and are in talks with several construction equipment firms in the US and Europe. We will finalise a deal by March.”

Telcon to set up training, R&D centres

Telcon to set up training, R&D centres
Economic Times

16 Nov, 2007, 1245 hrs IST, PTI

BANGALORE: Telco Construction Equipment Company Limited (Telcon), a subsidiary of Tata Motors, plans to set up a research and development (R&D) unit and three training centres in different parts of the country by next year.

"We will set up three training centres in Jamshedpur, Dharwad and Kharagpur by January next and impart training to 30 persons in each of these facilities," Telcon Managing Director Ranaveer Sinha told reporters here last night.

The R&D unit would come up at Dharwad in Karnataka. The new manufacturing plant at Kharagpur, where the company would be investing about Rs 600 crore in three phases, would become operational by early next year, said Sinha.

He was here to attend the EXCON 2007 event. In phase I, Telcon would roll out 6,000 units of equipment such as excavators, new models of wheel loaders, road equipment, trucks and cranes and the capacity would be scaled up to 24,000 units annually by 2011, he added.

The company is also focusing its attention on acquisitions and mergers in India and developed countries and the proposals were expected to fructify by March next, Sinha said.

"We are bringing in a slew of new products with updated technology. We are also working strongly on building support network," he added.

Telcon, which recorded a turnover of Rs 1,830 crore last year, has targeted to earn Rs 2,600 crore this fiscal, Sinha said.