Caparo eyes $1 bn in turnover from India operations

New Delhi, Jan 20: Caparo, the UK-based company founded by Lord Swraj Paul, today said it plans to do one billion dollars in sales in the next 7-10 years. ''We will be making investments as and when business demands, and expect sales to reach one billion dollars in the next 7-10 years,'' Chief Executive and Chairman of Caparo India Angad Paul said.

Global sales for Caparo Group reached 1.5 billion dollars in 2006 and is expected to reach two billion dollars by 2010. This would mean that its India operations will contribute as much as half of its total worldwide sales in the coming years, according to Angad Paul, its Chief Executive, and Chairman of Caparo India.

The company has already invested Rs 1,000 crore in the country toward setting up 28 manufacturing facilities, including Pune, Chennai and Singur in West Bengal. There are 19 facilities are already operational and the company expects the remaining to go upstream by the end of the year.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown inaugurated its stamping and welded assembly facility today, which has been set up at an investment of Rs 83 crores.

The plant caters to the stamping, assembling, welding for Honda Siel's car like the Civic and the City. It also caters to high tensile steel products and the chassis for JCB.

For the calendar year 2008, Caparo expects a turnover of Rs 90 crore from its Noida facility and scale it up to Rs 130 crores by next year.

Mr brown also inaugurated a cultural centre, which the company expects to be ready by December 2008.

Caparo"s development in India began in 1994 with a joint venture with India"s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Udyog, and has continued with several new wholly-owned ventures.

The company"s automotive business, Caparo Vehicle Products, is involved in stamping, forging, machining and aluminium castings, in fasteners and high-precision tubing, as well as in systems and module integration, carbon composite structures and high-performance braking systems.

UNI